Carson, Anderson and Coons, Jr. are Knoxville Winners
Friday, June 2, 2006
By Bob Wilson
Knoxville, Iowa - June 2 - A big night of racing with four feature events saw Shane Carson, Johnny Anderson and Jerry Coons, Jr. take victories on this Marion County half-mile oval during the Masters Classic and King Doodlebug United States Auto Club (USAC) Midget Classic.
The 4th annual USAC King Doodlebug Midget Classic saw Jerry Coons, Jr. repeat his win of 2004 when he took the lead in the 20-lap feature event just after the half-way point. Bryan Clauson, Brady Bacon and Dave Darland had held the top spot to that point. Two distinct grooves developed during the night with a bottom line and a cushion line which was right against the tall Knoxville fences.
For Coons, the big break came after a lap nine restart. With Dave Darland leading and running the cushion in turns three and four, Coons sneaked to the bottom and roared out of turn four with the lead. By lap 15 he had developed a huge gap between himself and the battle for runner-up behind him. In the end, Coons could claim a full straight away lead when he took the checkered flag in his Stanton Mopar. The win paid the Arizona driver $1,650. Trailing to the finish were Bacon, Darland, Clauson and Mike Hess.
In the annual Masters Classic, Shane Carson led from the start to claim the 14th running of the event. Carson found a comfortable spot on the bottom of the weary track and by lap ten he had pulled away from his nearest competition by 25 car lengths. As Carson drove the Larry Weeks sprinter under the $1,000 checkered flag, second place Jimmy Sills was just exiting turn four. Completing the top five finishers were A.J. Weaver, Terry Alexander and Bob Thompson.
A change in format on this Masters Classic night saw Knoxville 360 drivers included in the events. The "Young Guns", as they were called, staged their own feature which placed those drivers in a final "showdown" with the top ten finishers from the Masters Classic.
In the "Young Guns" feature, Johnny Anderson surprised race leader John Kearney after a single file restart on lap eight when he drove to the bottom in turns one and two and took the lead as he shot down the back stretch. Kearney tried to keep pace but slowly fell back as he ran the cushion. Stacey Alexander also got by Kearney by running the bottom with only three laps left to go in the 15-lap event.
Anderson was just about to enter lap traffic when he took the checkered flag and the $1,000 payday. As Alexander flew past the finish line to take second his car went up in smoke. Third went to Kearney, Jeff Mitrisin claimed fourth and the fifth spot was taken by Jon Corbin.
The "Masters vs Young Guns Challenge" saw row one starter Johnny Anderson "out-gun" fellow row one starter Shane Carson in a hard-fought first lap. Carson stayed close but was eventually caught and passed by Josh Higday on lap four.
Drivers had to decide whether a bottom route would be faster than a trip around the Knoxville oval at the top on the cushion. It was difficult to tell by watching the position battles which was the best. Some drivers made headway at the top while others, including the winner, found the bottom to their liking. The big Knoxville track (a true half mile at the pole and a 5/8 at the fences) did not allow for mistakes on this night as most of her surface had become dry slick.
Anderson took the win for the "Young Guns" as he finished eight car lengths ahead of second place finisher John Kearney. The win paid the Jack Anderson-owned Eagle $1,000. Kearney, Higday, Carson and David Hall completed the top five finishers.
For complete results see our RESULTS button at the top of this page
|