Knoxville, IA (July 28, 2011) -- Knoxville Speedway played host to 1/2 of the Late Model Nationals races tonight and 19 drivers put their name in the hat to become $30,000 richer and get to be a part of history.

In heat 1 it was the back row that came to the front as Ice and Wheel moved from the 5th and 6th starting spots and transferred to the “A” Main.

Superman would continue to build on his recent success and would outlast Rainman for the heat 2 win.

Heat 3 would see Shock move from the last row to the lead and not look back. New Doit member D88x grabbed the 2nd transfer spot.

5 drivers lined up for the “C” feature and BLS_34 came home with the win. JSN, D87, and Bob also transferred to the “B”.
Doit 5 started 1st in the “B” and stayed there. BLS_00 followed suit in 2nd with Bullet 3rd and BLS_34 moving from the “C” Main and getting a shot in the 10 car “A” Feature.

The grand stands were shaking as 17,342 fans rose to their feet as Ice led them out of turn 4 to get the green. Ice would clear Superman coming out of turn 2 and lead the first lap. Shock would make sure that was short lived as he would get under Ice going into turn one and make the pass down the back strait. Superman followed Shock pushing Ice back to 3rd.  Shock would not stay at the point for long as Superman made the pass to lead lap 4. By lap 6, 5 cars would be slicing and dicing for the lead as Superman lead, Wheel, Shock, Rain, and Ice was battling it out for position. Wheel, able to get around Superman on lap 8, led his 1st laps of the night. Shock would however immediately start to put pressure on his teammate as Rain was working to get around Superman for the 3rd spot.

By lap 9 Rain had taken the lead but Shock and Wheel remained right on his bumper. These 3 had put some distance between 4th place Superman. On lap 10 Ice would see his hopes of a Knoxville Nationals win fade as he caught the wall coming out of turn 2 allowing BLS_00 to get by and dropping Ice to 6th. As the top 3 continued to swap the lead and put some distance on the field, Ice was beginning to reel in Superman and BLS_00 and would get around both of them by lap 22 and would set his sights on the top 3.

Lap after lap there was a different leader as Rain, Shock, and Wheel ran 3-wide for much of the race. Ice however was able to use this constant battling to catch the top 3 and a 4 car battle of which I have never seen would ensue. Rain was able to stay out front for a few laps until Ice made the pass for the lead on the bottom. Shock wouldn’t hear of Ice being in the lead as he got his nose under Ice forcing him to the top groove.

Rain and Wheel would move ahead of him again and go 3 wide with Shock. Ice was able to make his way back to the lead trying to make his car as wide as he possibly could. Wheel, Shock, and Rain continued to make a run at Ice but he would be able to keep his car in front until lap 44 when Wheel was able to take away the bottom groove and gain the win. Shock would get in a little too hot on lap 45 and would make contact with the x59 machine costing them both precious ground.

Wheel committed to the top groove and Ice committed to the bottom and those final 5 laps they would stay side by side. Ice was able to gain a slight advantage coming to the white flag and was able to keep the lead coming out of turn 2 and down the back strait. Wheel would unknowingly cut down in front of Rain going into turn 3 to take one last shot at Ice.

Wheel was able to get his nose in front of Ice coming out of turn 4 and they would drag race down the front straight to the checkers. Nobody knew who won and they scoring system showed them as a dead heat but after checking the replay it was determined that Ice was able to get a nose in front and claimed the Knoxville Full Top Nationals and the $30,000 check that goes to the winner.

Wheel came home 2nd by about 2 inches. Rain was able to outrun Shock to the line for 3rd. Rounding out the top 5 was Superman. Doit5 finished 6th and BLS_34 finished 7th after coming from the “C” feature. Bullet brought home 8th and D88x and BLS_00 rounded out the final 10. For the 1st time this season all 10 drivers that started the “A” Main finished and finished on the lead lap.

After the race Ice was obviously Elated with Joy (hehe) in victory lane. “Unreal! This has to be the best race I have ever been a part of. The class that Wheel showed coming off of turn 4 by not putting me in the wall tells me a lot about that young man. Shock and Rain also deserve a ton of credit. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen 4 cars battle the way that we were and all 4 finish. Just goes to show the calibre of drivers we have over here. Let’s see RFactor or any other game top this kind of racing."

Wheel seemed pleased with his finish “Wow! What a race! That has to be a classic. For as hard as we were all racing that was extremely clean. Congrats to Ice he got me by about 2 inches from what I heard. I’m going to have to come out Monday and do just a little bit better.

Rain made his way over to his teammate in victory lane. “I bet you’re sure glad I held them up for you, HAHA, really that was a hell of a race and there were 4 cars that had a shot at winning that. If it wasn’t me that won, I’m glad it was Ice. I’m going to have to start finishing in front of him though because he’s starting to get a bit of a lead in the Lucas Points.

Shock had to make sure to get his 2 cents in as well “That may have been the best race ever. I think I drove the last 30 laps with my eyes closed. I got into Rain one time and did my best to push him back to Ice and Wheel but it was just too little too late. I can’t wait until Monday when we get to do it all over again with the topless chassis."

Remember WFO is going to run the same track on Monday and if tonight is a preview you can expect some fireworks!!!