Brown and Lindquist Take Knoxville Track Loot
Saturday, May 20, 2006
By Bob Wilson
Knoxville, Iowa - May 20 - Brian Brown and Dustin Linquist each garnered feature event wins at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. Brown's 410 division win was number four for the Missouri driver while Linquist's 360 win was his maiden entry onto the victory stand at this central Iowa racing facility.
The 410 feature saw Brown start along side pole sitter Chris Walraven as the twosome diced through turns one and two for the lead with Brown prevailing. On the next go around Wayne Johnson slid Walraven in turn two to take the runner-up spot in the chase of Brown. A three-way battle then broke out for third between Walraven, Skip Jackson and Billy Alley. Jackson took third on the fourth circuit and Alley got by Walraven on the next lap for fourth.
As the cars behind him battled for position, Brown was able to pull away from the crowd. He hit lap traffic by the sixth circuit but was not hindered by those backmarkers. Lap nine saw the red flag displayed as Matt Moro took a particularly hard tumble in turn four. He exited his wrecked sprinter uninjured.
Brown again assumed the point on the restart. With one more lap in the books third running Billy Alley jumped the cushion and became completely sideways. An onrushing Lynton Jeffrey slid into him as the rest of the field managed to miss the hapless Nebraska driver.
On that ensuing restart Johnson actually made a slide of Brown in turn two but Brown shot off the corner and regained the point with Johnson following. The sparring between those two allowed Jackson to make a pass on the bottom to take second from Johnson.
At the fifteen lap mark, Brown had driven to a fairly comfortable lead in the Doogs Racing Maxim. Jackson, Johnson, Dusty Zomer, Clint Garner and Kerry Madsen followed. Of those cars, only Garner worked the bottom as everyone else seemed to find the cushion to be the fast way around Knoxville on this night.
In the end, Brown flew across the finish line taking the checkered flags as Jackson exited turn four. The win paid Brown $3,000 and padded his lead in the current points standings. After Jackson was Johnson, Garner, Madsen and Zomer. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Calvin Landis, Tim St. Arnold, Jesse Giannetto and Bronson Maeschen. Twenty-nine cars competed in the division.
Dustin Lindquist waited till the end of the 15-lap race to capture the A Feature for the 360 division. In the beginning it was Brett Mather showing the field of twenty sprinters the fastest way around this half-mile fairgrounds track. It was not easy for Mather as Johnny Anderson right away made challenges for the top spot.
After a red on lap five, Anderson really put the pressure on the leader as he used the low groove in the turns as a means of overtaking Mather. Finally on lap eight Anderson's strategy paid off and after a side by side battle around this big oval, the scoring sheets show a new leader by no more that a half-car length. The following lap saw Lindquist also get by Mather just like he had disposed of John Kearney several laps earlier.
Lindquist continued to chase Anderson but he needed some help. That came for him just after the completion of lap twelve when John Kearney stopped in turn four with a flat tire. Kearney re-entered the race but was never able to gain the momentum he had shown earlier.
The final restart saw Anderson assume the point with Lindquist right on his tail. Anderson stayed on the cushion while Lindquist was able to place his Lindquist Loucks Motorsports Maxim on the bottom to create side by side racing down the backstretch. In the end the Minnesotan's strategy paid off as he took the lead on the 14th lap and came across the finish line a lap later to win by eight car lengths. Anderson had to settle for second. Stacey Alexander came on strong in the final laps to take third, Mather was fourth and Jake Peters, a B-Main transfer claimed fifth. Jon Corbin and Jeff Mitrisin, both B-Main transfers were sixth and seventh respectively. Frankie Heimbaugh, Troy Meyer and David Hall rounded out the top ten finishers. 35 cars competed in the division.
For further and complete results click on RESULTS at the top of this page.
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