Jimmy Owens has won a lot of marquee events in the late model ranks over the years. In fact, this year alone he's won the Show-Me 100, North/South 100, and the World 100. But one thing that has eluded him has been a victory at the famed Knoxville Raceway. That is, until Thursday night.
Following hot laps, time trials would start the evening off. Groups of three would speed up the process and Scott Bloomquist, the only two-time winner of this event, would set fast-time. He edged out Iowa driver Brian Birkhofer and the other 62 entrants.
From that point, five heat races would be lined up with ten cars being inverted from their time-trial times. That meant the fast guys would start in the fifth row. That wasn't an issue for the first four heats as Bloomquist, Birkhofer, Austin Hubbard, and Steve Francis all won from the tenth starting position! Jimmy Mars won the fifth and final heat after starting fourth. The tenth starting car in that one, Don O'Neal, suffered mechanical issues.
After the C and B-mains were completed, the twenty-four car field was set for twenty-five laps of feature racing. Chad Simpson and Darrell Lanigan, who was piloting the car normally driven by Josh Richards, sat on the front row and paced the field to the green flag. Lanigan would get the advantage on the start as Simpson settled in behind, but Jimmy Owens quickly took over the second position with a pass on the low side. Steve Francis also used the bottom side to slip by Simpson to take over the third spot while Scott Bloomquist faded back to the eleventh position after starting eighth. The first of two caution flags came out on lap seven when Steve Francis slowed down the front stretch and was unable to make it to the infield.
With a single file restart, it only took Owens a couple laps to overtake Lanigan for the lead after powering his machine around the cushion. Lanigan would fight back and regain the top spot a lap later as the top four cars broke away from the pack as Austin Hubbard and Brian Birkhofer gave chase. Owens would pass Lanigan again for the lead near the halfway point prior to the second yellow flag on lap thirteen. Shannon Babb used the inside line to sneak under Birkhofer for the fourth position following the restart, but he would lose the spot a few laps later when his car pushed in turn one to allow Birkhofer to reclaim the position. Owens would open up a straight away advantage with five laps to go as he cruised to the win. Darrell Lanigan was second, Austin Hubbard was third, Brian Birkhofer fourth, and Shannon Babb finished fifth. The hard charger of the race had to be youngster Tyler Reddick, as he was a B-main transfer and started 23rd and finished twelfth.
All in all it was a good night of racing. The heat races were exciting as I mentioned the fast guys in time trials made their way to the front of their respective heat races. By feature time though the bottom side was the preferred groove in the second half of the race. If you can't make it to Knoxville, be sure to log on to their website and keep updated on the happenings throughout the night!
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