KNOXVILLE, IA (December 10, 2013)- Fourteen racers showed up at the historic Knoxville Speedway for a day race at the legendary half-mile dirt track. The track was in great shape and nice and slick for the field of dirt late models.
Prerace BSing was done and it was finally showtime. Heat 1 was a BW breakaway after leaving Gage and B2 (Licmer) to fight for second. Hoots and DeadBolt were battling it out for 4th with IR_Twin right behind, Rick had electrical issues and had to pull off track early. BW, B2, and Gage were able to secure the transfer sports to the A main after the first heat race.
Heat 2 hit the track and it was ON hot and heavy. BLS_Jason was leading with Mav sitting right behind, but behind Slammer and Duster where hooked up and rolling to the front, the duo caught Mav and where able to work past him for the final 2 transfer positions, Shock and Last Place had a slow start but where closing in as time ran out and had to move to the B. J-Mac Had tire issue and hit the wall and limped home. The top 3 transfers were Jason, Slammer, and Duster who failed weight inspection and was moved to the B.
B main saw more great racing action with Hoots setting the pace early but a 0 car of VLR_Shock was making his way thru the pack after starting fifth and would pass Hoots coming to the white flag and go on to win the B main. Mav ran a safe race with a 3rd place finish, but he was not happy about it and threw his wheel at his crew chief for giving him such a terrible car which broke his wheel into pieces and he did not have a back up and was forced to miss the A. DeadBolt and LastPlace where holding on to the final transfer spots with J-Mac and his repair crew were making a change that just came up a little short. IR_Twin had carburetor problems but still finished strong. Duster ran out of gas leaving him asking the question how the hell do you run out of gas on a 15 lap race, rumor has it he fire his crew cheif and hired Mav's. IFRT_Rick finished last in the B after suffering alectrickul problems.
The Main event was up and did not disappoint. After the Mav tantrum, the only person left in the pits was Rick (lesson to all stick around and you might make the A) so he would start in the back of the A where yet again electrical issues plagued the veteran driver. Rick said he will never hire Shock to the wiring on his car again.
The first 12 laps were action packed with Shock making big moves to get to 3rd after coming from the B Main, but as BW and Slammer were battling for first, Slammers motor went up into a ball of fire as the engine blew and he slid to the inside wall and out of the event. After the restart at lap 28 it was on. BW and Shock where throwing hay-makers at each other for the lead as Gage and B2 were in very close tow. LastPlace and Hoots where having a go at it for 5th with multiple passes back and forth with DeadBolt right in the mix as well.
Jason choose the wrong gear and faded as the race went along and was quoted after the race as saying it was his worst Knoxville finish ever. Later when his hauler left a set of gears were left behind. As the race drew close to the finish business picked up even more for BW and Shock as Gage and B2 slowly faded a little.
Shock was holding the lead in the last corner when BW got a big bite off the corner. The Sparta, Michigan driver was only able to make it to Shocks door though before the momentum carried Shock around the top of the track and to the finish line in first place. In victory lane as Colt 45 was being sprayed everywhere as Shock yelled "THIS WAS FOR ROCKY TOP! GO VOLS! ORSO IS A BITCH!"
Post Race Comments:
BW: I had a plan to pass him at the end just couldn't get the bite I need to finish it.
Gage: I think I'm grounded because I missed my curfew. I was supposed to be in bed at 8 :(
B2: I need to hurry up and get home to get back on the VLR website and make sure I didn't miss anything. Good race all.
Last Place: What is this 5th place BS, don't you know what my name is?
With this race in the history books the NO Shift league has been a good damn series with lots of close racing and 4 different race winners in 4 races. Thank you all for coming.