Noteboom is Harris Clash Star at Knoxville
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 28) Jay Noteboom of Hinton etched his name into the record books as he captured the 18th annual Harris Clash at Knoxville Raceway Tuesday night.
Noteboom, who started inside row two, took the lead at the outset and claimed lap one only to meet a yellow for a spun car on lap two. That lap was totally disastrous as a huge pileup took place at the turn one fence while a second skirmish happened in turn two. When all was said and done, only 21 cars restarted.
Once the carnage was picked up and the race restarted, Noteboom continued his lead only to lose it on the next go around to Jeremy Mills. He was able to control the lead position until Noteboom once again passed him as they ran out of turn four of lap seven.
After that position change, Noteboom held the top spot to the end but not without contention. At that point it was Mills who laid the tin against the leader. With ten laps down, 16-year-old Nate Caruth had moved to third (after starting 15th) but was some distance behind.
Noteboom kept glued to the bottom while Mills began searching for a way to get around him. With Mills trying different lines, Noteboom was able to start pulling away as nothing Mills tried really worked.
It was lap 17 which saw Caruth challenging Mills for the runner-up spot and two laps later he had that position. After that he began to slowly eat away at the lead Noteboom had built.
With time and laps running out, Caruth finally made a bid on lap 24 but Noteboom was able to fend him off in his Harris chassis modified on the bottom. In the end, Noteboom took the win by a mere two car lengths over the youngster. Mills held for third, Mike Long was fourth and Todd Schute, who started beside Caruth was fifth.
Heat race winners were Al Hejna, Jeff Jones, Mills, Long, Bill Davis Jr., Josh Gilman, Alax Hanson and Noteboom. The four B-Main winners were Nick Deal, Jeremie Hedrick, John Logue and Adam Larson.
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