It’s McCarl, Brown and Cram in the Winner’s Circle at Knoxville
Saturday, July 24, 2010
By Bob Wilson
It’s McCarl, Brown and Cram in the Winner’s Circle at Knoxville
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 24) Terry McCarl captured Knoxville career win number 49 at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. Brian Brown warmed up for the 20th 360 Knoxville Nationals as he took the win in that division and Travis Cram, a top notch pilot from the state of Washington stepped into the 305 division and cam away a winner
McCarl, who started sixth in the 20-lap feature, did not look like he would be the winner at all. Front row starter Mark Dobmeier took the immediate lead at the drop of the green flag and steadily pulled away from the field of twenty starters. Lap two saw McCarl pull into the second spot but he was unable to challenge for the lead at that time. On the next circuit Brown moved into third as he chased McCarl on the high side of the big half-mile oval.
With a track that had seen several inches of rain during the week and two rainstorms over night, it became apparent that the bottom held nothing on this night. All the movers stayed on the top and utilized sliders or traffic to advance their positions.
At the halfway point it was Dobmeier, McCarl and Brown with visiting Californian Tim Kaeding in fourth. It was a treat to watch these four drivers negotiate this century-old fairgrounds oval and the lap traffic as the raced progressed.
It was after the half-way point that Dobmeier really managed to pull away from second running McCarl but with fourteen laps in the books a yellow for a spun car forced the leader to slow into a single file restart which Dobmeier executed nicely in turns one and two. He raced down the backstretch with McCarl in tow but Terry dove below him in turn three and guided his mount into the lead as they passed the flag stand. Dobmeier tried to return the slider on the next lap but was not successful.
McCarl’s 49th win keeps him solidly in fourth in the all-time listings. Dobmeier held second and Kaeding took third from Brown on a late race pass. Josh Schneiderman was fifth.
The 360 feature saw Brian Brown doing double duty and making it pay as he led nearly all of the laps to take his eighth career win here in that division. Chad Humston led the first lap but Brown took over on lap two and was very much in command. Laps seven and eight were key as Brown hit lap traffic and then heavy lap traffic, which would very much be a part of this race.
There were some laps that Humston was able to close the gap and then it seemed that Brown would pull away again. Behind those two was Clint Garner stood to prosper should either driver in front of him falter. It never happened.
At the end of lap 13 the yellow was thrown for a two car skirmish involving Matt Moro and Jesse Giannetto. Moro rode the tow hook to the pits after sustaining a slow tip over. On the restart Brown held his ground on the cushion in the final two laps to take the win. Humston held second and Garner was third. Dustin Selvage and RJ Johnson completed the top five.
The 12-lap 305 feature saw Travis Cram race to his first win in that division. He was followed the entire distance by Mark Widmar who led the opening lap. A lap two wreck saw Steve Breazeale possibly demolish his car in a single car incident. A yellow on lap 10 for a stopped car bunched the cars again but Cram was able to hold his position on the restart and take the win. Widmar took second, Jamie Ball registered third and Marty Stephenson and Tasker Phillips were fourth and fifth respectively.
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