From Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 15, 2019) – Brad Sweet won the Brownells Big Gun Bash featuring the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway. The Grass Valley, California won a shootout that saw three lead changes. The win, aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 was worth $10,000. Clint Garner earned his first feature win of the year in the 360 class. It was the 39th of his career here.
A two hour rain delay slowed the proceedings, but ultimately, the event overcame Mother Nature and the sizable crowd was rewarded with some great racing. Dash winner, Lance Dewease, led early in the 25-lap Outlaw feature, with Sweet, Logan Schuchart, Sheldon Haudenschild and Lynton Jeffrey in tow. On lap two, Schuchart rode the low line to pass Sweet for second, while Jeffrey took fourth.
Trey Starks blew a right rear and stopped in turn two, bringing the only caution of the event three laps in. Sweet shot by Schuchart for second, while Pittman went from sixth to fourth. Dewease entered lapped traffic on the twelfth circuit. Sweet reeled him in and passed the veteran low in turn four on lap 14.
Schuchart used the same line to take second the following lap, and then shot around Sweet on the top side to take the point on lap 16. Sweet would battle back by two laps later, while Pittman moved into the third spot. Pittman and Schuchart battled for second, while Sweet distanced himself in traffic.
Sweet crossed the checkers first for the sixth time in his career here in a 410 sprint car. Schuchart regained second with three to go. Pittman was third, ahead of Haudenschild and David Gravel. Dewease, Brian Brown, Shane Stewart, Carson Macedo and Jeffrey rounded out the top ten. Stewart and Pittman set quick time in their respective groups, while Stewart, Gravel, Sweet and Jeffrey were heat winners. Donny Schatz won the B main.
“(Schuchart) is very underrated,” said Sweet in Victory Lane. “He gets up front in one of these Nationals…he’ll be tough to beat. He can time well, and Logan’s just getting better and better as a driver. He definitely got me up on the wheel there. It took all I had to hold him off and beat him. The track was fast and tricky. Everything was happening way faster than you want it to happen, and you still have to try and hit that narrow bottom. I kind of figured out a few things about the bottom. I still missed it about fifty percent of the time. I think we were a little bit better than most tonight. The guys always give me a great racecar, and we’ve really figured some things out the last few weeks with our shocks and our engines. Hopefully, we can keep carrying this momentum.”
“I kind of watched Brad and Lance there for a little while,” said Schuchart. “I could hit the bottom early in the race, and any time you can hit the bottom here, it’s a good sign. Once I did get the lead, it was tough to hit the bottom that many times consistently. I just felt more comfortable hitting the top. I didn’t want to slow myself up too much, and it hurt me. Their team won the Knoxville Nationals last year, and we ran them down and passed them…so that’s something to be proud of. I look forward to coming here again in August.”
“I was really worried starting tenth,” said Pittman. “As wet as this track was…you get too far back, and it’s easy to get caught up in dirty air behind guys, especially on the start. We got a great start, and we were free enough to get by some guys. We were still good enough at the end. I felt we were as good as the leaders. I got next to Logan in there with two or three to go, and I felt I should have finished the pass. We kept Brad, Logan and Lance in sight. We’ll keep working at it and continue to make it better.”
The 18-lap 360 main event was marred by some incidents. When Nate Mills slowed on the backstretch with steering issues, Jayce Jenkins caught his rear end and flipped. Casey Greubel also took a hard ride down the backstretch in the incident. Josh Higday, Rob Weuve and John Anderson also exited as a result of the melee. Mills would try to make repairs and restarted at the tail.
Contact from another car, sent Christian Bowman spinning in turn two on the next try at green. Joe Beaver led the field once the green flew, ahead of Ryan Giles, Clint Garner, Calvin Landis and Thomas Kennedy. Garner worked his way by Giles for second on lap two, before McKenna Haase came to a stop on the inside of turn two four laps in.
Garner and Giles battled for the second spot before Bowman made heavy contact with the turn three wall, bringing out the red flag again. He was helped from the car to his feet and was communicating with safety workers, but was taken in for observation.
Beaver took off from the field again, but Garner was determined and reeling him in. He used a high side pass to lead lap ten, and began pulling away. Garner entered lapped traffic with four to go, but would not be deterred in taking a victory back to Sioux Falls. Beaver was second, ahead of Giles, Landis and Kennedy. Completing the top ten were Carson McCarl, Matt Moro, hard-charger Jon Agan, Kelby Watt and Jamie Ball. Giles set quick time, while Haase, Tasker Phillips and Beaver won heats.
“It’s alright,” said Garner of a smoking motor coming for the checkers. “I’m not sure what happened there. It must just have had a little oil leak. It (is hard to get a win). In a way I enjoy it. I think everyone was giving me guff for dominating. I didn’t even feel that way when I was winning. This year is definitely showing that as the case. There’s a lot of good equipment here and the drivers are doing a great job. We just need to qualify a little better.”
Join us next week, Saturday, June 22, for Marion County Farm Bureau Night! It is also Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame Night. Join us for the banquet at Noon in the Dyer-Hudson Hall. For more information on the banquet, contact the Knoxville Raceway. All three classes of sprint cars will be on hand Saturday night, and it is $1 Busch Light Night as well. For more information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!
410 Results
Time Trial Group 1 (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 5, Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK (12), 14.977; 2. 41, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (8), 14.981; 3. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (6), 15.004; 4. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (19), 15.014; 5. 11K, Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (11), 15.089; 6. 2, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (2), 15.091; 7. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (13), 15.166; 8. 9, James McFadden, Ormeau, QLD, Aust. (3), 15.228; 9. 15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (10), 15.232; 10. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (4), 15.275; 11. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (1), 15.286; 12. 19, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (5), 15.300; 13. 2M, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (17), 15.335; 14. 18, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (14), 15.383; 15. 55, Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (15), 15.394; 16. 1, Sammy Swindell, Germantown, TN (16), 15.422; 17. 56N, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (7), 15.425; 18. 33M, Mason Daniel, Springville, CA (9), 15.498; 19. 68, Chase Johnson, Penngrove, CA (18), 15.681.
Time Trial Group 2 (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 83, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (13), 15.112; 2. 83R, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (3), 15.200; 3. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (12), 15.205; 4. 69K, Lance Dewease, Fayetteville, PA (18), 15.247; 5. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (10), 15.282; 6. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (16), 15.375; 7. 1A, Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA (15), 15.375; 8. 4, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (1), 15.380; 9. 7S, Jason Sides, Bartlett, TN (14), 15.402; 10. 20, AJ Moeller, Rockwell City, IA (11), 15.503; 11. 7X, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (17), 15.579; 12. 44S, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (7), 15.628; 13. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (6), 15.676; 14. 7SX, RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL (2), 15.734; 15. 2KS, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (9), 15.783; 16. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (4), 15.884; 17. 15M, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (8), 16.005; 18. 56, Joe Simbro, Pleasantville, IA (19), 16.009; 19. 1AJ, Trevor Mell, Harwood, ND (5), 16.604.
Heat one (started), 8 Laps, 2:03.4: 1. Shane Stewart (1); 2. Brian Brown (2); 3. Sawyer Phillips (4); 4. Matt Juhl (6); 5. Kraig Kinser (3) / 6. Donny Schatz (5); 7. Kerry Madsen (7); 8. Brooke Tatnell (8); 9. Davey Heskin (9); 10. Chase Johnson (10)
Heat two (started), 8 Laps, 2:02.7: 1. David Gravel (1); 2. Logan Schuchart (2); 3. Carson Macedo (3); 4. James McFadden (4); 5. Brent Marks (6) / 6. Sammy Swindell (8); 7. Josh Schneiderman (5); 8. Ian Madsen (7); 9. Mason Daniel (9)
Heat three (started), 8 Laps, 2:04.0: 1. Brad Sweet (2); 2. Sheldon Haudenschild (3); 3. Daryn Pittman (1); 4. Jason Sides (5); 5. Jacob Allen (4); 6. Justin Henderson (6); 7. Tasker Phillips (7); 8. Austin McCarl (8); 9. Bobby Mincer (9); 10. Trevor Mell (10)
Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:03.7: 1. Lynton Jeffrey (1); 2. Lance Dewease (2); 3. Terry McCarl (4); 4. Dominic Scelzi (3); 5. Trey Starks (6) / 6. AJ Moeller (5); 7. RJ Johnson (7); 8. Chris Martin (8); 9. Joe Simbro (9)
Dash (started), 6 Laps, 1:32.2: 1. Lance Dewease (2); 2. Brad Sweet (4); 3. Logan Schuchart (5); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (1); 5. Lynton Jeffrey (3); 6. Brian Brown (7); 7. Shane Stewart (8); 8. David Gravel (6)
B main (started), 12 Laps, 3:07.1: 1. Donny Schatz (1); 2. AJ Moeller (2); 3. Justin Henderson (4); 4. Kerry Madsen (5); 5. Brooke Tatnell (9); 6. Ian Madsen (7); 7. Sammy Swindell (11); 8. Tasker Phillips (6); 9. Austin McCarl (10); 10. Mason Daniel (15); 11. RJ Johnson (8); 12. Davey Heskin (13); 13. Chase Johnson (17); 14. Bobby Mincer (14); 15. Trevor Mell (18); 16. Joe Simbro (16); 17. Josh Schneiderman (3); 18. Chris Martin (12)
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Brad Sweet (2); 2. Logan Schuchart (3); 3. Daryn Pittman (10); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (4); 5. David Gravel (8); 6. Lance Dewease (1); 7. Brian Brown (6); 8. Shane Stewart (7); 9. Carson Macedo (11); 10. Lynton Jeffrey (5); 11. Ian Madsen (25, prov.); 12. Terry McCarl (12); 13. James McFadden (15); 14. Dominic Scelzi (16); 15. Donny Schatz (21); 16. Brent Marks (19); 17. Kraig Kinser (17); 18. Jason Sides (14); 19. Sawyer Phillips (9); 20. Matt Juhl (13); 21. Justin Henderson (23); 22. Trey Starks (20); 23. Jacob Allen (18); 24. Kerry Madsen (24); 25. AJ Moeller (22). Lap Leaders: Dewease 1-13, Sweet 14-15, Schuchart 16-17, Sweet 18-25. Hard-charger: I. Madsen.
360 Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 9, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (24), 16.093; 2. 70, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (17), 16.254; 3. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (13), 16.283; 4. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (3), 16.315; 5. 76, Brad Comegys, Bondurant, IA (16), 16.331; 6. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (9), 16.344; 7. 21K, Thomas Kennedy, Winnipeg, MB, Can. (10), 16.416; 8. 2M, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (14), 16.419; 9. 81E, Eric Bridger, Winterset, IA (23), 16.454; 10. 24N, Nathan Mills, Bondurant, IA (27), 16.465; 11. 15, Christian Bowman, Altoona, IA (26), 16.476; 12. 83, Rob Kubli, Milo, IA (12), 16.563; 13. 40C, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (25), 16.567; 14. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (5), 16.628; 15. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (18), 16.630; 16. 55, McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA (6), 16.702; 17. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (19), 16.704; 18. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (1), 16.727; 19. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (21), 16.761; 20. 22, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (8), 16.776; 21. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (7), 16.781; 22. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (4), 16.805; 23. 33J, Jayce Jenkins, Colfax, IA (15), 16.873; 24. 67, Jon Hughes, Knoxville, IA (20), 17.013; 25. 64C, Casey Greubel, Lacona, IA (22), 17.064; 26. 1A, John Anderson, Des Moines, IA (11), 17.120; 27. 8L, Tom Lenz, Marion, IA (2), NT.
Heat one (started), 7 Laps, 1:58.1: 1. McKenna Haase (1); 2. Thomas Kennedy (4); 3. Ryan Giles (6); 4. Clint Garner (5); 5. Cody Wehrle (2); 6. Nathan Mills (3); 7. Jon Agan (8); 8. Casey Greubel (9); 9. Alan Zoutte (7)
Heat two (started), 7 Laps, 1:58.1: 1. Tasker Phillips (1); 2. Matt Moro (4); 3. Jamie Ball (2); 4. Calvin Landis (6); 5. Christian Bowman (3); 6. Ryan Leavitt (7); 7. Brad Comegys (5); 8. Jayce Jenkins (8); 9. John Anderson (9)
Heat three (started), 7 Laps, 1:58.9: 1. Joe Beaver (6); 2. Kelby Watt (2); 3. Eric Bridger (4); 4. Rob Kubli (3); 5. Carson McCarl (5); 6. Josh Higday (7); 7. Rob Weuve (1); 8. Jon Hughes (8) DNS – Tom Lenz
A main (started), 18 Laps, NT: 1. Clint Garner (4); 2. Joe Beaver (1); 3. Ryan Giles (2); 4. Calvin Landis (3); 5. Thomas Kennedy (5); 6. Carson McCarl (7); 7. Matt Moro (6); 8. Jon Agan (21); 9. Kelby Watt (12); 10. Jamie Ball (14); 11. Ryan Leavitt (18); 12. Eric Bridger (8); 13. Tasker Phillips (11); 14. Cody Wehrle (17); 15. Alan Zoutte (22); 16. Rob Kubli (13); 17. Brad Comegys (9); 18. Jon Hughes (24); 19. Christian Bowman (15); 20. McKenna Haase (10); 21. Nathan Mills (16); 22. Rob Weuve (19); 23. Josh Higday (20); 24. Jayce Jenkins (23); 25. Casey Greubel (25); 26. John Anderson (26) DNS – Tom Lenz. Lap Leaders: Beaver 1-9, Garner 10-18. Hard-charger: Agan.