Lasoski Wins #106, Zomer Blazin' Hot

Saturday wasn’t a full moon but a lot of crazy things happened on this night. The track received 1.5” of rain around 7:00am and there was a power outage around town, including for two hours at the track. The track crews did their part to get the track and pit area ready and kudos to them. We had several crashes, some of them lengthy delays in clean up, and another power outage that took out several light poles during the 360 heat races. Some weird wild stuff I tell ya.

Drivers going double duty on this night in the 410 and 360 class were Justin Henderson, Terry McCarl, Dusty Zomer, Logan Forler, Danny Lasoski, and Jamie Ball entered in both the 360 and 305 class.



410 Report
27 cars signed in. Time Trials top eight was Danny Lasoski 15.216, Tim Kaeding, Bronson Maeschen, Dusty Zomer, Justin Henderson, Terry McCarl, Lynton Jeffrey, Craig Dollansky. 

Heat Race winners were; Lynton Jeffrey (row two), Josh Schneiderman (front row), Tasker Phillips (front row). In Heat two Scott Bogucki jumped the berm in turn three and collected Tim Kaeding and they both crashed. In heat three Bronson Maeschen flipped in turn four end of over end a couple of times and destroyed his car. All drivers were OK but done for the night. With those cars out there was no need for a B-Main in the 410 class.

The A-Main saw Lyton Jeffrey jump to the lead going through turns one and two before Henderson drove around the outside of him through turns three and four. Jeffrey slid Henderson in turn one the next lap but Henderson drove back under him and started to pull away. As Henderson caught the lapped traffic Lasoski began reeling him in and on lap 15 snuck underneath in turn two to take the lead and then go on to get the win. McCarl was all over the back of Henderson on the last lap but Henderson held on at the end for second. There was some great racing in the middle of the pack with Dollansky, Zomer, Brown, and Balog.

410 A Main Finish (started): 1. Danny Lasoski (3); 2. Justin Henderson (2); 3. Terry McCarl (5); 4. Lynton Jeffrey (1); 5. Dusty Zomer (7); 6. Craig Dollansky (6); 7. Brian Brown (4); 8. Bill Balog (11); 9. Ian Madsen (9); 10. Bryan Clauson (12); 11. Ryan Bunton (10); 12. Christopher Bell (13); 13. Davey Heskin (8); 14. Brooke Tatnell (18); 15. Logan Forler (17); 16. AJ Moeller (14); 17. Josh Schneiderman (15); 18. Jordyn Brazier (19); 19. Bob Weuve (23); 20. Shane Quam (22); 21. Tom Jeffrey (24); 22. RJ Johnson (20); 23. Tasker Phillips (16); 24. Dakota Hendrickson (21). Lap Leaders: Henderson 1-15, Lasoski 16-20. Hard-charger: Tatnell.

360 Report
29 cars. Terry McCarl was quick time in his first 360 appearance at Knoxville this season. The rest of the top eight were Clint Garner, Henderson, Zomer, Ryan Giles, Tony Shilling, Nate Van Haaften, and Jon Agan. Heat race winners were Scottie McDonald from Texas, Agan, and Henderson. In heat two Jonathan Cornell spun and collected Joe Beaver. Shortly after this accident is when the lights went out for 19 minutes. Beaver was able to scramble and make repairs in time for the feature while Cornell called it a night.

In the A Main Terry McCarl led early but a caution on lap three for a spinning Sawyer Phillips bunched up the field. On the restart it was McCarl, Henderson, Zomer, Giles, and Van Haaften. Zomer went low on the restart and had clear track in front of him and stuck his left rear in the moisture down low to pass both Henderson and McCarl when they came around to complete lap four. Zomer looked strong in this race coming from fifth to the front in a matter of a few laps. In the middle of the pack Van Haaften, Garner, Moro, and Giles put on a great show as the top three drove away from the field.

360 A Main Finish (started): 1. Dusty Zomer (5); 2. Terry McCarl (3); 3. Justin Henderson (2); 4. Nate Van Haaften (4); 5. Clint Garner (7); 6. Matt Moro (9); 7. Ryan Giles (1); 8. Jamie Ball (12); 9. Josh Baughman (10); 10. Tony Shilling (6); 11. Joe Beaver (19); 12. Jon Agan (8); 13. Logan Forler (18); 14. Chris Martin (15); 15. Cody Ledger (23); 16. Tom Lenz (16); 17. Scottie McDonald (14); 18. Corey Timmerman (22); 19. Alan Zoutte (11); 20. Mike Philben (20); 21. John Hall (13); 22. Ricky Montgomery (17); 23. Sawyer Phillips (26); 24. Mike Dapra (24); 25. Danny Lasoski (25); 26. John Anderson (21). Lap Leaders: McCarl 1-3, Zomer 4-18. Hard-charger: Beaver.

305 Report
24 cars.  Rookie Christian Bowman set quick time while Jamie Ball was second quick followed by Kline, Walraven, Comegys, Jones, Stelzer, and Haase. Heat winners were Stacey Alexander, Kade Higday, and Mitchell Alexander.  

Kline drew the front row and led the entire distance. Haase charged from seventh to third, Ball from sixth to second. The race went green until lap ten when there was a crash between Robby Weuve, Kevin Hiemstra, and a third place running Matthew Stelzer was collected in the crash. From there it was Kline driving to victory once again.  

305 A Main Finish (started): 1. Devin Kline (2); 2. Jamie Ball (6); 3. McKenna Haase (7); 4. Chris Walraven (5); 5. Brad Comegys (1); 6. Christian Bowman (3); 7. Mitchell Alexander (14); 8. Kade Higday (11); 9. Stacey Alexander (13); 10. Mike Mayberry (18); 11. Trevor Smith (10); 12. Jeff Wilke (9); 13. Joe Simbro (16); 14. Corey Kautz (8); 15. Cody Ambers (15); 16. Billy Bell (17); 17. Lee Patterson (23); 18. Matthew Stelzer (4); 19. Rob Weuve (22); 20. Kevin Hiemstra (20). Lap Leader: Kline 1-12. Hard-charger: Mayberry.

History and Notes
Lasoski cruised to his fifth win this season and 106th over all at Knoxville. This team is looking stronger each week and they haven’t qualified worse than fourth all season. Maybe this is their year.

Dusty Zomer is on a roll. He won at Knoxville and Jackson last week, and then again in a 360 at Knoxville this week. If they can get a good time trial lap in at Nationals I think they can be a top ten car. I’m really happy for Zomer, he deserved an opportunity like this to drive in a good quality car like the LaHaise 82. And I’m glad that team has stuck together since the end of last year.

The 410 point standings are strung out. Lasoski has a firm grip on the lead. Henderson is 294 points ahead of McCarl in third, McCarl is 113 ahead of Madsen in fourth, and Madsen is 254 ahead of Brown in fifth. Don’t see much changing with only three weekly shows remaining.

The Capitani Classic will have a $3,000 to win King of the Hill type event to decide the starting lineup for the A-Main thanks to Kustom Concrete Pumping.

Dakota Hendrickson took a nasty ride. His father tells me his safety equipment held up well but he is a little banged up. Hopefully he heals in time to return to the seat this coming weekend.

Craig Dollansky is looking stronger every week in the Renfro 2KS car. They have had trouble qualifying until this week. In sequential order Dollansky has timed 21, 10, 29, 21, and 8 this week. They seem to be up to speed with the leaders in the feature and if they can qualify better at Nationals I see no reason why this team can’t make the Nationals A Main.

In the 305 class Rob Edwards was subbing for his nephew Tanner and crashed in his heat. Somehow during his crash a lot of mud packed in his floor board and trapped his feet in the car. It took over 20 minutes to get his feet free. He was then transported to the Knoxville hospital and later to Des Moines for treatment of his ankle and leg.  

In the 305’s Jamie Ball entered and finished second. It’s obvious this team is trying to affect the 305 point championship to help Devin Kline gain on Stacey Alexander, and it worked this week. Ball will not be allowed to compete in two weeks during the 360 Nationals. No double duty drivers on Saturday of 360 Nationals.

I attended the NSL show at Des Moines last week. Huge crowd of 9,000 people paid I heard. 18 cars showed up to race and it was rubber down in the first heat race. I wasn’t surprised in a way, because over the years I haven’t seen a real good sprint car race there, but rubber down was a bummer for sure. The track configuration is like a paperclip, long straightaways and not much banking in the tight corners. There is a chance this was the last 410 sprint car race at the Iowa State Fairgrounds with rumors of the track being shut down next year circling. The same rumor was floating around last year though so who knows. I hope racing stays alive in Des Moines, but it’s up to the Fair Board there and in the grand scheme of things racing is small potatoes for them. It’s a great location to get fans to come if a good series like the NSL rolls in. Kudos to Tony Moro, Carl Moyer, and that group for working their tails off to keep racing alive in Des Moines.  

Look for a preliminary set of Nationals qualifying nights to be released soon. The majority of the teams are requesting Wednesday for the 410 and Thursday for the 360. The field is unbalanced as it sits now so don’t panic race fans. If teams don’t sort it out on their own in the coming days, we will have to go down the point standings of each series and track and go with odd cars Wednesday and even cars Thursday. I hope it doesn’t come down to that.  

Points
410: Lasoski leads the 410 points over Henderson by 326 points.
360: Garner leads the 360 points over Van Haaften by 360 points.
305: Stacey Alexander leads Devin Kline by 128 points.