Henderson and Kearney Rule Knoxville Sprint Features
Saturday, May 24, 2008
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Justin Henderson and John Kearney captured feature events at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. For Henderson it was his second in a row. For Kearney it was his 22nd career win at this central Iowa racing facility during night number three of Knoxville Championship Cup Series.
On a track which had seen too much rain during the previous twenty-four hours, a narrow groove developed on an amazingly fast half-mile oval. Thus, passing was at a minimum on this evening as thirty-three 410s and thirty-seven 360s vied for top honors.
Henderson, who started on the front row, slid beneath fellow front row starter Calvin Landis in turn one of the start of the race and paced the field of 24 down the back chute. Landis stayed with the second generation driver as Danny Lasoski followed in third. At the end of five laps Henderson could only muster a five car-length advantage.
With the racing surface so narrow, very little passing was taking place up front. One driver who was on the move was Mark Dobmeier. Having started eighth, the Grand Forks, North Dakota driver began to move steadily forward while having the left side of his top wing panel collapsing.
At the five-mile mark, Landis was challenging Henderson and right behind that duo Dobmeier had picked off Lasoski as the front runners began entering lap traffic.
Coming out of turn two on lap fifteen, Dobmeier passed Landis for the runner-up spot as he began putting the heat on Henderson. The final five laps were worth the wait as Dobmeier and Henderson toured the half-mile oval working through backmarkers on the narrow track.
In the end, Henderson captured the ten-mile sprint in a non-stop race by a mere two car lengths over the Dobmeier advances. Lasoski was a close third. Completing the top five were Landis and Clint Garner. Jake Peters, Dusty Zomer, Dion Hindi (from 12th), Brooke Tatnell and Travis Cram (from 14th) rounded out the top ten finishers.
John Kearney rode a pole position start to lead all the way in the 360 winged-sprint feature. He grabbed the top spot immediately and was pressed by Joe Beaver who had shot to the runner-up position when the race went green by running above the cushion from his sixth starting spot.
Lap five saw the only caution of the event when Josh Higday stopped on the back chute with a damaged front end. At that same time Jay Russell exited the event also with car damage. The two had been running together at that point.
At the 10-lap mark Kearney had created a 10 car-length lead over Beaver with Ryan Roberts in tow for third. A clear track ahead enabled the Kearney & Sons Construction Maxim to sweep through the narrow turns unimpeded.
As Kearney took the checkered flag, he had just come upon the cars of lap traffic. Beaver and Roberts followed with Brett Mather and Russ Hall forming the top five. Tyler Thompson, Dustin Selvage, Jon Agan (from 17th), Eric Vander Ploeg and Matt Moro completed the top ten.
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