Knoxville, IA (Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010) - With work sending me off to a computer class on Friday, which meant I didn't have to get up so early, I decided to make the trip over to Knoxville, IA. On tap was night one of the 7th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals, along with an invitational for the IMCA Modifieds.
The night started off with 59 of the 61 Late Models taking time trials. Jimmy Owens was the third car out and was the only one to get into the 17 second range, with a lap of 17.950. Scott Bloomquist was the 57th car out and was 2nd, Steve Francis was 3rd, Earl Pearson Jr. was 4th, with Matt Miller coming in 5th.
Up next was the 4 IMCA Modified 8 lap heat races, with the top 16 in passing points going into the A-Main....Heat 1 saw Ryan Ruter grab the top spot from his outside front row starting spot. Ruter then held it until lap 3, when Richie Gustin, who started 6th, slipped under him for the lead. Gustin then pulled away for the win. Ruter was 2nd, with Eric Dailey 3rd....Mark Schulte jumped out front on lap 1 of heat race 2 and then pulled away to pick up the win. Jeremy Mills would come home in 2nd, with Clint Hatelstad coming from 7th to finish in 3rd....Heat race 3 saw Randy Havlik grab the top spot on the drop of the green flag and then went on to take the checkered flag. Brain Mullen held on for 2nd, with Jason Snyder coming from 6th to finish in 3rd....Rich Smith came from 3rd to grab the lead on lap 1 of heat race 4. Smith then held off Darin Duffy, who started 8th, to pick up the win. Ron Pope would come home in 3rd.
Five 12 lap Late Model heat races were next, with the top 50 in times inverted in the first five rows of the heat races. The top 4 finishers would move on into the A-Main, with 5th-8th going to the B-Main, and the final finishers going to the C-Main....Heat race 1 saw Jeep VanWormer jump out into the lead on lap 1, but Mark Burgtorf would slip under him on lap 3 to take over the top spot. Burgtorf would go on to lead the final 9 laps to get the win. Chad Simpson came from 6th to finish in 2nd, Brian Shirley came from 7th to finish in 3rd, with Josh Richards coming from 8th to finish in 4th....John VanDenBerg took advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 of heat race 2. But Brady Smith, who started 7th, moved under him on lap 4 to take over the top spot. Smith then pulled away to claim the win. Austin Hubbard came from 9th to finish in 2nd, Scott Bloomquist started 10th and finished in 3rd, with VanDenBerg holding on for the final transfer spot in 4th....Heat race 3 saw Kerry Hansen jump out into the early lead from his pole position. Hansen then held the top spot until lap 7, when Darrell Lanigan slipped under him for the top spot. Lanigan would hold the lead until the restart on lap 10, when he pulled into the pits with troubles. Bub McCool, who started 9th, would inherit the lead and then went on to claim the win. Steve Francis came from 10th to finish in 2nd, Scott James was 3rd, with Ryan Newman coming from 11th to take the 4th and final transfer spot....Denny Woodworth took advantage of his pole position to grab the lead on lap 1 of heat race 5. But Jack Sullivan would jump to his outside to grab the lead away on lap 2. Earl Pearson Jr., who started 10th, would take advantage of the lap 8 yellow to grab the lead on lap 9. But Sullivan would slip back under him on lap 10 to grab the lead back. Sullivan then led the final 2 laps to claim the win. Tim McCreadie came from 9th to get 2nd, Pearson Jr. held on for 3rd, with Kelly Boen coming home in 4th....The fifth and final heat saw Rob Moss jump out into the lead on lap 1. Moss then held the lead until lap 3, when Billy Moyer, who started 7th, slipped by for the lead. Moyer then pulled away to pick up the win. Moss held on for 2nd, Brad Neat was 3rd, with Matt Miller coming from 10th to round out the top 4.
After a break the 15 lap Late Model C-Main would take to the speedway next, with the top 4 tagging the tail of the B-Main. Will Vaught took advantage of his outside front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Jimmy Owens. Vaught would go on to lead all 15 laps to claim the win. Owens held on for 2nd, Shannon Babb was 3rd, with Jason Utter coming from 9th to claim the 4th and final transfer spot.
The two 10 lap IMCA Modified B-Mains were next, with the top 4 in each transferring into the A-Main. Greg Cox grabbed the lead on the drop of the green in the first B-Main, with Jake Durbin close behind in second. Cox would go on to lead all 10 laps to pick up the win. Durbin held on for 2nd, JD Auringer was 3rd, with Chris Abelson holding on to take the final transfer spot....The second B-Main saw Jon Snyder grab the lead on lap 1 over Jimmy Gustin. Snyder would lead all 10 laps to pick up the win. Gustin held on for 2nd, Mark Elliott came from 6th to finish in 3rd, with Jeff Jones holding on for 4th.
Brian Birkhofer moved out front on lap 1 of the 20 lap Late Model B-Main, where the top 4 finishers transferred into the A-Main. Darren Miller would try to work past Birkhofer early in the race, but Birkhofer was able to hold of his challenges. Birkhofer would lead all 20 laps to claim the win. Miller held on for 2nd, Rick Eckert was 3rd, with Denny Eckrich taking the 4th and final transfer spot.
With both features set, the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature was up first. Richie Gustin took advantage of his pole position to jump out into the lead on the drop of the green flag, with Darin Duffy, Rich Smith and Mark Schulte battling it out for second. Gustin started to pull away from the second place battle, when the first and only caution of the event came out on lap 7. Eric Dailey, who started 13th and was up to 6th, Jeremy Mills was running 8th, and Michael Long, who started 16th and was up to 10th, all slowed to a stop in turns 3 and 4 with troubles. On the restart Gustin moved back into the lead, with Duffy working to hold off Schulte, Ryan Ruter, who started 8th, and Todd Schute, who came from 12th. Ruter would over take Duffy for second on lap 12 and then set his sights on Gustin for the lead. But Gustin had build up a straight away lead and then pulled away to claim the win and the $1,500 top prize. Ruter held on for 2nd, Duffy was 3rd, Shute came home in 4th, with Schulte holding on for 5th.
The final event of the night was the 25 lap Late Model feature, with Josh Richards and Tim McCreadie leading the field to the green. McCreadie would grab the lead on lap 1, with Richards, Austin Hubbard, Matt Miller and Bub McCool battling for second. Richards would slip under McCreadie on lap 3 to take over the top spot and then held it until lap 7. Steve Francis, who was running 9th, brought out the one and only caution, when he came to a stop in turn 1. On the restart Richards jumped back out into the lead, with McCreadie working to hold off Hubbard, Earl Pearson Jr. and Billy Moyer, who started 11th. McCreadie would take the top spot away from Richards on lap 10, with Pearson and Moyer moving up to 2nd and 3rd on lap 11. Moyer then would work past Pearson for the 2nd spot on lap 14 and then went to work on McCreadie for the lead. On lap 17 Moyer slipped under McCreadie to take over the top spot and then pulled away over the final 8 laps to pick up the win and the $7,000 check. McCreadie held on for 2nd, Scott Bloomquist came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Pearson Jr. held on for 4th, with Brady Smith coming from 10th to round out the top 5.
Notes from Night 1 at Knoxville: 59 of the 61 Late Models took times, with Curt Schroeder and Ron Boyse having troubles in hot laps and scratched for the remainder of the evening....Jimmy Owens who set fast time, would struggle the rest of the night. He would start 10th in heat 1 and would only manage a 9th place finish to put him in the C-Main. Owens then started on the pole of the C-Main and would finish 2nd to transfer to the back of the B-Main, where he started 22nd. Again Owens struggles to get to the front, as he settled for an 18th place finish to end his night....Will Vaught was another driver who started the night out good but struggled throughout the evening. As he would set the 6th fastest time and then started heat 1 in the 9th spot. Vaught would finish 10th in that race and then started the C-Main on the outside of the front row. He would jump into the lead on lap 1 and then went on to win the C-Main to earn the 21st starting spot for the B-Main. Vaught would pass 14 cars, but would come up 3 spots short of transferring into the A-Main....Jeep VanWormer was running 3rd, in a transfer spot, in the first heat race when he slowed on the final lap to finish 7th....Shannon Babb started heat race 4 in the 7th spot and had worked his way into 2nd by lap 7. But Babb would slow on lap 8 with a left rear flat to end his run in a transfer spot. Babb then started the C-Main in 5th and worked his way up to finish 3rd to take a transfer spot into the B-Main. He then started the B-Main in 23rd and passed 9 cars to finish 14th, but not good enough to transfer into the A-Main....Jake Meier in his first attempt at the Late Model Nationals, started off the night by setting the 10th fastest time in time trials. He then started heat race 5 in the 9th spot, but would finish there. That would put him 3rd in the C-Main where he was running 4th, a transfer spot into the B-Main. But Meier would slow on lap 3 with troubles and pulled off to end his night....Brian Birkhofer would start the A-Main from the 21st starting spot. He would pass 13 cars to take home a 8th place finish....Rick Eckert came from 23rd to finish in 14th....Darren Miller was running 13th, when he slowed on the final lap to fall back to a 21st place finish....37 IMCA Modifieds signed in on Night 1....Jon Snyder would pass 9 cars from his 18th starting spot in the A-Main to come home in 9th....Chris Abelson came from 23rd to pass 13 cars to finish in 10th....JD Auringer started 21st and passed 10 cars to come home in 11th....Jeff Jones passed 12 cars from his 24th starting spot to finish in 12th....Jimmie Gustin came from 20th and was running 7th, when he lost an engine on the final lap to end his night in 18th....Mark Elliott started 22nd and had worked his way up to 5th by lap 13. But he would slow and pull off on lap 14 with troubles to end his night in 19th.
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