5/29/09
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, IA
King Doodlebug Classic and Masters Classic
22 Midgets
27 Masters
Midgets
Cole Whitt set the pace with a new track record at 21.059 seconds in group qualifying. Chad Boat was second quick, followed by Brady Bacon, Ricky Ehrgott, Brqad Sweet, Levi Jones, Jerry Coons Jr., Brad Kuhn, Tracy Hines and Kevin Swindell.
Heat one (started): 1. Darren Hagen 3 (2) 2. Swindell 67 (3) 3. Coons Jr. 11 (4) 4. Ehrgott 8 (5) / 5. Witt 1 (6) 6. Caleb Armstrong 7a (1) 7. AJ Fike 69 (7) DNS - Chad McDaniel 1c
Hagen led the first lap in a side by side battle with Armstrong. Armstrong led lap two, but Hagen took over from there in the 8-lapper. The track was too slick and around the bottom for anyone to make serious moves.
Heat two (started): 1. Henry Clarke 97 (1) 2. Kuhn 17B (4) 3. Sweet 49 (5) 4. Brad Loyet o5 (3) / 5. Boat 30 (6) 6. Don Droud Jr. 44 (2) 7. Matt Smith 13 (7)
Clarke led flag to flag. Kuhn ran strong by getting by Loyet and Droud.
Heat three (started): 1. Bobby East 4 (3) 2. Mark Brown 1x (1) 3. Jones 20 (5) 4. Hines 21 (4) / 5. Bacon 99 (6) 6. Davey Ray 71x (2) 7. Zach Daum 5D (7)
Brown led early with East in tow. East passed him on lap seven for the point. Jones snuck under Hines early in the huggy pole event. Bacon made it a perfect trio for the three quick qualifiers in heading to the B.
B main (started): 1. Whitt (1) 2. Bacon (3) 3. Boat (2) 4. Droud Jr. (4) 5. Ray (5) 6. Smith (8) 7. Fike (10) 8. McDaniel (7) 9. Daum (9) 10. Armstrong (6)
After a half hour delay to rework the track, cars returned to the bottom and conditions continued to deteriorate. Whitt led the 10-lap distance in a mostly single file race.
A main (started): 1. Hines (1) 2. Coons Jr. (3) 3. Kuhn (2) 4. Jones (4) 5. Ehrgott (6) 6. East (9) 7. Whitt (13) 8. Sweet (5) 9. Smith (16) 10. Hagen (10) 11. Clarke (11) 12. Fike (19) 13. Droud Jr. (14) 14. Armstrong (20) 15. Swindell (7) 16. Ray (17) 17. Brown (12) 18. Loyet (8) 19. McDaniel (18) 20. Boat (15) 21. Daum (21) DNS - Bacon
Kuhn led early, as cars competed for a thin strip around the bottom in the 20-lapper. Swindell made an early moved to second by lap three. Hines let it hang out about a car width above the groove, overtaking Swindell, and then Kuhn for the lead on lap six. He was never seriously challenged after that. Coons settled into fourth and tried to challenge Swindell at the middle stages. The two made contact in turn two, with Coons almost getting sideways. He would save it. With just three laps to go, Brown suffered the first flat right rear tire. The restart saw Hines leading Kuhn, Swindell, Coons and Ehrgott. Another lap would not be completed before Ray jumped another cars tire in turn four, got some serious air and flipped wildly. With nowhere to go, McDaniel (RIP) struck him head-on. Both were transported to the hospital with undisclosed injuries. On another try at green, Boat ended upside down in turn one. He was uninjured. The last three laps saw Coons get by Swindell, and then Kuhn for second. Swindell slowed with a flat on the last circuit. Hines celebrated his first midget win at Knoxville.
Masters Classic
Gary Wright (1st car out to time) smoked them in time trials with a lap of 16.759 seconds. Kenny Jacobs (10th car out) was second quick, followed by Sammy Swindell (21st), Joe McCarthy (3rd), Allan Unruh (4th), Chuck Swenson (19th), Randy Smith (6th), Chris Maurer (2nd), Mike Houseman (5th) and Randy Combs (7th). Regan Kitchen was DQed for an illegal tire.
Heat one (started): 1. Wright 9x (6) 2. Greg Rilat 35 (1) 3. Ed Neumeister 11n (2) 4. R. Smith 20 (4) 5. McCarthy 9 (5) / 6. Combs 4 (3) 7. Steve Wares 10 (7) 8. Dale McCarty 9mx (8) 9. Earnest Jennings 61 (9)
Rilat led most of the way with Wright hot on his heels. The quickly drying track still had a bit of cushion on the top and Wright rode it until making a last corner exciting pass for the win in the 7-lapper. Mccarthy exercised a late pass for the final transfer.
Heat two (started): 1. Jacobs 29 (6) 2. Judi Bates 121 (3) 3. Roland Johnson 72 (2) 4. Bobby Becker Jr. 8B (1) 5. Maurer 7K (4) / 6. David Gailley 24 (8) 7. Lonnie Jensen 57x (7) 8. Rick Montgomery 9m (9) 9. Unruh 57 (5)
Johnson led the first two laps. Jacobs was quickly into second, pulled into the lead on lap three, and then pulled away. Unruh exited early while running sixth.
Heat three (started): 1. Swindell 40 (6) 2. Swenson X (5) 3. Butch Hanssen 8K (3) 4. Terry Alexander 77 (2) 5. David Brown 48 (1) / 6. Houseman 80x (4) 7. Mackie Heimbaugh 04 (7) 8. Regan Kitchen 21 (9) 9. Bill Smith 33 (8)
Swenson used a great start on the bottom to jet into the lead on lap one. Sammy was in pursuit, and had the point by the completion of lap three. Hanssen grabbed third with three laps to go.
B main (started): 1. Unruh (1) 2. Wares (4) 3. Heimbaugh (6) 4. Gailley (8) 5. Jennings (10) 6. McCarty (7) 7. B. Smith (9) 8. Jensen (5) 9. Montgomery (11) / 10. Houseman (2) 11. Combs (3) 12. Kitchen (12)
Houseman banged wheels with Unruh after a false start precipitated another pace lap. When the green fell Houseman rubbed Unruh, turned sideways and flipped. The incident collected Combs, who suffered heavy damage, Kitchen, B. Smith and Jensen. Only B. Smith and Jensen continued. The remaining nine cars went six laps around the bottom and transferred on.
A main (started): 1. Swindell (2) 2. Jacobs (3) 3. Swenson (5) 4. R. Smith (6) 5. McCarthy (1) 6. Bates (8) 7. Rilat (13) 8. Neumeister (10) 9. Alexander (12) 10. Hanssen (9) 11. Johnson (11) 12. Brown (15) 13. B. Smith (22) 14. Gailley (19) 15. Becker Jr. (14) 16. Maurer (7) 17. Jennings (20) 18. Unruh (16) 19. Wright (4) 20. Montgomery (24) 21. Wares (17) 22. McCarty (21) 23. Jensen (23) 24. Heimbaugh (18)
Becker Jr. spun collecting Heimbaugh, who had to retire. Swindell jumped out to an early lead, with Wright hot in pursuit in the 22-lapper. Swindell hit traffic early on, and Wright motored by on lap ten. The lead pair left the rest behind, dicing through lapped traffic, at times splitting cars. On lap 15, disaster struck when Wright slowed and retired with fuel pump problems. Sammy took over from there, pulling away for his first career Knoxville 360 win. Jacobs ran a strong second. B. Smith was the hard-charger, moving up nine spots.