McCarl, Madsen and Garner Collect Knoxville Feature Wins
Saturday, July 10, 2010
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 10) Terry McCarl and Ian Madsen were each victorious in capturing feature event wins during Twin Feature night at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. Clint Garner was equally successful in winning the companion 360 sprint feature.
The first Twin Feature, which was won by McCarl, was a runaway for the former track champion. He started on the front row along with his son, Austin and the two of them sparred for a lap until the “dad” shook free from the “son”.
Lap two saw third row starter Mark Dobmeier slip under the younger McCarl for the runner-up spot and he then chased Terry for the rest of the 20-lap distance. Dobmeier stayed close but was never really able to challenge for the lead. Behind them several battles for position broke out as cars were moving forward on a track that had developed two grooves.
In the end the race went non-stop and McCarl collected the $2,200 first place payoff as well his 48th career win here. Johnny Herrera claimed second with a last lap pass of Dobmeier. Austin McCarl claimed fourth and Lynton Jeffrey was fifth. The biggest mover in this first race was Wayne Johnson who finished sixth after starting 15th.
The second feature, which was an inversion of the first feature’s finish, was a wild one. Although the race was being hotly contested for the lead by the two front runners, Skip Jackson and Rager Phillips, the action in back of them was just as exciting.
At the outset Rager Phillips controlled the race although Jackson pursued him closely. It was at the 10-lap mark that Jackson was able to successfully take the top spot. Phillips fought back but then faded several laps later. Behind them an exciting battle was fought by Madsen, Mike Moore, Don Droud Jr. and Wayne Johnson for the show position.
What looked to be a Jackson win on this historic half-mile oval was dashed when a yellow flag was thrown for a stopped car in turn two on lap 19. Suddenly Jackson found himself leading several hot contenders to the single file restart after he had secured a huge margin for himself.
On the final restart Jackson was able to defend his lead but Madsen had other ideas. Heading into the 21st lap Madsen dove low in turns one and two and had the lead going down the backstretch. Jackson tried to make a comeback but fell short at the finish to the Australian driver. Droud took third sending him into the 2010 points lead, Phillips was fourth and Johnson drove from 14th to take fifth.
The 360 sprint feature was a non-stop affair as Clint Garner led the entire distance to capture the 15-lap race. At first he had his hands full with Russ Hall who dogged him till lap 12 when Chad Humston got by. Shortly thereafter last week’s winner, Dustin Selvage, grabbed the runner spot sending Humston back to fourth.
In the end, lap traffic made the finish exciting as the lead cars bunched together making the finish in doubt. Garner was successful on this night and captured is sixth career win here. Selvage, Humston, Hall and Jon Agan completed the top five.
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