In the Groove
Sunday, July 17, 2005
by Stacy Ervin - Once again, two happy winners graced victory lane ceremonies at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday, July 16. But the celebrating was a little more festive than usual due to the Marion County Fair festivities going on at the hallowed half-mile on this weekend.
With the Ferris wheel twirling and the smell of corn dogs and cotton candy wafting behind the grandstands, Bronson Maeschen became the fifth first-time Knoxville winner in the 360 division this year, while veteran Aussie pilot Kerry Madsen notched another win in the 410 division.
It was a hot night, both in the air and on the track. It’s that time of year when drivers seem to switch rides with some frequency and this night saw Lynton Jeffrey piloting the Lenard McCarl-owned 7X, previously piloted by Eric VanderPloeg.
Though in the same car, Randy Martin tried his hand at 410 racing rather than his usual 360 go. And a handful of regulars, including Jeff Mitrisin and Dusty Zomer, were missing from the action, choosing to go elsewhere instead.
A few "extra" visitors joined in on the show as is customary at this time of year. Both 360 and 410 pilots alike from around the country have a tendency to tow to Knoxville just before the big events, such as the 360 Nationals and the 410 Knoxville Nationals upcoming.
Former World of Outlaws driver Danny Wood was in the house in his Court Grandstaff-owned 66, but suffered problems early on and did not make competitive laps after time trials.
In the 360 division, teenager Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came all the way from Olive Branch, Mississippi, and was rewarded with an impressive sixth-place finish in his feature.
Local teenager Rager Phillips seemed to run out of luck on this night. First, he caught the attention of 360 flagman Justin Clark at the start of his heat race and was promptly sent to the tail of the lineup for jumping. The same thing happened again on the second attempt at starting the B-Main and Phillips made his second trip to the back for the night.
A couple of bizarre incidents happened in the second 360 heat race. First, Terry Alexander lost a wheel, made slight contact with David Hall and then flipped in turn four. While Hall’s machine did not seem to suffer much damage, Alexander’s wheel kept going down the frontstretch and was stopped when it bounced off of Hall¹s right-rear tire. It was almost as if the wheel was making a statement.
After that, Tom Lenz suffered a flat left-rear tire, which sent him looping around several times in turn four. For those who recall Billy Wilburn’s wild ride at the Nationals a few years ago, this was a tad reminiscent of that.
The 360 feature event had a tough time staying green. The first caution came on lap five when Chad Humston stopped on the backstretch. On the next lap, Alan Zoutte looped his machine in turn two.
With eight laps down, Mitchell Alexander slowed to a stop in turn one and Stevie Walsh ran over his wheel. That was one of those incidents which could have been much, much worse.
At the 10-lap mark, Maeschen made his move on race leader Eric Jobe, putting on a textbook slide job to take the point. With 13 laps down, Joe Beaver looped his machine into the work area. That cut Maeschen’s nearly three-second lead down to nothing under caution.
But it didn’t slow him down, as when the race resumed, Maeschen took off and won the race in commanding fashion. Before this win, his previous claim to fame had been winning the first-ever 305 cubic-inch sprint-car race in Iowa. He was a happy winner, exiting his sprinter and climbing the frontstretch fence to the rumbling approval of the grandstand crowd.
The 410 feature event had trouble starting off, but once it got going, stayed clean and green for 20 laps.
On the original start, Randy Anderson smacked the turn-three fence in Marty Johnson’s familiar blue 81 and actually got his wheels up on the fence. On the complete restart, Tim St. Arnold flipped in turn one.
When the race finally got started, Brian Brown looked like the man to beat. With nine laps down, Billy Alley, who was running second behind Brown, saw his luck fade away. His machine blew smoke and he slowed and pulled to the pit area without bringing out a caution. At that same time, both Jeffrey and Kaley Gharst also pulled to the pits.
Madsen then assumed the chase on Brown and on lap 13, he pulled a slide job down the backstretch and made it stick. From there, Madsen drove away to the checkered flags.
Both Maeschen and Madsen were delighted to accept the "extra" winnings the Marion County Fair race brings. Both drivers won a half a hog and a half a beef from the Marion County Fair Association.
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