[b McCarl is the Spoiler with Last Lap ASCS Knoxville Nationals Prelim Win]
[i Lonnie Wheatley, KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 7, 2009)]
For 19 and three-quarters of a lap, it appeared that Missouri's Brian Brown was going to capture his first career ASCS Knoxville Nationals preliminary feature win.
But, Terry McCarl had other ideas, surging past the race-long leader with Justin Clark's checkered flag in sight to put the dramatic finishing touches on Friday night's 19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals 20-lap preliminary feature event.
Instead of Brown completing the wire-to-wire run, it was McCarl pulling into victory lane after snaring his seventh career Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters main event victory, the third of which has come atop the ½-mile Knoxville Raceway clay oval.
While Brown gunned into the lead at the outset and began to check out on the field in the early going, McCarl began working his way forward from the fourth row inside. However, it was the driver that started to McCarl's outside, Jack Dover, that was the big mover early on.
Dover was fourth behind Brown, Travis Rilat and Gregg Bakker by the time the caution flew after four rounds for a turn one tangle that eliminated Don Young and Ben Gregg, and then up to second behind Brown within three more laps.
Reeling in the leader, the Nebraska charger's hopes were cut short when he suffered race-ending woes at the midway point.
"Dover had the best car, he was going to be the one to beat no doubt," McCarl explained. "His dropping out probably helped us to win as much as anything."
With Dover sideline, McCarl made quick work of Rilat and Bakker to take over second on the restart. However, it was still several laps before McCarl began to erase any of Brown's advantage, which was still at nine-tenths of a second with just five laps to go.
McCarl adjusted his line though and closed to Brown's tailtank by the 18th round and then ducked under Brown exiting turn four on the final circuit to snare the win and a front-row starting spot in Saturday night's $10,000-to-win ASCS Knoxville Nationals main event aboard the Big Game Tree Stands No. 24 entry.
Brown settled for second in the Factory Value Parts No. 21 Maxim, with Rilat settling for the show position in the Shark-powered F&J Construction No. 29 Triple-X.
Sam Hafertepe, Jr., crossed the stripe fourth, with Bakker rounding out the top five. Bronson Maeschen was sixth, with Garry Lee Maier, 14th-starter Tim Crawley, Canadian Lou Kennedy, Jr., and Davey Heskin completing the top ten.
Seventeen-year-old West Virginia shoe Cale Conley bested the 59-car qualifying field by posting a new track record of 15.973 seconds to begin the night.
Zach Chappell, Ryan Roberts, Dusty Zomer, Crawley and Gregg topped heat race action.
After winning the "C" Main, Joe McCarthy flipped on the second lap of the "B" Main after easy turnovers by both Kenny Jacobs and Justin Zimmerman in separate incidents. Conley went on to win the "B" Main.
19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals Friday Night Preliminary Results:
Qualifying:
- 3c-Cale Conley (Vienna, WV) 15.973, 2. 53d-Jack Dover (Springfield, NE) 15.977, 3. 7m-Kevin Ramey (Fort Worth, TX) 16.073, 4. 94-Danny Wood (Norman, OK) 16.096, 5. 24-Terry McCarl (Altoona, IA) 16.132, 6. 1-Bronson Maeschen (Pleasantville, IA) 16.148, 7. 6k-Kenny Jacobs (Holmesville, OH) 16.177, 8. 91e-Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA) 16.209, 9. 20-Dennis Moore, Jr. (Grinnell, IA) 16.233, 10. 99-Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, OK) 16.268, 11. 9k-Brent Kronfuss (Bozeman, MT) 16.277, 12. 56-Davey Heskin (St. Michael, MN) 16.291, 13. 11x-Gregg Bakker (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.296, 14. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (Sunnyvale, TX) 16.296, 15. 29-Travis Rilat (Forney, TX) 16.302, 16. 21-Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO) 16.333, 17. 19-Joe McCarthy (Broomfield, CO) 16.338, 18. 45x-Johnny Herrera (Albuquerque, NM) 16.358, 19. 1x-Garry Lee Maier (Dodge City, KS) 16.377, 20. 29T-Russ Hall (Des Moines, IA) 16.382, 21. 75-Don Young (Bartlett, TN) 16.398, 22. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr. (Winnipeg, MB) 16.414, 23. 9x-Gary Wright (Hooks, TX) 16.424, 24. 88-Tim Crawley (Benton, AR) 16.449, 25. 9p-Rager Phillips (Pleasantville, IA) 16.454, 26. 50z-Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) 16.474, 27. 18-Ryan Roberts (Aurora, NE) 16.477, 28. 17g-Dusty Zomer (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.478, 29. 2w-Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK) 16.493, 30. 22b-Ben Gregg (Phoenix, AZ) 16.499, 31. 23n-Henry Van Dam (Enumclaw, WA) 16.544, 32. 9n-Wade Nygaard (Fargo, ND) 16.563, 33. 91-Gary Taylor (Snohomish, WA) 16.589, 34. 23w-Scott Winters (Butterfield, MN) 16.590, 35. 00-Brad Foster (Melbourne, AUS) 16.614, 36. 5$-Danny Smith (Sapulpa, OK) 16.628, 37. 1s-Sean McClelland (Tulsa, OK) 16.632, 38. 23-Seth Bergman (Snohomish, WA) 16.648, 39. 53-Joe Beaver (Knoxville, IA) 16.669, 40. 1w-Chad Meyer (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.690, 41. 76-Jay Russell (Elwood, KS) 16.691, 42. k9-Justin Zimmerman (Royce City, TX) 16.707, 43. 1a-Robby Wolfgang (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.753, 44. 13-Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO) 16.757, 45. 4c-Tyler Godwin (Plant City, FL) 16.766, 46. 17c-Corey Moore (Wichita, KS) 16.794, 47. 8k-Butch Hanssen (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.798, 48. 2J-Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE) 16.812, 49. 17b-Ryan Bickett (Ramona, SD) 16.817, 50. 85-Tommy Bryant (Conroe, TX) 16.843, 51. 34-Josh Padellford (Pleasantville, IA) 16.864, 52. 5*-Ray Allen Kulhanek (Magnolia, TX) 16.965, 53. 81au-Gavin Punch (Collinsville, OK) 17.025, 54. 21tx-Brandon Schure (El Paso, TX) 17.076, 55. 04-Chad Heimbaugh (Des Moines, IA) 17.089, 56. 57c-Chris Schmelzle (Victoria, BC) 17.090, 57. 72-Steven Richardson (Liberal, KS) 17.231, 58. 31p-Travis Porter (Rock Island, IL) 17.623, 59. 19s-Steven Cross (Appleton City, MO) 17.663
Heat Races (Top 4 Advance to "A" Main; Positions 5-8 to "B" Main; Positions 9-10 to "C" Main)
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. 21-Brian Brown, 3. 1-Bronson Maeschen, 4. 75-Don Young, 5. 3c-Cale Conley, 6. 23n-Henry Van Dam, 7. 9k-Brent Kronfuss, 8. 76-Jay Russell, 9. 5$-Danny Smith, 10. 17c-Corey Moore.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ryan Roberts, 2. 56-Davey Heskin, 3. 53d-Jack Dover, 4. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 5. 6k-Kenny Jacobs, 6. 9n-Wade Nygaard, 7. 1s-Sean McClelland, 8. k9-Justin Zimmerman, 9. 19-Joe McCarthy, 10. 8k-Butch Hanssen.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 17g-Dusty Zomer, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 5. 91e-Brad Sweet, 6. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 7. 91-Gary Taylor, 8. 1a-Robby Wolfgang, 9. 2J-Don Droud, Jr., 10. 23-Seth Bergman.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 3. 2w-Kenneth Walker, 4. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 5. 20-Dennis Moore, Jr., 6. 23w-Scott Winters, 7. 13-Jesse Hockett, 8. 94-Danny Wood, 9. 53-Joe Beaver, 10. 17b-Ryan Bickett.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 22b-Ben Gregg, 2. 9p-Rager Phillips, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 24-Terry McCarl, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 00-Brad Roberts, 7. 85-Tommy Bryant, 8. 29T-Russ Hall, 9. 1w-Chad Meyer, 10. 4c-Tyler Godwin.
"C" Main – Top 2 Advance to "B" Main
"C" Feature (10 Laps): 1. 19-Joe McCarthy, 2. 8k-Butch Hanssen, 3. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 4. 23-Seth Bergman, 5. 1w-Chad Meyer, 6. 5*-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 7. 2j-Don Droud, Jr., 8. 5$-Danny Smith, 9. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 10. 34-Josh Padellford, 11. 17c-Corey Moore, 12. 81au-Gavin Punch, 13. 04-Chad Heimbaugh, 14. 72-Steven Richardson, 15. 19s-Steven Cross, 16. 21tx-Brandon Schure, 17. 31p-Travis Porter, 18. 53-Joe Beaver (DNS), 19. 4c-Tyler Godwin (DNS).
"B" Main – Top 4 Advance to “A” Main
"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 3c-Cale Conley, 2. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 3. 94-Danny Wood, 4. 91e-Brad Sweet, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 20-Dennis Moore, Jr., 7. 23n-Henry Van Dam, 8. 91-Gary Taylor, 9. 13-Jesse Hockett, 10. 23w-Scott Winters, 11. 9n-Wade Nygaard, 12. 29T-Russ Hall, 13. 1s-Sean McClelland, 14. 9k-Brent Kronfuss, 15. 1a-Robby Wolfgang, 16. 00-Brad Foster, 17. 76-Jay Russell, 18. 8k-Butch Hanssen, 19. 85-Tommy Bryant, 20. 19-Joe McCarthy, 21. k9-Justin Zimmerman, 22. 6k-Kenny Jacobs.
19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals Friday Preliminary "A" Main Event:
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 24-Terry McCarl, 2. 21-Brian Brown, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 5. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 6. 1-Bronson Maeschen, 7. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 8. 88-Tim Crawley, 9. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 10. 56-Davey Heskin, 11. 94-Danny Wood, 12. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 13. 9x-Gary Wright, 14. 17g-Dusty Zomer, 15. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 16. 9p-Rager Phillips, 17. 91e-Brad Sweet, 18. 3c-Cale Conley, 19. 18-Ryan Roberts, 20. 50z-Zach Chappell, 21. 2w-Kenneth Walker, 22. 53d-Jack Dover, 23. 75-Don Young, 24. 22b-Ben Gregg.
Lap Leaders: Brian Brown 1-19, Terry McCarl 20.
- Lonnie Wheatley on Aug 08, 2009
- Article Date: 8/8/2009