What was supposed to be two nights of USMTS Modified action
turned into a night of Outlaws and a night of Modifieds after Mother Nature
left the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson a quagmire for Friday night.
The rain had pulled out of central Iowa early enough on
Friday for the Knoxville Raceway to get dry enough to host over fifty cars for
night number one of the World of Outlaws weekend at the storied facility. A
nice crowd was on hand to witness the action and it was the first time that the
Outlaws were running at Knoxville using their new minimum weight rule. One
theory of the weight rule is that it will give the local drivers a better
chance to compete when the Outlaws come to town and it was a little different
to see drivers such as Craig Dollansky and Mark Kinser qualify mid-pack while
Calvin Landis and Skip Jackson cracked the top eleven. But it still matters how
you “race” and when the night was in the books, Dollansky finished seventh,
Kinser had an off-night for him taking twelfth while Landis finished fifteenth
in the A-Main and Skip failed to move out of the B-Main with an eighth-place
run.
Some of the “locals” did fare very well with Brooke Tatnell
making a late charge to nip Travis Cram for the sixth spot while Kerry Madsen
faded from a pole position start to take eighth behind Dollansky. My shoe
selling sprint car guru told me before the night started that when the Outlaws
come to Knoxville, other than Nationals time, the winner would come from a
short list of four that included Steve, Mark, Jac and, of course, The Dude.
Lasoski worked the half-mile like a master Friday night dodging heavy traffic
and teasing Donny Schatz who was just close enough to see the J.D. Byrider,
Home Depot #20 the entire race. Schatz held the same type of advantage over
Steve Kinser who, in turn, kept Tim Shaffer a safe distance back throughout the
entire distance. The battle was for fifth and Tyler Walker would have likely
earned that spot if not for what happened with two laps to go. Dollansky and
Cram were racing for fifth in turn four with Walker closing fast, but when
there was contact coming off of the turn Walker had to jump on the binders and
spin to avoid disaster. The green-white-checker restart was exactly what
Tatnell needed to steal away fifth while it was only enough time for Walker to
get back up to eleventh.
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| The Outlaws go four-wide at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo |
Justin Henderson was impressive once again apparently
qualifying from his heat race, but when it was discovered that one of his
mufflers had fallen off he was disqualified. Henderson came back to finish
seventh in the B-Main, but only the top four of Joey Saldana, Kraig Kinser,
Tyler Walker and Daryn Pittman transferred. Outlaw regulars Jeff Shepard and
Jac Haudenschild failed to make the A-Main. Is it time to cut that list to
three guru?
Forty-eight Modifieds crowded into the Scotland County
Speedway in Memphis on Saturday night looking for a top prize of $2,000. The
week-long rains left the track nice and soft and by the third Modified heat
race it became evident that track conditions would play a major role in the
outcome. As usual, there were places on the track where a driver could run to
avoid the ruts, but it was the rough area that seemed to propel the drivers to
the front. That is as long as they hit just the right spots. Al Hejna was
locked in a tight battle with his brother Mike, as well as Darin Walker during
the twenty-five lap main event, with all three drivers holding the lead at some
point during a two-lap segment. Al was able to stay fast and relatively smooth
while his competitors fell by the wayside. Mike had a right front wheel break
off, while Walker had something break in the rear suspension.
Bruce Hanford tried to mount a challenge down the stretch,
but there was no stopping Hejna from picking up his first career USMTS victory.
Hanford was still pretty happy with the runner-up check while Tommy Myer came
from the rear of the field to take home third.
Support class action was very entertaining as well. In the
Stock Cars Ryan Cook and Brad Pinkerton waged a side-by-side battle until
Pinkerton caught the guardrail on the backstretch. This set up a familiar scene
for this writer as Ryan’s brother Jason Cook closed in for a challenge during
the final laps, but on this night it was Ryan who prevailed in the Cook
brothers’ one-two sweep. Chris Wibbell had the Hobby Stock field covered until
just a few laps from the checkers when he lost his right rear wheel and rolled
a couple of times in turn four. Jim Walker was so far back that he didn’t know
why Wibbell’s car sat damaged when he came through the turn and on the restart
he pulled away to take the checkered flag.
The Scotland County Fairboard has continued to make
improvements to this facility that had been shuttered for several years before
roaring back to life about five years ago. With the grandstands packed for
opening night it looks like the races are the place to be around Memphis on a
Saturday night, and isn’t that the way it is supposed to be? We hope to get
back there again this year.
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