In the Groove
Sunday, May 14, 2006
by Stacy Ervin - Though the 2006 Knoxville Raceway season is a mere three races old, I think it's now safe to say this is shaping up to be a year for the record books.
While last week was known for the lightning speed and several track records shattered, the week of May 13 will be known for a historical win.
Illinois teenager Kaley Gharst, who opened many eyes last season when he captured the Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year title and followed it with the Knoxville Raceway Rookie of the Year award, captured his first-ever feature win at the hallowed half-mile. What made the win unique was the way Gharst held off the most successful driver in Knoxville Raceway history and outdueled several former track champions.
Danny Lasoski, who captured his 87th win at the speedway the week prior and has seven track championships to his credit, again dropped in to his old stomping grounds this week when a National Sprint Tour event was cancelled. Other visitors this week were a strong contingent from the Wisconsin-based Interstate Racing Association. It¹s always a joy to host those folks for the annual IRA vs. Knoxville Shootout.
Following preliminary events, Gharst found himself on the outside of the front row to start the feature, with Lasoski starting deep in the event. Gharst wrestled the early lead from polesitter Mike Moore, who promptly got sideways in turn one but kept going after losing a handful of spots.
Randy Anderson, who was making his season debut in the familiar Marty Johnson sprinter, brought out the early yellow flag on lap three when he stopped in turn two.
After that, the race was on, with Gharst being chased by a pair of native Australians-turned-Knoxvillians, Kerry Madsen and Skip Jackson, also former track champions. In the early going, it appeared Madsen would be Gharst's biggest foe, but Jackson surprised the crowd by seemingly coming out of nowhere on lap nine to take a brief lead in heavy traffic. Gharst captured it back a lap later and the threesome raced closely around the speedway.
On lap 18, Madsen slowed and pulled pitside with mechanical problems. Soon after, as the white flag was waving, Wayne Johnson slowed to a stop in turn three with mechanical issues. The yellow flag quickly turned red, though, when at the same time, Jackson slid under Tim St. Arnold in coming off of
turn two and got sideways. The two made slight contact and that, coupled with a wheel over the berm, send Jackson barrel-rolling down the backstretch.
On the green-white-checkered restart, Gharst was holding off Lasoski, but a yellow flag returned when St. Arnold slowed to a stop on the high side of turn one. That put a new Knoxville rule into effect. Since one attempt had been unsuccessful at the green-white-checkered finish, the next restart was only to be white and then checkered. That allowed Gharst to hold off Lasoski, who didn¹t seem to recall the new rule, taking an extra lap at speed. But Gharst was already celebrating his first win, and in victory lane, credited lapped traffic with helping him stay out front.
For his part, Johnson had a notably up-and-down evening. He set quick time in time trials with a lap of 14.878. Ironically, that would have been a new track record two weeks ago. But it didn¹t come close enough to Brooke Tatnell¹s newly established mark of 14.407, which was set last week on what was certainly the quickest track surface ever seen at Knoxville.
Johnson then proceeded to the first 410-division heat race, where he moved up the track in turn four and slammed into IRA visitor Scott Young. The contact sent Young on a hard flip on the frontstretch.
That was the first, but certainly not the only, nasty tumble of the night. In the third heat race, a pileup just as the green flag was coming out spelled trouble for IRA driver John Sernett and Knoxville driver Chris Walraven. Clint Garner and Greg Jones were also involved in the melee.
Mechanical troubles and track violations also plagued the 410 drivers on this night. Popular Knoxville regular Larry Ball Jr. suffered a major blow to his motor in his heat race. Another popular driver, Billy Alley, claimed the ire of flagman Doug Clark in his heat race. After being penalized for jumping the start by being sent to the back of the field, Alley was again cited for the jump and sent pitside before the heat race began. After consulting Clark later in the evening, Alley was able to return for the B-Main, where he transferred to the A, where he finished sixth.
Todd King and Tony Shilling also suffered. Both were scheduled to start the fourth heat, but did not, which relegated them to the C-Main. Shilling first flipped in turn two. Then, Ryan Irwin turned sideways in turn one and went head-first into the inside fence. King was caught up in that incident and ended up flipping violently near the outside fence.
For their part, the companion 360 division saw a relatively clean start to the night. The only major incident there was a 15-minute delay for rain just after the first heat race ended.
But the 360 A-Main had excitement of its own. Track champ Jake Peters started fourth, but got the early lead away from front-row sitters Eric Mason and Jeff Mitrisin. Behind them, Kansas pilot and former track champ John Kearney had come from 10th to third in a mere three laps.
Peters looked to be pulling away, blistering the speedway to hit lapped traffic on the sixth lap with a half-straightaway lead on his competition. Kearney, meanwhile, got second away from Mitrisin on lap nine and began to set his sights on Peters.
While most of the crowd was focused on the intense battle between Kearney and Mitrisin, Peters apparently suffered a mechanical problem which found him flipping violently in turn one. It was a shock to most of the crowd when they realized the race came to a halt for the leader. Tim Newman was also involved in the incident.
On the restart, Kearney got the lead away from Mitrisin and went on to get his notable 20th career win at the track. Always an excited winner, Kearney climbed the frontstretch fence to the delight of the crowd and photographers.
The Saturday-night show was the second of two consecutive nights of racing at the hallowed half-mile. The World Dirt Racing League late-model series made its Knoxville debut on Friday, May 12. The race had been rescheduled from two weeks prior, when the threat of heavy rain forced track officials to cancel early. Though the weather wasn¹t much improved this week, the event did go off without a hitch and saw Wisconsin driver Jimmy Mars dominating the 40-lap feature.
Being a West Liberty, Iowa, native, late-model racing is king in Eastern Iowa. Unfortunately, my hometown hotshoes seemed to suffer on this night. Muscatine native Brian Birkhofer and West Liberty pilot Steve Boley apparently suffered mechanical ills. The night was also tough for West Liberty-area brothers Kurt and Kevin Kile. I'm sure they'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this was the first race at Knoxville for Boley and the Kiles, and I'm afraid it might not have made a good first impression.
Next week brings another regular Saturday night of racing at Knoxville and marks my annual birthday bash in the pressbox. Yes, I'm about to be another year older again on Wednesday this week. I'll take condolences, but would prefer compliments, at stacyerv@Lcom.net.
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