VanHaaften, Garner Capture Knoxville 360 Twin Features; Jeffrey In 410s
Nate Van Haaften
Saturday, July 2, 2011
By Bob Wilson for Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 2) – Nate VanHaaften and Clint Garner won both ends of Twin Features for 360 at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. The fireworks in the 410 division found Lynton Jeffrey in the winner’s circle for the third time in his career here at this storied fairgrounds oval.
The 20-lap feature event for the 410 sprinters saw pole sitter Kaley Gharst lead for the first three laps. The red was thrown for Rob Kubli who barrel-rolled down the backstretch bringing the race to a halt at that point. Kubli was taken to the Knoxville hospital after the completion of all racing events for a checkup. His car was destroyed.
On the restart rookie Dustin Selvage took the lead from Gharst heading down the backstretch as those two sparred for that position for two laps. Just then a yellow was displayed for Joey Moughan who had spun at the fence out of turn four.
The restart saw Jeffrey, a third row starter come into contention as he took over the runner-up position. Soon fifth row starter Kevin Swindell began to dog Jeffrey for that second place position and that duo provided the fireworks for several laps.
At the completion of lap ten the last yellow of the race was displayed for Brian Brown whose engine expired as he headed into turn four. Brown, who was in fourth at the time, nearly collected two cars that were running right behind him.
The final restart saw a photo finish at the flag stand as Selvage edged Jeffrey to take lap eleven. Jeffrey made a pass of Selvage as they shot down the front chute on the next circuit but it was still a mighty close lap. From then on Jeffrey began to pull away but Swindell was not finished and he picked up the chase four laps later. In the final laps Jeffrey became impeded by the back markers as Swindell made it close.
At the finish Jeffrey, in his self-owned Eagle, took his third career win here by no more than two car lengths over the pesky Swindell. Selvage held for third, Danny Lasoski came from sixth row start to take fourth and Dusty Zomer claimed fifth. Completing the top ten were Gharst, Bronson Maeschen, Terry McCarl, Shane Stewart from a twentieth start, Mark Dobmeier and Rager Phillips.
The annual 360 Twin Features saw Clint Garner capture career win number nine at this racing facility. Garner led the entire distance and was chased closely by Chad Humston. By lap twelve Garner headed into traffic and Humston closed quickly. Garner was able to stave off the Humston attack but when those two came flying past the flag stand Humston made a pass of the Garner machine.
What looked to be the winning move was called back as the red flag was displayed for Tony Shilling who had collided with the fence between turns three and four.
The green-white-checkered finish saw Garner in his self-owned Schnee being able to control the race as Humston finished a close second. Fourth starting Billy Alley took third, Casey Fredericksen was fourth and Larry Ball Jr. finished fifth.
With the field inverted for the second 360 feature, a quick red came out for a Russ Hall easy tip over at the fence in turn two. When it went green again, Knoxville rookie Logan Forler took the lead and was soon chased by Josh Higday. Higday could not stay with Forler and the Arizona driver began to pull away. Two quick yellows on laps seven and eight bunched the twenty-car field and each time Forler kept his number one position.
A red at the completion of lap ten saw second and third place cars of Tasker Phillips and Ryan Anderson come together just after the flag stand with Anderson going up and over. Hard charging Humston was also taken out when he “endoed” his sprinter coming upon the wreck. Only Phillips was able to restart.
With but five laps to go in the race, cushion-running Forler looked to be in control of the finish. If you had bet on him you would have been wrong as fourth position Nate VanHaaften began to make a charge on the bottom, a spot where few cars were running at this point of the night.
Lap twelve saw VanHaaften in the Doug VanHaaften owned J&J take third and he took second on the next go around. Finally on the fourteenth circuit he took the lead and came across the line in front of Forler by ten car lengths. It was his initial win on this half-mile oval. Higday remained in third, Matt Moro charged from 12th to take fourth and fifth went 16th starter Billy Alley.
In trackside ceremonies during the evening five new members were inducted into the 33rd annual Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame. New inductees were Wayne Redmond, Jaymie Moyle, Bob Wilson, Jerry Payton and Arleta Voyce.
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