Knoxville IA: 19 drivers stuck around at the famed Knoxville track for the 2011 Knoxville Topless Nationals. Ice was able to win the Knoxville Full Top Nationals on Thursday but could be the 1st to repeat on the same track?
Heat 1 would see Fas on the pole with Tony on his outside. But it would be Wheel who would start in 6th that would come through and win the heat with Tony tucking in behind him to finish 2nd.
In Heat 2 Ice started in 5th and would be in an intense 3 way battle with Superman and JSN for the win. Ice would come out on top with JSN transferring in 2nd.
Shock would move from the 4th spot to the win in heat 3. Bullet was able to hang tough and keep the 2nd spot.
BLS_42 was able to grab the C-Main win with Rac, D88x, and BLS_34 transferring to the B-Main.
Superman started outside pole in the B-Main and was able to make it work as he continued his rise up the charts. Doit 3 jumped up one spot to 2nd with D45 and BLS_42 making it to the nights A-Main.
The stands were filled to the brim because they knew what was in store for them tonight. Wheel would lead the field into turn one and immediately clear Ice. Shock using the bottom also got around Ice and would begin to challenge Wheel for the lead. On lap 4 JSN got sucked into the turn 3 wall and lost 4 spots dropping him back to 10th. The next lap BLS_42 would do the same thing and find himself riding shotgun on the field.
Wheel and Shock were able to put about 4 tenths of a second between themselves and Ice. Meanwhile teammates Tony and Slammer decided they both wanted the 4th spot and would battle for several laps before Slammer was able to get his car to hook up on the bottom and solidify himself in the 4th spot.
By lap 10 Ice would begin to reel in the VLR teammates and by lap 18 it was once again a 3 car slugfest for the lead. As this was going on up front there was a 5 car battle for the 6th spot. Superman was able to hold the remaining cars at bay but this was one of the best races of the night outside the top 3. On lap 22 Ice would show his muscle and get to the front using the inside lane. Wheel remained tough on the outside and Shock would stick his nose under Ice on several occasions putting them 3 wide for the lead. The 1st 25 laps there wasn’t a fan in their seat and the way it was looking they wouldn’t be used for the rest of the night either.
Lap 26 would see contact whenever Bullet got into turn 3 just a bit too hot and would hit the rear end of D45. Bullet would show great sportsmanship by lifting and allowing D45 to gather up his machine. This however allowed Superman to break away from the group and set his eyes on D49 for the 5th spot.
Up front Wheel would continue to lead laps while Ice and Shock traded 2nd right on his bumper. Ice would decide on lap 33 to take another shot at Wheel and regain the lead but Shock also wanted a taste of the lead as he would get under Ice going into turn 3. Ice would lift allowing Wheel and Shock to race side by side. Wheel would use a cross over move coming out of turn 2 and Ice would follow him into the 2nd spot. Wheel once again decided to try the top groove allowing Ice get to the bottom and stay side by side with him. Lap 38 would see some trouble with Shock as he began to fade back from the leaders. This only allowed Wheel and Ice to turn up the heat for the fans for the remaining 11 laps. Ice was content to run the bottom and Wheel was running the cushion on the top. Lap after lap they stayed side by side, much to the delight of the fans. Wheel was able to keep the momentum on the high side and would pull ahead of Ice on the straits. Ice wouldn’t give up and on lap 48 was able to pull side by side with Wheel once again. Coming to the white flag it was a dead heat as Ice was running the bottom for all it was worth. Ice had the advantage coming out of 2 but Wheel would keep the momentum on the high side and pull back to even. Ice kept it glued to the bottom in 3 and 4 but Wheel would try a crossover coming out of turn 4. Wheel would have the momentum and Ice was in a drag race down the front straight. At the checkers it would once again go to a replay to decide the winner and for the second straight race it would be Ice beating Wheel by the narrowest of margins. Shock would motor home in 3rd with Slammer 4th and Superman finishing with another top 5 finish. BLS_42 came from 6th in the C-Main to finishing 6th in the A-Main. BLS_JSN came home 7th with D49 fading to 8th. Bullet was able to salvage a 9th place finish with Doit 45 making a rare appearance in the Lucas Oil Series to finish 10th.
Ice, who was obviously elated with joy after the race, was celebrating with his daughters, Abby and Sydni. “What a great race. I’m not real sure what happed to the 0 car but I hope the fans are happy with the show that Wheel and I put on for them. 2 wins in a row here by .02 seconds combined is ridiculous. I have to say that Wheel is the toughest competitor in this series to beat but he will race you clean as long as you’re not Shock.”
Wheel was frustrated at the end of the night “Dang I knew I needed to get to the bottom because I couldn’t make it stick on the top in 3n4 like I wanted to. Ice did a great job in the closing laps by being smooth on the bottom and not allowing me a chance to get down there. I almost got the crossover coming to the line but once again those extra 2 inches that Ice put on his nose paid off ha-ha.”
We caught up to Shock and asked him about his car fading with about 12 to go. “I felt a strong vibration in the car and decided that it was better if I just backed off and didn’t take all 3 of us out. I wasn’t really sure what was going on. Great race up front though. This has been probably the raciest track of the season. Lotta fun!”
Catch up with the Lucas Oil Summer Sizzler Series Thursday at DOIT @ 8:20ct as they invade PDRv2 in what looks to be another great venue for this series.