Lasoski Hits Number 99 at Knoxville
Danny Lasoski
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Lasoski Hits Number 99 at Knoxville
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, IOWA – July 20, 2013 – Danny Lasoski is just one marker away from reaching the century mark at Knoxville Raceway. Saturday night he captured his 99th career feature event win at this historic race track during the 3M Night of racing. His nephew Brian Brown won the feature for 360s and Larry Ball Jr. was the victor in the 305 division.
The 410 feature went red right away as pole sitter Tasker Phillips went up and over the right rear tire of Brandon Wimmer at the start as the front running cars went into turn two. He was not hurt but his car rode the wrecker’s hook to the pits.
On a complete restart Lasoski moved forward to fill the gap and claim the pole. He immediately shot to the front and uncharacteristically took to the cushion on the big half-mile oval. Wimmer chased him for three laps but dropped from the race after the third lap.
For the next four laps Don Droud Jr. took up the chase of the fleet Lasoski but was unable to keep pace with the front running car. Behind him Brian Brown was on the move and on lap eight he took the runner-up spot and began his pursuit to the “Dude from Dover”.
With the race reaching the half-way point of this 10-mile sprint, lap traffic would surely impede the point position car and give Brown a chance for the win. However, that was not to happen as Lasoski handled the slower cars as deftly as Brown did behind him. In fact, at the end of lap sixteen, Brown was just exiting turn four as Lasoski flew by the flagstand.
The final four laps saw the leader finally becoming slowed with cars ahead of him. That is when it looked as if Brown stood a chance to make a race of it. On lap 19 Lasoski jumped the cushion in turn two enabling Brown to move in close. Just after the white flag was displayed to the two frontrunners it was Brown’s turn to hit that same section of loose dirt above the cushion in turn two. However, he managed to free himself immediately from the “marbles” and shot down the back chute after the leader.
In the end Lasoski made no mistakes and took the all-time leading 99th career win here by no more than three car lengths over Brown. Davey Heskin was third as Droud Jr. impressed to finish fourth. Last week’s winner, Bronson Maeschen took fifth in a race that went the distance with no yellows or red.
The 360 feature saw the return of Nebraska’s Billy Alley who appeared to have not lost a bit of his driving finesse at this central Iowa racing facility. Alley took the lead at the outset and soon had Brian Brown nipping at his tail tank as the Missouri driver was pulling double duty on this night.
Lap four saw the red fly to bring the race to a halt when a 3-car accident occurred just into turn four. The cars of JD Johnson and Allen Ambers were involved initially and then Ricky Montgomery slid into the hapless Ambers machine. No one was hurt.
The restart saw Alley once again hold his lead position but Brown was on the move. Two laps later Brown slid Alley in turns three and four but Alley shot back and took the lap at the flag stand. As that duo headed into turn one Brown once again made the pass and this time it stuck.
At the half-way mark of this 18 lapper, Brown hit lap traffic but his skills in a sprint car saw him maneuver easily when a car was to be passed. Behind him was the current Knoxville track points leader Clint Garner. Though Garner roared around the top of the track he could not make a dent in the Brown lead.
In the end it was Brown taking the win as Garner finished second. Alley came across the stripe in third, Joe Beaver who fought Alley for that spot in the latter stages of the race settled for fourth and Russ Hall was fifth.
The 305 feature saw Larry Ball Jr. again on the victory stand in a 12-lap race that went flag to flag. He grabbed the lead at the outset and roared away from the field of challengers.
Quickly he hit lap traffic on the fifth circuit but the back markers did not slow him at all. At the end of the six-mile jaunt Ball had the field covered and came across the finish line as second place Jay Kinder was exiting turn four. Following that duo was Chris Walraven, rookie Sawyer Phillips and Bob Hildreth.
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