This was the last weekly show of the season before we go to National Sprint League events for the next three weeks before the Outlaws come to town.
410 Report
25 cars signed in. Time Trials top eight was Bronson Maeschen 14.885, Brian Brown, Ian Madsen, Austin McCarl, Scott Bogucki, Danny Lasoski, Matt Juhl, and Brooke Tatnell. Good to see Bronson go out 21st in the order and lay down a good time. In hot laps Brian Brown had a lap of 14.507, exactly 0.100 off the ten year old track record of 14.407. With the weather conditions it made for some fast time in hot laps, but the track fell off in time trials a bit and the track widened out. Heat Race winners were; Mark Dobmeier, Brian Brown, and AJ Moeller.
The A-Main would see Brooke Tatnell set sail early and lead from the front row. Matt Juhl was able to run him down on a restart and grab the lead coming off of turn two, but Tatnell was better off of turn four and took the lead back. Brian Brown started sixth and was catching the leaders at halfway. On lap 16 Brown and Juhl were side by side at the line and were exactly tied for the second position. Just after crossing the line Bogucki stopped to bring out a yellow. The second position was awarded to Brown by the scorers since he had the quicker lap time. Brown was then able to pass Tatnell for the win. Brownie certainly had the faster car on this night. It looks like the 21 team is back to their top form from a couple of years ago. They have by far been the most consistent car the past four weeks at Knoxville, timing well, and they are the only car with four top five finishes.
360 Report
25 cars signed in. Joe Beaver was quick time at 16.055. Heat race winners were Dusty Zomer, Nate Van Haaften, and Sawyer Phillips. The A Main for the 360’s was the race of the night. Ian Madsen had the lead early until Jamie Ball made his way around him on lap 11. On lap 15 Justin Henderson, who started ninth, passed Ball and went on to get the win. Clint Garner timed bad and started 15th and finished fourth. Billy Alley fifth, and Zomer was sixth after starting 12th.
Henderson appeared to have found the speed they were missing from prior weeks this season on this night and was impressive. Clint Garner was coming on strong at the end. Jamie Ball is having a great start to the 2016 season with a runner up finish and leading some laps
305 Report
18 cars. Chase Wanner was quick time at 16.834. Heat race winners were Mike Mayberry and Joe Simbro. Mayberry got out to a nice lead early and led laps 1-9 until he encountered heavy lapped taffic allowing Corey Kautz to catch him and eventually drive by him for his first career 305 win. The race went caution free.
History and Notes
In the 410 A Main there was some controversy. The lineup for the restart at the end with Brown and Juhl created some confusion. The scoring software from My Laps is set up to give the position to the car with the fastest lap time in the event of a tie. The likelihood of a dead heat at the finish of a race, or when a yellow comes out is almost zero. I can’t ever remember this scenario happening in the past. The scorers thought the lineup was correct, and the field was given the green flag. In the Knoxville rule book in the event of a tie at the checkered flag the position is supposed to go to the car on the outside. Basically a coin flip. However in the rule there is no mention of that event on any other lap during the race, only at the checkered. So there is some wiggle room there with the way the rule is written. But this is such a crazy scenario, it never happens, so it’s hard to be prepared for it. But after looking at the replay you can see that Juhl was the car on the outside. The replay was not available to officials until the race was over. Granted, most race tracks do not have replay capabilities, thankfully Knoxville does, but it’s not like it pops up in a matter of seconds. It took a couple of minutes to bring that up after the race. So the discussion now is how you rewrite the rule to be prepared for the next time this happens and to be more clear. The rules committee will likely have to address this. I mean what if this was the finish of a heat race at the Knoxville Nationals, or for the win worth $150,000. But under no circumstances was anyone showing favoritism toward Brown over Juhl. People that think that there is any conspiracy there are looking for a conspiracy, and there isn’t one. No offence to the 09 team, but the 21 was going to win regardless with four laps left on that restart.
Corey Kautz became the fourth different winner this past Saturday in the 305 class. I’m looking through the history data base and I’m not finding a time where we had four first time feature winners in a row in any class.
The crate engine debate in the 305 class is taking a new twist with Devin Kline ordering one this week. Will we see more of them as the season goes? I think so. Kline has lost two engines this season at Knoxville. One on practice night, another this past week. I don’t blame them for looking for something that is more reliable. If this trend continues, it’s good for the sport in my opinion. If you want to spend upwards of $30,000 on an engine and it only last a few nights you might as well race a 410, but that’s just my opinion.
Bryan Clauson was tenth in Indy practice on Monday. What a story. Hope his third Indy 500 ends with a great result. I will be watching, as will most of you I’m sure. Go get em BC!
Kade Higday was hurt in the feature after the torque tube broke and tore up his ankle. Not sure how long his recovery will be, but he has to be feeling some pain. So say a prayer for this kid to get healthy.
Time Study. Through four nights this season the average time of the final checkered flag is 10:15pm, and that is with the season opener ending at 10:49pm. Last year, we didn’t end any night before 10:15pm. Kudos to everyone for pulling this off. This is a coordinated combined effort with track prep, push trucks, race teams, safety crew, wrecker crew, and all race officials. It isn’t easy for Doug Clark to hold it in for 4 hours!
Points
410: Brown leads Lasoski by 129 points.
360: Garner leads Ball by 92 points.
305: Walraven leads Bowman by 25 points.
I have to apologize for not writing as many blogs this season. With some added responsibilities at Knoxville Raceway being the social media manager, it has taken up any spare time I had. Not to mention my kids softball and baseball schedules, and a baby on the way. Life has been crazy at the Arnold household.
Badlands Speedway season opener is this week. I know this has created some drama with some people and I get it. For some reason people are attracted to drama and that is why they like to watch shows on ESPN with Skip Bayless and Tony Kornheiser. People love to debate. In the end there is room for two tracks to survive that are 350 miles apart. Sure it would be nice to have them on separate nights. But it is what it is and all of us Knoxville will keep working hard to put on the best shows we can.
It’s $1.00 Busch Light Night this week! Man, too bad that didn’t happen 10 years ago when I was sitting in section D with the BHG when I could have taken advantage of that. I have a feeling the BHG boys will drink one for me.
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