Heskin is THE Man!

Knoxville:
Davey Heskin could win the Knoxville track championship in 2012. I said that a couple of weeks ago and I’ll keep saying it. The kid is good, has good equipment, and last Saturday he drove like a veteran as he made his way through lapped traffic and when the track took rubber he found it and held off a hard charging Brian Brown and Terry McCarl at the end. Very impressive win and I can sense he is hungry for more and he is growing in confidence.

Heskin is qualifying well, racing well, and now winning. He is the brightest rising star in sprint car racing in my opinion. Just hope I don’t jinx him by saying all that. HaHa!

Wayne Johnson has won a 410 and a 360 feature at Knoxville. The 410 win was certainly with the help of the invert draw to put him on the front row, but Wayne finds his way to the front even when he starts back 6 rows. Good to see him doing well and in some good equipment.

Terry McCarl is solid as ever and will be with Heskin, Zomer, Dobmeier, to the end in the 410 points race. Look for T-Mac to win soon in his Larry the Cable Guy BBQ sauce car.

Ian Madsen is third in 410 points at the moment. Ian has certainly become an improved driver from a few years ago and I think he can stay close to the top five at the end of the season.

Dustin Selvage has looked good, as has Bronson Maeschen. Just a good field of cars at Knoxville this year.

Clint Garner is already out to a 144 point lead in the 360 class and we’re only three races into the season. He is the best driver, with the best equipment in that class, and when he drove by Jason Johnson two weeks ago for the win it was cool.

Larry Ball Jr. should walk away with the 305 points. This class seems down this year compared to 2011 when we had Carson McCarl, Jaymie Ball, and Tasker Phillips all racing for wins. Now we have one or two fast cars and twenty cars that are a step down. And lengthening the laps of the 305 feature from 12 to 15 this year is a bad idea. Yes, those guys need laps to improve, but it hasn’t added to the entertainment value of the races and they’re eating up the racing surface for the 410 cars which is the main reason most people are there.

I’m a geek when it comes to digging into the Knoxville Nationals history and stats. The past few weeks I’ve been sifting through all sorts of information and finding some cool and weird things. Follow me @KnoxvilleNats as I will be posting some stats, photos, facts, etc. there on twitter.

Oskaloosa-Southern Iowa Speedway:
Seen some good races the past few weeks at Osky with their weekly IMCA shows. This past Wednesday night was a SportMod special 20 lap race paying $500 to win. It also included a pit stop on lap 10 for teams to make adjustments and change one tire. Scott VanBuskirk took the lead from Racer Hulin on lap four and set sail. But Curtis Van Der Wal clawed his way up from his eleventh starting spot into third at halfway, and then took the lead on lap 14, only to have VanBuskirk take it away with two laps to go and get the win. SportMod point’s leader Jesse Sobbing broke the driveline on the first lap, and with him starting twelfth he would have made a good race even better I have a feeling.

Cayden Carter in Modified, Nathan Wood in Stock Car, and Shannon Anderson in Hobby Stock all seem to have a good hold on their class points chases. In Modified Shane Weller and Brandon Banks will be there competing til the end. But we’ve seen the car count in this class dwindle a bit the past couple of weeks as some drivers (such as Richie Gustin) have decided not to run full time at Osky. The big half mile is just too hard on their engines.

Shannon Anderson is the man to beat in Hobby Stock for sure. He was involved in a crash last week and it took away his cushy point lead, but a win this week will extend it some more. Donavan Nunnikhoven has been able to get some wins and has been Anderson’s toughest competitor. John Watson, Kevin Fee, Dustin Griffiths, Eric Stanton, Bill Bonnett, and Danny Thrasher have been vigorously competing in the top ten and week in and week out these guys have put on a great show.

Marshalltown Speedway:
I have been able to make it to Marshalltown for a couple of races this season. Two weeks ago both the stock car and modified class winners came from the fifth row when Brian Irvine and Ronn Lauritzen won their races. Adam Larson and Jimmy Gustin should have a close battle for the Modified point’s race there.

KXV Outlaw Report

The World of Outlaws event at Knoxville Raceway last Saturday was a good show. The A-Main was good as Brian Brown lead the first 14 laps until Sammy Swindell used some lapped traffic to take the point and pull away. Sammy looked really good in the feature, it was like he was lurking for the first half of the race and then turned it up a notch.

To begin the night I was a little disappointed the track wasn’t faster in time trials as only three cars timed in under 15 seconds, and the luck of the draw was critical as Joey Saldana was quick time after coming out ninth. Kerry Madsen was second quick (3rd) and Craig Dollansky was third quick (1st). Sammy went out 12th and qualified 16th which was the last spot in the heat inverts. If Ryan Bunton would have been 0.028 seconds quicker, Sammy would have been 17th and buried in the feature. Bout time Sammy had some luck come his way at Knoxville, and that ultimately is what won the feature for him. Sammy won his heat, went from tenth to seventh in the dash, and was in the top three in the feature in no time before he went on to win.

Qualifying is everything in the World of Outlaws format. The heat races only saw one car outside the top two rows advance to the feature as Dusty Zomer raced his way into the show as he passed Dollansky to get into a top four transfer, but since Dollansky timed in the top two he was locked into the Dash regardless. Zomer was rewarded with not having to run the B main and with the 21st starting position in the A main. Good thing he raced his way in from the heat or he would have started… oh yeah in 21st anyway. Zomer went from 21st to seventh in the A main. Jason Sides advanced from 23rd to eighth to take the hard charger award. See how lucky you were Sammy?

Random thoughts:
I was surprised that Saldana went from third to fourth in the feature, and Schatz went from 15th to sixth. Schatz made it to the front at the Nationals last year from that far back.

I think Craig Dollansky is a good pick to win the Nationals. (Sammy is the favorite.)

Brian Brown was impressive but I think he just over drove the car trying to chase down Sammy and fell back to fourth. Still a good run for the Casey’s/FVP team.

Danny Lasoski quietly went from eleventh to fifth. He’s still good.

The King has lost his edge at Knoxville the past few years, Steve Kinser started 12th and finished 11th. He raced a lot with Terry McCarl who started tenth and finished 10th.

Davey Heskin continues to impress me more and more. I think he has a legit shot to win the 410 track championship.

Trey Starks is a 16 year old kid from Washington who had a great showing in his first trip to Knoxville. He was one of the last cars to time trial and qualified ninth, won his heat, third in the dash, and dropped to 16th in the feature. But a helluva showing, especially timing so well late in the order.

What's the deal with the WoO not weighing cars after heat races? If it smells like BS....

I felt for Josh Higday on Saturday night as he won the 360 feature and was disqualified for a unapproved tire that was legal a few years ago but isn’t any longer. Had to hurt for him as he worked hard to put his own team together this year. Nate VanHaafton inherited the win, and he is looking smoother all the time. Carson McCarl drove from 11th to fourth in his first 360 race. Hopefully these guys can give Clint Garner a run this year for the 360 track championship who was second on Saturday behind VanHaafton.

Off the track there was a lot of talk about Cody Darrah. Apparently there is a fan out there with a twitter account mocking Darrah and well, he turned up at the same hotel in Knoxville that the KKR crew was staying and Darrah ended up in cuffs for assault. The track was able to arrange bail so Darrah could race. I feel sad for Cody Darrah, not sorry, but sad. Be professional and don’t stoop to the level of people who have nothing better to do than to talk trash like that. I’m sure it’s aggravating, but assaulting someone isn’t the way to solve things. Darrah is under unrealistic expectations from fans and the media because he drives for Kasey Kahne. For guys like Saldana, Schatz, and Meyers, it took them five years to be a competitive and winning races consistently. Why is Darrah expected to be any different? It’s a lot of pressure to be in Cody Darrah’s shoes I’m sure. Hopefully Cody learns from this and it all works out. And hopefully this race fan learned something too. Don’t tweet words your mouth can’t cash.

Can’t wait for this weekend, it should be warmer!