(Photo by Craig Mobley)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 7, 2021) – Kaleb Johnson overcame a disappointing start to the evening Saturday night to record an 11th-place finish in the 360ci sprint car feature at Knoxville Raceway.
“Our night was okay,” he said. “It didn’t start out the best, but it ended a lot better than it has recently. It was a plus to finally finish a race.”
Johnson’s evening of competition began by timing in 11th quickest out of 28 drivers. While it was a respectable effort, it was a bit disappointing after qualifying in the top five the previous two weeks.
“Our time wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t too thrilled about it since we’ve been qualifying well as of late,” he said. “The track got slicker earlier this week than about the four or five previous weeks, when it stayed pretty wet until around the heat races.
“I should’ve run the top both laps. I ran the bottom the first lap and that kind of messed up my momentum for the second lap.”
Johnson’s qualifying effort slotted him into the third starting position in his heat race. He finished fourth.
“We had the car just a little too free in the heat race,” he said. “I had a hard time keeping the rear tires underneath it.”
Johnson started 13th in the 24-car A Main.
“We made a lot of changes to the car for the feature and they seemed to help,” he said. “Unfortunately for us, the race ran non-stop with no restarts. We were able to get up to 11th right away, but even then the field was getting strung out. You know it’s going to be a fast pace when you have guys like Clint Garner and Jamie Ball starting up front and it can get strung out in a hurry when there aren’t any restarts.
“The good thing was that my last 10 laps were probably my best laps of the night. I was able to gain on the four cars in front of me as the race wound down, but we ran out of laps before I was able to do anything with them.”
Up next for Johnson will be competition with the Midwest Sprint Touring Series and the Midwest Power Series on Friday night at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., before a return to Knoxville Raceway on Saturday.
“I’m looking forward to our first race at Jackson this year,” he said. “We’ve had some pretty good runs there in the past in the 305. Hopefully, we can have another this week with our 360 and then build on that momentum going into Knoxville on Saturday.”
QUICK RESULTS –
June 5 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 4 (3); Feature: 11 (13).
SEASON STATS –
10 races, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 3 top 10s, 5 top 15s, 8 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., with the Midwest Sprint Touring Series and Midwest Power Series and Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___Johnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalebJohnsonRacing22
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – State Bank of Fairmont
The State Bank of Faimont is a long-time supporter of local auto racing. The Minnesota bank offers full-service banking on a local and personal level. For more information, visit http://www.SBOF.com.
“It’s exciting for me to have the support of the State Bank of Fairmont,” Johnson said. “They’ve sponsored some pretty big-name drivers over the years and it’s an honor for me to be included in that group.”
Johnson would also like to thank Merle Johnson Farm Toys, Oddson Underground, GRP Motorsports, Innovative Design/Sletten Properties, Sea Foam, Snyder Tree Service, Guaranteed Rate-Mike Brudigan Home Loans, The Ron Weber Team, State Bank of Fairmont, Big Al’s Diecast, Dave’s Lawn Care & Landscaping, JF Capital, Last Deck, Hepfner Racing Products, Schaeffer’s Oil and TL Racing for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jun 07, 2021
- Article Date: 6/7/2021 by Inside Line Promotions