Marlar Dominates at Knoxville

 Saturday Keagan and I headed for Knoxville, Iowa for the final night of the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals. A total of 69 race teams had participated in one or both of the two qualifying nights, taking their best nights finish to determine their starting spot for the big show. Time trial qualifying plays a big part in the preliminary nights, which are a part of full shows culminating with $7,000 to win feature races. Nine drivers were absent for the final night, leaving us with 60 cars to compete in a C main, B main, and the 100 lap finale.
 The evening began with a 19 car 15 lap C main on the big fairgrounds half mile oval, with national hot shoe Morgan Bagley and Iowa standout Joel Callahan on row one. Five cars were set to transfer to the B-main event. Bagley took the early lead on the tacky fast surface, taking row two starter Rob Toland along. Just after the half way mark, Toland slowed, with heavy smoke pouring from his # 39, ending his second place run. During the caution, another local Iowa racer, Nick Marolf, also forfeited a transfer spot as he headed to the trailer. With Bagley firmly in control, the caution came out once more for a slowing Justin Duty, setting up a one lap dash to the finish. Bagley held on for the win over former Iowan Matt Furman, Mason Ziegler, Ray Guss Jr., and Rich Bell in the transfer positions. Lucas Oil rookie of the year contender Colten Flinner tagged the tail of the race, taking a few laps, as he was locked into the A main with a series provisional.
 Next came the 20 lap B main, with six cars headed to the tail of the A main along with Flinner and a highest point not in the show provisional. Gregg Satterlee took off from the pole, fairly cruising to the win. The real battle came for the final transfer spot. with Jason Rauen edging Frank Heckenast Jr and R C Whitwell for sixth. In between, Chad Simpson took second followed by Chad Mahder, Tim Lance, and Kent Robinson. Spencer Diercks received the second provisional spot.
  I am sure the folks at home watching the live telecast of this event gleaned some interesting info from the talking heads, but it just feels like unnecessary down time sitting in the grandstands. Interestingly, series officials did decide to run all 32 A main cars through a pre race check of rear deck height, and apparently several cars did not pass. They were allowed to return to the trailer to make adjustments.
 Finally it was race time, with Josh Richards, who scored a Friday night sweep, and Jimmy Owens on row one. Owens took the early lead ahead of Richards and third starting Dale McDowell. The leaders hit slower traffic by lap eight, and three circuits later, Richards grabbed the top spot. Following a lap 14 caution, McDowell moved to second on the Delaware restart, with Owens falling back a bit. About lap 18, Tennessee driver Mike Marlar, who started fourth, wheeled his yellow # 157 to third using the high line around the speedway. On the next trip around, Marlar grabbed the second position. Lap 23 saw traffic come into play again, and with Marlar closing, Richards was forced to move up the track to negotiate the lapped cars. The move benefitted Richards, as he increased his lead running the higher line. Two more yellow periods came before lap 30. with Marlar briefly taking the lead down the backstretch. With 70 laps to go, sixth running Shannon Babb came to a stop with a flat tire. Back to green, McDowell retook third, and Billy Moyer, in his final night at Knoxville ahead of retirement, advanced to fifth. Five laps later, Moyer grabbed fourth, and Texas teenager Tyler Erb, who started in row nine, powered to sixth. Lap 38 saw Richards trapped behind a pair of lapped cars running for position, and Marlar blasted to the lead. Chase Junghans brought outa caution on lap 45 as he lost a wheel in turn four, and Chris Simpson went to the work area giving up a top ten spot. A three car battle for second developed back under green, with McDowell slipping around Richards, as Owens rejoined the fray. But just as he moved into contention, the engine appeared to let go on his # 20. Richards powered back to second, and now Scott Bloomquist, advanced to fourth, running around the bottom of the track. Just past the halfway mark, Richards was challenging Marlar, but Tyler erb slowed in turn two, with the yellow flying. Back under green, Bloomquist moved to second, and eighth running Brandon Sheppard entered the top five. Marlar continued to drive the high line, with Bloomquist on the bottom, as McDowell faded to tenth. on a lap 59 yellow, McDowell retired to his pit. The restart saw Bloomer move in to challenge for the lead. Meanwhile, tenth starting Bobby Pierce, who had been lurking outside the top five before falling to 13th, reentered the top five. Following a lap 63 caution, Pierce, the World 100 winner, took fourth. But he smacked the turn four wall on lap 67, damaging his spoiler, losing several positions. Marlar had built a nice lead before Bloomquist started his push with 25 to go. A caution at this point was followed by Sheppard moving to fourth, soon losing to spot to a now surging Pierce. On lap 84, Sheppards top five run ended, and back under green, the two leaders ran side by side. But four circuits later, Richards powered around Bloomer to second, with Marlar well out front. With four laps to go, Richards bad Knoxville luck reared its ugly head, as he ducked to the pits. But there was no catching Marlar, who added his name to the list of prestigious Knoxville winners on this 13 edition of the late model nats. Bloomquist, apparently running with no power steering, came up one spot short of his third nationals win. Pierce crossed the line in third. Moyer suddenly slowed with less than two laps to go, holding on for fifth as Shane Clanton took fourth as the pair exited turn four coming to the checkers. Jimmy Mars came home sixth, ahead of Tim McCreadie, Florida driver Kyle Bronson, Dennis Erb Jr., and Darrell Lanigan. By my count, 13 cars were still running at the checkers. with Don Oneal, Mahder, and Lance rounding out the finishers.
  The final checkers fell around 10:00 on what turned out to be a nearly perfect evening, weather wise. Although it was a relatively large margin of victory for Marlar, there was plenty of great racing, as this show never disaapoints, and has been on my " can't miss " list for 13 years.
  Tonight, it will be back to Quincy Raceways for the next to last night of weekly racing for 2016. I am expecting some extra cars in the UMP late model and modified classes, as the points season winds down. Hope to see you there!