Three in a row for Brown at Knoxville; Cornell and Anderson win 360s
Monday, July 6, 2009
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILE, Iowa (July 4) Brian Brown captured his third win in a row at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. In the 360 division, Jonathan Cornell and Johnny Anderson each won feature events during Twin Features night.
In the 410 feature, Davey Heskin utilized his pole position start to take a lead that looked to be a winner as he rambled around the big half-mile Knoxville oval. In the first half of the 20-lap race, his nearest pursuer was Bronson Maeschen. But no one was really able to keep pace with the leader who had amassed a 20 car-length advantage by lap ten. Two laps later, Maeschen’s engine let go bringing out the yellow for the youngster who was in the runner-up position at that time.
When the race resumed, Brian Brown, who was now running second, gave Heskin all he could handle. For several laps the number one and number two cars ran side by side on this big oval turning laps in the fifteen seconds bracket as they raced.
Lap 17 proved to be the magic lap for Brown as he and Heskin came side by side past the flag stand with Brown taking the lap by mere inches. Once in front, Brown pulled away from Heskin to take the win by ten car lengths and gain his 15th career win here.
Heskin held for second, Terry McCarl was third, Mark Dobmeier took fourth and Kerry Madsen came across the stripe for fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Dusty Zomer, Wayne Johnson, Josh Schneiderman, Johnny Herrera (started 19th) and Skip Jackson.
In the first feature for the 360 division, a wicked series of tumbles down the front stretch by John Hall sent that driver to the Knoxville Area Community Hospital. His car was destroyed. Also involved in the melee was Jon Agan who was unable to continue due to the damage to his sprinter.
Pole sitter Matt Moro led the field back to green and he had company right away as fellow front row starter and 2009 rookie Jonathan Cornell did not allow Moro to get away from him in the 15-lap event. It was lap seven that Cornell slid him in turn three to take the lead away. One lap later the yellow was displayed for a stopped car on the track.
On the restart Cornell had too much for Moro as he began to pull away from him and the rest of the 20-car field. In the end, David Hall also passed Moro sending him to third a the finish. Tom Lenz and Randy Martin (started 12th) completed the top five finishers.
The second feature for the 360s saw a complete inversion of the finish of the first feature. Pole sitter Chad Humston was very strong and pulled away from the field only to have his sprinter go up in smoke after completing lap three. That incident gave the lead to Johnny Anderson for the restart and he was not to be passed on this night.
Lap nine saw sixth running Brett Mather strike the fence bringing out another red. When the race resumed, it was Anderson all the way to the checkered flags as Dustin Selvage crossed the stripe for second. Third went to Dennis Moore, Jr. who had started tenth. Completing the top five were Ryan Roberts and Jonathan Cornell, who had started sixteenth.
The third division on this July 4th evening saw 16-year-old Tasker Phillips capture his first win at Knoxville Raceway in 305 sprints. The Phillips’ win is thought to make him the youngest driver to ever win a sprint feature at this historic oval*. He grabbed the lead on lap three and never looked back in the 12-lap event. Mitch Alexander, Bobby Mincer, Johnny Anderson and Rob Kubli were the top five finishers.
In trackside ceremonies during the evening, six new members were inducted into the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame. New inductees were Guy Forbrook, John Kearney, Glen Wignall, Scott Ritchhart and Tex and Pat Gaetrel.
* Kenny Weld was 17 when he won the 1964 Nationals.
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