Lasoski and Garner garner Knoxville Sprint feature Wins
Saturday, July 26, 2008
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 24) – Danny Lasoski and Clint Garner each won feature events at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. The win was another milestone for “The Dude” as his 92nd victory extended his division leading winning numbers toward the century mark.
Front row starter Skip Jackson took the initial lead in the 20-lap feature event with fellow front row starter Calvin Landis in tow. Jackson found his route to be fastest by running low in turns one and two and taking the cushion in turns three and four. Right away Lasoski managed a third running spot after starting eighth.
Lasoski took over second from Landis with a turn three slider on the fourth circuit and then began to run down Jackson in his Guy Forbrook prepared machine. On lap eight as they roared out of turn two in a side by side formation, Lasoski inched ahead and had it for sure when he dove into turn three. Jackson stayed close at first but at the half-way mark he had begun to fall behind.
On lap 14, just as Lasoski had pulled out to a 20 car-length advantage, the yellow flag was thrown for Mark Dobmeier, who had spun on the front stretch with a flat left-rear tire. All oncoming traffic managed to miss the hapless North Dakota driver.
When the race went green again, Lasoski roared away from Jackson in a hurry. Dusty Zomer made a pass of Landis to take third and Wayne Johnson was scored in fifth. With no lap traffic in front of him, Lasoski again built a comfortable margin between himself and Jackson.
Lap seventeen saw the final slow-down flag of the race when a red was thrown for Dobmeir and Mike Moore. Both cars became entangled as they headed toward turn three causing each one to strike the turn wall in what looked to be a vicious incident. However, neither car flipped. Both cars were unable to restart.
With just three laps remaining, Lasoski was again able to pull away from his nearest challenger, which in the end turned out to be Zomer who made a pass of Jackson on the final lap as did Brian Brown, who started 12th. Just prior to that, sixth running Billy Alley pulled into the pits with a broken motor.
Landis rounded out the top five. Completing the top ten finishers were Don Droud Jr, Wayne Johnson, Bronson Maeschen, Kaley Gharst (from 17th) and Davey Heskin (from 20th).
The 360 division saw a big influx of competitors (43 cars) as several “out-of-towners” made the show a practice session for the upcoming 360 Nationals. Cars from Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, Washington and Oklahoma were present for the “pre-Nationals” event.
Joe Beaver led the 15-lap race at the outset from his pole position start. Randy Martin trailed him for one lap and then third row starter Clint Garner quickly passed Martin and set his sights on Beaver. Garner was not to be denied as he took the top spot coming low out of turn two on lap five and then began to extend his lead.
In a race that went non-stop, Garner found his fast route around the big half-mile oval as he went to the bottom in turns one and two and rode the cushion in turns three and four. Jesse Giannetto took the runner-up spot on lap eight and began to chase Garner through lap traffic to the end. He actually made gains on the leader by running the bottom line in all four corners.
Garner won the event, his third career victory here, in his self-owned Schnee. Giannetto kept his second place spot while Beaver stayed in third. Russ Hall was fourth and Matt Moro (started 9th) finished fifth. Randy Martin, Jesse Hockett, Gregg Bakker (started 17th), Troy Little and Jeff Mitrisin rounded out the top ten finishers.
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