Brown cashes in for some Green at Knoxville Raceway
Saturday, June 6, 2009
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 6) Brian Brown finally put to sleep the gremlins that had forged a path through his pit area as he ran nonstop through the 20-lap feature Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway to capture his 13th career win at this Central Iowa fairgrounds.
Right away when the green flag started the feature event, Brown jumped from his pole position to grab the point with fellow front row starter Wayne Johnson on his heels. With a wide open track Brown set sail on the big half-mile oval. Johnson stayed close but was never successful in any of his maneuvers to take the lead away. By lap five Brown held a 10 car-length advantage.
It looked as though things might change when the front runners hit lap traffic on the ninth circuit. Brown was gutsy though and made several moves that helped him keep the lead. As Brown picked his way through the traffic, third row starter Kerry Madsen had caught Johnson and had begun challenging for that position. While those two drivers fought for that spot, Brown began pulling away in his self-owned sprinter.
As the race neared its conclusion, Brown had created a huge lead. Lap 19 saw his advantage grow to an astounding half lap, the largest margin at Knoxville this year.
Just as he took the checkered flag, the red flag was thrown for Knoxville points leader Johnny Herrera who had crashed into the turn two fence while running seventh. At press time no explanation for the wreck was known. Herrera walked away from a badly bent machine.
Following Brown to the finish line was Madsen, who made a pass of Johnson on lap fifteen. Dusty Zomer was fourth and Josh Schneiderman claimed fifth. Completing the top ten were Mark Dobmeier who started 16th, Lynton Jeffrey, Davey Heskin, Don Droud, Jr. and Herrera.
In the companion 360 sprint division, Brett Mather led the entire distance in the M&P Motorsports Maxim to claim his fifth career win here. He started on the pole and was not headed in this non-stop 15-lap race.
What looked like a runaway win for Mather turned out to be fairly close at the end with Dennis Moore, Jr. making up most of the near-straightaway advantage of Mather. The big factor was lap traffic as Moore came within four car lengths at the end to register runner-up. Johnny Anderson, Nate VanHaaften and Gregg Bakker completed the top five. Jon Corbin, Jon Agan, Joe Beaver, Clint Garner and Ricky Montgomery (from the tail) formed the top ten.
In 305 winged-sprint action, Rob Kubli won his first career feature at Knoxville. Matt Stevenson, Marty Stevenson, Johnny Anderson and Steve Palmer completed the top five in the twelve lapper.
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