If you are a fan of weekly racing you would be hard pressed to find a more successful program than what they have going on right now at Eagle Raceway in southeast Nebraska. Yes, they have a couple of big advantages over most other tracks, namely Lincoln and Omaha and the large population that each has to offer, but they are obviously doing many, many other things right or we would see all kinds of ultra successful tracks just outside of large cities. If this is sounding like something that you have read on the Back Stretch already I did refer to the track here back in April so when the opportunity came up this weekend to go back to a facility that I had not been to since 2001, I took it!
It was Season Championship night at "America's Home Track" so of course the first thing that I did before leaving home was to check to see if they would be using their normal IMCA invert lineup procedures. And, when the answer came back "yes", I bribed Christine with an afternoon at the Henry Doorly Zoo and it was amazing how fast she had her bag packed. My wife is not much for racing, but she does love zoos and this one is one of the best in the country, so it was really great day for me since I secretly love both! Don't tell her though or she won't go to the races with me at night as a payback.
More than 140 cars in five classes signed in on the night and, while there were not enough Modifieds or Hobby Stocks to require a B-Main, the Sport Compacts needed one and with 39 Sport Mods and 41 Racesaver Sprint cars even a C-Main was required in each. That's right, no politically correct "everybody gets a medal" two, or even three B-Mains that some tracks or series would run if blessed with that kind of car count. They actually ran five heat races in each with the top three going to the A-Main. Fourth, fifth and sixth made the B-Main while seventh on back would have to run a C-Main. The top five from the C then started 16th through 20th in the B-Main. (Twenty cars in a B-Main????Oh my gosh, how will they ever do it????) And then the top-five in the B-Main made it to the A where twenty cars would start on the 1/3rd-mile high banked track.
Now that's what I call doing a lineup procedure right as it puts on a show for the fans, who by the way showed up in the thousands. That's right, the place was darn near packed for a weekly show and they were into it. A little too much in one instance where a fight between two women broke out soon after the Sprint Cars of Gregg Bolte and Brandon Horton went for a wild double flip down the front stretch in the B-Main. Thankfully a female police officer was on the scene and quickly restored order in a manner that only she would have been able to, but back to the number of B-Mains for a moment. I have seen special events this year where with twenty-eight cars they ran two B-Mains. Seriously? Man up and do it the right way, transfer sixteen or eighteen out of your heats (redraw only twelve if you'd like) and run ONE B-Main to complete the field.
With the IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car Nationals coming up at Eagle next weekend there were already three long distance travelers in town to get a night in on the track as both John Carney II and Kevin Ramey towed in from Texas while Fresno, California's Monte Ferriera was on hand as well. Colorado driver Jake Bubak had been here before this season as he was within the invert and he would take the lead from the front row for the 25-lap main event. The race was red-flagged on lap two when Shayle Bade smacked the wall exiting turn four and took a tumble. After climbing out from the damaged car uninjured she told the crowd that she would have her other car ready for next week and that she wanted to see everybody back here for the Nationals.
Once back to racing Bubak opened up a sizable advantage while Mike Boston and Tyler Drueke exchanged sliders for second. Jason Martin had started tenth and around lap ten he found something as he then quickly marched toward the front. I didn't think that he had any chance of catching Bubak, but Martin did just that making the pass for the lead and the win with just four laps to go. Bubak, Drueke and Boston were next in line as Toby Chapman completed the top five and don't be surprised if Jason Martin comes out on top at next week's Nationals.Carney had the best run of the visitors coming from 13th to sixth.
Nate Thompson would lead the seventeen car field of IMCA Modifieds for the first five laps before Dustin Anderson got by him. Anderson would then open up a big lead that he would maintain the rest of the way even though on the final lap while trying to get around a lapped car he would spin down the front stretch taking the checkered flag sideways for the win. Chad Anderson finished second, Shane Hiatt scored the track championship in third, Thompson was fourth and Anthony Roth finished fifth.
The Sport Compacts raced fifteen laps non-stop with Steffen Oaks taking the lead from Jared Jackson on lap two. Oaks then did his best to try to fight off the challenges from Dillon Richards, racing door-to-door for two laps before Richards grabbed the lead with one to go to score another win here. Oaks was a close second, Tim Horsham was third followed by Shawn Hein in fourth and Zach Bohlmeyer came from seventeenth to fifth.
The 18-lap Hobby Stock finale was a good one that also went green-to-checkers as Albert Kiihne led the way from the drop of the green. Justin Busboom was applying the pressure on lap ten challenging Kiihne to the inside and as Albert fought off that bid Roy Armstrong used the cushion in turns one and two to race around them both. Busboom would give chase over the closing laps but there would be no catching "Rapid Roy" as Armstrong took the win. Busboom and Kiihne completed the podium while Mark McKinney and points champion Jeff Ware were next in line.
The Sport Mods were the only class that struggled a bit with cautions on the night and one of them waved on lap nine of their feature race when the leader, Scott Bivins popped a motor in turns one and two. Joe Feyen would assume the point on the restart and he would survive a couple of more restarts to take the win over Trent Roth, Gary Saathoff, Shawn Harker and Arie Schouten. Mary Lenz, one of those five drivers that earned a start from the B-Main, came from nineteenth to sixth at the checkers.
Even with a forty-five minute intermission to give hundreds of kids rides in the race cars the full show was completed before 10:30 and we were on our way back to our hotel in Omaha completely satisfied with our trip. The visit even sparked some long ago memories for me as our family lived in Lincoln from 1973 to 1975 and while trips to the old Midwest Speedway in town were more frequent, I do recall taking in a few races right here in Eagle as well. At the age I am now I had better make sure that it isn't another sixteen years before I return!
That's all for now, check back here in a couple of weeks as a new grandson and my daughter's wedding are next up on the schedule. Get out and enjoy the racing action at a track near you this Labor Day weekend!
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Thrills and Spills On Season Championship Night At Osky
A photo finish in the Stock Cars and a controversial end to the Hobby Stock main event closed out the 2017 regular season at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night, a story that will be best told sequentially.
The ten lap Sport Compact feature race would be the first to the speedway with point champion Levi Heath starting from the pole. Brandon Housley would come from the fourth starting spot to hold the lead on lap one though and it looked like he would cruise to an easy win. But then along came lap eight when everything went haywire. Housley's car sputtered as it came across the stripe on lap seven and he would slow and pull to the infield going down the back stretch. This would hand over the lead to young Jeffrey DeLonjay who had made the long tow up from Quincy, Illinois, with Heath in second, but as Levi went down the back stretch his engine went up in smoke causing him to pull to the infield. Behind that Nathan Moody collided with one of the implement tires in turn four stopping his four cylinder in its tracks and the caution waved setting up a green white checkers finish.
John Gill and Bill Whalen Jr. lined up behind DeLonjay for the restart, but neither could stay with the youngster over the final two laps as he scored his second win in four days having won at his hometown track on Sunday and again here in his first trip ever to Oskaloosa. Whalen would go second and of course join the winner in victory lane, Gill finished third while Dalton Winkleman claimed fourth.
The six car field of IMCA Modifieds that included Indiana visitor David Pries was up next for fourteen laps and this one turned into a race of attrition. Brandon Banks would lead the first three laps, but when he slowed suddenly exiting turn two Andrew Schroeder had to stand on the brakes allowing Scott Dickey to fly by and pick up the lead. Schroeder would keep the pressure on Dickey for the next several laps before he too retired to the sidelines and with both Gordon Head and Pries doing their start and park routine we were left with just two cars at the checkers. Dickey the winner and Garrett Wilson who has shown considerable improvement through this, his rookie season, in second. Schroeder would be scored in third, Head fourth and Banks in fifth.
The Stock Cars were up next and with only six cars signed in they definitely did not help with my "proposal" from yesterday, but then again with the 14-lap feature race that they put on, perhaps they did. Michael Peterson was quick off the pole to lead the first three laps before he slowed with motor issues and that handed the lead over to Dustin Griffiths. A caution for Cody McClure's spin mid-race closed the field up and on the restart Danny Thrasher would go to work on Griffiths. Both drivers are rookies in the Stock Car division for 2017 and while Griffiths has found victory lane a couple of times here, Thrasher was still looking for that first Stock Car win and you could sense that he was motivated. Add into that mix the current All Iowa Points leader, and this year's track champion Nathan Wood and the crowd was setup for a three car thriller.
Griffiths was protecting the bottom and holding his two challengers off until the wave of the green indicating two laps to go. Thrasher would then use a higher line entering turn three before turning his car to the bottom to exit turn four allowing him to pull even with Griffiths down the front stretch. The two rookies did some rubbing as they both aimed for the low line entering turn one and when Thrasher got it, Griffiths washed up a bit allowing Wood to move by into second. Having just watched it work in front of him Wood then used the same move on Thrasher entering turn three and exiting turn four and the two brought the crowd to their feet as they raced to the checkers side-by-side in a finish that was literally too close to call. The scorer has the one view that counts though and she had Thrasher by inches for his first victory in the Stock Car division. In victory lane Danny was very complimentary of Nathan Wood and all of the help that he has given him this season knowing that he could not have just beaten him without it. Griffiths was close behind in third, Michael Brown was fourth and Cody McClure took fifth.
The Sport Mod A-Main was up next with Trent Brink leading the way for the first three laps before Logan Anderson was able to squeeze by him. Curtis Van Der Wal followed Anderson past Brink into second and one lap later he would drive under Anderson to take the lead. From there it was smooth sailing as he capped off his third straight track championship, and fourth overall, with another convincing victory. Anderson and Brink would follow in second and third, Tony Johnson finished fourth and Danny Brau scored a fifth-place finish.
The scene was now set for the grand finale of the evening, the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock main event with twenty cars scheduled to start as Shannon Anderson looked to make it a perfect regular season having already won the first twelve features. There was bounty money on the line as well, I believe $300 to go along with the $200 winner's check and that was apparently enough for Mike Hughes to make the switch from the Stock Car division to the Hobby Stocks for the night. Under IMCA rules you cannot compete in both of these divisions so to do so Hughes had to surrender his Stock Car license and all of the points that he had scored at any IMCA tracks, not just here at Osky where he came into the night ranked second behind Nathan Wood, but other sanctioned tracks as well and he then had to purchase an IMCA Hobby Stock license to compete.
Hughes was fast in his heat race, easily making his way into a top four invert position and he would start the feature in eleventh, just one spot behind Shannon Anderson. Veteran driver Brad Stephens would lead the opening laps while our attention was mid-pack as Hughes quickly moved ahead of Anderson. Shannon's father, Jeff Anderson would take the lead away from Stephens on lap four just before the caution waved for Riley Meinders who had spun to the infield in turn one.
Following the restart, as Jeff Anderson paced the field, an interesting scenario played out as Shannon found himself in the middle of a three-wide pack with Hughes and Steve Allen while Christian Huffman raced directly ahead of him. After giving Huffman a couple of knocks on the back door, Anderson got loose at the exit of turn two on lap five and with the pack still tight following the restart contact from another car then sent him the rest of the way around causing a caution. With Shannon now going to the back of the field with ten laps remaining his chances of completing the undefeated season and taking the bounty himself looked bleak, but with his father out front it at least looked like the extra cash would stay in the family.
Jeff Anderson would continue to lead the field following the restart as both Aaron Martin and Hughes picked their way toward the front and when a wheel came off of the car of Dave Seddon the caution flew again with five laps remaining. For this restart Martin and Hughes would line up side-by-side behind the leader while Shannon Anderson had returned to the top ten. With the green back out it would be Martin in second for a lap before Hughes slipped by and he would then set his sights on the leader and his goal for the evening, to collect that extra cash. He looked high, he looked low, but Hughes could not make a challenge until the white flag waved with Shannon now into the top five and not far behind.
As the lead duo raced into turn three for the final time Hughes put a nose under Jeff Anderson and apparent contact between the two then sent the elder Anderson for a spin. Flagman J.D. Wheaton had the checkers ready to display, but then switched the lights to yellow and as Hughes slowed down the front stretch Shannon Anderson closed in on him quickly. Going into turn one Shannon put his nose on the left rear of Hughes' car and then hit the throttle to spin him. After doing a complete spin Hughes then tipped over onto his top causing the crowd to go nuts over it all.
A couple of Mahaska County Sheriff's Deputies had to keep some fans from coming out of the stands and the Oskaloosa police were quickly on the scene (like......really quick) to make sure that the situation did not escalate and after the long red flag period to ease the #11 car back on to all fours as well as some clean up we were ready to close this one out with a green-white-checkers restart. Shannon Anderson had been sent to the pits, Mike Hughes had been towed in and Jeff Anderson would restart at the rear as Brad Stephens would lead the field back to green.
Brad's son Jared would go to second the first time around, but when Christian Huffman did battle with him for the position on the final lap that allowed Brad Stephens to score the win, his first since since the 2002 season. And, since Shannon Anderson had essentially taken himself out of the race, Stephens would also collect the bounty. Huffman finished in the second spot, Jared Stephens was third, Bradley Graham was fourth and Thomas Stevens filled out the top five in a wild one.
Well, if this is to be the final weekly Wednesday night show to be held here at the Southern Iowa Speedway it was definitely one to remember, but I hope that is not the case. Don't forget that the annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge will be here at Oskaloosa on Friday and Saturday October 13th and 14th.
With the perfect weather forecast for the upcoming weekend I may be able to convince my wife Christine to join me for a race somewhere in the area on Saturday. Close to home 34 Raceway will have extra money on the line running a draw/redraw format for the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods with $1,000 going to the winner in the Mods and $500 to each of the other two divisions. Or I might have to negotiate a road trip that would allow for some daytime entertainment that better fits her tastes and then some racing at night. I'm looking forward to the challenge, so keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!
The ten lap Sport Compact feature race would be the first to the speedway with point champion Levi Heath starting from the pole. Brandon Housley would come from the fourth starting spot to hold the lead on lap one though and it looked like he would cruise to an easy win. But then along came lap eight when everything went haywire. Housley's car sputtered as it came across the stripe on lap seven and he would slow and pull to the infield going down the back stretch. This would hand over the lead to young Jeffrey DeLonjay who had made the long tow up from Quincy, Illinois, with Heath in second, but as Levi went down the back stretch his engine went up in smoke causing him to pull to the infield. Behind that Nathan Moody collided with one of the implement tires in turn four stopping his four cylinder in its tracks and the caution waved setting up a green white checkers finish.
John Gill and Bill Whalen Jr. lined up behind DeLonjay for the restart, but neither could stay with the youngster over the final two laps as he scored his second win in four days having won at his hometown track on Sunday and again here in his first trip ever to Oskaloosa. Whalen would go second and of course join the winner in victory lane, Gill finished third while Dalton Winkleman claimed fourth.
The six car field of IMCA Modifieds that included Indiana visitor David Pries was up next for fourteen laps and this one turned into a race of attrition. Brandon Banks would lead the first three laps, but when he slowed suddenly exiting turn two Andrew Schroeder had to stand on the brakes allowing Scott Dickey to fly by and pick up the lead. Schroeder would keep the pressure on Dickey for the next several laps before he too retired to the sidelines and with both Gordon Head and Pries doing their start and park routine we were left with just two cars at the checkers. Dickey the winner and Garrett Wilson who has shown considerable improvement through this, his rookie season, in second. Schroeder would be scored in third, Head fourth and Banks in fifth.
The Stock Cars were up next and with only six cars signed in they definitely did not help with my "proposal" from yesterday, but then again with the 14-lap feature race that they put on, perhaps they did. Michael Peterson was quick off the pole to lead the first three laps before he slowed with motor issues and that handed the lead over to Dustin Griffiths. A caution for Cody McClure's spin mid-race closed the field up and on the restart Danny Thrasher would go to work on Griffiths. Both drivers are rookies in the Stock Car division for 2017 and while Griffiths has found victory lane a couple of times here, Thrasher was still looking for that first Stock Car win and you could sense that he was motivated. Add into that mix the current All Iowa Points leader, and this year's track champion Nathan Wood and the crowd was setup for a three car thriller.
Griffiths was protecting the bottom and holding his two challengers off until the wave of the green indicating two laps to go. Thrasher would then use a higher line entering turn three before turning his car to the bottom to exit turn four allowing him to pull even with Griffiths down the front stretch. The two rookies did some rubbing as they both aimed for the low line entering turn one and when Thrasher got it, Griffiths washed up a bit allowing Wood to move by into second. Having just watched it work in front of him Wood then used the same move on Thrasher entering turn three and exiting turn four and the two brought the crowd to their feet as they raced to the checkers side-by-side in a finish that was literally too close to call. The scorer has the one view that counts though and she had Thrasher by inches for his first victory in the Stock Car division. In victory lane Danny was very complimentary of Nathan Wood and all of the help that he has given him this season knowing that he could not have just beaten him without it. Griffiths was close behind in third, Michael Brown was fourth and Cody McClure took fifth.
The Sport Mod A-Main was up next with Trent Brink leading the way for the first three laps before Logan Anderson was able to squeeze by him. Curtis Van Der Wal followed Anderson past Brink into second and one lap later he would drive under Anderson to take the lead. From there it was smooth sailing as he capped off his third straight track championship, and fourth overall, with another convincing victory. Anderson and Brink would follow in second and third, Tony Johnson finished fourth and Danny Brau scored a fifth-place finish.
The scene was now set for the grand finale of the evening, the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock main event with twenty cars scheduled to start as Shannon Anderson looked to make it a perfect regular season having already won the first twelve features. There was bounty money on the line as well, I believe $300 to go along with the $200 winner's check and that was apparently enough for Mike Hughes to make the switch from the Stock Car division to the Hobby Stocks for the night. Under IMCA rules you cannot compete in both of these divisions so to do so Hughes had to surrender his Stock Car license and all of the points that he had scored at any IMCA tracks, not just here at Osky where he came into the night ranked second behind Nathan Wood, but other sanctioned tracks as well and he then had to purchase an IMCA Hobby Stock license to compete.
Hughes was fast in his heat race, easily making his way into a top four invert position and he would start the feature in eleventh, just one spot behind Shannon Anderson. Veteran driver Brad Stephens would lead the opening laps while our attention was mid-pack as Hughes quickly moved ahead of Anderson. Shannon's father, Jeff Anderson would take the lead away from Stephens on lap four just before the caution waved for Riley Meinders who had spun to the infield in turn one.
Following the restart, as Jeff Anderson paced the field, an interesting scenario played out as Shannon found himself in the middle of a three-wide pack with Hughes and Steve Allen while Christian Huffman raced directly ahead of him. After giving Huffman a couple of knocks on the back door, Anderson got loose at the exit of turn two on lap five and with the pack still tight following the restart contact from another car then sent him the rest of the way around causing a caution. With Shannon now going to the back of the field with ten laps remaining his chances of completing the undefeated season and taking the bounty himself looked bleak, but with his father out front it at least looked like the extra cash would stay in the family.
Jeff Anderson would continue to lead the field following the restart as both Aaron Martin and Hughes picked their way toward the front and when a wheel came off of the car of Dave Seddon the caution flew again with five laps remaining. For this restart Martin and Hughes would line up side-by-side behind the leader while Shannon Anderson had returned to the top ten. With the green back out it would be Martin in second for a lap before Hughes slipped by and he would then set his sights on the leader and his goal for the evening, to collect that extra cash. He looked high, he looked low, but Hughes could not make a challenge until the white flag waved with Shannon now into the top five and not far behind.
As the lead duo raced into turn three for the final time Hughes put a nose under Jeff Anderson and apparent contact between the two then sent the elder Anderson for a spin. Flagman J.D. Wheaton had the checkers ready to display, but then switched the lights to yellow and as Hughes slowed down the front stretch Shannon Anderson closed in on him quickly. Going into turn one Shannon put his nose on the left rear of Hughes' car and then hit the throttle to spin him. After doing a complete spin Hughes then tipped over onto his top causing the crowd to go nuts over it all.
A couple of Mahaska County Sheriff's Deputies had to keep some fans from coming out of the stands and the Oskaloosa police were quickly on the scene (like......really quick) to make sure that the situation did not escalate and after the long red flag period to ease the #11 car back on to all fours as well as some clean up we were ready to close this one out with a green-white-checkers restart. Shannon Anderson had been sent to the pits, Mike Hughes had been towed in and Jeff Anderson would restart at the rear as Brad Stephens would lead the field back to green.
Brad's son Jared would go to second the first time around, but when Christian Huffman did battle with him for the position on the final lap that allowed Brad Stephens to score the win, his first since since the 2002 season. And, since Shannon Anderson had essentially taken himself out of the race, Stephens would also collect the bounty. Huffman finished in the second spot, Jared Stephens was third, Bradley Graham was fourth and Thomas Stevens filled out the top five in a wild one.
Well, if this is to be the final weekly Wednesday night show to be held here at the Southern Iowa Speedway it was definitely one to remember, but I hope that is not the case. Don't forget that the annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge will be here at Oskaloosa on Friday and Saturday October 13th and 14th.
With the perfect weather forecast for the upcoming weekend I may be able to convince my wife Christine to join me for a race somewhere in the area on Saturday. Close to home 34 Raceway will have extra money on the line running a draw/redraw format for the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods with $1,000 going to the winner in the Mods and $500 to each of the other two divisions. Or I might have to negotiate a road trip that would allow for some daytime entertainment that better fits her tastes and then some racing at night. I'm looking forward to the challenge, so keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
What I Would Do.....
It is a beautiful Wednesday and I am looking forward to making the trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa for Season Championship night and, as I do so, I have to admit that I am going partially because I realize that it just might be the last Wednesday night weekly show ever at the track.
What I am hearing from some very good sources is that the Fair Board that currently operates the racing program, with Mike Van Genderen as a hired employee, is looking for other options next year and some of those would not include the weekly Wednesday night racing that we have seen here ever since I can remember.....and that is long time! I know that myself, as well as many other fans whom I see in the stands nearly every week at Osky would hate to see that as it is truly a gathering place for several of us who all go our separate ways on the weekends and even though the car counts have suffered this season I can still say that I have yet to leave a race night there wishing that I had done something else that night.
So, in the true spirit of the book cover pictured here, I will go ahead and throw in my two cents as to what I believe would bring this place back to life in 2018. Now, just like nearly all internet opinions, this is not based upon me putting any of my own money at risk as, after all, I have a new grandson to spoil, a wedding to pay for and another kidney stone to give birth to, but hey that doesn't stop anybody else from throwing out their ideas so why should it stop me!
The Modified division has all but died here at Osky with only two track regulars, Cayden Carter and Scott Dickey, showing up to compete for the $1,000-to-win Hawkeye Dirt Tour show during the fair and there were only four cars at the most recent weekly show. The purse that was paid out to those four cars was $1,050. It looks like the Modifieds themselves have thrown in the towel on Osky and hopefully they contradict me tonight by pulling in ten or more, but perhaps it is time to cut them from the weekly show and move that purse money to the Stock Cars.
Yes, I know that the Stock Car count at Osky has suffered as well this year, It was a dismal five for the Tuesday night fair race, but what is the division that people usually think of first when it comes to this track? My far fetched idea would be to make this the Stock Car Capital of the Midwest, stealing a bit from that track that is twenty-five miles to the west, and post a weekly purse that would pull in drivers from a 100-mile or more radius every Wednesday night. How about $750-to-win and $100-to-start? Plus, since it would be IMCA sanctioned with the standard point average invert used for lineups each week, I would pay the winner a bonus based upon which row he or she took the initial green flag from:
Second Row: $50
Third Row: $100
Fourth Row: $150
Fifth Row: $200
Win from the sixth row or further back your bonus is $250 making it a cool $1,000 check at the end of the night, so even though a "new car" knows that they would have to start from the back of their heat and deep in the invert if they make it, they would know that a win would be worth four figures. Or at the minimum the $100-to-start check would bring them back next week.
How about this plan? As a Wednesday show this is something that is actually viable. Every driver who wins an IMCA Stock Car feature Thursday through Sunday gets a free pit pass for that next Wednesday to compete against the best at the Stock Car Capital of the Midwest! Yes, that might include some of your weekly drivers, but what a great way to reward them for the effort that they put forth to race more than once a week. And you just never know, the guy who won at Britt on Friday, Shawano, Wisconsin, last Saturday, or Vinton on Sunday might just take you up on it!
And, for one of my four or five regular readers, I will call him "Dan", I would not totally turn my back on the Modifieds as I would still schedule them during the Frostbuster (if you have one), during the Fair and at the Annual Fall Challenge. Maybe once in awhile give the Stock Cars the night off and have the Mods in at the same purse?
I will tell you that I have floated this idea with somebody who is much smarter than me about putting on weekly racing and his opinion was that it would likely make a big splash to begin with, but as the season went on you would probably be back to the same ten or twelve cars that you have now and paying them nearly three times the money. See? That's why I don't risk my own!
I am very excited that Jason and Robert Goble have purchased the Quincy Raceways and will actually take over right away to close out the 2017 schedule at the quarter-mile oval. I have known Jason for many years now and he always did a great job as the facilities and concessions manager at 34 Raceway and that hands on experience will definitely give the duo a huge head start.
Like Oskaloosa the car counts at Quincy have dwindled this year although there still appears to be a solid base of drivers and fans who make it their "Sunday night thing to do." I am sure that my Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans would have better insight as to what needs to be improved there, but from my infrequent visits over the past few years, once again in the true spirit of the Suess look-a-like above, here are my suggestions.
1. Implement the "one-spin and you are in" rule during heat races and B-Mains. There have been nights where as many as thirty caution flags waved during the evening, many of which were for guys who would get sideways in the corner and then just shut it down. This is a Sunday night track, thirty cautions is twenty-five too many!
2. Get the show over before nine o'clock. Doing #1 will help that as well as #3. Once again, it is a Sunday night show and if you start hot laps at 6:00 p.m. the only reason that it should take longer than three hours is if you have so many cars that you are having to run B-Mains as well. That would be a nice challenge to have. Too many classes?
3. If UMP forces you to qualify and then do your lineups straight up, then drop them. a.) Qualifying takes extra time and uses up your race track, and b.) It's called "racing" not chasing. Will Michael Long continue to win the Modified feature nearly every week? Probably, but at least he will now have to do it from tenth or twelfth and that will be even more impressive than what he already accomplishes. Long already has an IMCA legal car, I am guessing that others can be switched over if you give them six months to do so.
Just my basic three for now, I am sure that Jason and Robert are being bombarded with other suggestions right now and hopefully all that offer up their opinions share the same wish: That they are successful in keeping racing alive and well at Quincy!
See you tonight in Oskaloosa!
What I am hearing from some very good sources is that the Fair Board that currently operates the racing program, with Mike Van Genderen as a hired employee, is looking for other options next year and some of those would not include the weekly Wednesday night racing that we have seen here ever since I can remember.....and that is long time! I know that myself, as well as many other fans whom I see in the stands nearly every week at Osky would hate to see that as it is truly a gathering place for several of us who all go our separate ways on the weekends and even though the car counts have suffered this season I can still say that I have yet to leave a race night there wishing that I had done something else that night.
So, in the true spirit of the book cover pictured here, I will go ahead and throw in my two cents as to what I believe would bring this place back to life in 2018. Now, just like nearly all internet opinions, this is not based upon me putting any of my own money at risk as, after all, I have a new grandson to spoil, a wedding to pay for and another kidney stone to give birth to, but hey that doesn't stop anybody else from throwing out their ideas so why should it stop me!
The Modified division has all but died here at Osky with only two track regulars, Cayden Carter and Scott Dickey, showing up to compete for the $1,000-to-win Hawkeye Dirt Tour show during the fair and there were only four cars at the most recent weekly show. The purse that was paid out to those four cars was $1,050. It looks like the Modifieds themselves have thrown in the towel on Osky and hopefully they contradict me tonight by pulling in ten or more, but perhaps it is time to cut them from the weekly show and move that purse money to the Stock Cars.
Yes, I know that the Stock Car count at Osky has suffered as well this year, It was a dismal five for the Tuesday night fair race, but what is the division that people usually think of first when it comes to this track? My far fetched idea would be to make this the Stock Car Capital of the Midwest, stealing a bit from that track that is twenty-five miles to the west, and post a weekly purse that would pull in drivers from a 100-mile or more radius every Wednesday night. How about $750-to-win and $100-to-start? Plus, since it would be IMCA sanctioned with the standard point average invert used for lineups each week, I would pay the winner a bonus based upon which row he or she took the initial green flag from:
Second Row: $50
Third Row: $100
Fourth Row: $150
Fifth Row: $200
Win from the sixth row or further back your bonus is $250 making it a cool $1,000 check at the end of the night, so even though a "new car" knows that they would have to start from the back of their heat and deep in the invert if they make it, they would know that a win would be worth four figures. Or at the minimum the $100-to-start check would bring them back next week.
How about this plan? As a Wednesday show this is something that is actually viable. Every driver who wins an IMCA Stock Car feature Thursday through Sunday gets a free pit pass for that next Wednesday to compete against the best at the Stock Car Capital of the Midwest! Yes, that might include some of your weekly drivers, but what a great way to reward them for the effort that they put forth to race more than once a week. And you just never know, the guy who won at Britt on Friday, Shawano, Wisconsin, last Saturday, or Vinton on Sunday might just take you up on it!
And, for one of my four or five regular readers, I will call him "Dan", I would not totally turn my back on the Modifieds as I would still schedule them during the Frostbuster (if you have one), during the Fair and at the Annual Fall Challenge. Maybe once in awhile give the Stock Cars the night off and have the Mods in at the same purse?
I will tell you that I have floated this idea with somebody who is much smarter than me about putting on weekly racing and his opinion was that it would likely make a big splash to begin with, but as the season went on you would probably be back to the same ten or twelve cars that you have now and paying them nearly three times the money. See? That's why I don't risk my own!
I am very excited that Jason and Robert Goble have purchased the Quincy Raceways and will actually take over right away to close out the 2017 schedule at the quarter-mile oval. I have known Jason for many years now and he always did a great job as the facilities and concessions manager at 34 Raceway and that hands on experience will definitely give the duo a huge head start.
Like Oskaloosa the car counts at Quincy have dwindled this year although there still appears to be a solid base of drivers and fans who make it their "Sunday night thing to do." I am sure that my Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans would have better insight as to what needs to be improved there, but from my infrequent visits over the past few years, once again in the true spirit of the Suess look-a-like above, here are my suggestions.
1. Implement the "one-spin and you are in" rule during heat races and B-Mains. There have been nights where as many as thirty caution flags waved during the evening, many of which were for guys who would get sideways in the corner and then just shut it down. This is a Sunday night track, thirty cautions is twenty-five too many!
2. Get the show over before nine o'clock. Doing #1 will help that as well as #3. Once again, it is a Sunday night show and if you start hot laps at 6:00 p.m. the only reason that it should take longer than three hours is if you have so many cars that you are having to run B-Mains as well. That would be a nice challenge to have. Too many classes?
3. If UMP forces you to qualify and then do your lineups straight up, then drop them. a.) Qualifying takes extra time and uses up your race track, and b.) It's called "racing" not chasing. Will Michael Long continue to win the Modified feature nearly every week? Probably, but at least he will now have to do it from tenth or twelfth and that will be even more impressive than what he already accomplishes. Long already has an IMCA legal car, I am guessing that others can be switched over if you give them six months to do so.
Just my basic three for now, I am sure that Jason and Robert are being bombarded with other suggestions right now and hopefully all that offer up their opinions share the same wish: That they are successful in keeping racing alive and well at Quincy!
See you tonight in Oskaloosa!
Monday, August 21, 2017
Ball and Scelzi Score Sprint Invader "Nationals" Wins
With the Knoxville Raceway taking the week off to recover from two full weeks of the 360 and 410 Sprint Car Nationals, the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders traditionally stage their own "Nationals" weekend with either two or three consecutive events. This gives area fans the opportunity to keep the buzz going after two weeks of Sprint Car heaven, plus you never know who just might drop in to compete with the Invader regulars.
This year it would be two nights of action starting on Friday at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson followed up by Saturday's show at 34 Raceway near Burlington.
With rain in the forecast for Friday and then having it actually develop right around the speedway at six o'clock both the car count and the attendance may have suffered a bit. Checking the radar as I was doing live reports for one of the night's sponsors, KILJ radio, it was amazing to watch the line of storms blow up both in the sky and on my screen showing that if the track would have been located just five more miles to the south we all would have been headed on the way home due to a gully washer. It did rain quite hard at the track though, but only for a minute or so before sprinkles lingered a bit longer and that had an interesting effect on the racing surface as the night went along.
With the extra moisture the track was both a challenge and a blessing as each time the Sprints were on the track early, for hot laps and the heat races, they would dig out a big ridge that would then have to be box bladed and rolled back in so that the racing surface could continue to widen out. The extra efforts of the track crew may have added to the length of the program, but believe me the wait was well worth it as by feature time drivers could run high, low and pretty much in between. We saw one pack go down the front stretch four wide at one point and there were sliders and cross overs going on throughout the pack leading a couple of people to tell me afterward that it was the best Sprint Car race that they had ever seen!
Now, to be fair, in making that proclamation I am pretty sure that those two had not been at Knoxville for the Championship A-Main of the Nationals in 2016, but still it was high praise and well deserved as there was definitely plenty of action to entertain the crowd. It was unfortunate though that the top two drivers were taken out of the event late when a soon-to-be lapped car spun in turn one leaving leader Josh Schneiderman and challenger Ayrton Gennetten with little time to react. Both did a great job of avoiding major impact, but the contact that was made was enough to eliminate both of them from competition.
For Schneiderman it continued "one of those years" where the speed is there, but the results are not and for Gennetten it was a disappointing end for the 18-year-old third generation driver who was making his first Invaders appearance ever. The young man showed a lot of class in the pits afterward stating that he was more mad at himself for not being able to completely miss the spun car and he told both Bill Wright and I that he wants to come up from the Lake of the Ozarks area more in the future to race against the Invaders because he knows that it will only make him a better racer.
Jamie Ball would inherit the lead on the restart and with Chris Martin and Paul Nienheiser, this weekend's driver of the Scott Bonar owned #50, swapping the second spot back and forth he would run the final eight laps unchallenged to score the win. Click here for the story and full results from Bill W.
The five weekly divisions were also in action at Lee County and while the Stock Car count was lean, the battle between Jeremy Pundt and John Oliver Jr. was a good one with Oliver holding off Pundt by a car-length to take the win. With his own Obsession Race Cars #17 down from issues at Memphis on Thursday night, Brandon Lennox wheeled Kevin Tomlinson's Obsession #49 to victory in the Sport Mod main event. Josh Barnes started near the front and ran away with the Sport Compact feature as he gets tuned up to defend his IMCA Super Nationals title at Boone in a couple of weeks. Jeff Waterman took the win in the IMCA Modified feature that saw "The Bash Brothers", Cody and Brock Bauman both crack the top five in their first trip over from Eureka, Illinois, taking second and fifth respectively. Denny Woodworth dominated a seven car field in the Crate Late Model division, a class that I am surprised has not taken off like I thought it would. Woodworth was the only car not owned by someone who was there on opening night in 2016 when the class got its start and, in my opinion, one of things that should be changed to help promote the growth would be to ditch the weekly draw and redraw format and instead go to a point average invert similar to what the other classes run. This is something that is never popular with the drivers, at least those who want to be vocal about it, but something needs to be done to get this thing going a bit and that just might be it.
Next Friday night will be Season Championship night at Lee County with the winged 305 Sprints joining the action with the admission price at just five dollars! The track will then take the month of September off before coming back with two big special events in October, the 6th Annual Fall Extravaganza will be on the 6th and 7th while the annual running of Shiverfest will be on Saturday October 28th.
I thought that the Invader car count might push thirty on Saturday night, but it was still a stout field of twenty-five that were on hand at 34 Raceway especially when you compare it to other 360 shows in the region this weekend. Fifteen-year-old Giovanni Scelzi, or Gio as he prefers, was in the field for the first-time driving the BDS Motorsports car #1 and the young Californian, the son of former drag racing champion Gary Scelzi, was very impressive winning his heat race, the Budweiser Shake Up Dash and the 25-lap main event all in convincing fashion. Josh Schneiderman bounced back nicely to take the runner-up position while Paul Nienhesier charged up to third after starting fifteenth. Jeff Laue and his crew had the 3/8th-mile high banks as well manicured as I have seen it for Sprint Car racing and once again the action was intense with drivers again being able to use multiple lines on the speedway. The results definitely reflected the diversity in age, and gender, of the Sprint Invaders as the young lady from Springfield, 16-year-old Bailey Goldsberry also won a heat race as did the soon to be 50-year-old Harold Pohren. Tanner Gebhardt, who is just eighteen-years-old himself, led the opening laps before yielding to his younger challenger Scelzi, finished in the fourth spot in the feature as last year's Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders champion Chris Martin, who soon turns twenty, was fifth. Pohren continued to lead the charge of the older generation in the feature finishing in sixth. Again you will find the story and full results at OpenWheel101 and make sure to mark your calendar for the final two events on the 2017 Invaders schedule, Sunday September 17th at the Quincy Raceways and Saturday September 23rd at 34 Raceway.
With the nice track conditions the racing in the four other divisions at 34 was also very entertaining. In the IMCA Modifieds nobody drives this track harder than Brandon Rothzen either riding the cushion hard all the way around on both ends, or setting his car on the cushion in turns one and three and then diving to the bottom to exit turns two and four and he quickly moved to second after starting tenth in the feature. Pole-sitter Jonathan Huston was not about to give in though and he held off the challenge for several laps before Rothzen slipped by to take the win. Cody Bauman finished third to close out a good two night trip into Iowa.
Rothzen also debuted a Stock Car on this night, but had to drive quickly to the infield with a fire under the hood during his heat race. It was a surprise to see him come out to tag the twelve car field for the feature where the action was soon intense at the front as Jake Wenig was trying to hold off both Tom Bowling Jr. and John Oliver Jr. Those three were giving the fans a thrill going three-wide for the point on a couple of occasions before a caution interrupted the fun. On the restart as Wenig powered up off of turn four, his throttle linkage broke causing Bowling to turn him sideways where both Ray Raker and Shane Watts piled into the former leader. A flat tire sent Oliver to the pits as well and there to challenge the new leader Bowling was none other than Brandon Rothzen who was again trying that high-to-low line in the turns to try to make a pass. Bowling would have none of it though as he held his line to take the win while Oliver showed his strength by passing Rothzen late to finish second.
The Mini Hauler Trucks do some rubbin' and racin' which gets the crowd going and it was Drake Fenton taking the win while the IMCA Sport Mod feature was a good one as well. Division rookie Ron Kibbe held the lead early, but when he was under pressure from both Austen Becerra and Kyle Hill, Kibbe missed the cushion in turn one and gave up the lead. Becerra and Hill then battled the rest of the way, without contact I might add as the two talented young drivers showed respect with Becerra taking the win by a car-length over Hill. Daniel Keltner and Vance Wilson were third and fourth while Randy Lamar made the trip down from the Quad Cities to finish fifth.
Points racing continues at 34 Raceway next Saturday night, August 26th, with Season Championship Night on September 2nd. The track will then close out its 2017 season, as mentioned above, with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Championship night on September 23rd.
Next up for me will be the Season Championship at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday. Hope to see you there!
This year it would be two nights of action starting on Friday at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson followed up by Saturday's show at 34 Raceway near Burlington.
With rain in the forecast for Friday and then having it actually develop right around the speedway at six o'clock both the car count and the attendance may have suffered a bit. Checking the radar as I was doing live reports for one of the night's sponsors, KILJ radio, it was amazing to watch the line of storms blow up both in the sky and on my screen showing that if the track would have been located just five more miles to the south we all would have been headed on the way home due to a gully washer. It did rain quite hard at the track though, but only for a minute or so before sprinkles lingered a bit longer and that had an interesting effect on the racing surface as the night went along.
With the extra moisture the track was both a challenge and a blessing as each time the Sprints were on the track early, for hot laps and the heat races, they would dig out a big ridge that would then have to be box bladed and rolled back in so that the racing surface could continue to widen out. The extra efforts of the track crew may have added to the length of the program, but believe me the wait was well worth it as by feature time drivers could run high, low and pretty much in between. We saw one pack go down the front stretch four wide at one point and there were sliders and cross overs going on throughout the pack leading a couple of people to tell me afterward that it was the best Sprint Car race that they had ever seen!
Now, to be fair, in making that proclamation I am pretty sure that those two had not been at Knoxville for the Championship A-Main of the Nationals in 2016, but still it was high praise and well deserved as there was definitely plenty of action to entertain the crowd. It was unfortunate though that the top two drivers were taken out of the event late when a soon-to-be lapped car spun in turn one leaving leader Josh Schneiderman and challenger Ayrton Gennetten with little time to react. Both did a great job of avoiding major impact, but the contact that was made was enough to eliminate both of them from competition.
For Schneiderman it continued "one of those years" where the speed is there, but the results are not and for Gennetten it was a disappointing end for the 18-year-old third generation driver who was making his first Invaders appearance ever. The young man showed a lot of class in the pits afterward stating that he was more mad at himself for not being able to completely miss the spun car and he told both Bill Wright and I that he wants to come up from the Lake of the Ozarks area more in the future to race against the Invaders because he knows that it will only make him a better racer.
Jamie Ball would inherit the lead on the restart and with Chris Martin and Paul Nienheiser, this weekend's driver of the Scott Bonar owned #50, swapping the second spot back and forth he would run the final eight laps unchallenged to score the win. Click here for the story and full results from Bill W.
The five weekly divisions were also in action at Lee County and while the Stock Car count was lean, the battle between Jeremy Pundt and John Oliver Jr. was a good one with Oliver holding off Pundt by a car-length to take the win. With his own Obsession Race Cars #17 down from issues at Memphis on Thursday night, Brandon Lennox wheeled Kevin Tomlinson's Obsession #49 to victory in the Sport Mod main event. Josh Barnes started near the front and ran away with the Sport Compact feature as he gets tuned up to defend his IMCA Super Nationals title at Boone in a couple of weeks. Jeff Waterman took the win in the IMCA Modified feature that saw "The Bash Brothers", Cody and Brock Bauman both crack the top five in their first trip over from Eureka, Illinois, taking second and fifth respectively. Denny Woodworth dominated a seven car field in the Crate Late Model division, a class that I am surprised has not taken off like I thought it would. Woodworth was the only car not owned by someone who was there on opening night in 2016 when the class got its start and, in my opinion, one of things that should be changed to help promote the growth would be to ditch the weekly draw and redraw format and instead go to a point average invert similar to what the other classes run. This is something that is never popular with the drivers, at least those who want to be vocal about it, but something needs to be done to get this thing going a bit and that just might be it.
Next Friday night will be Season Championship night at Lee County with the winged 305 Sprints joining the action with the admission price at just five dollars! The track will then take the month of September off before coming back with two big special events in October, the 6th Annual Fall Extravaganza will be on the 6th and 7th while the annual running of Shiverfest will be on Saturday October 28th.
I thought that the Invader car count might push thirty on Saturday night, but it was still a stout field of twenty-five that were on hand at 34 Raceway especially when you compare it to other 360 shows in the region this weekend. Fifteen-year-old Giovanni Scelzi, or Gio as he prefers, was in the field for the first-time driving the BDS Motorsports car #1 and the young Californian, the son of former drag racing champion Gary Scelzi, was very impressive winning his heat race, the Budweiser Shake Up Dash and the 25-lap main event all in convincing fashion. Josh Schneiderman bounced back nicely to take the runner-up position while Paul Nienhesier charged up to third after starting fifteenth. Jeff Laue and his crew had the 3/8th-mile high banks as well manicured as I have seen it for Sprint Car racing and once again the action was intense with drivers again being able to use multiple lines on the speedway. The results definitely reflected the diversity in age, and gender, of the Sprint Invaders as the young lady from Springfield, 16-year-old Bailey Goldsberry also won a heat race as did the soon to be 50-year-old Harold Pohren. Tanner Gebhardt, who is just eighteen-years-old himself, led the opening laps before yielding to his younger challenger Scelzi, finished in the fourth spot in the feature as last year's Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders champion Chris Martin, who soon turns twenty, was fifth. Pohren continued to lead the charge of the older generation in the feature finishing in sixth. Again you will find the story and full results at OpenWheel101 and make sure to mark your calendar for the final two events on the 2017 Invaders schedule, Sunday September 17th at the Quincy Raceways and Saturday September 23rd at 34 Raceway.
With the nice track conditions the racing in the four other divisions at 34 was also very entertaining. In the IMCA Modifieds nobody drives this track harder than Brandon Rothzen either riding the cushion hard all the way around on both ends, or setting his car on the cushion in turns one and three and then diving to the bottom to exit turns two and four and he quickly moved to second after starting tenth in the feature. Pole-sitter Jonathan Huston was not about to give in though and he held off the challenge for several laps before Rothzen slipped by to take the win. Cody Bauman finished third to close out a good two night trip into Iowa.
Rothzen also debuted a Stock Car on this night, but had to drive quickly to the infield with a fire under the hood during his heat race. It was a surprise to see him come out to tag the twelve car field for the feature where the action was soon intense at the front as Jake Wenig was trying to hold off both Tom Bowling Jr. and John Oliver Jr. Those three were giving the fans a thrill going three-wide for the point on a couple of occasions before a caution interrupted the fun. On the restart as Wenig powered up off of turn four, his throttle linkage broke causing Bowling to turn him sideways where both Ray Raker and Shane Watts piled into the former leader. A flat tire sent Oliver to the pits as well and there to challenge the new leader Bowling was none other than Brandon Rothzen who was again trying that high-to-low line in the turns to try to make a pass. Bowling would have none of it though as he held his line to take the win while Oliver showed his strength by passing Rothzen late to finish second.
The Mini Hauler Trucks do some rubbin' and racin' which gets the crowd going and it was Drake Fenton taking the win while the IMCA Sport Mod feature was a good one as well. Division rookie Ron Kibbe held the lead early, but when he was under pressure from both Austen Becerra and Kyle Hill, Kibbe missed the cushion in turn one and gave up the lead. Becerra and Hill then battled the rest of the way, without contact I might add as the two talented young drivers showed respect with Becerra taking the win by a car-length over Hill. Daniel Keltner and Vance Wilson were third and fourth while Randy Lamar made the trip down from the Quad Cities to finish fifth.
Points racing continues at 34 Raceway next Saturday night, August 26th, with Season Championship Night on September 2nd. The track will then close out its 2017 season, as mentioned above, with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Championship night on September 23rd.
Next up for me will be the Season Championship at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday. Hope to see you there!
Friday, August 18, 2017
Thornton Doubles Up As USMTS Returns To Memphis
After a seven year absence the Casey's General Stores United States Modified Touring Series returned to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Thursday night and you can bet that a large contingent of race fans and at least one driver are hoping that the track will once again be a regular stop on the Tour's busy schedule. The northeast Missouri track was once promoted by USMTS owners Todd & Janet Staley and was a mainstay on the schedule with twenty-two events being held up until 2010 and in fact Thursday's race was not even on the original USMTS schedule for 2017, but was a late addition.
Usually I would give you the story on the main event for the headline division first, but to tell the story of the night properly I instead need to go sequentially. So it all began with a beautiful sunrise over this sleepy little town. Okay, that's too far back....
A stout field of thirty-five USMTS Modifieds signed in as well as a diverse group of Out-Pace USRA B-Mods totaling thirty-three. The Holley USRA Stock Car division car count was surprisingly low at twelve despite the fact the $1,000 was up for grabs in the main event that saw Staley himself draw the pole position for the 18-lap feature race.
It would be outside front row starter Jason Cook though that would race to the early lead with Nathan Wood getting past Staley to apply the pressure on the leader. Hometown driver Eric Glass would draw the only caution of the race when he spun in turn one on lap four and on the restart Wood went right back to work on Cook. As starter Kevin Eggleston displayed the crossed sticks to indicate the halfway point of the race Wood was able to get by Cook to take the lead. Long distance traveler Derek Green from southern Minnesota had started eighth and he would take second away from Cook to put the challenge on Wood through the closing laps. Trying the top side in one and two and looking for room under the leader in three and four Green was ready to pounce on any mistake, but Wood did not make one and the two drivers took the checkers in the same order that they currently rank in the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars. Cook would finish in the third spot, Staley was fourth and Jesse Brown made the long tow down from Nashua, Iowa, to complete the top five.
B-Mods were up next for twenty laps and with two of the best in the Midwest, Curtis Van Der Wal and Andy Bryant starting second and third respectively it looked as though everybody else might be racing for third in this one. Columbia, Missouri's Galen Hassler had other ideas though as he would lead the opening lap before Cody Agee spun in turn two. On the restart, with Bryant moving into second and setting up to challenge Hassler, contact from Van Der Wal would send Bryant for a spin in turn two after the second lap was completed and both drivers were sent to the rear of the twenty-two car field.
Brayton Carter would take up the chase of Hassler after the restart until Ricky Thornton Jr. found the high line around the speedway to his liking. Driving Mike Tanner's #20T Thornton steadily moved to the front of the field after starting ninth and on lap twelve he barely squeezed between Hassler and the front stretch guardrail to take the lead. From there Thornton would set sail driving away from the pack to score the $1,000 win with Brayton Carter taking second. Van Der Wal would make it all the way back up to third at the checkers as Hassler and Carter VandenBerg completed the top five.
In victory lane Thornton stated that he had drawn the pole position for the grand finale, the USMTS Modified 40-lap feature and that if he could get up top early he might just be able to be standing here once again later in the evening. How right he was!
When the green flag dropped Thornton would beat fellow front row starter Jason Hughes to the corner and go right back to the now familiar cushion to set a fast early pace. Caution waved on lap eight when fluid from Michael Long's now disabled Modified soaked the entrance to turn one and after the cleanup a second caution came when the fourth-place car of Cory Crapser spun in turn one.
Once back to green there would be no stopping Ricky Thornton Jr. as he had that cushion dialed in to perfection propelling him to his second win of the night. Cade Dillard would get around Hughes for second on that lap eight restart, but Jason would battle back to take the runner-up honors as Dillard finished third. One of the more spectacular moves of the night came mid-race when Cayden Carter drove deep, deep, deep into turn three to put the slide job on his car builder Zack VanderBeek to take away the fourth spot and while it looked like Carter, who had started thirteenth, might be able to advance even further he could never reel in the lead trio. The current point leader in the Casey's Hunt for the Championship point standings, Stormy Scott filled out the top five.
The Memphis track once again lived up to its reputation of being wide and racy with four-wide racing seen on several occasions throughout the night. One of those resulted in disaster though for R.C. Whitwell who ran out of room on the back stretch, turned sideways and then launched into a harrowing series of barrel rolls all the way to the entrance of turn three on the opening lap of the third heat race. The crowd sat in stunned silence until announcer Chris Stepan relayed the good news that Whitwell had crawled out of his mangled Modified and was uninjured. In fact, the Arizona native later brought out a back up car and was able to move up into the fifth and final transfer position in a B-Main. He then finished twelfth in the feature.
The USMTS moves down to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City tonight for the second Grant Junghans Memorial event and the schedule is a busy one from there as The Hunt for the Casey's Cup continues until the 19th Annual Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. A big thank you to Todd & Janet and the entire Staley family and crew for the hospitality and here's hoping that we see Memphis at least once on the original USMTS schedule for 2018!
I go back into Sprint Car mode now for the annual Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Nationals doubleheader tonight (Friday) at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. These two events are always fun to see just who might show up to join the Invader regulars and word is that St. Louis area driver Brad Loyet will be on hand at Donnellson while young Californian Giovanni Scelzi will join the field at 34 Saturday night. Who else will be there? Well hopefully YOU and you can look for us on the Back Stretch.
Usually I would give you the story on the main event for the headline division first, but to tell the story of the night properly I instead need to go sequentially. So it all began with a beautiful sunrise over this sleepy little town. Okay, that's too far back....
A stout field of thirty-five USMTS Modifieds signed in as well as a diverse group of Out-Pace USRA B-Mods totaling thirty-three. The Holley USRA Stock Car division car count was surprisingly low at twelve despite the fact the $1,000 was up for grabs in the main event that saw Staley himself draw the pole position for the 18-lap feature race.
It would be outside front row starter Jason Cook though that would race to the early lead with Nathan Wood getting past Staley to apply the pressure on the leader. Hometown driver Eric Glass would draw the only caution of the race when he spun in turn one on lap four and on the restart Wood went right back to work on Cook. As starter Kevin Eggleston displayed the crossed sticks to indicate the halfway point of the race Wood was able to get by Cook to take the lead. Long distance traveler Derek Green from southern Minnesota had started eighth and he would take second away from Cook to put the challenge on Wood through the closing laps. Trying the top side in one and two and looking for room under the leader in three and four Green was ready to pounce on any mistake, but Wood did not make one and the two drivers took the checkers in the same order that they currently rank in the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars. Cook would finish in the third spot, Staley was fourth and Jesse Brown made the long tow down from Nashua, Iowa, to complete the top five.
B-Mods were up next for twenty laps and with two of the best in the Midwest, Curtis Van Der Wal and Andy Bryant starting second and third respectively it looked as though everybody else might be racing for third in this one. Columbia, Missouri's Galen Hassler had other ideas though as he would lead the opening lap before Cody Agee spun in turn two. On the restart, with Bryant moving into second and setting up to challenge Hassler, contact from Van Der Wal would send Bryant for a spin in turn two after the second lap was completed and both drivers were sent to the rear of the twenty-two car field.
Brayton Carter would take up the chase of Hassler after the restart until Ricky Thornton Jr. found the high line around the speedway to his liking. Driving Mike Tanner's #20T Thornton steadily moved to the front of the field after starting ninth and on lap twelve he barely squeezed between Hassler and the front stretch guardrail to take the lead. From there Thornton would set sail driving away from the pack to score the $1,000 win with Brayton Carter taking second. Van Der Wal would make it all the way back up to third at the checkers as Hassler and Carter VandenBerg completed the top five.
In victory lane Thornton stated that he had drawn the pole position for the grand finale, the USMTS Modified 40-lap feature and that if he could get up top early he might just be able to be standing here once again later in the evening. How right he was!
When the green flag dropped Thornton would beat fellow front row starter Jason Hughes to the corner and go right back to the now familiar cushion to set a fast early pace. Caution waved on lap eight when fluid from Michael Long's now disabled Modified soaked the entrance to turn one and after the cleanup a second caution came when the fourth-place car of Cory Crapser spun in turn one.
Once back to green there would be no stopping Ricky Thornton Jr. as he had that cushion dialed in to perfection propelling him to his second win of the night. Cade Dillard would get around Hughes for second on that lap eight restart, but Jason would battle back to take the runner-up honors as Dillard finished third. One of the more spectacular moves of the night came mid-race when Cayden Carter drove deep, deep, deep into turn three to put the slide job on his car builder Zack VanderBeek to take away the fourth spot and while it looked like Carter, who had started thirteenth, might be able to advance even further he could never reel in the lead trio. The current point leader in the Casey's Hunt for the Championship point standings, Stormy Scott filled out the top five.
The Memphis track once again lived up to its reputation of being wide and racy with four-wide racing seen on several occasions throughout the night. One of those resulted in disaster though for R.C. Whitwell who ran out of room on the back stretch, turned sideways and then launched into a harrowing series of barrel rolls all the way to the entrance of turn three on the opening lap of the third heat race. The crowd sat in stunned silence until announcer Chris Stepan relayed the good news that Whitwell had crawled out of his mangled Modified and was uninjured. In fact, the Arizona native later brought out a back up car and was able to move up into the fifth and final transfer position in a B-Main. He then finished twelfth in the feature.
The USMTS moves down to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City tonight for the second Grant Junghans Memorial event and the schedule is a busy one from there as The Hunt for the Casey's Cup continues until the 19th Annual Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. A big thank you to Todd & Janet and the entire Staley family and crew for the hospitality and here's hoping that we see Memphis at least once on the original USMTS schedule for 2018!
I go back into Sprint Car mode now for the annual Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Nationals doubleheader tonight (Friday) at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. These two events are always fun to see just who might show up to join the Invader regulars and word is that St. Louis area driver Brad Loyet will be on hand at Donnellson while young Californian Giovanni Scelzi will join the field at 34 Saturday night. Who else will be there? Well hopefully YOU and you can look for us on the Back Stretch.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Schatz Holds Off Larson For His Tenth Knoxville Nationals Championship
Taking the point after David Gravel's engine failure Donny Schatz then held off a late charge from Kyle Larson to win his tenth 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals championship Saturday night in front of large and boisterous crowd at the Knoxville Raceway.
Gravel and Schatz would start the fifty-lap headliner from the front row and the cheers could be heard above the roar of the 410 cubic inch engines as Gravel took the lead at the drop of the green and then pulled away from Schatz and the rest of the twenty-four car field. Running a blistering pace Gravel would start to work lapped traffic on lap six and that would allow Schatz and the third place car of Kerry Madsen to close the gap. The crowd roared as Madsen made a run at Schatz for second but the driver that has won this event in nine of the past eleven seasons squelched the bid and continued his pursuit of the leader.
Not a sound could be heard when Schatz charged under Gravel in turn three for the lead on lap sixteen, but they quickly came back to life when Gravel crossed over Schatz's slider and regained the lead down the front stretch.
The first caution of the race waved when Austin McCarl appeared to lose an engine on lap nineteen and once back to green Gravel continued to set a fast pace. It all came to an end though for the driver who scored a perfect night on Thursday when he slowed suddenly in turn four with his own motor issues giving up the lead and retiring for the night on lap twenty-two.
Schatz would assume the lead as the race went back to green, but only for two more laps before Terry McCarl slapped the guardrail in turn four causing one of the sponsor banners to fall to the track surface. Just one lap shy of the mid-race mark it was decided that the halfway pit stop would be held at that time and the majority of the fans were hopeful that somebody would be able to take the lead from Schatz following the break. Kerry Madsen would be hungry in the second spot while NASCAR star Kyle Larson had moved up from ninth to third. Some even held out hope that defending champion Jason Johnson might be able to pull off another miracle as he had raced his way to the sixth position after starting seventeenth, being one of the few drivers moving forward while using the low line around the historic half-mile oval.
On the restart Madsen made his bid with a big slider on Schatz entering turn one. Madsen would say later that he thought that he had him cleared, but then here came the green #15 with all four wheels above the cushion right back around him on the outside to maintain the lead. The big move would cost Madsen the second spot as well when Larson went driving by and the next several laps would be a high speed chase around the top side until Greg Hodnett slowed on lap thirty-eight to bring out the caution.
This excited the ABS ("Anybody But Schatz") contingent, however it was likely a benefit to Schatz who would now have a clear race track on the restart rather than having to negotiate traffic over the final twelve laps.
Larson took a look at Schatz in turn one on the restart only to have Donny pull away down the back stretch and as the laps clicked away Larson would stay within about ten car lengths. Lapped traffic running in both grooves would present a challenge for Schatz over the final three laps and when it looked like Larson might have a run on him the crowd came to their feet. Schatz handled the traffic like a master though and when the white flag waved he had them cleared while Larson had one more car to get around coming off of turn two.
With a nice run down the back stretch Larson gave it everything he had driving to the bottom in turn three, but as he slid up the race track Schatz drove around the challenging cushion one last time to pull away down the front straightaway and secure his tenth Nationals title. The win drew the usual chorus of boos from those who are getting tired of seeing him win, while many also applauded as he added to his list of amazing accomplishments here at Knoxville. Larson added to his legend, despite his young age, with his runner-up finish as Kerry Madsen finished third. Shane Stewart and Brad Sweet were fourth and fifth while Brian Brown finished sixth. Aaron Reutzel came from the nineteenth starting spot to finish seventh, eighth went to Rico Abreu, Daryn Pittman was ninth and the 2017 track champion here at Knoxville Ian Madsen completed the top ten.
Saturday Notes......The early preliminaries did not offer up much for story lines as the track slowly widened out for better racing. Rager Phillips won the E-Main, but then had his motor go up in smoke early in the D......Jamie Veal took the lead from Lee Jacobs on lap nine to win the D-Main, a big difference from last year when Veal started the Championship race from the second row and finished in sixth.....James McFadden, Brady Bacon, Bill Balog and Jac Haudenschild were the stout group of four that transferred out of the C-Main as "The Wild Child" held off current ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. in the closing laps......As it usually is the 22-lap B-Main, where four more drivers make the big show, was very entertaining especially in the closing laps. Young Trey Starks paced the field for the most of the race with former Nationals champion Tim Shaffer making the move up from an eighth-place start into the top four. Shaffer had just made the pass to take over second on lap nine when Balog slowed to bring out the caution sending Shaffer back to fourth for the restart. Once back to green only two more laps would be scored before Spencer Bayston tagged the guardrail in turn two ending his night. Before the incident Bayston had actually been racing with Dominic Scelzi for position, and for the Rookie of the Nationals title, so with Bayston's misfortune that title and bonus money would go to Scelzi. Also, an interesting question was raised tonight on Twitter wondering if, after his Wednesday night issue with the scales, was Bayston the first driver ever to race on all four nights of the Nationals?......Once back to green Lucas Wolfe replaced Justin Henderson in the top four before the caution waved again on lap sixteen, this time for a flat tire on the #19 of Brent Marks, erasing a pass by Jason Sides on Starks for the lead......On the restart both Sides and Shaffer would get around Starks and when Trey tried to battle back he slid up the track and dropped back to the fourth position. With two laps remaining Brooke Tatnell saw an opening under Starks for the necessary fourth spot and when he had to put his left front up on the berm in turn four to make the pass he clipped the starting line cone and tossed it onto the race track. The caution waved after the lap was scored, so the early leader Starks would now start fifth with just two laps left to get back into the top four. That task likely seemed impossible when Chad Kemenah passed him going down the back stretch, but when Tatnell muscled his way under Wolfe in turns three and four Starks went to the top and sailed around both Kemenah and Wolfe to claim the fourth and final transfer position behind Sides, Shaffer and Tatnell......The best A-Main finish from those four came from Tatnell who moved to 14th.......What looked so promising for Jason Johnson in the first half of the main went the other direction after halftime as he dropped back to eleventh at the finish, still an improvement of six positions from his original starting spot.....In the post-race press conference Schatz was very complimentary of Larson and said that he wished that he could run more Sprint Car events each year even though in most of the ones that he had seen him at this year, Kyle had beat him. "But not tonight! Hopefully he can go win a race in Michigan tomorrow"......Larson smiled and stated that this was in fact his fifteenth and last Sprint Car race of 2017 and that he had won nine of them and finished second three times. He thanked Chip Ganassi for letting him come back to compete tonight, something that was not in the original plans, and hoped that this extra exposure might allow his Cup team to secure a new sponsor for 2018......I would say that if you asked the 25,000 plus in attendance tonight who they wanted to win this year's NASCAR Monster Energy Cup championship, 99.9% of them would have given you the same answer. Go get 'em Kyle!.......Cup drivers with either open wheel experience or direct ties Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. enjoyed listening to the drivers during the press conference while team owners Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne were also on the grounds.
Another Nationals is in the books and once again this was an event that is so much more than racing. It is a reunion of friends and racing family and I must again thank the Nachbors, Keith, Jeff, Sean, Sam, Ethan and Grandpa for allowing me to invade their space and treat me like one the family at the track while Barry, Stephanie and Aidan Johnson do the same allowing me to set up home base with them in Pella each year. It was also a special week for me to have my son Morgan back where he should be this week after missing the past two years while he was working down south.
Kendra Jacobs and the entire Spire Sports Marketing Team do an excellent job with all of the "extras" that make this more than a race while John McCoy and his officials take care of the on track action. Can't wait to do it all again in 2018!
For those of you who still want to get your Sprint Car fix next weekend remember that the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be in action Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!
Gravel and Schatz would start the fifty-lap headliner from the front row and the cheers could be heard above the roar of the 410 cubic inch engines as Gravel took the lead at the drop of the green and then pulled away from Schatz and the rest of the twenty-four car field. Running a blistering pace Gravel would start to work lapped traffic on lap six and that would allow Schatz and the third place car of Kerry Madsen to close the gap. The crowd roared as Madsen made a run at Schatz for second but the driver that has won this event in nine of the past eleven seasons squelched the bid and continued his pursuit of the leader.
Not a sound could be heard when Schatz charged under Gravel in turn three for the lead on lap sixteen, but they quickly came back to life when Gravel crossed over Schatz's slider and regained the lead down the front stretch.
The first caution of the race waved when Austin McCarl appeared to lose an engine on lap nineteen and once back to green Gravel continued to set a fast pace. It all came to an end though for the driver who scored a perfect night on Thursday when he slowed suddenly in turn four with his own motor issues giving up the lead and retiring for the night on lap twenty-two.
Schatz would assume the lead as the race went back to green, but only for two more laps before Terry McCarl slapped the guardrail in turn four causing one of the sponsor banners to fall to the track surface. Just one lap shy of the mid-race mark it was decided that the halfway pit stop would be held at that time and the majority of the fans were hopeful that somebody would be able to take the lead from Schatz following the break. Kerry Madsen would be hungry in the second spot while NASCAR star Kyle Larson had moved up from ninth to third. Some even held out hope that defending champion Jason Johnson might be able to pull off another miracle as he had raced his way to the sixth position after starting seventeenth, being one of the few drivers moving forward while using the low line around the historic half-mile oval.
On the restart Madsen made his bid with a big slider on Schatz entering turn one. Madsen would say later that he thought that he had him cleared, but then here came the green #15 with all four wheels above the cushion right back around him on the outside to maintain the lead. The big move would cost Madsen the second spot as well when Larson went driving by and the next several laps would be a high speed chase around the top side until Greg Hodnett slowed on lap thirty-eight to bring out the caution.
This excited the ABS ("Anybody But Schatz") contingent, however it was likely a benefit to Schatz who would now have a clear race track on the restart rather than having to negotiate traffic over the final twelve laps.
Larson took a look at Schatz in turn one on the restart only to have Donny pull away down the back stretch and as the laps clicked away Larson would stay within about ten car lengths. Lapped traffic running in both grooves would present a challenge for Schatz over the final three laps and when it looked like Larson might have a run on him the crowd came to their feet. Schatz handled the traffic like a master though and when the white flag waved he had them cleared while Larson had one more car to get around coming off of turn two.
With a nice run down the back stretch Larson gave it everything he had driving to the bottom in turn three, but as he slid up the race track Schatz drove around the challenging cushion one last time to pull away down the front straightaway and secure his tenth Nationals title. The win drew the usual chorus of boos from those who are getting tired of seeing him win, while many also applauded as he added to his list of amazing accomplishments here at Knoxville. Larson added to his legend, despite his young age, with his runner-up finish as Kerry Madsen finished third. Shane Stewart and Brad Sweet were fourth and fifth while Brian Brown finished sixth. Aaron Reutzel came from the nineteenth starting spot to finish seventh, eighth went to Rico Abreu, Daryn Pittman was ninth and the 2017 track champion here at Knoxville Ian Madsen completed the top ten.
Saturday Notes......The early preliminaries did not offer up much for story lines as the track slowly widened out for better racing. Rager Phillips won the E-Main, but then had his motor go up in smoke early in the D......Jamie Veal took the lead from Lee Jacobs on lap nine to win the D-Main, a big difference from last year when Veal started the Championship race from the second row and finished in sixth.....James McFadden, Brady Bacon, Bill Balog and Jac Haudenschild were the stout group of four that transferred out of the C-Main as "The Wild Child" held off current ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. in the closing laps......As it usually is the 22-lap B-Main, where four more drivers make the big show, was very entertaining especially in the closing laps. Young Trey Starks paced the field for the most of the race with former Nationals champion Tim Shaffer making the move up from an eighth-place start into the top four. Shaffer had just made the pass to take over second on lap nine when Balog slowed to bring out the caution sending Shaffer back to fourth for the restart. Once back to green only two more laps would be scored before Spencer Bayston tagged the guardrail in turn two ending his night. Before the incident Bayston had actually been racing with Dominic Scelzi for position, and for the Rookie of the Nationals title, so with Bayston's misfortune that title and bonus money would go to Scelzi. Also, an interesting question was raised tonight on Twitter wondering if, after his Wednesday night issue with the scales, was Bayston the first driver ever to race on all four nights of the Nationals?......Once back to green Lucas Wolfe replaced Justin Henderson in the top four before the caution waved again on lap sixteen, this time for a flat tire on the #19 of Brent Marks, erasing a pass by Jason Sides on Starks for the lead......On the restart both Sides and Shaffer would get around Starks and when Trey tried to battle back he slid up the track and dropped back to the fourth position. With two laps remaining Brooke Tatnell saw an opening under Starks for the necessary fourth spot and when he had to put his left front up on the berm in turn four to make the pass he clipped the starting line cone and tossed it onto the race track. The caution waved after the lap was scored, so the early leader Starks would now start fifth with just two laps left to get back into the top four. That task likely seemed impossible when Chad Kemenah passed him going down the back stretch, but when Tatnell muscled his way under Wolfe in turns three and four Starks went to the top and sailed around both Kemenah and Wolfe to claim the fourth and final transfer position behind Sides, Shaffer and Tatnell......The best A-Main finish from those four came from Tatnell who moved to 14th.......What looked so promising for Jason Johnson in the first half of the main went the other direction after halftime as he dropped back to eleventh at the finish, still an improvement of six positions from his original starting spot.....In the post-race press conference Schatz was very complimentary of Larson and said that he wished that he could run more Sprint Car events each year even though in most of the ones that he had seen him at this year, Kyle had beat him. "But not tonight! Hopefully he can go win a race in Michigan tomorrow"......Larson smiled and stated that this was in fact his fifteenth and last Sprint Car race of 2017 and that he had won nine of them and finished second three times. He thanked Chip Ganassi for letting him come back to compete tonight, something that was not in the original plans, and hoped that this extra exposure might allow his Cup team to secure a new sponsor for 2018......I would say that if you asked the 25,000 plus in attendance tonight who they wanted to win this year's NASCAR Monster Energy Cup championship, 99.9% of them would have given you the same answer. Go get 'em Kyle!.......Cup drivers with either open wheel experience or direct ties Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. enjoyed listening to the drivers during the press conference while team owners Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne were also on the grounds.
Another Nationals is in the books and once again this was an event that is so much more than racing. It is a reunion of friends and racing family and I must again thank the Nachbors, Keith, Jeff, Sean, Sam, Ethan and Grandpa for allowing me to invade their space and treat me like one the family at the track while Barry, Stephanie and Aidan Johnson do the same allowing me to set up home base with them in Pella each year. It was also a special week for me to have my son Morgan back where he should be this week after missing the past two years while he was working down south.
Kendra Jacobs and the entire Spire Sports Marketing Team do an excellent job with all of the "extras" that make this more than a race while John McCoy and his officials take care of the on track action. Can't wait to do it all again in 2018!
For those of you who still want to get your Sprint Car fix next weekend remember that the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be in action Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!
Friday, August 11, 2017
Defending Champ Johnson Doubles Up Friday at Knoxville Nationals
After an early end to his qualifying night on Thursday the defending champion of the 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals Jason Johnson locked himself in to Saturday night's Championship by winning the Friday night A-Main. Then, for good measure, Johnson denied Australian driver James McFadden the coveted "golden ticket" by also winning the annual Speed Sport World Challenge.
With the top four finishers qualifying for positions seventeen through twenty in tomorrow night's finale, Friday's 25-lap main event was very important and it would be Jacob Allen being perhaps a surprise leader of the opening lap. Johnson, who started outside of Allen on row one, raced to the lead on lap two just before the red flag waved when Lynton Jeffrey tipped over in turn three after getting up on the inside berm.
The only damage was to the wings so after a quick change in the work area Jeffrey rejoined the field for the restart. Johnson would pull away from Allen while Jeffrey would have his newly replaced top wing collapse just a couple of laps later sending him to the pits. With Johnson driving away Allen was doing his best to try to stay in the top four as Aaron Reutzel chased him, while the man to watch was Allen's Shark Racing teammate Logan Schuchart. Starting from row six Schuchart was on the move cracking the top four and not letting up there as he was then up to second with ten laps remaining.
What a story line it would have been if the two underfunded World of Outlaws regulars could have made the show on Saturday, but when Allen got sideways in turn four and then hopped up onto the berm in order to save it with eight laps remaining he quickly dropped out of third and eventually faded to twelfth at the checkers.
Johnson would win this one going away with Schuchart in second while second row starters Aaron Reutzel and Cory Eliason also transferred to Saturday's headliner finishing third and fourth respectively. Chad Kemenah tried to run down Eliason over the final five laps, but could not get to him in fifth as Spencer Bayston, Sheldon Haudenschild, Brooke Tatnell, Tim Kaeding and Sammy Swindell rounded out the top ten.
After his victory lane celebration wrapped up Jason Johnson would line up fourth for the twenty-lap Speed Sport World Challenge where the winner, if not already qualified for Saturday's A-Main, would lock himself into the big show. Front row starters James McFadden and Thomas Kennedy both needed that "golden ticket" and it would be McFadden taking the lead at the start. Kennedy, who switched to his own equipment tonight, had his night come to an early end when something popped under the hood on lap five when he was running a strong second.
Shortly after the restart Johnson would drive under McFadden for the lead and, just like he had a half hour earlier, Jason would open up a large gap on the field. McFadden would do his best to keep pace and as the laps wound down, with the leader now working traffic, he started to close back in. With two laps remaining Johnson had three cars racing for position front of him and when he showed his patience that allowed McFadden to close in quickly and he had a run at Johnson coming to the white flag. However, when he caught the berm coming off four that squelched McFadden's momentum and he could not make a run on Johnson who earned his second checkered flag of the night.
McFadden's second place run will help his checkbook, but he will start from fourth in tomorrow's C-Main. Brad Sweet made a late charge up to third and he just might be your dark horse for Saturday night. Dominic Scelzi was fourth and Brian Brown continued to show that he has the speed to win this week by passing Lynton Jeffrey late for fifth.
The field is now set for Saturday night with David Gravel and Donny Schatz starting from the front row. Both Brad Sweet and Brian Brown have proven that they are capable of challenging, Jason Johnson served notice tonight that he would like to defend his title even though he will have to do it from the ninth row and, if you haven't already heard, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi has given Wednesday's winner Kyle Larson permission to fly back from Michigan after practice to start ninth for the fifty lap main event.
Who will win the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals? Come join us and find out first hand!
With the top four finishers qualifying for positions seventeen through twenty in tomorrow night's finale, Friday's 25-lap main event was very important and it would be Jacob Allen being perhaps a surprise leader of the opening lap. Johnson, who started outside of Allen on row one, raced to the lead on lap two just before the red flag waved when Lynton Jeffrey tipped over in turn three after getting up on the inside berm.
The only damage was to the wings so after a quick change in the work area Jeffrey rejoined the field for the restart. Johnson would pull away from Allen while Jeffrey would have his newly replaced top wing collapse just a couple of laps later sending him to the pits. With Johnson driving away Allen was doing his best to try to stay in the top four as Aaron Reutzel chased him, while the man to watch was Allen's Shark Racing teammate Logan Schuchart. Starting from row six Schuchart was on the move cracking the top four and not letting up there as he was then up to second with ten laps remaining.
What a story line it would have been if the two underfunded World of Outlaws regulars could have made the show on Saturday, but when Allen got sideways in turn four and then hopped up onto the berm in order to save it with eight laps remaining he quickly dropped out of third and eventually faded to twelfth at the checkers.
Johnson would win this one going away with Schuchart in second while second row starters Aaron Reutzel and Cory Eliason also transferred to Saturday's headliner finishing third and fourth respectively. Chad Kemenah tried to run down Eliason over the final five laps, but could not get to him in fifth as Spencer Bayston, Sheldon Haudenschild, Brooke Tatnell, Tim Kaeding and Sammy Swindell rounded out the top ten.
After his victory lane celebration wrapped up Jason Johnson would line up fourth for the twenty-lap Speed Sport World Challenge where the winner, if not already qualified for Saturday's A-Main, would lock himself into the big show. Front row starters James McFadden and Thomas Kennedy both needed that "golden ticket" and it would be McFadden taking the lead at the start. Kennedy, who switched to his own equipment tonight, had his night come to an early end when something popped under the hood on lap five when he was running a strong second.
Shortly after the restart Johnson would drive under McFadden for the lead and, just like he had a half hour earlier, Jason would open up a large gap on the field. McFadden would do his best to keep pace and as the laps wound down, with the leader now working traffic, he started to close back in. With two laps remaining Johnson had three cars racing for position front of him and when he showed his patience that allowed McFadden to close in quickly and he had a run at Johnson coming to the white flag. However, when he caught the berm coming off four that squelched McFadden's momentum and he could not make a run on Johnson who earned his second checkered flag of the night.
McFadden's second place run will help his checkbook, but he will start from fourth in tomorrow's C-Main. Brad Sweet made a late charge up to third and he just might be your dark horse for Saturday night. Dominic Scelzi was fourth and Brian Brown continued to show that he has the speed to win this week by passing Lynton Jeffrey late for fifth.
The field is now set for Saturday night with David Gravel and Donny Schatz starting from the front row. Both Brad Sweet and Brian Brown have proven that they are capable of challenging, Jason Johnson served notice tonight that he would like to defend his title even though he will have to do it from the ninth row and, if you haven't already heard, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi has given Wednesday's winner Kyle Larson permission to fly back from Michigan after practice to start ninth for the fifty lap main event.
Who will win the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals? Come join us and find out first hand!
Gravel's Perfect Score First Since '92 at Knoxville Nationals
In 1992 Steve Kinser tallied a perfect score of 500 points on his qualifying night of the Knoxville Nationals; 200 points for setting quick time, 100 for winning his heat race from a full invert of ten cars, and then winning the feature from the eighth starting spot. Back then, while still impressive, it was not an uncommon feat, but even with the domination by one driver over the past decade nobody has done it again until Thursday night when David Gravel swept the night and then perhaps motivated the lion by pointing out in victory lane that Donny Schatz had not achieved what he just had.
The eighth car out to qualify Gravel laid down the fastest lap of the night at 15.072 and othat would start him eighth in the first heat as the number of cars inverted was changed several years ago when it was agreed upon that the competition had become more balanced throughout the field. The advantage of running the first heat is that the track above the cushion is ironed in after qualifying so drivers have an opportunity, at least for the first few laps, to run above the cushion and use the entire track which is exactly what Gravel did. Running "four high", or with all four wheels above the cushion, Gravel literally flew by the competition and even after taking the lead on lap four he continued to use the high line around the speedway to take the convincing win.
Gravel would line up eighth for the 25-lap main event, a race that had trouble getting started as on the first try a pair of 41's got together in turn four. Defending Nationals champion Jason Johnson started fourth, but got shuffled back through turns one and two so far that when the tenth starting Dominic Scelzi spun in turn four, Johnson made contact and the resulting damage was enough to end his night. This would now slide Gravel up to the sixth position for the restart, but when the front row of Mark Dobmeier and Wayne Johnson could not settle on a common pace the next try was waved off. The third time would be a charm, especially for Gravel who flared out and pulled even with the fourth starting Brian Brown as the front row hit the chalk line and he would complete the first lap in fifth behind Dobmeier, Brooke Tatnell, Johnson and Daryn Pittman as Brown found himself shuffled back to seventh. Gravel would then steadily work his way to the front taking second away from Tatnell on lap eight and then two laps later as Dobmeier started to work traffic Gravel charged by him on the bottom of turn one to take the lead. Just behind them though Tatnell's right rear tire blew and the caution waved putting Dobmeier back on the point for the restart.
Brown lined up third and he was able to make a run at Gravel as the green flew allowing Dobmeier to get away a bit as his two primary challengers traded the second position. Once Gravel regained the spot he closed back in on the leader waiting for lapped traffic to come into play once again to make his challenge. That came on lap seventeen when Dobmeier had to choose a line into three as he closed on a pair of slower cars and with that split second of hesitation Gravel went flying by to take a lead that he would not relinquish. Brown made the pass of Dobmeier soon after and while he could keep Gravel in his sights over the final five laps he could not reel him in as the twenty-five-year-old driver from Connecticut completed the perfect night to earn the pole position for Saturday's Championship race.
Brown's runner-up finish will start him fifth on Saturday night while Dobmeier's third-place run lands him in the 13th starting spot on Saturday. Ian Madsen came from ninth to finish fourth locking him into Saturday's finale while Daryn Pittman's fifth-place finish will put him the seventh position on Saturday. Wayne Johnson was sixth, Terry McCarl seventh, Danny Dietrich finished eighth, while Spencer Bayston and Rico Abreu waged an entertaining battle through the final laps to complete the top ten.
5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals Thursday Notes......Bayston was allowed to compete again tonight after it was determined that the scales had an issue Wednesday when what would have been his third fastest time was wiped out for not meeting the minimum weight. Unlike Wednesday when he was one of the first few cars to take to the track in qualifying, Bayston went out in the second half of the field tonight and was 26th on the time charts. He then qualified fourth out of the first heat and with his ninth-place finish in the feature his Thursday point total ranked 30th sending him to Friday night's show......Sammy Swindell had a rough night after qualifying 17th. He looked to have Kyle Reinhardt passed in turn four on the final lap of the second heat race only to have Reinhardt nip him at the line by just 0.004 seconds. In the B-Main Sammy was losing positions quickly on the opening lap and then slowed in turn one while in the middle groove. The caution waved for him as Swindell continued to move and even though he was told to go the back, Sammy rode around a couple of laps trying to get back in his position before finally pulling into the infield.......Tim Kaeding had the field covered in the third heat race, but as he was exiting turn four to take the checkers his right rear tire exploded. Kaeding was somehow able to keep the car off of the guardrail and limped toward the finish line with only Thomas Kennedy beating him to it.......When Paige Polyak stepped out of line and pulled even with the car in front of her on the start of the fourth heat, it was called back for another try. On this one Brian Brown would get into the back of Polyak as the green flag waved causing his front end to hop and Brown then had to calm himself down to recover. He did just that working his way up from eighth to pass Don Droud Jr. with two laps to go for fourth and then Jason Johnson for third coming to the checkers......A pair of Aussies, Brooke Tatnell and James McFadden got together on the start of the fifth heat sending both drivers to the work area for repairs. Tatnell was able to recover and get qualified for the feature while McFadden would come up one spot short of transferring from the B-Main when he could not chase down Jason Sides in the final laps.
The top sixteen in Saturday's Championship main event is set and will look like this with of course the question being whether or not Kyle Larson will return to compete:
David Gravel - Donny Schatz
Brad Sweet - Kerry Madsen
Brian Brown - Terry McCarl
Daryn Pittman - Greg Hodnett
Kyle Larson - Shane Stewart
Austin McCarl - Paul McMahon
Mark Dobmeier - Rico Abreu
Ian Madsen - Wayne Johnson
The top four finishers in tonight's (Friday) main event will start 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th with the top four from Saturday's B-Main competing the field. Oh yes, and don't forget the "Golden Ticket" that will go to tonight's winner of the Speed Sport World Challenge so join us tonight for another night of exciting qualifying action at the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals!
The eighth car out to qualify Gravel laid down the fastest lap of the night at 15.072 and othat would start him eighth in the first heat as the number of cars inverted was changed several years ago when it was agreed upon that the competition had become more balanced throughout the field. The advantage of running the first heat is that the track above the cushion is ironed in after qualifying so drivers have an opportunity, at least for the first few laps, to run above the cushion and use the entire track which is exactly what Gravel did. Running "four high", or with all four wheels above the cushion, Gravel literally flew by the competition and even after taking the lead on lap four he continued to use the high line around the speedway to take the convincing win.
Gravel would line up eighth for the 25-lap main event, a race that had trouble getting started as on the first try a pair of 41's got together in turn four. Defending Nationals champion Jason Johnson started fourth, but got shuffled back through turns one and two so far that when the tenth starting Dominic Scelzi spun in turn four, Johnson made contact and the resulting damage was enough to end his night. This would now slide Gravel up to the sixth position for the restart, but when the front row of Mark Dobmeier and Wayne Johnson could not settle on a common pace the next try was waved off. The third time would be a charm, especially for Gravel who flared out and pulled even with the fourth starting Brian Brown as the front row hit the chalk line and he would complete the first lap in fifth behind Dobmeier, Brooke Tatnell, Johnson and Daryn Pittman as Brown found himself shuffled back to seventh. Gravel would then steadily work his way to the front taking second away from Tatnell on lap eight and then two laps later as Dobmeier started to work traffic Gravel charged by him on the bottom of turn one to take the lead. Just behind them though Tatnell's right rear tire blew and the caution waved putting Dobmeier back on the point for the restart.
Brown lined up third and he was able to make a run at Gravel as the green flew allowing Dobmeier to get away a bit as his two primary challengers traded the second position. Once Gravel regained the spot he closed back in on the leader waiting for lapped traffic to come into play once again to make his challenge. That came on lap seventeen when Dobmeier had to choose a line into three as he closed on a pair of slower cars and with that split second of hesitation Gravel went flying by to take a lead that he would not relinquish. Brown made the pass of Dobmeier soon after and while he could keep Gravel in his sights over the final five laps he could not reel him in as the twenty-five-year-old driver from Connecticut completed the perfect night to earn the pole position for Saturday's Championship race.
Brown's runner-up finish will start him fifth on Saturday night while Dobmeier's third-place run lands him in the 13th starting spot on Saturday. Ian Madsen came from ninth to finish fourth locking him into Saturday's finale while Daryn Pittman's fifth-place finish will put him the seventh position on Saturday. Wayne Johnson was sixth, Terry McCarl seventh, Danny Dietrich finished eighth, while Spencer Bayston and Rico Abreu waged an entertaining battle through the final laps to complete the top ten.
5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals Thursday Notes......Bayston was allowed to compete again tonight after it was determined that the scales had an issue Wednesday when what would have been his third fastest time was wiped out for not meeting the minimum weight. Unlike Wednesday when he was one of the first few cars to take to the track in qualifying, Bayston went out in the second half of the field tonight and was 26th on the time charts. He then qualified fourth out of the first heat and with his ninth-place finish in the feature his Thursday point total ranked 30th sending him to Friday night's show......Sammy Swindell had a rough night after qualifying 17th. He looked to have Kyle Reinhardt passed in turn four on the final lap of the second heat race only to have Reinhardt nip him at the line by just 0.004 seconds. In the B-Main Sammy was losing positions quickly on the opening lap and then slowed in turn one while in the middle groove. The caution waved for him as Swindell continued to move and even though he was told to go the back, Sammy rode around a couple of laps trying to get back in his position before finally pulling into the infield.......Tim Kaeding had the field covered in the third heat race, but as he was exiting turn four to take the checkers his right rear tire exploded. Kaeding was somehow able to keep the car off of the guardrail and limped toward the finish line with only Thomas Kennedy beating him to it.......When Paige Polyak stepped out of line and pulled even with the car in front of her on the start of the fourth heat, it was called back for another try. On this one Brian Brown would get into the back of Polyak as the green flag waved causing his front end to hop and Brown then had to calm himself down to recover. He did just that working his way up from eighth to pass Don Droud Jr. with two laps to go for fourth and then Jason Johnson for third coming to the checkers......A pair of Aussies, Brooke Tatnell and James McFadden got together on the start of the fifth heat sending both drivers to the work area for repairs. Tatnell was able to recover and get qualified for the feature while McFadden would come up one spot short of transferring from the B-Main when he could not chase down Jason Sides in the final laps.
The top sixteen in Saturday's Championship main event is set and will look like this with of course the question being whether or not Kyle Larson will return to compete:
David Gravel - Donny Schatz
Brad Sweet - Kerry Madsen
Brian Brown - Terry McCarl
Daryn Pittman - Greg Hodnett
Kyle Larson - Shane Stewart
Austin McCarl - Paul McMahon
Mark Dobmeier - Rico Abreu
Ian Madsen - Wayne Johnson
The top four finishers in tonight's (Friday) main event will start 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th with the top four from Saturday's B-Main competing the field. Oh yes, and don't forget the "Golden Ticket" that will go to tonight's winner of the Speed Sport World Challenge so join us tonight for another night of exciting qualifying action at the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals!
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Larson Wins Opener, Will He Come Back On Saturday?
Kyle Larson went flag-to-flag to win Wednesday night's opener of the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals and as he was celebrating in victory lane the burning question was whether or not the NASCAR Cup Championship contender would be able to return to compete in Saturday night's headliner.
Larson started Paul Silva's #57 from the pole for the 25-lap main event, but it was the driver to his right Austin McCarl who got the jump on the start and led the field into turn one. Larson powered by McCarl on the inside of turn four though to officially lead lap one as the opening night crowd kept an eye on Donny Schatz who quickly moved from eighth to fifth. The only caution of the race came on lap three when Parker Price-Miller slowed on the back stretch so that he could get to the work area and allow his Townline Variety crew to replace a broken front wing.
On the restart Schatz continued his march to the front driving past Greg Hodnett and then McCarl to then set his sights on the leader. With Larson working down low, Schatz tried the cushion and he was almost to within striking distance before lapped traffic came into play. Larson worked it like a pro though and Schatz could never get close enough to make a bid for the lead as Larson scored his third career victory here at the Knoxville Raceway. Schatz would earn the most points on the night with his second place finish, Greg Hodnett continued his strong trip to Iowa with a third place run, Brad Sweet tallied the second most points on the night after finishing fourth while Austin McCarl may well have locked himself into Saturday's finale by finishing fifth.
Kerry Madsen made a run at Schatz for third early on, but the night's fastest qualifier faded back to sixth at the checkers which was still good enough to rank him third in qualifying points for the evening. Shane Stewart was seventh and Paul McMahan posted a strong showing in eighth and that could put him in the top sixteen that will lock themselves into the Championship race after Thursday's qualifying. Another budding NASCAR star Christopher Bell finished ninth and Bill Balog came from the 18th starting spot to complete the top ten.
Wednesday Notes......Qualifying early was a definite advantage as Madsen was the first car on the clock, the second car out Lucas Wolfe was third quick and the third driver on the track A.J. Moeller was fifth......Moeller, the young driver from Rockwell City, Iowa, started eighth and finished eighth in his heat race, but when he is out front he is a rocket and he appeared to have a win in the B-Main within his grasp until something broke on the car sending him over the cushion and into the turn four guardrail with just four laps remaining......My pick for the Rookie of the Nationals, Spencer Bayston posted what was the second best lap at the time when he went out sixth, but he was then light at the scales dropping him all the way to the bottom of the list. The team, owned by Kevin Swindell, must have then decided to save their equipment for Friday night where a top four finish in the feature still locks you into Saturday night's finale (Thursday afternoon update: The Knoxville Raceway posted on its Facebook page today that the two drivers who were disqualified at the scales during qualifying, Bayston and Chase Wanner, have been offered the opportunity to qualify again tonight due to a diagnostic issue with the scales) .....Aaron Reutzel finished fourth in the first heat race, but was then disqualified for losing a muffler during the race. He too then packed it up for the night with Friday's new format allowing for a second chance.....Scott Bogucki was running a strong second in the third heat race before his engine let go allowing Paul McMahan to then fight off Lucas Wolfe for that fourth and final transfer spot.....The final transfer position from the B-Main came down to the final lap as Tim Shaffer raced around the outside of Sheldon Haudenschild to make the main event. Sheldon appeared to be in a position to slide up the track and shut the door on Shaffer in turns one and two, but instead held his line through the middle......Larson's full-time job has him racing at Michigan this weekend, a track that he runs very well at so it will be interesting to see if car owner Chip Ganassi will allow his Championship contender to fly back to Iowa to start mid-pack (Larson is fifth in points after night one) in a Sprint Car race that doesn't carry the meaning to him as much as it does to Kyle and all of us. The correct business decision would be to say "no", but we will see what happens......Meanwhile, barring dominating performances from two drivers on Thursday night, Donny Schatz will start from the front row of the Championship race and given his performance tonight I would say that he is ready to return to victory lane.
Thursday night's action gets underway with hot laps at 7:15 and if you have not experienced a Friday night at the Nationals under the new format, well then you are just missing out on some of the best racing you will see anywhere. Come join us at Knoxville!
Larson started Paul Silva's #57 from the pole for the 25-lap main event, but it was the driver to his right Austin McCarl who got the jump on the start and led the field into turn one. Larson powered by McCarl on the inside of turn four though to officially lead lap one as the opening night crowd kept an eye on Donny Schatz who quickly moved from eighth to fifth. The only caution of the race came on lap three when Parker Price-Miller slowed on the back stretch so that he could get to the work area and allow his Townline Variety crew to replace a broken front wing.
On the restart Schatz continued his march to the front driving past Greg Hodnett and then McCarl to then set his sights on the leader. With Larson working down low, Schatz tried the cushion and he was almost to within striking distance before lapped traffic came into play. Larson worked it like a pro though and Schatz could never get close enough to make a bid for the lead as Larson scored his third career victory here at the Knoxville Raceway. Schatz would earn the most points on the night with his second place finish, Greg Hodnett continued his strong trip to Iowa with a third place run, Brad Sweet tallied the second most points on the night after finishing fourth while Austin McCarl may well have locked himself into Saturday's finale by finishing fifth.
Kerry Madsen made a run at Schatz for third early on, but the night's fastest qualifier faded back to sixth at the checkers which was still good enough to rank him third in qualifying points for the evening. Shane Stewart was seventh and Paul McMahan posted a strong showing in eighth and that could put him in the top sixteen that will lock themselves into the Championship race after Thursday's qualifying. Another budding NASCAR star Christopher Bell finished ninth and Bill Balog came from the 18th starting spot to complete the top ten.
Wednesday Notes......Qualifying early was a definite advantage as Madsen was the first car on the clock, the second car out Lucas Wolfe was third quick and the third driver on the track A.J. Moeller was fifth......Moeller, the young driver from Rockwell City, Iowa, started eighth and finished eighth in his heat race, but when he is out front he is a rocket and he appeared to have a win in the B-Main within his grasp until something broke on the car sending him over the cushion and into the turn four guardrail with just four laps remaining......My pick for the Rookie of the Nationals, Spencer Bayston posted what was the second best lap at the time when he went out sixth, but he was then light at the scales dropping him all the way to the bottom of the list. The team, owned by Kevin Swindell, must have then decided to save their equipment for Friday night where a top four finish in the feature still locks you into Saturday night's finale (Thursday afternoon update: The Knoxville Raceway posted on its Facebook page today that the two drivers who were disqualified at the scales during qualifying, Bayston and Chase Wanner, have been offered the opportunity to qualify again tonight due to a diagnostic issue with the scales) .....Aaron Reutzel finished fourth in the first heat race, but was then disqualified for losing a muffler during the race. He too then packed it up for the night with Friday's new format allowing for a second chance.....Scott Bogucki was running a strong second in the third heat race before his engine let go allowing Paul McMahan to then fight off Lucas Wolfe for that fourth and final transfer spot.....The final transfer position from the B-Main came down to the final lap as Tim Shaffer raced around the outside of Sheldon Haudenschild to make the main event. Sheldon appeared to be in a position to slide up the track and shut the door on Shaffer in turns one and two, but instead held his line through the middle......Larson's full-time job has him racing at Michigan this weekend, a track that he runs very well at so it will be interesting to see if car owner Chip Ganassi will allow his Championship contender to fly back to Iowa to start mid-pack (Larson is fifth in points after night one) in a Sprint Car race that doesn't carry the meaning to him as much as it does to Kyle and all of us. The correct business decision would be to say "no", but we will see what happens......Meanwhile, barring dominating performances from two drivers on Thursday night, Donny Schatz will start from the front row of the Championship race and given his performance tonight I would say that he is ready to return to victory lane.
Thursday night's action gets underway with hot laps at 7:15 and if you have not experienced a Friday night at the Nationals under the new format, well then you are just missing out on some of the best racing you will see anywhere. Come join us at Knoxville!
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Simpson, Kile and Plummer Dominate West Liberty's Tuesday Show
Three drivers put on dominant performances as Coors Light, through Fleck Distributing, and Arnie Ranta Motorsports presented the annual Open Late Model Shootout at the West Liberty Raceway Tuesday night. A large crowd was on hand as the Farley Speedway Promotions crew not only booked Late Model legend Scott Bloomquist for the evening, they also made arrangements for Brian Birkhofer to take a brief break from his retirement to thrill his fans at the track where he made his first laps.
For the second night in a row Birkhofer, driving the Arnie Ranta Motorpsorts car #30, would set quick time over the sixteen car field and he would then draw the number one pill for a straight up start the remainder of the evening. The reason for the #30 on the car? Brian had stated the night before in Farley that the #15B had been retired so he went with the number of his favorite basketball player, Steph Curry.
Birkhofer would start on the pole of a stacked first heat, but would fade to sixth at the finish as Chris Simpson took the win. This would then put Simpson on the pole for the forty-lap $10,000-to-win main event and even with Bloomquist lined up directly behind him Simpson quickly opened up a comfortable lead. A slowing Jay Johnson would bring out the first caution of the event on lap seven and Simpson would again drive away from the field on the restart.
Joel Callahan's right rear tire shredded on lap twenty-four and as Chris pulled away once again on the restart his brother Chad Simpson did battle with Bloomquist for second. Chad would gain the advantage for a couple of laps before Bloomquist took back the position and by then the leader was more than a straightaway ahead as Chris Simpson completely dominated this race. Bloomquist was a distant second followed by Chad Simpson, Rodney Sanders came from tenth to fourth while Monday's winner at Farley, Spencer Diercks was fifth. Birkhofer was passing cars over the last half of the race and finished sixth after starting eleventh, Brent Larson was seventh, Tyler Bruening eighth, Denny Eckrich was ninth and Matt Furman filled out the top ten.
Nick Marolf was the other heat race winner on the night and he was impressive racing in the third position for several laps before fading and then dropping out of the event.
A solid field of eighteen Modifieds were on hand, but when Kurt Kile finally had some luck in a redraw they would all be chasing him for twenty-five laps. Until tonight it seems that I am always writing about Kile starting in the fifth or sixth row and then racing his way into a top-five finish, but after starting second here he was unchallenged on his way to a convincing victory. Jeff Waterman and Brandon Banks literally raced each other throughout the entire distance and, up until lap seventeen when Derrick Stewart drove around them both, it was for the second position. At the checkers it would be Waterman who prevailed in the battle to finish third behind Kile and Stewart, Banks took fourth and young Jarrett Brown completed the top five.
Colton Livezy would lead the opening laps of the twenty-lap main event for the Sport Mods before Tim Plummer drove around him on the outside going down the front stretch on lap four. The race would then be delayed by three different cautions on lap ten before Plummer again left the field in his wake. One final caution waved with two laps remaining when Cory Van Zante and Ryan Walker tangled in turn one while racing for fifth and on the restart there would be no challenge to Plummer as he eased on in for the win ahead of Dalton Simonson and Charlie Weber. Cody Harris would hold down the fourth spot while Van Zante used the top shelf to pass five cars in those final two laps to get back to fifth.
I'm sure that there was, and will be much discussion as to how to get more than sixteen cars for a $10,000-to-win Open Late Model show here in eastern Iowa, just like there was last year after this event and even earlier this year when the MARS West crew pulled out of the Slocum 50, just as they did at this event. We might just have to accept the fact that first, there just aren't very many open cars in Iowa anymore, and second that the open late model drivers that are to the east and south of us are used to racing on little bullrings that make West Liberty look like the dirt equivalent of Talladega. Short counts are not just happening here as there was a $5,000-to-win Super Late Model race in Kentucky this past weekend that only drew nine cars and even the Friday night MARS West event at Lebanon's Midway Speedway in the heart of their southwest Missouri region had only seventeen.
Creative promoting like bringing in Bloomquist and getting Birkhofer back on the track for a couple of nights packed the stands and, from what I saw of the people in attendance on Tuesday night, they were plenty happy with what they saw.
Tonight kicks off the 57th Annual Five Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals and you will find coverage of all four nights here on the Back Stretch!
For the second night in a row Birkhofer, driving the Arnie Ranta Motorpsorts car #30, would set quick time over the sixteen car field and he would then draw the number one pill for a straight up start the remainder of the evening. The reason for the #30 on the car? Brian had stated the night before in Farley that the #15B had been retired so he went with the number of his favorite basketball player, Steph Curry.
Birkhofer would start on the pole of a stacked first heat, but would fade to sixth at the finish as Chris Simpson took the win. This would then put Simpson on the pole for the forty-lap $10,000-to-win main event and even with Bloomquist lined up directly behind him Simpson quickly opened up a comfortable lead. A slowing Jay Johnson would bring out the first caution of the event on lap seven and Simpson would again drive away from the field on the restart.
Joel Callahan's right rear tire shredded on lap twenty-four and as Chris pulled away once again on the restart his brother Chad Simpson did battle with Bloomquist for second. Chad would gain the advantage for a couple of laps before Bloomquist took back the position and by then the leader was more than a straightaway ahead as Chris Simpson completely dominated this race. Bloomquist was a distant second followed by Chad Simpson, Rodney Sanders came from tenth to fourth while Monday's winner at Farley, Spencer Diercks was fifth. Birkhofer was passing cars over the last half of the race and finished sixth after starting eleventh, Brent Larson was seventh, Tyler Bruening eighth, Denny Eckrich was ninth and Matt Furman filled out the top ten.
Nick Marolf was the other heat race winner on the night and he was impressive racing in the third position for several laps before fading and then dropping out of the event.
A solid field of eighteen Modifieds were on hand, but when Kurt Kile finally had some luck in a redraw they would all be chasing him for twenty-five laps. Until tonight it seems that I am always writing about Kile starting in the fifth or sixth row and then racing his way into a top-five finish, but after starting second here he was unchallenged on his way to a convincing victory. Jeff Waterman and Brandon Banks literally raced each other throughout the entire distance and, up until lap seventeen when Derrick Stewart drove around them both, it was for the second position. At the checkers it would be Waterman who prevailed in the battle to finish third behind Kile and Stewart, Banks took fourth and young Jarrett Brown completed the top five.
Colton Livezy would lead the opening laps of the twenty-lap main event for the Sport Mods before Tim Plummer drove around him on the outside going down the front stretch on lap four. The race would then be delayed by three different cautions on lap ten before Plummer again left the field in his wake. One final caution waved with two laps remaining when Cory Van Zante and Ryan Walker tangled in turn one while racing for fifth and on the restart there would be no challenge to Plummer as he eased on in for the win ahead of Dalton Simonson and Charlie Weber. Cody Harris would hold down the fourth spot while Van Zante used the top shelf to pass five cars in those final two laps to get back to fifth.
I'm sure that there was, and will be much discussion as to how to get more than sixteen cars for a $10,000-to-win Open Late Model show here in eastern Iowa, just like there was last year after this event and even earlier this year when the MARS West crew pulled out of the Slocum 50, just as they did at this event. We might just have to accept the fact that first, there just aren't very many open cars in Iowa anymore, and second that the open late model drivers that are to the east and south of us are used to racing on little bullrings that make West Liberty look like the dirt equivalent of Talladega. Short counts are not just happening here as there was a $5,000-to-win Super Late Model race in Kentucky this past weekend that only drew nine cars and even the Friday night MARS West event at Lebanon's Midway Speedway in the heart of their southwest Missouri region had only seventeen.
Creative promoting like bringing in Bloomquist and getting Birkhofer back on the track for a couple of nights packed the stands and, from what I saw of the people in attendance on Tuesday night, they were plenty happy with what they saw.
Tonight kicks off the 57th Annual Five Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals and you will find coverage of all four nights here on the Back Stretch!
Monday, August 7, 2017
Brown Sets Sail To Win Weld Racing Capitani Classic
While other drivers seemed to be married to the bottom Brian Brown would set sail on the high side around the Knoxville Raceway Sunday night and, after a spirited race with Greg Hodnett, the popular driver who was among those featured in a fitting tribute to the late Ralph Capitani went on to win the race that honors the legendary promoter. This was the 6th Annual Capitani Classic at the Knoxville Raceway, but the first since Cappy had passed away in February.
Sixty-nine 410 Sprint Cars signed in on the evening to once again make it the best single night value in the sport and the qualifying action was intense as only twenty-four drivers would start the 25-lap main event. Using the head-to-head two lap dash Pole Shuffles to set the first four rows of the headliner, Kerry Madsen and Greg Hodnett would start from the front row with Hodnett snaring the early lead.
Caution waved on lap three when Lynton Jeffrey spun in turn one and on the restart Hodnett had a new challenger in Brian Brown. Brown had started eighth on the grid, but immediately went to the top and had quickly made his way to second before the caution and when the field went back to green that high side run continued to work as Brown took over the lead on lap four. Hodnett would battle back though to take the lead on lap six and the two drivers then thrilled the crowd with a back and forth battle between two drivers, and two grooves, with Hodnett digging down low and Brown sailing around the cushion.
Brown would have the edge once again on lap eleven and as he started to put some distance on Hodnett, Kerry Madsen came back into play taking the second spot on lap fifteen. Madsen was cutting into Brown's lead little by little, but it was clear that he would run out of laps until the caution waved with just two to go when the right rear tire on Spencer Bayston's #39 exploded in turns three and four.
Both Madsen and Hodnett were primed to get one last shot at the leader on the restart, but there would be no catching Brown who continued to ride the cushion to a convincing victory. Madsen would finish in the second spot while Brad Sweet slipped past Hodnett to take third. Austin McCarl closed out a solid run in fifth after starting tenth, Ian Madsen came from the seventh row to finish sixth, Joey Saldana had a solid showing in seventh, Danny Dietrich was eighth, Chad Kemenah ninth and Davey Heskin charged to tenth after starting in the 24th and final position.
Cappy Notes.....Non-wing ace Kevin Thomas Jr. drove the Indy Race Parts #71 and made the show running 18th......Cory Eliason, the young driver out of California, thrilled the crowd by winning three Pole Dashes in a row over Brown, Sammy Swindell and Chad Kemenah to start fifth in the main event. Eliason would drive Harley Van Dyke's #5H to a twelfth place finish in the feature......Don Droud Jr. was the only driver to come from outside of the four car invert to make the top three transfer from a heat race. When everybody in front of him went to the bottom at the start of the fourth heat race, the sixth-starting Droud went to the cushion and made it all the way to second before Eliason dropped him back to third at the checkers. This forced Daryn Pittman and Group 2 fast qualifier Tim Shaffer to run the second B-Main where Shaffer was nipped in the final laps by Davey Heskin for the final transfer......Keep your eye on Spencer Bayston this week. Driving the Kevin Swindell owned #39 Bayston pounded the cushion to race to the win in the sixth heat race and will be my pick to be the Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year.
The night started with this well produced video tribute to Ralph Capitani who passed away earlier this year and I know that I was not the only one who had tears in my eyes as the large crowd watched it on the large video screens. It took me back to the memories that I had of this great man from first getting to know him as a young columnist for Hawkeye Racing News and then as the "taxi cab" announcer that IMCA brought with them for a couple of Summer Series events at Knoxville. It was such a thrill when I answered the phone one morning in March of 1998 and the gruff sounding voice on the other end said, "Jeff, this is Ralph Capitani. Would you be interested in announcing at the Knoxville Raceway on a weekly basis this season?"
There was no way that I was going to say "no"!
He will be missed by so many, but his legend and what we now have to enjoy through his leadership will always live on.
Cappy!
Sixty-nine 410 Sprint Cars signed in on the evening to once again make it the best single night value in the sport and the qualifying action was intense as only twenty-four drivers would start the 25-lap main event. Using the head-to-head two lap dash Pole Shuffles to set the first four rows of the headliner, Kerry Madsen and Greg Hodnett would start from the front row with Hodnett snaring the early lead.
Caution waved on lap three when Lynton Jeffrey spun in turn one and on the restart Hodnett had a new challenger in Brian Brown. Brown had started eighth on the grid, but immediately went to the top and had quickly made his way to second before the caution and when the field went back to green that high side run continued to work as Brown took over the lead on lap four. Hodnett would battle back though to take the lead on lap six and the two drivers then thrilled the crowd with a back and forth battle between two drivers, and two grooves, with Hodnett digging down low and Brown sailing around the cushion.
Brown would have the edge once again on lap eleven and as he started to put some distance on Hodnett, Kerry Madsen came back into play taking the second spot on lap fifteen. Madsen was cutting into Brown's lead little by little, but it was clear that he would run out of laps until the caution waved with just two to go when the right rear tire on Spencer Bayston's #39 exploded in turns three and four.
Both Madsen and Hodnett were primed to get one last shot at the leader on the restart, but there would be no catching Brown who continued to ride the cushion to a convincing victory. Madsen would finish in the second spot while Brad Sweet slipped past Hodnett to take third. Austin McCarl closed out a solid run in fifth after starting tenth, Ian Madsen came from the seventh row to finish sixth, Joey Saldana had a solid showing in seventh, Danny Dietrich was eighth, Chad Kemenah ninth and Davey Heskin charged to tenth after starting in the 24th and final position.
Cappy Notes.....Non-wing ace Kevin Thomas Jr. drove the Indy Race Parts #71 and made the show running 18th......Cory Eliason, the young driver out of California, thrilled the crowd by winning three Pole Dashes in a row over Brown, Sammy Swindell and Chad Kemenah to start fifth in the main event. Eliason would drive Harley Van Dyke's #5H to a twelfth place finish in the feature......Don Droud Jr. was the only driver to come from outside of the four car invert to make the top three transfer from a heat race. When everybody in front of him went to the bottom at the start of the fourth heat race, the sixth-starting Droud went to the cushion and made it all the way to second before Eliason dropped him back to third at the checkers. This forced Daryn Pittman and Group 2 fast qualifier Tim Shaffer to run the second B-Main where Shaffer was nipped in the final laps by Davey Heskin for the final transfer......Keep your eye on Spencer Bayston this week. Driving the Kevin Swindell owned #39 Bayston pounded the cushion to race to the win in the sixth heat race and will be my pick to be the Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year.
The night started with this well produced video tribute to Ralph Capitani who passed away earlier this year and I know that I was not the only one who had tears in my eyes as the large crowd watched it on the large video screens. It took me back to the memories that I had of this great man from first getting to know him as a young columnist for Hawkeye Racing News and then as the "taxi cab" announcer that IMCA brought with them for a couple of Summer Series events at Knoxville. It was such a thrill when I answered the phone one morning in March of 1998 and the gruff sounding voice on the other end said, "Jeff, this is Ralph Capitani. Would you be interested in announcing at the Knoxville Raceway on a weekly basis this season?"
There was no way that I was going to say "no"!
He will be missed by so many, but his legend and what we now have to enjoy through his leadership will always live on.
Cappy!
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Underdog Garner Captures 360 Knoxville Nationals
Despite being a seven-time track champion in the 360 division at the Knoxville Raceway Clint Garner still considers himself to be an underdog when it comes to the annual 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and rightfully so. The Sioux Falls based driver races once a week here from April through August and in this race he lines up with drivers who do this for a living, some racing year round if a trip to Australia is in the mix, so when Garner points out that he can count on one hand how many times he has passed Wayne Johnson in his career, or how many times he has passed Danny Lasoski, or Sammy Swindell or Brian Brown you can understand why, in this event, he truly is an underdog. And as the large crowd in attendance showed both in the pre-race introductions, as well as the post-race celebration, everybody loves an underdog!
Garner earned the pole position for the 25-lap championship feature starting alongside two-time 360 Nationals champion Wayne Johnson and when the green flag waved Johnson would pinch Garner down to the berm exiting turn two to take the lead. As this happened though, Friday night's winner Greg Hodnett spun in turn two to wipe out that start and the field was reset with Hodnett dropping from the inside of row four to the back.
On this start Garner would beat Johnson to turn one to take the lead while the driver to watch in the opening laps was Brian Brown. Starting on the outside of row six Brown had an amazing start driving around the two rows in front of him before even reaching the flag stand and his charge to the front would continue blowing past Tim Shaffer for fifth entering turn three on lap five. When Brown jumped the cushion though in turn four that allowed Shaffer to drive back under him and the two would then battle for the position over the next six laps before Brown could get back around Shaffer for fifth.
Meanwhile the top four of Garner, Johnson, Jamie Ball and Aaron Reutzel were getting away with Garner looking solid until the mid-race point when Calvin Landis slowed and pulled to the infield at the exit of turn four. Apparently without brakes Landis then coasted through the work area and back out onto the front straight before coming to a stop on the track to cause a most unusual caution and, as it would turn out, the only caution of the race.
Johnson had a run on the restart, but when Garner went to the bottom to block Johnson had to back off allowing Ball to move to second on the cushion in turns one and two. Johnson would battle back though as both he and Brown dropped Ball back to fourth and the lead that Garner had quickly built up started to fade away. As Johnson looked for a faster line to make his final bid for the lead he would jump the cushion in turn one allowing Brown to get a run on him and take second away with four laps to go. That exchange allowed Garner to get away once again and while Brown was able to close the gap a bit over the final laps there would be no catching Clint Garner on this night as he captured his first 360 Knoxville Nationals crown.
Brown noted afterward that it just would not have been right for a driver like Garner, who has been so dominant here over the years, to go without a 360 Nationals championship, so while he was pleased with his run from twelfth to second he was also happy for the man who had beat him tonight. Johnson had to settle for the third spot, Aaron Reutzel finished fourth while Jamie Ball had a nice run in fifth. Christopher Bell drove his Tony Stewart Racing entry to a sixth place finish ahead of Sam Hafertepe Jr. who had lined up thirteenth for the restart. Jeff Swindell came from fourteenth to eighth, Tim Shaffer was ninth and Greg Hodnett battled back to tenth leaving us all to wonder what might have been if not for the opening lap spin.
In preliminary action Lee Grosz went the distance to win the D-Main while the C-Main was absolutely stacked with talent both young and old, male and female. Joey Saldana driving the Indy Race Parts car #71 would take the win ahead of Sammy Swindell who was amazingly back in action after his grinding crash on Thursday night. Tyler Groenendyk finished third, Chad Kemenah was fourth with Jordyn Brazier fifth. McKenna Haase thrilled the crowd on a mid-race restart driving past several drivers including Kemenah and Tony Stewart as the young lady locked in a transfer to the B in sixth. And, due to the fact that Ryan Roberts, had scratched from the B-Main after taking hot laps, the seventh-place finisher in the C-Main would also transfer and it would be Stewart taking the position with a final lap pass of Jared Horstman.
When infield announcer Mike Roberts then made his way over to Stewart's pits to get his thoughts, "Smoke" said, "I just need to get some laps around here, everything that I did in the C was wrong so we are going to try something new. If you've never seen a monkey screwing a football, watch me in this B-Main."
Classic!
Five cars would come out of the B-Main to go to the Championship and had there been a yellow in this 15-lapper things could have been very interesting as both Saldana and Swindell made big moves early only to find themselves just too far behind with too few laps to get to the front. Dusty Zomer is getting settled back into the Buffalo Wild Wings ride and he would win the B going away. Jason Martin would take second away from Matt Moro in the closing laps while Terry McCarl would then nip Moro at the line for third. Taylor Malsam would secure the fifth and final transfer after passing Rager Phillips mid-race. Davey Heskin would come up one spot short in sixth as Saldana came from seventeenth to seventh.
The 305 Sprint Cars ran a full show in support tonight and while the car count was light at fourteen, most were capable of taking the win so the racing was solid. Eric Bridger set quick time and landed on the pole position for the 15-lap main event, a race that he would lead easily until lap eight when Joe Simbro looped his car in turn four. On the restart Matthew Stelzer found the high line to his liking as he was able to keep pace with Bridger and with just two laps remaining Stelzer would drive around the leader on the outside. Giving up the line that got him to the front Stelzer then went low to block and when he slipped off the bottom in turn three Bridger stormed right back to the front to be the first to see the white flag. Going back to the top side Stelzer made one last run, but he could not complete the pass before Bridger reached the checkers for his second win during this, his rookie campaign. Stelzer would take second as Kade Higday made a big run following the restart to go from seventh to third. Tyler Glass finished fourth and Ryan Leavitt was fifth.
With a threat of rain in the area track officials started the show a bit earlier than usual and then kept things humming along all night with the final checkers waving at 9:28 p.m. Action continues tonight, Sunday, as the 410's take over with the annual Capitani Classic, perhaps the best value in Motorsports when you consider the large car count, the talent level and the price of admission. Hope to see you there!
Garner earned the pole position for the 25-lap championship feature starting alongside two-time 360 Nationals champion Wayne Johnson and when the green flag waved Johnson would pinch Garner down to the berm exiting turn two to take the lead. As this happened though, Friday night's winner Greg Hodnett spun in turn two to wipe out that start and the field was reset with Hodnett dropping from the inside of row four to the back.
On this start Garner would beat Johnson to turn one to take the lead while the driver to watch in the opening laps was Brian Brown. Starting on the outside of row six Brown had an amazing start driving around the two rows in front of him before even reaching the flag stand and his charge to the front would continue blowing past Tim Shaffer for fifth entering turn three on lap five. When Brown jumped the cushion though in turn four that allowed Shaffer to drive back under him and the two would then battle for the position over the next six laps before Brown could get back around Shaffer for fifth.
Meanwhile the top four of Garner, Johnson, Jamie Ball and Aaron Reutzel were getting away with Garner looking solid until the mid-race point when Calvin Landis slowed and pulled to the infield at the exit of turn four. Apparently without brakes Landis then coasted through the work area and back out onto the front straight before coming to a stop on the track to cause a most unusual caution and, as it would turn out, the only caution of the race.
Johnson had a run on the restart, but when Garner went to the bottom to block Johnson had to back off allowing Ball to move to second on the cushion in turns one and two. Johnson would battle back though as both he and Brown dropped Ball back to fourth and the lead that Garner had quickly built up started to fade away. As Johnson looked for a faster line to make his final bid for the lead he would jump the cushion in turn one allowing Brown to get a run on him and take second away with four laps to go. That exchange allowed Garner to get away once again and while Brown was able to close the gap a bit over the final laps there would be no catching Clint Garner on this night as he captured his first 360 Knoxville Nationals crown.
Brown noted afterward that it just would not have been right for a driver like Garner, who has been so dominant here over the years, to go without a 360 Nationals championship, so while he was pleased with his run from twelfth to second he was also happy for the man who had beat him tonight. Johnson had to settle for the third spot, Aaron Reutzel finished fourth while Jamie Ball had a nice run in fifth. Christopher Bell drove his Tony Stewart Racing entry to a sixth place finish ahead of Sam Hafertepe Jr. who had lined up thirteenth for the restart. Jeff Swindell came from fourteenth to eighth, Tim Shaffer was ninth and Greg Hodnett battled back to tenth leaving us all to wonder what might have been if not for the opening lap spin.
In preliminary action Lee Grosz went the distance to win the D-Main while the C-Main was absolutely stacked with talent both young and old, male and female. Joey Saldana driving the Indy Race Parts car #71 would take the win ahead of Sammy Swindell who was amazingly back in action after his grinding crash on Thursday night. Tyler Groenendyk finished third, Chad Kemenah was fourth with Jordyn Brazier fifth. McKenna Haase thrilled the crowd on a mid-race restart driving past several drivers including Kemenah and Tony Stewart as the young lady locked in a transfer to the B in sixth. And, due to the fact that Ryan Roberts, had scratched from the B-Main after taking hot laps, the seventh-place finisher in the C-Main would also transfer and it would be Stewart taking the position with a final lap pass of Jared Horstman.
When infield announcer Mike Roberts then made his way over to Stewart's pits to get his thoughts, "Smoke" said, "I just need to get some laps around here, everything that I did in the C was wrong so we are going to try something new. If you've never seen a monkey screwing a football, watch me in this B-Main."
Classic!
Five cars would come out of the B-Main to go to the Championship and had there been a yellow in this 15-lapper things could have been very interesting as both Saldana and Swindell made big moves early only to find themselves just too far behind with too few laps to get to the front. Dusty Zomer is getting settled back into the Buffalo Wild Wings ride and he would win the B going away. Jason Martin would take second away from Matt Moro in the closing laps while Terry McCarl would then nip Moro at the line for third. Taylor Malsam would secure the fifth and final transfer after passing Rager Phillips mid-race. Davey Heskin would come up one spot short in sixth as Saldana came from seventeenth to seventh.
The 305 Sprint Cars ran a full show in support tonight and while the car count was light at fourteen, most were capable of taking the win so the racing was solid. Eric Bridger set quick time and landed on the pole position for the 15-lap main event, a race that he would lead easily until lap eight when Joe Simbro looped his car in turn four. On the restart Matthew Stelzer found the high line to his liking as he was able to keep pace with Bridger and with just two laps remaining Stelzer would drive around the leader on the outside. Giving up the line that got him to the front Stelzer then went low to block and when he slipped off the bottom in turn three Bridger stormed right back to the front to be the first to see the white flag. Going back to the top side Stelzer made one last run, but he could not complete the pass before Bridger reached the checkers for his second win during this, his rookie campaign. Stelzer would take second as Kade Higday made a big run following the restart to go from seventh to third. Tyler Glass finished fourth and Ryan Leavitt was fifth.
With a threat of rain in the area track officials started the show a bit earlier than usual and then kept things humming along all night with the final checkers waving at 9:28 p.m. Action continues tonight, Sunday, as the 410's take over with the annual Capitani Classic, perhaps the best value in Motorsports when you consider the large car count, the talent level and the price of admission. Hope to see you there!
Friday, August 4, 2017
Hodnett Bests Friday Field At 360 Nationals
Veteran driver Greg Hodnett drove under young Trey Starks on lap eight and never looked back winning by a full straightaway on night number two of the Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Friday. Despite the convincing qualifying night victory, Hodnett will start seventh in Saturday night's championship event.
Starks and Brian Brown made up the front row for tonight's twenty-lap main event and despite the star studded field behind them you had to figure that Brown, the 2014 winner of this event, would be the man to beat. It was the young driver from the Pacific northwest, Trey Starks that would lead lap one though before Brown put the slider on him in turns one and two on the second trip around the historic half-mile. With Brown working the bottom, Starks stayed up on the cushion and appeared to have a run on the leader before the caution waved on lap four after a spin by Sawyer Phillips in turn three.
On the restart Starks was able to regain the lead bringing the fifth starting Greg Hodnett with him as Brown was shuffled back to third. Hodnett then applied the pressure and Starks was able to fight off the challenge for two laps before Hodnett motored by on the inside in turn two on lap eight. The caution waved one more time on lap ten when Parker Price-Miller, driving the Townline Variety #67, slowed with mechanical issues and on the restart there was no staying with Hodnett who pulled away over the final ten laps to take the victory.
Brown used the mid-race restart to slip past Starks and he would come home second while Starks posted an impressive podium finish in third. Quick qualifier on the night, Clint Garner finished in the fourth position and his point total will put him on the pole for the championship A-Main on Saturday night. The ageless Jeff Swindell had a strong showing in fifth, Dusty Zomer is settling back into the Buffalo Wild Wings car with a sixth place finish, Nate Van Haaften closed out a solid evening in seventh and he will start third in Saturday's finale. Wayne Johnson's eighth place feature finish scored him enough points to start to the outside of Garner in Saturday's main event, while Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Christopher Bell both needed a transfer out of the B-Main to finish ninth and tenth.
Friday Notes......If you are looking for Thursday's story here on the Back Stretch you are not going to find it as I was in Washington DC on business, returning just in time to catch tonight's action......It definitely paid to go out early to qualify tonight as the first three drivers to hit the track qualified fourth (Stu Snyder), third (Christopher Bell) and first (Clint Garner) respectively......The first heat race had an incident at the start when contact broke the front end on Brooke Tatnell's #63. Tatnell had missed the six car invert after qualifying late in the forty-eight car field and his bad luck continued later in the B-Main when the front mounts on his top wing broke causing the wing to flip over backwards while staying attached to the car. This came mid-race after he had advanced several positions after starting in the back......In the second heat race Ryan Giles ran off to a big win while Wayne Johnson had to wonder if Jason Martin had a rear view mirror in his car. Martin literally used the entire track to hold off Johnson for the second spot while Greg Hodnett passed Chad Kemenah with three laps remaining to earn the fourth and final transfer spot, a move that would allow him to later win the night's feature race......Trey Starks also had to make a late move to earn the fourth and final transfer from the third heat, but his came in a different way as Christopher Bell had pulled even with him on the high side exiting turn four coming to the white flag. Starks drove deep into turn one though to slide up in front of the current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point leader and when Bell tried to cross him over coming off the bottom of turn two Starks nearly forced Bell into the infield before he backed off entering turn three......In the fourth heat Matt Juhl appeared to have a transfer position locked up before his right front tire blew in turn four coming to the withe flag. That caused him to veer right and into the turn four guardrail bringing out the caution and moving Sawyer Phillips into that fourth spot. Phillips had lined up eighth on the grid, but let's just say that he was three-wide and coming with the third row as the green flag waved to start the heat and just before Juhl's misfortune Phillips had put a slider on McKenna Haase to take fifth.....Chris Martin caught a break in the fifth heat when Dylan Peterson's car went up in smoke late in the race. Not only did it allow Martin to go from fifth to fourth, but as Peterson slowed Joey Saldana who had been challenging Martin for position had to hit the binders to keep from making contact.......The B-Main was a star-studded affair that would only see four drivers move on to the back of tonight's feature and current Lucas Oil ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr, flexed his muscles coming from the fourth starting spot to take the win......Christopher Bell, driving Tony Stewart's second car for the weekend, finished in second, Terry McCarl was third and following a restart with just four laps to go Chad Kemenah came from ninth to fourth to make the A-Main.......After getting away with it in his heat race, Phillips again edged his way forward before the green flag waved in the feature splitting the middle of the row in front of him Jared Horstman and Scott Bogucki. Lined up right behind Phillips in row eleven, Bell also passed a few cars before the start.......Following Phillips' spin on lap eight he was obviously not happy with Bogucki as Sawyer repeatedly poked him in the rear bumper while Bogucki was likely a bit peeved with Phillips for making his row three-wide at the start. They would go at it again while under the lap ten caution......During the post-race media conference Hodnett noted that a change in schedule for the Dream race out east, plus the fact that he is well out of all points races this year is the reason why they decided to come out a week earlier for the 360 Nationals.....Brian Brown was very complimentary of both Hodnett and Starks noting that Greg, who like Brown is a bit taller than most sprint car drivers, had given Brian his first driver's suit many years ago and then touted Starks as one of the young guns to watch after saying that he got his first chance to get to know him just two nights ago when they were racing each other quite hard out at the Slidewayz Karting Center.......Looking ahead to Saturday night's action Ian Madsen announced on social media tonight that his team had a change of plans as they would now head south to Pevely's I-55 World of Outlaws show since they had "hurt" their 360 engine on Thursday night. Ian is slated to start eighteenth in the A-Main, so that will likely mean that five cars will now transfer out of Saturday's B feature. After being the top point man on Thursday night, Jamie Ball's total of 473 was only good enough for fourth after both nights concluded.
The field is now set for the 27th Annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and the 305 Sprints will join the action as well on Saturday night. Hope to see you in Knoxville!
Starks and Brian Brown made up the front row for tonight's twenty-lap main event and despite the star studded field behind them you had to figure that Brown, the 2014 winner of this event, would be the man to beat. It was the young driver from the Pacific northwest, Trey Starks that would lead lap one though before Brown put the slider on him in turns one and two on the second trip around the historic half-mile. With Brown working the bottom, Starks stayed up on the cushion and appeared to have a run on the leader before the caution waved on lap four after a spin by Sawyer Phillips in turn three.
On the restart Starks was able to regain the lead bringing the fifth starting Greg Hodnett with him as Brown was shuffled back to third. Hodnett then applied the pressure and Starks was able to fight off the challenge for two laps before Hodnett motored by on the inside in turn two on lap eight. The caution waved one more time on lap ten when Parker Price-Miller, driving the Townline Variety #67, slowed with mechanical issues and on the restart there was no staying with Hodnett who pulled away over the final ten laps to take the victory.
 |
| Greg Hodnett (27) takes the lead away from Trey Starks - Barry Johnson photo |
Brown used the mid-race restart to slip past Starks and he would come home second while Starks posted an impressive podium finish in third. Quick qualifier on the night, Clint Garner finished in the fourth position and his point total will put him on the pole for the championship A-Main on Saturday night. The ageless Jeff Swindell had a strong showing in fifth, Dusty Zomer is settling back into the Buffalo Wild Wings car with a sixth place finish, Nate Van Haaften closed out a solid evening in seventh and he will start third in Saturday's finale. Wayne Johnson's eighth place feature finish scored him enough points to start to the outside of Garner in Saturday's main event, while Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Christopher Bell both needed a transfer out of the B-Main to finish ninth and tenth.
Friday Notes......If you are looking for Thursday's story here on the Back Stretch you are not going to find it as I was in Washington DC on business, returning just in time to catch tonight's action......It definitely paid to go out early to qualify tonight as the first three drivers to hit the track qualified fourth (Stu Snyder), third (Christopher Bell) and first (Clint Garner) respectively......The first heat race had an incident at the start when contact broke the front end on Brooke Tatnell's #63. Tatnell had missed the six car invert after qualifying late in the forty-eight car field and his bad luck continued later in the B-Main when the front mounts on his top wing broke causing the wing to flip over backwards while staying attached to the car. This came mid-race after he had advanced several positions after starting in the back......In the second heat race Ryan Giles ran off to a big win while Wayne Johnson had to wonder if Jason Martin had a rear view mirror in his car. Martin literally used the entire track to hold off Johnson for the second spot while Greg Hodnett passed Chad Kemenah with three laps remaining to earn the fourth and final transfer spot, a move that would allow him to later win the night's feature race......Trey Starks also had to make a late move to earn the fourth and final transfer from the third heat, but his came in a different way as Christopher Bell had pulled even with him on the high side exiting turn four coming to the white flag. Starks drove deep into turn one though to slide up in front of the current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point leader and when Bell tried to cross him over coming off the bottom of turn two Starks nearly forced Bell into the infield before he backed off entering turn three......In the fourth heat Matt Juhl appeared to have a transfer position locked up before his right front tire blew in turn four coming to the withe flag. That caused him to veer right and into the turn four guardrail bringing out the caution and moving Sawyer Phillips into that fourth spot. Phillips had lined up eighth on the grid, but let's just say that he was three-wide and coming with the third row as the green flag waved to start the heat and just before Juhl's misfortune Phillips had put a slider on McKenna Haase to take fifth.....Chris Martin caught a break in the fifth heat when Dylan Peterson's car went up in smoke late in the race. Not only did it allow Martin to go from fifth to fourth, but as Peterson slowed Joey Saldana who had been challenging Martin for position had to hit the binders to keep from making contact.......The B-Main was a star-studded affair that would only see four drivers move on to the back of tonight's feature and current Lucas Oil ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr, flexed his muscles coming from the fourth starting spot to take the win......Christopher Bell, driving Tony Stewart's second car for the weekend, finished in second, Terry McCarl was third and following a restart with just four laps to go Chad Kemenah came from ninth to fourth to make the A-Main.......After getting away with it in his heat race, Phillips again edged his way forward before the green flag waved in the feature splitting the middle of the row in front of him Jared Horstman and Scott Bogucki. Lined up right behind Phillips in row eleven, Bell also passed a few cars before the start.......Following Phillips' spin on lap eight he was obviously not happy with Bogucki as Sawyer repeatedly poked him in the rear bumper while Bogucki was likely a bit peeved with Phillips for making his row three-wide at the start. They would go at it again while under the lap ten caution......During the post-race media conference Hodnett noted that a change in schedule for the Dream race out east, plus the fact that he is well out of all points races this year is the reason why they decided to come out a week earlier for the 360 Nationals.....Brian Brown was very complimentary of both Hodnett and Starks noting that Greg, who like Brown is a bit taller than most sprint car drivers, had given Brian his first driver's suit many years ago and then touted Starks as one of the young guns to watch after saying that he got his first chance to get to know him just two nights ago when they were racing each other quite hard out at the Slidewayz Karting Center.......Looking ahead to Saturday night's action Ian Madsen announced on social media tonight that his team had a change of plans as they would now head south to Pevely's I-55 World of Outlaws show since they had "hurt" their 360 engine on Thursday night. Ian is slated to start eighteenth in the A-Main, so that will likely mean that five cars will now transfer out of Saturday's B feature. After being the top point man on Thursday night, Jamie Ball's total of 473 was only good enough for fourth after both nights concluded.
The field is now set for the 27th Annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and the 305 Sprints will join the action as well on Saturday night. Hope to see you in Knoxville!
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