Ryan Giles won Night #1 of the Knoxville 360 Nationals (Paul Arch Photo) (Video Highlight from DirtVision.com)
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 1, 2019) – Knoxville regular Ryan Giles led wire to wire on Dingus Lounge Qualifying Night #1 of the 29th Annual MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank. The Grimes, Iowa native’s ninth career win at Knoxville and first with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MavTV earned him $3,000. Dusty Zomer was the high point earner for the night heading into Saturday’s finale, followed by Aaron Reutzel and Wayne Johnson (points below results).
Giles early lead in the 20-lapper came ahead of Thomas Kennedy, Rob Kubli, Johnson and Trey Starks. Zomer thrust himself into the top five by lap four, but he was overtaken by Reutzel on lap seven. A spin by Lee Grosz eight laps in brought the first caution. Thirteenth running Dominic Scelzi had a right rear tire explode at the same time.
Giles led Kennedy, Kubli, Johnson and Reutzel back to green. Kubli’s restart was a rocky one as Zomer and Johnson went to the outside and inside of him in turn two. Kubli got over the turn three cushion, came back off of it and had contact with Reutzel, sending him into the wall and ending his night. Calvin Landis would spin on that restart, negating a move from fourth to second by Reutzel.
Johnson claimed second on yet another restart, while Reutzel took third from Kennedy on lap 14. Giles was back in lapped traffic with three to go, while Reutzel took second from Johnson. Giles was coming for the checkers, but the caution flew one last time for Grosz, setting up a green, white, checker finish.
Giles was able to hold onto the win, ahead of Reutzel, Johnson, Eliason and Kennedy. Justin Henderson, Zomer, Carson McCarl, hard-charger Parker Price-Miller and Sam Hafertepe Jr. rounded out the top ten. Zomer set quick time over the 42-car field, and Devon Dobie, Kennedy, Mason Daniel, Jack Dover and Henderson won heat races, and Price-Miller claimed the B main.
“I could have done without any of them,” Giles said of the restarts in Victory Lane. “I have to give a big shout out to my wife. She’s six months pregnant with our baby girl, and she was in the hospital this morning. I felt like I abandoned her and had to work all day. She told me to go have fun, so…this one’s for her. I definitely have to thank Gary Isom. This is all his deal.”
“The guys did a great job,” said Reutzel. “We were really good on long runs. I knew unless (Giles) made a big mistake, we wouldn’t be able to get him. We got lucky there with that one caution (lap eight restart). I don’t even know what happened on that deal. There was one big cluster of people and I drove across the track and I guess made contact. It was a racing deal.”
“We had a really good racecar,” said Johnson. “It’s unfortunate that I got by Kennedy on that restart, and the thing started blowing up. We finished this thing on seven cylinders. I was pretty excited just to finish. To take third and be pretty good in points for Saturday night…we have another fresh bullet we can put in. Hopefully, we’ll have all eight cylinders on Saturday.”
The 29th Annual MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank continues Thursday on Night #2 with Iowa Corn Growers Night! For tickets and other information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!
Results from Night #1 of the MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 5, Dusty Zomer, Brandon, SD (9), 16.267; 2. 4J, Lee Grosz, Harwood, ND (1), 16.336; 3. 70, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (7), 16.338; 4. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (23), 16.338; 5. 44S, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (4), 16.449; 6. 71P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (6), 16.541; 7. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (28), 16.585; 8. 11X, Sammy Swindell, Lakeland, TN (36), 16.593; 9. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (29), 16.601; 10. 2C, Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK (25), 16.685; 11. J2, John Carney II, El Paso, TX (21), 16.722; 12. 21K, Thomas Kennedy, Winnipeg, MB, Can. (38), 16.725; 13. 83, Rob Kubli, Milo, IA (18), 16.729; 14. 9, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (41), 16.748; 15. 18, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (14), 16.748; 16. 26, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (22), 16.779; 17. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (26), 16.790; 18. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (35), 16.800; 19. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (5), 16.813; 20. 83H, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (42), 16.814; 21. 23D, Devon Dobie, Wapakoneta, OH (20), 16.815; 22. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (15), 16.859; 23. 33M, Mason Daniel, Springfield, CA (17), 16.875; 24. 1, Travis Rilat, Heath, TX (27), 16.886; 25. 35L, Cody Ledger, Omaha, NE (8), 16.909; 26. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (24), 16.913; 27. 94, Jeff Swindell, Bartlett, TN (32), 16.913; 28. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (33), 16.916; 29. 53D, Jack Dover, Springfield, NE (40), 16.965; 30. 76, Brad Comegys, Bondurant, IA (13), 16.971; 31. 66, Ricky Montgomery, Lakewood, CO (39), 16.989; 32. 45, Rusty Hickman, Tullamarine, VIC, Aust. (3), 17.037; 33. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (11), 17.058; 34. 81E, Eric Bridger, Winterset, IA (34), 17.062; 35. 3B, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (2), 17.076; 36. 22, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (10), 17.080; 37. 1CB, Chelsea Blevins, Janesville, CA (19), 17.234; 38. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (37), 17.379; 39. 64C, Casey Greubel, Lacona, IA (31), 17.409; 40. 2D, Dusty Ballenger, Harrisburg, SD (16), 17.443; 41. 37H, Nicholas Howard, Lawrence, KS (30), 17.513; 42. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (12), 18.153
Heat one (started), 8 Laps, 2:15.3: 1. Devon Dobie (2); 2. Cory Eliason (3); 3. Dominic Scelzi (1); 4. Dusty Zomer (6) / 5. John Carney II (4); 6. Ricky Montgomery (7); 7. Parker Price-Miller (5); 8. Nicholas Howard (9); 9. Ryan Leavitt (8)
Heat two (started), 8 Laps, NT: 1. Thomas Kennedy (4); 2. Carson McCarl (3); 3. Jeff Swindell (1); 4. Aaron Reutzel (5) / 5. Sawyer Phillips (2); 6. Lee Grosz (6); 7. Rusty Hickman (7); 8. Chelsea Blevins (8); 9. Kevin Ingle (9)
Heat three (started), 8 Laps, 2:18.3: 1. Mason Daniel (2); 2. Brady Bacon (1); 3. Rob Kubli (4); 4. Chris Martin (3) / 5. Calvin Landis (6); 6. Sammy Swindell (5); 7. Alan Zoutte (7); DNS - Joe Beaver
Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:17.4: 1. Jack Dover (1); 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6); 3. Ryan Giles (4); 4. Travis Rilat (2); 5. Jamie Ball (5); 6. Kelby Watt (3); 7. Casey Greubel (8); 8. Eric Bridger (7)
Heat five (started), 8 Laps, 2:19.3: 1. Justin Henderson (3); 2. Wayne Johnson (5); 3. Brad Comegys (1); 4. Trey Starks (6); 5. Cody Ledger (2); 6. Ryan Roberts (4); 7. Spencer Bayston (7); 8. Dusty Ballenger (8)
B main (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Parker Price-Miller (3); 2. Lee Grosz (1); 3. Calvin Landis (2); 4. Sawyer Phillips (9) / 5. Spencer Bayston (13); 6. Kelby Watt (8); 7. Ryan Roberts (7); 8. Cody Ledger (10); 9. John Carney II (6); 10. Rusty Hickman (12); 11. Ricky Montgomery (11); 12. Eric Bridger (14); 13. Dusty Ballenger (17); 14. Sammy Swindell (4); 15. Alan Zoutte (15); 16. Nicholas Howard (19); 17. Kevin Ingle (20); 18. Casey Greubel (18); 19. Chelsea Blevins (16); 20. Jamie Ball (5) DNS - 21. Joe Beaver; 22. Ryan Leavitt
A main (started), 21 Laps, NT: 1. Ryan Giles (1); 2. Aaron Reutzel (5); 3. Wayne Johnson (4); 4. Cory Eliason (9); 5. Thomas Kennedy (3); 6. Justin Henderson (12); 7. Dusty Zomer (8); 8. Carson McCarl (10); 9. Parker Price-Miller (21); 10. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (7); 11. Jeff Swindell (17); 12. Brady Bacon (18); 13. Mason Daniel (14); 14. Travis Rilat (15); 15. Chris Martin (11); 16. Jack Dover (19); 17. Sawyer Phillips (24); 18. Lee Grosz (22); 19. Devon Dobie (13); 20. Brad Comegys (20); 21. Calvin Landis (23); 22. Trey Starks (6); 23. Dominic Scelzi (16); 24. Rob Kubli (2). Lap Leader: Giles 1-21. Hard-charger: Price-Miller.
Thursday Point Totals
Pos
Car
Driver
Points
1
5
Dusty Zomer
479
2
87
Aaron Reutzel
477
3
2C
Wayne Johnson
475
4
15H
Sam Hafertepe Jr.
473
5
21K
Thomas Kennedy
470
6
9
Ryan Giles
468
7
26
Cory Eliason
461
8
71P
Parker Price-Miller
456
9
83H
Justin Henderson
452
10
27
Carson McCarl
451
11
4J
Lee Grosz
449
12
70
Calvin Landis
444
13
44S
Trey Starks
441
14
33M
Mason Daniel
432
15
44
Chris Martin
429
16
23D
Devon Dobie
424
17
83
Rob Kubli
424
18
94
Jeff Swindell
422
19
99
Brady Bacon
421
20
1
Travis Rilat
419
21
53D
Jack Dover
414
22
3P
Sawyer Phillips
414
23
J2
John Carney II
402
24
41S
Dominic Scelzi
400
25
76
Brad Comegys
398
26
18
Ryan Roberts
395
27
11X
Sammy Swindell
395
28
1K
Kelby Watt
389
29
5J
Jamie Ball
384
30
35L
Cody Ledger
376
31
3B
Spencer Bayston
356
32
66
Ricky Montgomery
355
33
45
Rusty Hickman
352
34
81E
Eric Bridger
341
35
33
Alan Zoutte
330
36
2D
Dusty Ballenger
327
37
53
Joe Beaver
325
38
64C
Casey Greubel
322
39
1CB
Chelsea Blevins
321
40
37H
Nicholas Howard
319
41
22
Ryan Leavitt
314
42
2K
Kevin Ingle
312