Alley and Corbin Become 9th and 10th Different Winners at Knoxville
Saturday, May 27, 2006
By Bob Wilson
Knoxville, Iowa - May 27 - Billy Alley and Jon Corbin won 410 and 360 feature events respectively at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. Their wins show why Knoxville racing is so exciting this season as no feature event winner has repeated since the season opener in April.
For Alley the win was anything but easy although he started on the front row. Young Rager Phillips chased him the first lap but gave way on the second round to Skip Jackson. A yellow was thrown for a stopped car on the track and on the restart Alley blew through turns one and two on the cushion to pull away from Jackson
Jackson had pulled within four car lengths when another yellow flew after the completion of lap six for debris on the track. On the restart a red flag came out when Wayne Johnson and Calvin Landis got together in turn two with Johnson slamming into the fence and Landis tumbling after him. Neither car could restart.
When the race went green again it was Madsen who provided the excitement as he surged to third behind Alley and Jackson. Yet another red flew on lap eight as Phillips jumped the cushion and came down off of it into an unsuspecting Dusty Zomer. Phillips tumbled to a stop as Zomer continued on down the track and coming to a halt at the entrance of turn three. Damage inhibited either driver from continuing.
The restart saw Jackson again trailing Alley's J & J with Madsen gamely working the low side as he narrowly trailed in third. At the half-way point Alley held a solid ten car-length lead.
The final yellow of the event came out on lap eleven when Chris Walraven lost a right rear tire in turn one. The wayfaring rubber bounced sky high but never did bound over the high Knoxville fences. With the field race ready Walraven was left in the pits without enough time to ready his sprinter.
The final nine laps saw Alley keep the Gifford Motorsports sprinter in front as he worked the cushion to perfection. Everyone's eyes were glued to Madsen as he dove to the bottom in each turn in an attempt to overtake Jackson. The two Aussies masterfully maneuvered the big Knoxville half mile with Brian Brown coming into contention late.
In the end Alley claimed the $3,000 to win event, his second career 410 win here. The excited youngster climbed the inside retaining wall and stood pumping his arms toward the sky. In the victory winners circle he said he felt he had "dropped a cylinder,but kept on going". Jackson, Madsen and Brown followed with Lynton Jeffrey taking fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Matt Moro, Jesse Giannetto from dead last, Clint Garner from 18th, Bronson Maeschen and Kaley Gharst. Twenty-nine cars competed in the division.
The 360 division was a two race affair. Josh Higday had the field covered for the front portion as he utilized his front row start to claim the initial lead. The Des Moines driver rode the big half mile by running high on the cushion in turns one and two and dove to the bottom in turns three and four. That strategy worked well for him as he had a ten car-length lead at the end of five circuits.
On lap six Higday narrow escaped disaster when two backmarker cars spun in turn one almost in front of him. He was able to thread the needle and get by as did the rest of the slowing field. All the while second running Jon Corbin was taking notice of the Higday strategy.
The restart saw Corbin follow the Higday machine for one lap and then on lap seven he made his move with a slider in turns one and two. Higday gamely fought back but he could not overtake the momentum Corbin had built. Once in front Corbin began to run the same route in his Brunner-owned sprinter that Higday had used so successfully. At the end of the 15-lap race he had pulled away from Higday by a ten car-length margin. Following those two were Joe Beaver, Jake Peters, and John Kearney in the top five. Stacey Alexander, Jeff Mitrisin, Dustin Linquist from fourteenth, Josh Schneiderman and David Hall rounded out the top ten finishers. Thirty-three 360s signed through the pit gate.
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