Dollansky Wins Week 2 at Knoxville!

Night two of the Knoxville Raceway season was a busy one with all three classes competing once again.  The weather was the same temperature as last week but cloudy instead of sunny.  We saw outsiders Jeff Swindell and Ryan Roberts enter in the 360 class and on the 410 side we gained Wayne Johnson and Cap Henry, but we missed Brian Brown and Robert Bell.  Judging by Robert’s Facebook page he is contemplating retirement.  Danny Lasoski was out on the road with the World of Outlaws in the Roth 83 once again, but I have a hunch he is at Knoxville this weekend.  Don Droud Jr. and the Sonner 47 team struggled to get the car running all night.  With weather popping up on the radar to the west during the 360 feature  and sprinkles coming down the 410 feature was pushed off immediately to beat the weather.  The rain held off just long enough and the show was completed at 10:31pm.   

 

 

410 Report
Top 10 Qualifying:  Justin Henderson set quick time with a lap of 15.218 (118.3 mph), followed by Tatnell, Jeffrey, Madsen, Maeschen, McCarl, Dobmeier, Dollanksy, Johnson, Henry.

Dobs qualified in the top ten once again, it appears Guy Forbrook has found the right combination for qualifying. Dollansky has timed tenth and eighth the past weeks.  Not bad, but probably not good enough by his standards.  He has struggled with his qualifying setup at Knoxville the past year or so but I have a feeling he will improve in the coming weeks.

Heat winners were Selvage, Heskin, and Schneiderman. All three heats were won by front row starters.  Heat one was the best race of the night with Dusty Zomer missing the heat invert and having to race his way into a transfer position. Zoom Zoom made a good move to pass Cole Wood on the last lap.  In heat three Clint Garner broke and Larry Ball Jr. drove from ninth to fifth to earn a spot in the A-main.

Craig Dollansky - Jeff White photo

In the A-Main Craig Dollansky led the race wire to wire. The bottom groove seemed to fade away and the cushion was the fast way around.  The leaders stayed single file early.  On lap nine Dobmeier crashed in turn two while running second and trying to maneuver around the lapped car of Garrett Dollansky.  On the restart McCarl tried a slider on Dollansky entering turn one but Dollansky snuck by on the outside exiting turn two.  The race for third was a battle the rest of the way, Jeffrey had the position on the lap nine restart but was passed by both Henderson and Maeschen.  Jeffrey battled back and he and Maeschen put on a great show.  As the leaders caught lapped cars McCarl continued to close on Dollansky.  On lap 15 Garrett Dollansky spun in turn two and the field restacked.  Two laps later Maeschen made contact with the inside berm in turn one and spun while racing for fourth with Jeffrey.  On the last restart McCarl tried another slider in turn one but Dollansky once again had the momentum off of turn two and led down the back stretch and took the win.  Jeffrey battled back around Henderson for the third position.

410 A Main Finish (started): 1. Craig Dollansky (1); 2. Terry McCarl (3); 3. Lynton Jeffrey (6); 4. Justin Henderson (8); 5. Ian Madsen (5); 6. Wayne Johnson (9); 7. Davey Heskin (15); 8. Dustin Selvage (12); 9. Brooke Tatnell (7); 10. Cole Wood (19); 11. Dusty Zomer (17); 12. Cap Henry (10); 13. Josh Schneiderman (16); 14. RJ Johnson (13); 15. Ryan Bunton (11); 16. Mike Moore (21); 17. Bronson Maeschen (4); 18. Larry Ball Jr. (18); 19. Tasker Phillips (20); 20. Chris Martin (23); 21. Bob Weuve (22); 22. Dakota Hendrickson (24); 23. Garrett Dollansky (14); 24. Mark Dobmeier (2).

360 Report
Billy Alley was the man on this night. He set quick time at 16.036 (112.2 mph).  Henderson was second quick followed by Agan, Cornell, and Russ Hall.  Heat winners were Tom Lenz (front row), Jamie Ball (second row), and Jarrod Schneiderman (front row).  Jeff Swindell had an illegal left rear tire in qualifying and was forced to start last in his heat, but raced up to second and made the transfer to the A main.

The top 8 cars redrew their starting positions.  The top eight 410 cars will do a redraw next week.  Billy Alley benefitted from the redraw greatly as he would have started eighth with the typical weekly format, but he drew the number one to start on the pole and he took advantage by leading all 15 laps of the A-main. 

Billy Alley - Eric Arnold photo

As Alley drove away and dominated this race there was plenty of action behind him.  Russ Hall held the second position most of the race but lapped traffic held him up and Agan went by on lap 8.  Carson McCarl crashed hard on the front stretch on lap nine when a car slowed in front of him and he had nowhere to go but up and over a right rear tire.  Thankfully Carson was OK.  Jamie Ball had a great restart and passed Henderson for fifth and was reeling in Beaver for fourth, but he made contact with the turn two fence while chasing Beaver and broke the right rear suspension and rolled to a stop in turn three to bring out a caution on lap eleven.  With four laps remaining the running order was Alley, Agan, Hall, Beaver, Henderson, Nate VanHaaften, and Landis. Henderson used the restart to his advantage and was able to squeak by Hall for third at the end.  Jeff Swindell was the hard charger coming from 18th to finish ninth.

360 A Main Finish (started): 1. Billy Alley (1); 2. Jon Agan (5); 3. Justin Henderson (6); 4. Russ Hall (2); 5. Joe Beaver (3); 6. Nate Van Haaften (4); 7. Calvin Landis (10); 8. Matt Moro (16); 9. Jeff Swindell (18); 10. Jarrod Schneiderman (12); 11. Tony Shilling (17); 12. Dylan Peterson (11); 13. Tom Lenz (13); 14. Matt Juhl (14); 15. Mike Houseman Jr. (21); 16. CJ Houseman (22); 17. Tyler Groenendyk (24); 18. Mike Van Haaften (15); 19. John Hall (23); 20. Jonathan Cornell (19); 21. Jamie Ball (7); 22. Jordan Boston (25); 23. Carson McCarl (8); 24. David Hall (20); 25. Ryan Roberts (9).

305 Report
Mike Philben was quick time 17.380 (103.5 mph).  Heat winners were Kade Higday (started 4th), Matthew Stelzer (4th), and J Kinder (4th). Stelzer ran away with this race but Higday was lurking with Breazeale running third.  Breazeale

Matthew Stelzer - Eric Arnold photo

305 A Main (started): 1. Matthew Stelzer (1); 2. Kade Higday (2); 3. Steve Breazeale (7); 4. J Kinder (9); 5. Stacey Alexander (16); 6. Steve Palmer (14); 7. Mitchell Alexander (12); 8. Kevin Hetrick (13); 9. Chris Walraven (3); 10. Keoni Texeira (6); 11. Chris Horton (15); 12. McKenna Haase (11); 13. Jeff Wilke (5); 14. Tanner Edwards (4); 15. Mike Mayberry (10); 16. Bob Hildreth (18); 17. Mike Philben (8); 18. Lee Patterson (22); 19. Andee Beierle (23); 20. Corey Kautz (20); 21. Christopher Scank (19); 22. Kevin Hiemstra (21); 23. Sarena Paul (17)

Notes
Henderson holds the 410 point lead by 26 points over McCarl. Craig Dollansky improved from 20th in points to eighth.

Henderson qualified first last week and second this week and his heat race finishes are first and second.  Very impressive.

Henderson, McCarl, and Madsen are the only drivers to finish in the top five both weeks. Tatnell and Selvage have finished in the top ten both weeks.

Henderson would also be leading 360 driver points if he was eligible, but his car owner won’t complain.  Alley is leading the 360 driver points by a mere seven points over Jon Agan.

It’s good to see Russ timing well this season so far.   

Kade Higday making just his second start at Knoxville had a great night winning his first heat race and competing for the win in the feature.  It’s only a matter of time before this 15 year old kid wins a feature.

I hope those of you following @KxvOrangeCone on twitter are enjoying it so far.  Let’s have some fun with it!

I’ll be back next week with more tidbits.