Monday, October 3, 2011

O'Neal Captures Knoxville Title

First off, I'm going to apologize for this blog entry being a little late. Once again I opted not to write this when I returned home Saturday night, and then another race on Sunday meant no time for a recap. So here it goes.

The Knoxville Late Model Nationals held its finale on Saturday evening in front of perhaps the largest crowd for a late model show. I'm sure the weather helped sway many people as it was beautiful during the day. IMCA modifieds were also on hand Saturday night to provide a "fill-in" while the late models were making changes from one race to another.

Modified heat races started off the night as Jon Snyder, Josh Gilman, Michael Long, and Luke Wanninger took those wins. A passing points system was used in the heat races and I believe the top sixteen were locked into the A-main from the heats. Following the C-main for the late models (in which Kevin Sather, Matt Furman, Tim Lance, and Jay Johnson advanced to the back of the B-main), the modifieds would run two B-mains and take the top four from each to the feature.

The late model B-main took the top six drivers to the 100-lap finale for the evening. The IMCA modified feature would take place first with Luke Wanninger and Jerry King setting the pace for the twenty-five lap affair. Wanninger got the early advantage while Michael Long and JD Auringer swapped the runner up position a few times. Long would have his night end early as he brought out the caution flag on lap four. Following the restart both Richie Gustin and Eric Dailey improved their positions by one spot as the top side became the preferred line. With ten laps to go Wanninger extended his lead to a straight away advantage, but soon after that Jon Snyder began to reel in the leader. Snyder was able to drive deeper into the corners then Wanninger, and that was the case when they entered turn three and Snyder made contact with the left rear of Wanninger's machine. Wanninger's car got lose, but by the time he got a handle on it Snyder had already made the pass under him for the lead. The caution would come out with three laps remaining, and while under caution Wanninger expressed his displeasure towards Snyder. That was as close as he would get during the remainder of the race though as Snyder left the pack to pick up the win. Wanninger would suffer a flat tire late in the race. Eric Dailey would finish second, JD Auringer was third, Richie Gustin fourth, and Jacob Murray rounded out the top five after starting fifteenth.

Following out-of-car introductions, it was now time for the big finale. Brian Birkhofer and Austin Hubbard sat on the front row with Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points contenders Scott Bloomquist starting third and Jimmy Owens starting fifth. Hubbard would grab the early lead with Birky settling in second. Bloomquist made an early pass on Darrell Lanigan for third as Hubbard opened up a big lead by lap five. The front runners were all using the inside groove while drivers deeper in the pack were using the entire track. Lapped traffic came into play on lap eight and a few laps later Don O'Neal began making strides towards the front. He would passed Lanigan for fourth before passing Bloomquist for third and Birkhofer for second all within six laps.

The first caution flag waved on lap twenty-four when Chris Simpson slowed to a stop. O'Neal had taken the lead prior to the yellow and would restart out front. Jimmy Owens used the restart to get by teammate Bloomquist for fourth before both Hubbard and Owens got by Birkhofer using the top side of the speedway. Following those passes, it was then noticed that Jimmy Mars was on the move. Mars passed his teammate Birkhofer to take over the fourth position after starting 22nd. Mars continued moving forward as he passed Owens for third. A string of six yellow flags within fifteen laps kept the pace down, but there was several moves being made when the green flag was out. Brady Smith was charging up through the field to eighth after starting 26th and actually got to sixth after a pass on Billy Moyer. Bloomquist brought out the caution on lap forty-five, and soon after that Owens began his quest for the lead. Owens hugged the inside line to capture third before sneaking by Hubbard and O'Neal for the lead with about forty laps to go.

Within ten laps Owens opened up a straight away advantage while Hubbard and O'Neal battled it out for second. With just twelve laps remaining Jimmy Mars' excellent run came to an end when he came a stop in turn one. At that point only eight drivers were on the lead lap. Two more cautions would plague the finish of the race, including one that negated a pass for O'Neal to wrestle the lead away from Owens with seven laps remaining. With Owens back up front, he appeared to be the favorite to finish up front. That was until he bobbled exiting turn two to allow O'Neal, Steve Francis, and Birkhofer to motor by. O'Neal was able to hold on for the win in his first ever weekend to Knoxville! Steve Francis finished second, Brian Birkhofer was third, Tyler Reddick was fourth, Jimmy Owens fifth, and Billy Moyer sixth.

Despite the abundance of caution flags, I still feel as though the racing was okay. The track was tricky exiting turn four as it seemed a lot of drivers were having to feather the throttle. I was pleased with the racing and cannot wait until next year's show.

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