Twenty-one year old Carson Macedo was already a rising star in the world of open wheel racing having won the King of the West 410 Series in 2015, picking up three USAC Midget wins with Keith Kunz Motorsports in 2016 and winning twelve times last year in Joe Gaerte's #3G 410 car. This year has been solid as well driving for Gaerte as the young Californian currently ranks second in the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions point standings, just four points behind Aaron Reutzel, but what he has done and who he has done it for over the past five nights has vaulted him to superstar status.
Stepping into the Jason Johnson Racing #41 for two weeks at Knoxville, Macedo won in his debut on Friday night of the 360 Nationals and then appeared to have Saturday night's finale well in hand until Terry McCarl found a different line that worked better in the final three laps. Still, standing on the podium at Knoxville with McCarl and Brian Brown was quite impressive and on Sunday night Macedo was again the runner-up, this time to World of Outlaws regular Brad Sweet in the Capitani Classic for the 410's.
With the JJR team skipping the two events at Oskaloosa, Macedo had a night off on Monday before being asked to drive Tony Stewart's #14 in Tuesday's Lucas Oil ASCS National Series event at the Ultimate Challenge and just like that the phenom was ready to add to his star power. A battle for position in his heat race with sixty-two year old Sammy Swindell gave the crowd a thrill as Carson completed the pass for second by pinching off Swindell from the bottom as they entered turn one and despite the fact that it was a maneuver that the legend has used thousands of times over his career Sammy made sure that Macedo knew how he felt about it after the checkered flag. The crowd loved it.
Under the ASCS passing points system that pass for second would land Macedo on the outside of the second row for the twenty-five lap main event while Swindell was the last of the sixteen drivers who qualified for the A from the heats. Another California visitor Willie Croft would start from the pole position and he would lead lap one only to have Macedo sweep around him on the outside of turn four coming to score lap two. The caution would wave before they reached the line though as Gio Scelzi had coasted to a halt after smoke billowed from the engine of the Indy Race Parts #71.
On the restart Croft was able to hold off Macedo for a lap before the caution waved again when fourth running Jack Dover spun in turn three apparently after his front wing collapsed. A quick trip to the work area for repairs then put Dover at the back for the restart.
Again Croft got a nice run into turn one, but Macedo had Stewart's Textron #14 cranking on the cushion in turns three and four and he would race to the lead officially on lap three. Croft would keep pace with the new leader and as traffic came into play he was able to get to within a few car lengths only to have Macedo again put some separation between them. John Carney II was on the move after starting sixth and he would pass Croft with a handful of laps remaining and after making up ground on the leader shortly after taking second, Carney's run leveled off and Macedo would have nearly a full straightaway advantage as he took the checkered flag. Croft was solid in finishing third, Blake Hahn came from thirteenth to fourth and Trey Starks was fifth after starting tenth. National series regulars Wayne Johnson, Johnny Herrera and Seth Bergman were next in line while Paul Nienheiser and Shane Golobic completed the top ten.
The POWRi WAR Wild Card Series non-wing sprints were also on the card and for all intents and purposes this one was decided coming out of turn two on the opening lap of the first heat race. Pole-sitter Austin Sears slid sideways in front of the field and clipped the right rear of Kevin Thomas Jr.'s car turning him hard right. Thomas stayed upright, but the scramble behind saw the cars of Katlynn Leer and Brandon Stevenson tangle and tumble together with Mitch Wissmiller also involved. All drivers were okay, yet obviously frustrated with Sears and after the long delay to tow each car to the pits Thomas was one of the four cars able to restart.
KTJ would win easily after originally starting fifth, but with Mitchell Davis running second after starting the race from the eighth position he would have more passing points than Thomas. Why is this significant? Well a challenge had been put out that if the top point getter chose to start from the rear he, or she, would then get an extra $1,200 if they could go on to win and Thomas had already stated before the event had started that he would accept the challenge if he had the opportunity. That would have made the twenty-five lap feature much more interesting!
As it was Dylan Kadous and Isaac Chapple would start from the front row with Thomas and Davis in row three due to the six car invert. At the drop of the green Thomas would quickly move to third and as the field rumbled down the back stretch for the first time contact from Thomas would send Kadous for a full spin. Cars behind him jumbled up, but when Kadous continued on it looked like the race would stay green except for the fact that poor Katlynn Leer was again upside down, a tough night for the young lady who had to be excited about racing so close to her home in Moulton.
On the restart Chapple would lead the first three laps before Thomas dove under him in turn one and the rout was on. Lapping cars all the way up to the fifth spot before the caution waved on lap twenty, Thomas was in full control driving his Indy Race Parts car #71. The same car that he will put a wing on for this week's 410 Nationals. The caution was for Kadous who had a loose tail tank and with the Series rules where lapped cars stay in line, in this case it really didn't matter that Thomas had a six car cushion on the restart as he drove away to the dominating victory. Riley Kreisel had a great battle with Chapple for second mid-race and was very happy to be the runner-up to the 2017 non-wing Sprint Car driver of the year. Zach Daum finished third, Chapple was fourth and point leader Landon Simon was the final car on the lead lap in fifth.
Once again Terry McCarl and his entire team delivered two fun nights of racing with the Osky Challenges just down the road from Knoxville and we are now ready for the main course with tonight's first of two qualifying nights at the 58th Annual Knoxville Nationals. Plenty of good seats remain, especially for Wednesday and Thursday's action that in my opinion are the two most intriguing nights of racing that you will see all year. Hope that you will join us on the Back Stretch!
No comments:
Post a Comment