Herrera makes it Three Wins at Knoxville
Saturday, May 30, 2009
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (May 30) Johnny Herrera took his second win in a row and his third on the season at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. The win paid the Albuquerque, New Mexico driver $3,000 for his efforts.
Herrera started on the front row along side Skip Jackson and bested him out of turn two to take the lead which he never relinquished. Sammy Swindell also made a pass of Jackson on that initial lap and took up the chase of the leader.
Lap four saw fourth row starter Terry McCarl slide Swindell in turn two to take that spot away but Swindell stayed close to make it interesting. By lap five Herrera had extended his lead to nearly a full chute on the big half mile but one lap later the caution flag flew for a stopped car on the track erasing Herrera’s sizable lead but saving him from a plethora of lap cars.
The restart saw Herrera keep the top spot with Swindell and McCarl struggling for the runner-up position. Two laps later the final yellow of the race was thrown for a spun car in turn four.
Herrera led McCarl, Swindell and Dusty Zomer back to green and to a track which had started taking rubber. This time Herrera did not pull away from his pursuers as the three afore mentioned drivers stayed right with him.
By the 15th go around, Herrera was once again facing lap traffic and working by those cars to near perfection. That same lap Swindell once again made a pass of McCarl which would hold till the end of the race. McCarl contested it but to no avail. And, on the final laps, Swindell pulled right to the rear of Herrera in traffic. On the final lap Swindell made one final charge for the top spot in turn three but Herrera denied him and pinched him off radically in that turn.
Herrera, Swindell, McCarl, Zomer and Jackson came across the finish line in that order. Forming the balance of the top ten were Mark Dobmeier, Lynton Jeffrey, Don Droud, Jr, Wayne Johnson (from 17th) and Billy Alley.
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