Third place Dominic Scelzi, winner Austin McCarl and second place Kerry Madsen on Night #1 of the Knoxville 360 Nationals Thursday (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 6, 2020) – Austin McCarl is two for two in 360 features at Knoxville Raceway this season. Thursday’s win was definitely his biggest, as it came on Night #1 of the MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank. Kerry Madsen emerged as the high point driver, followed by Shane Golobic, Tim Shaffer and McCarl (full points at the bottom).
Calvin Landis led early from his pole position in the 20-lap main event, ahead of Dominic Scelzi, Austin McCarl, Tim Shaffer and Aaron Reutzel. McCarl found his way by Scelzi for second, and Reutzel cruised into fourth on lap five.
McCarl shot by Landis on lap six, but that move was negated when Ryan Leavitt slowed in turn two, bringing the only caution of the event. Landis led McCarl, Scelzi, Reutzel and Shaffer back to green, while Tim Kaeding had climbed from 23rd to 13th.
McCarl followed Landis for a lap before surging to the point on lap eight. Meanwhile, Kerry Madsen worked his way into the top five. At the halfway point, Scelzi and Reutzel moved into second and third. Madsen was quickly into the fourth spot, and Shane Golobic entered the top five on lap twelve.
A rosy point total was dashed for Reutzel when he slowed and went pitside on lap 13. Up front, McCarl entered lapped traffic by himself, while Madsen shot by Scelzi for the runner-up spot.
McCarl pulled away to the win by a straightaway ahead of Madsen, Scelzi, Golobic and Shaffer. Joe Beaver, Roger Crockett, hard-charger Cory Eliason, Landis and Tim Kaeding rounded out the top ten. Heat winners included Leavitt, Ricky Montgomery, Landis, Shaffer and Nate Mills. Cody Hansen won the C main and Eliason claimed the B. There was plenty of mumbling in turn two in the fifth heat, as Tasker Phillips and Lee Grosz tangled and crashed, ending both their nights. AJ Moeller’s night ended in the turn three wall in heat two. Brady Bacon could not avoid a lapped car and crashed in the feature. No one was hurt.
“I just had to stay solid and keep doing what I was doing,” said McCarl of his misfortune with the yellow flag negating his lap six pass for the lead. “Calvin was kind of moving around there. I just had to stay patient. He was setting a good pace. The bottom was really good and threw up a bunch of juice through the middle. When I got to those first lap cars, they were running the top. I didn’t know what to do, so I blew it through the middle and it stuck. I didn’t know how close those guys were behind him. Aaron and Kerry…those guys are World of Outlaws winners, and the best in the world. I guess in the end, I was lucky there wasn’t a yellow.”
“This deal is all about points,” said Madsen. “It was pretty hectic back there. They did a good job with the racetrack tonight. It was fun. They gave me a great car, and we had to battle to get to second. By that time, Austin was long gone. It was a solid day for good points. I’m not a very experienced 360 driver so these guys gave me that good a car.”
“It’s a good thing to be upset with third,” said Scelzi. “We’ve had a lot of speed over the last month. We’ve been knocking on the door of a win. I felt really good the first six or seven laps. I felt like we had something for first and second, then we faded a bit. We’ve got to some work, but all in all, we’re really fast. We’re in the show for Saturday, but we want to be on top of the podium, not the bottom.”
The 30th Annual MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank continues on Friday night! For tickets and other information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com, and Knoxville Raceway’s Facebook and Twitter.
MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals Night #1 Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 2, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary's, NSW, Aust. (2), 16.203; 2. 17WX, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (21), 16.229; 3. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (32), 16.247; 4. 14, Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA (14), 16.318; 5. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (35), 16.334; 6. 69, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (17), 16.339; 7. 83M, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (5), 16.349; 8. 35M, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (27), 16.436; 9. 26, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (41), 16.447; 10. 3, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (10), 16.450; 11. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (9), 16.486; 12. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (40), 16.497; 13. 70, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (45), 16.534; 14. 63, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (13), 16.551; 15. 4J, Lee Grosz, Harwood, ND (33), 16.560; 16. 83, Rob Kubli, Milo, IA (34), 16.572; 17. 20, AJ Moeller, Rockwell City, IA (1), 16.594; 18. 11, Roger Crockett, Broken Arrow, OK (44), 16.607; 19. 88, Kyle Offill, Tracy, CA (6), 16.671; 20. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (4), 16.677; 21. 22, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (16), 16.685; 22. 66, Ricky Montgomery, Denver, CO (36), 16.698; 23. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (12), 16.701; 24. 22K, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (15), 16.702; 25. 23, Devon Dobie, Wapakoneta, OH (19), 16.705; 26. 2M, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (8), 16.726; 27. 81E, Eric Bridger, Winterset, IA (7), 16.731; 28. 95, Matt Covington, Glenpool, OK (3), 16.737; 29. 17W, Harli White, Lindsay, OK (25), 16.772; 30. 24N, Nathan Mills, Bondurant, IA (29), 16.772; 31. 115, Nick Parker, Tucson, AZ (23), 16.782; 32. 24, Garret Williamson, Columbia, MO (39), 16.799; 33. 5H, Michael Faccinto, Hanford, CA (30), 16.814; 34. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (38), 16.870; 35. 33H, Colton Heath, Marysville, WA (20), 16.883; 36. 14B, Bailey Sucich, Granite Falls, WA (26), 16.926; 37. 66D, Chase Dunham, Leipsic, OH (24), 16.945; 38. 4H, Cody Hansen, Nunda, SD (46), 16.961; 39. 23M, Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (28), 17.017; 40. 22X, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (31), 17.030; 41. 1B, Chelsea Blevins, Janesville, CA (18), 17.046; 42. 51A, Elliot Amdahl, Flandreau, SD (37), 17.094; 43. 75X, JT Imperial, Mesa, AZ (22), 17.110; 44. 50Z, Zach Chappell, Talala, OK (43), 17.117; 45. 1A, John Anderson, Des Moines, IA (42), 17.498; 46. 6, Jett Carney, El Paso, TX (47), 17.566; 47. 6X, Frank Rodgers III, Lucas, IA (48), 17.748; 48. 4S, Adam Speckman, Rapid City, SD (11), 18.126.
Heat one (started), 8 Laps, 2:16.6: 1. Ryan Leavitt (2); 2. Matt Moro (1); 3. Kerry Madsen (6); 4. Dominic Scelzi (4) / 5. Brady Bacon (5); 6. Rob Kubli (3); 7. Nick Parker (7); 8. Jett Carney (10) / 9. Bailey Sucich (8); 10. Chelsea Blevins (9)
Heat two (started), 8 Laps, 2:14.5: 1. Ricky Montgomery (2); 2. Austin McCarl (4); 3. Shane Golobic (6); 4. Garret Williamson (7) / 5. Justin Henderson (5); 6. Eric Bridger (1); 7. Chase Dunham (8); 8. Elliot Amdahl (9) / 9. Frank Rodgers III (10); 10. AJ Moeller (3)
Heat three (started), 8 Laps, 2:15.5: 1. Calvin Landis (4); 2. Aaron Reutzel (6); 3. Joe Beaver (2); 4. Roger Crockett (3) / 5. Matt Covington (1); 6. Michael Faccinto (7); 7. Tim Kaeding (5); 8. JT Imperial (9) / 9. Cody Hansen (8) DNS - 10. Adam Speckman
Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:16.9: 1. Tim Shaffer (6); 2. Kaleb Johnson (2); 3. Harli White (1); 4. JJ Hickle (4); 5. Cory Eliason (5); 6. Kyle Offill (3); 7. Jamie Ball (7); 8. Zach Chappell (9); 9. Lance Moss (8)
Heat five (started), 8 Laps, 2:17.9: 1. Nathan Mills (1); 2. Ayrton Gennetten (5); 3. Colton Heath (7); 4. Devon Dobie (2); 5. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6); 6. John Anderson (9); 7. Riley Goodno (8); 8. Tasker Phillips (3); 9. Lee Grosz (4)
C main (started), 6 Laps, 1:46.6: 1. Cody Hansen (2); 2. Bailey Sucich (1); 3. Lance Moss (3); 4. Chelsea Blevins (4) / 5. Frank Rodgers III (5) DNS - 6. Lee Grosz; 7. AJ Moeller; 8. Adam Speckman
B main (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Cory Eliason (5); 2. Justin Henderson (3); 3. Tim Kaeding (4); 4. Kyle Offill (7) / 5. Michael Faccinto (10); 6. Matt Covington (8); 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (1); 8. Jamie Ball (13); 9. Rob Kubli (6); 10. Chase Dunham (12); 11. Zach Chappell (16); 12. Riley Goodno (15); 13. Elliot Amdahl (14); 14. Nick Parker (11); 15. Cody Hansen (21); 16. Eric Bridger (9); 17. Bailey Sucich (20); 18. JT Imperial (17); 19. Chelsea Blevins (22); 20. Lance Moss (23); 21. Jett Carney (18); 22. John Anderson (19); 23. Brady Bacon (2) DNS - 24. Tasker Phillips
A main (started), 20 Laps, NT: 1. Austin McCarl (2); 2. Kerry Madsen (8); 3. Dominic Scelzi (3); 4. Shane Golobic (7); 5. Tim Shaffer (5); 6. Joe Beaver (13); 7. Roger Crockett (10); 8. Cory Eliason (21); 9. Calvin Landis (1); 10. Tim Kaeding (23); 11. Justin Henderson (22); 12. JJ Hickle (9); 13. Garret Williamson (19); 14. Ayrton Gennetten (4); 15. Harli White (17); 16. Kaleb Johnson (14); 17. Ricky Montgomery (12); 18. Colton Heath (20); 19. Kyle Offill (24); 20. Matt Moro (16); 21. Nathan Mills (18); 22. Devon Dobie (15); 23. Aaron Reutzel (6); 24. Ryan Leavitt (11). Lap Leaders: Landis 1-7, A. McCarl 8-20. Hard-charger: Eliason.
Point Standings After Night #1
1
2
Kerry Madsen
492
2
17WX
Shane Golobic
486
3
14
Tim Shaffer
486
4
17A
Austin McCarl
475
5
41S
Dominic Scelzi
467
6
70
Calvin Landis
460
7
26
Cory Eliason
458
8
83M
Justin Henderson
456
9
3
Ayrton Gennetten
453
10
35M
Tim Kaeding
450
11
87
Aaron Reutzel
449
12
11
Roger Crockett
445
13
63
JJ Hickle
443
14
53
Joe Beaver
440
15
66
Ricky Montgomery
426
16
22K
Kaleb Johnson
421
17
15H
Sam Hafertepe Jr.
418
18
22
Ryan Leavitt
414
19
88
Kyle Offill
413
20
17W
Harli White
410
21
2M
Matt Moro
409
22
24
Garret Williamson
405
23
24N
Nathan Mills
402
24
23
Devon Dobie
401
25
33H
Colton Heath
392
26
83
Rob Kubli
389
27
69
Brady Bacon
384
28
95
Matt Covington
374
29
5H
Michael Faccinto
363
30
81E
Eric Bridger
353
31
5J
Jamie Ball
352
32
115
Nick Parker
346
33
7TAZ
Tasker Phillips
345
34
66D
Chase Dunham
342
35
4J
Lee Grosz
338
36
22X
Riley Goodno
332
37
20
AJ Moeller
329
38
4H
Cody Hansen
324
39
14B
Bailey Sucich
324
40
50Z
Zach Chappell
323
41
51A
Elliot Amdahl
323
42
23M
Lance Moss
312
43
75X
JT Imperial
311
44
1B
Chelsea Blevins
307
45
1A
John Anderson
305
46
6
Jett Carney
299
47
6X
Frank Rodgers III
276
48
4S
Adam Speckman
265