Fegers Is the Victor in Knoxville Spring WDRL Late Models
Friday, April 27, 2007
By Bob Wilson - Justin Fegers wrote his name into the record books at Knoxville Raceway as he captured the WDRL (World Dirt Racing League) feature event Friday night. Historically the race marked the 40th major late model stock car championship in the track's history.
Pole sitter Chad Simpson took the early point as he cruised around the top of the big half-mile oval. Fellow front row starter Jimmy Mars stayed close to Simpson and challenged him but mechanical problems force the Wisconsin driver to the pits by the sixth go around. That left Denny Eckrich to take up the chase and he did so until he too dropped after a dozen laps.
That yellow allowed Fegers, a fifth row starter to pull in behind Simpson on the restart. Fegers had his hands full as Darren Miller (from 20th) began to challenge for the runner-up spot too. Lap 16 saw Miller momentarily take the lead as he flew out of turn two but a bumping incident in the next corner found Miller nearly into the turn three fence. That cost Miller several spots as well as chassis problems. Two laps later he too was parked in his pit stall.
Simpson continued in the top spot and in fact built a small lead over Fegers but the eventual winner began to reel-in the fleet Simpson. Lap twenty saw a blanket finish with Simpson just edging Fegers but the next pass of the flag stand found Fegers in the lead. This would not be the final lead change as four laps later Brian Harris took it away with a run on the cushion in turns three and four. Harris looked as if he might be the eventual winner until Fegers re-passed him on the 27th lap. At this point, Fegers now had the lead for good.
Though no one knew the winning car was in the lead for good, the Mound, Minnesota driver kept his foot in it and built a half-a-chute lead over second running Dave Eckrich. Passing the languishing Harris on the 33rd circuit was Kelly Boen. Boen had a story that reflected the excellent condition of the track as he was running near the front early in the race, spun his mount and restarted at the tail of the 26-car field. As the race was winding down, Boen had once again caught the leaders.
In the end it was Fegers in his Mastersbilt Chassis taking the $5,000 to win 40-lap event. Dave Eckrich came across the stripe in second while the hapless Boen captured third. Kyle Berck drove a steady race to finish fourth and Simpson held on to take fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Harris, John Kaanta, Jason Utter, Ray Guss (started 22nd) and John Anderson (who started beside Guss). Out of the top ten drivers, five could be counted as regulars in the West Liberty (IA) weekly racing program. The entire purse was shown to be $24,000. 47 late models went through the paces on this night.
In a companion division of 305 sprints, former Knoxville Raceway competitor Steve Breazeale made a last lap pass to emerge the winner. The 12-lap feature found Zach Clark leading after one lap. He was soon passed by Clint Garner who held that spot for three rounds. Up from a third row start came teenager Trish Dover as she roared by on the low side exiting turn two to take the lead.
What looked to be a Dover win suddenly went sour as she suffered a flat right-rear tire under a lap nine yellow flagged slowdown. She was able to get the tire changed but had to restart from the tail before she came back for a eighth place finish.
Garner then inherited the lead on the restart but was caught on the final lap by Breazeale in his Bruce Clark owned sprinter. Garner was disqualified from his second place finish when he failed to make weight at the scales. Matt Stevenson, Tom Lenz, Clark and Chad Houston rounded out the top five finishers. Twenty-four 305s signed in for the competition. For a complete race rundown simply go to the RESULTS section of the menu bar. # # # # #
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