McCarl Returns Home to Capture Knoxville Season Opener
Saturday, April 22, 2006
by Bob Wilson
Knoxville, Iowa - April 22 - Six-time Knoxville Raceway track champion Terry McCarl conquered the field once again at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night to capture the 53rd season opener at this storied central Iowa racing facility.
Skip Jackson utilized the pole starting position to take the early lead as he hugged the pole on this big half mile dirt track. McCarl fell in behind him but cruised the top on the cushion where the oval turns in to a five-eighths distance. Lap three saw that duo fly past the flagstand in a photo finish with McCarl taking that lap by a hair.
McCarl continued to race on the top of the track but Jackson relished the bottom and in fact took the lead at the end of five laps as McCarl's high route was not the fast way around on this night. Right away Terry saw the error of his ways and shot to the bottom coming out of turn two on the next go around to take the lead for good. From this point onward McCarl ran low until he hit lap traffic at the half-way point, then he had to use various grooves.
Behind him Jackson had his hands full with defending track champion Kerry Madsen. The two Aussies never exchanged positions but their eventual finishes were in doubt for the entire 10-mile distance. Fourth running Clint Garner stayed at a distance and was never a threat.
With McCarl holding a 15 car-length lead at the half-way point, he began to extend his margin over Jackson. Even in lap traffic the McCarl Eagle was able to maneuver cleanly around the Knoxville oval. With sixteen laps in the books he had a full straight away lead which was nearly what he would win by on this season opening night. The victory was McCarl's 42nd here which placed him at fourth all time and paid the Altoona, Iowa driver $3,000.
McCarl, who is currently running with the World of Outlaws, led a contingent of drivers from that group to this Marion County Fairgrounds. A delegation of the competing National Sprint Tour (NST) group also was on hand led by Danny Lasoski. Lasoski experienced engine woes and dropped for the evening during his qualifying heat race. NST member Jason Meyers, who set fast time on the night, had to qualify through the B Main in order to make the tail of the feature where he finished 12th.
Jackson bested Madsen to the line for second, Garner held for fourth and Shane Stewart took fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Jason Solwold, Brooke Tatnell, Donny Schatz, Travis Rilat and Wayne Johnson.
The season opener for the 360 division saw a new winner on Knoxville soil as Chuck Swenson took the fifteen lapper as well as a paycheck for $1.250. Swenson grabbed the lead on lap one from his row three starting position and nearly held it for the distance.
Swenson was chased throughout the race by John Kearney who was always close. Lap eight saw Kearney make a pass to claim the lap but Swenson came right back on the next circuit to reclaim the top spot
Two red flags in the early portion of the event saw the cars of Joe Beaver and Eric Jobe crashing into the turn four fence in separate incidents. Once the race had officially recorded six laps it is worth noting that defending track champion Jake Peters had made his way to third after starting 15th.
At lap ten it was Swenson, Kearney and Peters. Johnny Anderson was fourth, Jon Corbin held fifth and Jeff Mitrisin, a B Main transfer ran at sixth after starting 17th. Swenson enjoyed a ten car length advantage.
In the waning laps Swenson edged into lap traffic and Kearney closed in on him rapidly. Though they ran nose to tail on the white flag lap, the track had turned hard and slick with rubber being laid down in the low groove making passing difficult. With this condition on the track, Kearney made one last attempt to get by Swenson in turn three of the final lap. The move caused him to lose temporary control of his sprinter and Peters was able to pass him for the runner-up spot.
Finishing behind those top three were Anderson, Mitrisin, Corbin, Frankie Heimbaugh and Stacey Alexander. Curt Lund and Josh Higday formed the top ten finishers.
Complete Results in "Results" page.
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