Brown and Higday Capture Knoxville Season Openers
Saturday, April 21, 2007
by Bob Wilson - Brian Brown and Josh Higday showed the fast way around the world-famous Knoxville Raceway oval and celebrated feature event wins during the track's 54th season opener Saturday night.
Brown, who started 17th in the field of twenty-four, was probably given little chance of winning the season opener by the gathered crowd due to the fact that the track surface had turned hard, dry and slick by the end of the night of racing on it. That and the new harder compound tire rule in effect for the 2007 season would make it extremely difficult to move forward in the twenty lap race, most thought.
But, Brown did move forward quickly and by the half-way point was sitting in the runner-up spot and enjoying a dynamic battle for that position with fifth row starter Ricky Logan. Both had managed to chase down race leader Skip Jackson. While Jackson and Brown made their living on the high cushion, Logan found the bottom to his liking.
Laps 10-14 proved to be exciting as it was never certain who would fly by the flagstand with the lead. However, lap 14 was the deciding circuit as both Brown and Logan slid Jackson going into turn one. When they came around the half-mile oval to the start/finish line, a blanket finish showed Brown to be slightly ahead of Logan. From that point to the end Brown was in control but Logan kept it so interesting. Jackson stayed close to that duo as Kaley Gharst (started 16th) came into contention,
As Brown began to pull away ever so slowly, Jackson, Logan and Gharst were having a dog fight for the runner-up slot. On lap eighteen Jackson spun his sprinter in turn four and sat sideways on the track as all oncoming traffic missed him. He was relegated to the tail and finished fifteenth.
When the race resumed, a sudden 5-car melee occurred in turn one, taking four cars to the pits. It was during that red-flag stoppage that it was noted that Brown's right-rear tire was ready for the trash barrel. Once the race went green, Brown did not baby his equipment provided by Wise Guy Motorsports. Brown forced his Maxim full tilt around that final lap to take the $3,000 checkers just ahead of Logan. Surprisingly, B-Main winner and 19th position starter Scott Winters had forged his way to third. Gharst maintained fourth and Dennis Moore, Jr. came through the pack to take fifth. Dustin Lindquist, Randy Anderson, Dusty Zomer, Mark Dobmeier and Brent Antill completed the top ten finishers.
Josh Higday began etching his name on the top line of the Knoxville Championship Cup Series end-of-the- year trophy as he simply ran away and hid from the 20-car field in the 360 division. Higday led every single lap from his pole position start and was so fast that he began entering lap traffic by the seventh circuit. Quickly he extended his lead to a full straightaway over second running Chuck Swenson.
In a feature race that went non-stop, Higday would eventually guide his Snodgrass Eagle to a half-lap lead before the race went checkered for this new team. If one was not watching Higday masterfully plow through traffic then one had to be guessing who would take second. In the end, Jeff Mitrisin captured that spot with Swenson settling for third. Track rookie Bryan Dobesh came home fourth and John Kearney took fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Dustin Selvage, Jake Peters, Rick Ideus, Brett Mather and Mike Houseman, Jr. # # # #
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