In the Groove
Sunday, June 12, 2005
by Stacy Ervin - It was a night for dicey battles and spectacular racing at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday, June 11. After a tornado warning abruptly halted last week’s midget-racing action, the 410 and 360 cubic-inch sprint cars returned for a regular weekly show that kept the large crowd on the edge of the grandstand seats.
The sweltering heat brought hot action to the hallowed half-mile dirt oval. Unfortunately, that included several mishaps, many of which were costly. But fortunately, it appeared all drivers were able to walk away without injuries.
The action started off in the 360 heat races. Eric Mason led one for six of the seven laps. As he took the white flag, his machine went up in smoke. It was a heartbreaker for the local driver who at times seems so close to capturing that elusive first win.
In another 360 heat race, Jon Corbin had the misfortune of getting upside down on the backstretch.
The action continued into the first 410 heat race, where Tim St. Arnold and Clint Garner made contact which sent St. Arnold spinning down the backstretch. It was one of those incidents that had the potential to evolve into something much worse than it was. Though he never flipped over, that potential was seemingly there and that caused the crowd some anxious moments. St. Arnold was the feature winner the last time 410s raced at Knoxville two weeks earlier and it seemed the good-luck streak was short-lived. Though the incident could have been worse, St. Arnold was not able to restart the heat due to front-end damage.
Later in that same heat race, Lynton Jeffrey got into the fence and cut down a right-rear tire to bring out a caution flag. The anxious moments for this incident came when Wally Price drove the pace truck out onto the track nearly into the path of Jon Agan and the rest of the oncoming field. It was a near-miss under yellow-flag conditions.
The finish of the 360 B-Main was certainly an exciting one and produced a finish that was especially important for me. Having grown up in Eastern Iowa, I feel a little extra pride for the racers from my area who make the tow over to Knoxville. The top four finishers in the B transferring on to the A-Main were all Eastern Iowa boys and that made me happy. Bobby Mincer of Morning Sun, Tom Lenz of Strawberry Point and John Hall of Marion all stayed ahead of an extra crowded field of B-Mainers to take three of the four spots. John Schulz of Burlington barely kept his nose ahead of a charging Joe Beaver as the pair came to the checkered flag to decide the fourth and final transfer. For the Eastern Iowa foursome, it was an especially impressive finish as there were several good cars and drivers in this consolation race that could not move to the front.
Schulz might have wished Beaver had taken the spot following the original start of the 360 feature event. This one had the makings of a wild affair from the very beginning when front-row sitters Pete Crall and Brett Mather banged wheels incredibly hard as the field came to the green. That first lap was breathtaking as drivers fought for positions all throughout the field.
As Schulz came to turn three, he and Jeff Mitrisin got together and the contact sent Schulz on a wild flip. Meanwhile, the contact sent Mitrisin’s full load of fuel spewing onto the track. That made for a long cleanup.
Once the race restarted, only five laps were in the books when the yellow was displayed for former track champ John Kearney, who was running fifth and flying to the front when he lost a torsion-bar stop on the left rear.
On the restart from Kearney’s stop, another former track champ suffered a nasty flip. Dave Hesmer, who has had a less-than-stellar season so far took the extreme high line in an attempt to go three-wide with Jarod Smith and John Hall in turn two. Smith, who was the guy in the middle, got a little out of shape and Hesmer clipped the fence. That sent him on a spectacular flip which saw the front axle snap in two and go flying.
After all that, the race commenced and Mather went on to pick up his second career win at Knoxville and his second in a row. Two weeks prior, Mather got his first win for Boyd and Lisa Burnham¹s race team. The repeat should go a long way toward proving that Mather is not a flash in the pan.
With the fans trying to catch their breaths from all that, the 410 feature provided even more excitement. Agan brought out the first yellow flag when his machine stopped.
On the restart from that, Calvin Landis got sideways in turn three and went on the slide for life. Matt Moro clipped him in another incident that had the potential to be a lot more intense. As it was, Moro’s car had to come to the work area on the hook and neither car could be repaired in time to restart.
After that, Eric Vanderploeg took his own slide for life in turn two while running fourth. Coming to a stop right in the middle groove left St. Arnold and Kaley Gharst with nowhere else to go but into the melee.
Garner was running in the top five with only six laps remaining when he grenaded a motor. With three to go, Jeffrey blew a motor. As the yellow flag was coming out for a stopped Jeffrey in turn four, Agan jumped the inside berm and flipped in turn two.
When the final checkered fell, it was former 360 track champ Brian Brown in victory lane for his second career 410 win at Knoxville.
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