Weekend #3 Recap

Finally! I needed a rain-free race weekend. Apparently so did a lot of other fans. Knoxville Raceway kicked off its 56th season in front of one of the largest opening night crowds I've seen.

The World of Outlaws made their first trip to the Marion County Fairgrounds Saturday. As a bonus, several teams for the ASCS National Touring Series made their way from a rained out Friday show in Illinois to run with the Knoxville 360s. There were 47 cars in the 410 ranks, and 57 360s.

My take...

World of Outlaws
-Donny Schatz set quick time and ended up winning the feature. What a surprise! Currently there are no other drivers that have Knoxville figured out like Schatz. Come August he'll still be the man to beat.

-I wasn't able to watch any of the 360 heats, but the 410 heats were not the most entertaining. The groove was up high and everyone followed each other on the top. Not much passing and most of the leaders checked out.

-Brian Brown had a fast car, winning his heat, the dash and starting on the pole for the feature. We were hoping for to see Brown win the feature, but he just wasn't able to hold off Terry McCarl who eventually took the lead on lap 15. Brown settled for fourth behind Schatz, McCarl and Steve Kinser who used a late re-start to slip by for third. Brown was the highest finishing Knoxville regular and will definitely be a factor in the Knoxville 410 Championship Cup Series this year.

-Interestingly Schatz was one of the only cars able to run the bottom. He started seventh but quickly moved up. On lap 21 he overtook McCarl for the race lead. Just after taking the white flag on lap 24, the yellow came out. On the restart Schatz proved too strong and coasted to an easy feature victory.

-Craig Dollansky put on a great performance, and lived up to his nickname of "Crowd Pleaser". After a hotly contested B feature win, Dollansky started 22nd in the A and raced his way to a 9th place finish.

-It was a tough night for the Nebraska 410 drivers. Don Droud Jr. qualified 46th and ended his night in the C main. Billy Alley's night ended after pulling out of the B man, and Seth Brahmer flipped on the front chute during his heat race.

World of Outlaws A Feature Results
1. 15-Donny Schatz
2. 24 Terry McCarl
3. 11-Steve Kinser
4. 21-Brian Brown
5. R19-Jac Haudenschild
6. 6-Danny Lasoski
7. 41-Jason Johnson
8. 7S-Jason Sides
9. 7-Craig Dollansky
10. 14-Jason Meyers
11. 1X-Randy Hannagan
12. 9-Joey Saldana
13. 83-Tim Kaeding
14. 2W-Johnny Herrera
15. 21AU-Brooke Tatnell
16. 55-Kerry Madsen
17. 14AJ-Wayne Johnson
18. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
19. 17G-Dusty Zomer
20. 5W-Lucas Wolf
21. 20-Kraig Kinser
22. 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
23. 1-Bonson Maeshen
24. 2-Skip Jackson
25. 70-Calvin Landis
26. 10J-Lynton Jeffrey

Knoxville Championship Cup Series 360s

-It was somewhat of an upset victory. Oklahoma driver Matt Covington won his first ever in a 360 sprinter. The 19 year old looked like a veteran and ran a great race. Covington started outside of row two, and after a slick move at the bottom of one took the lead and never looked back.

-Clint Garner started in the 5th row and eventually finished second.

-Nebraska drivers in the 360 class had a much better outing. Chad Humston won his heat race and finished 6th in the A Feature. Ryan Roberts won his heat and finished 4th in the Feature. Josh Riggins finished 18th in the B.

-Former Eagle regular Jay Russell qualified for the A and finished 19th.

KCCS 360s
1. 95-Matt Covington
2. 40-Clint Garner
3. 11X-Gregg Bakker
4. 18-Ryan Roberts
5. 54-Jon Agan
6. 1M-Chad Humston
7. 12M-Brett Mather
8. 20-Dennis Moore Jr.
9. 4J-Lee Grosz
10. 15-Jon Corbin
11. 99-Brady Bacon
12. 27-Jody Rosenboom
13. 3S-Matt Sutton
14. Y2-Mike Houseman Jr.
15. 5T-Mark Toews
16. 22N-Nate Mosher
17. 84-Ben Wagoner
18. 80X-CJ Houseman
19. 76-Jay Russell
20. 7L-Darren Long

It was a great atmosphere in Knoxville on Saturday. I'm looking forward to being back there this weekend for NOS Energy Drink night.