Tatnell Wins Day One of WoO Knoxville Mediacom Shootout
Thursday, June 3, 2010
By Bob Wilson
Tatnell Wins Day One of WoO Knoxville Mediacom Shootout
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 3) Brooke Tatnell ridded himself of some of his Knoxville bad luck as he swept to a 25-lap feature event win in the opening night of the World of Outlaws (WoO)Knoxville Mediacom Shootout. It was worth $10,000 to the transplanted Australian pilot.
With a loaded field of twenty-six sprint cars behind him, Tatnell utilized his pole position start to grab the initial lap. Right behind him were Sammy Swindell, Jason Meyers and Joey Saldana. Meyers and Swindell traded sliders and at the end of five laps Swindell claimed the runner-up spot with Meyers and Saldana in pursuit. The bottom surface had simply gone away so for the duration all the front runners stayed glued to the top, which was very close to the tall Knoxville fences.
At the end of five miles, the top four remained the same as the leaders headed through lap traffic. Of the cars running in the top ten, only Steve Kinser stayed on the bottom. He, Danny Lasoski and Jason Sides were having a battle of their own at this juncture.
In a race that was never halted once it was waved green, Tatnell led the onslaught of “outlaw” drivers headed through the back markers. On lap 15, Saldana made a pass of Swindell. Two laps later Meyers got by him too. At this juncture Sides had come into contention at fifth.
Saldana stayed within striking distance as the laps wore on but Tatnell was not making any mistakes on this night. With five laps to go, the gap between the leader and second place was a mere five car lengths.
In the waning laps of this race, the leaders headed into heavy lap traffic. It was to be Saldana who would pay the price. Just after the leaders took the white flag, Saldana and the lapped car of Jac Haudenschild came together between turns one and two. Saldana nearly lost control of his sprinter but miraculously gained it back. However, Meyers, Swindell and Sides were able to get by the Indiana driver in the meantime.
Running under the checkered flag first was Meyers in the Phoenix Motorsports entry and he was followed by Meyers, Swindell, Sides and Saldana. Completing the top ten were Steve Kinser, Lasoski, Lance Dewease, Kerry Madsen and Craig Dollansky. Dollansky’s run was something to behold as he came from a 24th starting position.
A companion 305 sprint division saw Randy Smith take an eighth lap lead from young Tasker Phillips as he claimed his first ever feature win in that division. Trailing were Tim St. Arnold, Steve Breazeale and Mathew Stelzer.
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