KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Brian Brown returned to Knoxville Raceway and led every lap to take home his 54th career win on Saturday night.
The Grain Valley, Mo., native earned $5,000 for his victory aboard the Brian Brown Racing No. 21 in the 410 sprint car class. Clint Garner held off a stout 31-car 360 field for his 43rd win here. Joe Beaver won his first Pace Performance Pro Sprints feature with a late-race pass.
The 25-lap 410 feature saw Brown shoot out from his pole position starting spot ahead of Lynton Jeffrey, Tasker Phillips, Justin Henderson and Davey Heskin. Henderson and Heskin moved by Phillips for third and fourth respectively, before the leaders entered lapped traffic on the sixth circuit.
Heskin gained momentum in traffic, disposing of both Henderson and Jeffrey on the low side to take over the second spot. Henderson would follow him into third on lap nine. Sawyer Phillips entered the top four on lap ten.
Brown continued to knife through traffic, while Austin McCarl gained momentum late in the race. He captured fourth from Sawyer Phillips on lap 15, rode the cushion around Henderson for third on lap 17, and passed Heskin in lapped traffic to take over the runner-up spot with six to go.
Brown was gone, winning by over three seconds, but the battle was on for second. Heskin regained his momentum on the low side and cruised back into the second spot by the checkers. McCarl was third, ahead of Henderson and Sawyer Phillips. Tasker Phillips, Matt Juhl, Terry McCarl, Lynton Jeffrey and Carson McCarl rounded out the top ten. Jeffrey set quick time, while Terry McCarl, A.J. Moeller and Henderson won heats.
“Obviously, we had a good starting spot and that helps,” said Brown in victory lane. “We went to Eldora last week and learned a lot that I think really helped us. My hat’s off to (new crew chief) Danny (Lasoski), he just came on a week and a half ago. It’s crunch time. Every lap is very, very important. I don’t know how far I was ahead. I felt like I was making decent time in traffic, but not great. It doesn’t matter when you go to the bank on Monday.”
Like Brown, Clint Garner took off from the pole in the 18-lap 360 feature, with Josh Higday, Jeffrey, Matt Moro and Ryan Giles in tow. Jeffrey quickly moved into second, while Giles began a move forward, gaining fourth on lap three and moving into the tp three on lap four.
Jack Dover advanced quickly from his starting spot in row six. He was into the top five five laps in, and took fourth a lap later, as the leaders entered lapped traffic.
On lap 10, Giles worked by Jeffrey for second, but Garner was splitting a pair of lappers to extend his advantage. Dover used the low side to move by Jeffrey on lap 13, before Kaleb Johnson spun to bring the only caution.
Garner took off again and was never headed, while Giles finished second. Jeffrey and Dover exchanged third twice in the late stages with Jeffrey grabbing the spot coming out of turn four on the final lap. Jamie Ball was fifth. Higday, Moro, Riley Goodno, Skylar Prochaska and Calvin Landis completed the top ten. Jeffrey also set quick time in the 360’s, and Garner, Dover and Prochaska were heat winners. Rob Kubli claimed the B.
“If (lapped traffic) was hard for me, it was hard for everybody,” said Garner in victory lane. “I kind of wanted to see (the caution), just to find out what kind of car we had. There were good cars behind us, and when you take off and run, you don’t really know. I’m happy, happy, happy! (The wins) are really hard to get.”
The 15-lap Pro Sprints feature saw Tyler Groenendyk lead from the pole ahead of Mike Mayberry, Joe Beaver, Devin Wignall and Eric Bridger. Groenendyk’s run would come to an end when his car went up in smoke four laps in.
Mayberry assumed the lead at that point. Cam Martin slowed seven laps in the books to bring the only caution. Mayberry led Beaver, Wignall, Bridger and Chase Young back to green. Wignall quickly pounced, moving into second, while Young moved up to fourth.
While Mayberry led, Beaver kept the pressure on Wignall for second. With three to go, he hit the low side of turn four to claim the second spot. That gave him serious momentum in running down Mayberry, and on the bottom of turns one and two, he made his winning move on lap 13.
Wignall made a last corner pass for the second spot, ahead of Mayberry, young and Alex Vande Voort. Jeff Wilke, Bridger, Brandon Worthington, Tyler Barrick and Scotty Johnson rounded out the top ten. Beaver and Mayberry were heat race winners.
“Unfortunately, we’re down (from the 360’s) with some motor issues,” said Beaver in victory lane. “It’s not cherry picking in this class I’ll tell you. They kicked my butt the first couple of times out with them. Every class here is competitive. I tried everything I could to give that race away. I don’t know how many times I jumped the berm. If anybody knows me, they know running the bottom was painful.”