Gharst Holds Off Lasoski to Take First Knoxville Win
Saturday, May 13, 2006
By Bob Wilson
Knoxville, Iowa - May 13 - Kaley Gharst. The 2005 Knoxville Rookie of the Year. The 2005 Knoxville Nationals Rookie. Kaley Gharst from Decatur, Illinois held off Danny Lasoski, the all-time leading feature event winner at Knoxville Raceway, and captured his first feature event win at this storied Central Iowa fairgrounds.
On a night that featured unseasonably cold weather, Gharst out-dueled fellow front row starter Mike Moore to take the first lap of the 20-lap feature race. A quick yellow just after the completion of lap three for a stopped car on the track bunched the field of 24 sprinters and slowed the otherwise blistering pace.
When the race resumed, Gharst held the point as 2005 Knoxville points champion Kerry Madsen gave chase around the big half mile oval. Through the next several laps Madsen was pestered by fellow Aussie Skip Jackson. While those two ran the bottom of the track Gharst led them from a line following the cushion.
By the ninth circuit Madsen had also moved to the cushion as one lap later Jackson surprised everyone by diving into his low line in turns one and two and temporarily taking the lead. When Jackson and Gharst came flying by the flag stand on that tenth lap, it was Gharst in the lead by inches. The following lap was much the same as neither drive was willing to change lines to find an advantage.
With half the race in the books, Gharst kept his father's Maxim on the cushion and let the Ott engine power the car away from the two chasing Aussies. Lap twelve saw him enter into heavy lap traffic but he maneuvered masterfully and in fact extended his lead. Three laps later he could count a twelve car advantage between himself and Jackson.
Behind them Madsen had his hands full with Lasoski, who had passed the Sydneysider only to get re-passed on the next go around. The Madsen-Lasoski battle was a classic to watch but it all came to an end on lap 17 when Madsen slowed and dropped from the race with mechanical ills. One lap later all hell broke loose on the backstretch when second running Jackson seemed to loose control of his sprinter while working his way uncharacteristically on the high side in lap traffic. Jackson struck the fence and barrel rolled several times bringing the race to a halt.
With the restart scheduled to go green/white/checkered, all Gharst had to do is hold off second running Lasoski. And that is what he did when the single-file field restarted, but that was all negated when Tim St. Arnold stopped on the track. The new 2006 rule added over the winter then came into effect. That rule states that additional restarts will be started on the white flag and checkered the next time by the flag stand.
And so, the final restart saw Gharst once again hold off Lasoski in the final half mile to sail past the finish line by a mere two car-length and a $3,000 win. Trailing "the Dude" was his nephew Brian Brown. Fourth went to Jesse Giannetto, fifth was taken by Lynton Jeffrey and sixth went to B-Main winner Billy Alley who started twenty-first. Completing the top ten were Matt Moro, Mike Reinke, Ryan Anderson and Clint Garner who started right behind Alley.
In the companion 360 division, John Kearney picked up his milestone 20th feature event win. Kearney powered the K & R Racing Maxim/Wesmar to an 8-10 car-length win over a field of 20 qualifiers.
Though Kearney's name will appear in the win column, it was Jake Peters, the 2005 track champion in this division who provided the fireworks. Peters took the lead on lap one and simply ran away from the rest of the field. By lap five he had already developed a lead of nearly the entire front chute. He was so quick on this night that he had come upon lap traffic during the seventh go around.
Lap 10 found Peters coming into very heavy lap traffic and he was able to clear those cars with ease. It was the 13th circuit which saw the undoing of the current points leader as a broken rear axle caused the powerful sprinter to tumble hard into turn number one. Few people saw the mishap as most were watching a fierce battle taking place between Kearney and Jeff Mitrisin. Peters exited the event and his "wadded up" sprinter seemingly unhurt.
On the restart Kearney was able to get by Mitrisin in turn four as he rode the cushion past the low-running leader and roared down the front chute. In the end he picked up the $1,250 pay check as Mitrisin had to settle for second. Johnny Anderson, Stacey Alexander and Joe Beaver formed the top five finishers. Josh Higday, Dustin Linquist from 18th, John Schulz, Nate Mosher and Frankie Heimbaugh completed the top ten finishers.
A total of fifty-one 410s and forty-two 360s crowded the pits on this annual Interstate Racing Association (IRA) vs Knoxville 410 Shootout. For complete results click onto the red RESULTS button at the top.
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