Marlar Wins Again at Knoxville

Neither a persistant rain nor 31 of the best dirt late model drivers in the nation could keep Mike Marlar from becoming the first driver in the 14 year history of the Knoxville, Iowa Late Model Nationals to score back to back wins. Grandson Keagan and I drove through a late Saturday morning shower just east of Knoxville, then watched as a sunny afternoon turned to a late afternoon shower at the famed 1/2 mile fairgrounds oval. Looking at an unfavorable forecast, officials moved the start timer up 30 minutes, with hot laps beginning at 6:15. With 49 of the original 56 cars representing 21 states competing on the third night of the event, the C-main was scrapped, with a 25 car, 20 lap B-main preceding the 100 lap, $40,000 to win headliner. 24 cars were already qualified for the main event based on a rather complicated points system in play for the complete shows on Thursday and Friday. Drivers could compete just on Thursday and keep their point total, or try again on Friday and keep their best nights total. Despite confusion among some fans, it is not a total from both nights points. Missouri driver Jesse Stovall and the " Kentucky Colonel " Steve Francis sat on row one for the B main, with the top six added to the headliner. Stovall jumped to the lead, with the first stoppage of the race on lap five, when Minnesotas Jordon Yaggy and another Missouri driver, Bob King, tangled on the backstretch. Both cars suffered heavy damage, ending their night. The race stayed green until the leaders were coming through the final set of turns to the checkered flag, when a spinning car rsulted in the yellow flag being displayed, setting up a one lap dash. On this final lap, sixth running Tyler Bruening was edged out of the final transfer spot. Stovall led the distance for the win followed by third starting Kyle Bronson, Francis, Tyler Erb, Spencer Diercks, and Brent Larson. With a light drizzle falling, the A -main cars were given the ten minute waring to line up, but the rain intensified, and the program was put on hold. With officials keeping packing vehicles on the oval, the rain never came down really hard, but it would not quit, coming down for nearly two hours. When it finally stopped, the track crew went to work, and by 10:30 cars were back on the track, hot lapping, the lining up for 100 laps. Dennis Erb Jr and Boom Briggs were added to the field as Lucas Oil provisioal starters, and the 32 car starting grid was now set. 2016 winner Mike Marlar had achieved maximum points on Friday night, and as a result sat on the pole, with World 100 winner Jonathon Davenport along side. Four time race runner up Josh Richards and Brandon Sheppard, who swapped rides during the off season, shared row two. Davenport put his #49 out front at the drop of the green, with Richards in second. The front duo stayed the same, with the first caution 17 laps in for previous winner Bran Shirley, who blew a tire and smacked the fence between turns one and two, ending his night. Davenport had issues on the restart, dropping to sixth as Richards took command. With Marlar now in second, the front pair opened a gap on the field. Marlar was applying heavy pressure un til had to check up for the lapped car of Francis on the 26th circuit. Two laps later, Chris Simpson brought out a caution for a flat tire, thus putting Francis back on the lead lap as a " lucky dog." The restart saw Jimmy Mars slow with a tire issue, one of several trips the Wisconsin veteran made early in the race for adjustments. Another restart saw Sheppard overtake Don Oneal for third, and the next yellow came three laps later for Shannon Babb. Back under green, Oneal charged back to third, Davenport moved to fourth, with Sheppard dropping to fifth. Two more trips past the flagstand, and Davenport took third, as Richards stretched his lead. But 42 laps in, the caution waved for Gregg Satterlee. As the green waved, Davenport powered to second, three laps later Sheppard was now fourth, and Marlar retook the runner up spot. The mandatory fuel stop caution came with 50 laps scored,with the cars allowed to add ten gallons of fuel but make no adjustments. As the cars rolled to a stop, Davenport had a flat right front tire, and he had to go to the work area when the filed powered back up, dropping him to the tail of the still running 24 cars. Sheppard took second on the restart, three laps later Oneal jumped from fourth to second, taking Marlar along in third. As Oneal moved to challenge Richards for the lead, his engine let go on lap 58, bringing out another yellow. Back under green, another former winner, TimMcCreadie, who had started sixth but dropped back, now entered the top three. 61 laps down, Jimmy Owens entered the top five, as Marlar, McCreadie, and Sheppard had a dog fight for second. Six more laps, and Mccreadie and Marlar swapped the runner up spot back and forth. It was Sheppard in second on lap 74, but two circuits later the yellow flew again. One lap back under green, Sheppard brought out the caution with a flat. Now 2015 winner Jared Landers drove the Moring Motorsports ride into second, and lap 82 saw him apllying pressure to Richards. The next stoppage came with 16 laps to go, on the restart Marlar took second, and at this point Davenport had charged back to sixth. Lap 89 saw Owens jump to third, and Mars, over his early race woes, was now fourth. Lap 91 saw Marlar take the lead from Richards using the high line, and he quickly beagan to pull away. With only five trips around remaining, Richards, who had lead more than 70 laps, blew a tire and smacked the wall between turns three and four, bringing out the final caution. Davenport continued his dramatic recovery, vaulting to second in the closing laps, but Marlar was in command, taking the checkers for the second year in a row, the first driver with back to back Nationals wins. Davenport came home second ahead of Landers, Mars, and Owens. Sheppard rebounded to finish sixth, besting 16 year old Hudson Oneal, Bobby Pierce, Francis, and McCreadie. 17 of the 32 starters were still running at the checkers. The show ended close to the midnight hour before an appreciative crowd. Starting early, cancelling the driver introductions, and doing everything possible to get the race run is a testament to the professionalism of the Knoxville staff. Although we arrived back in Canton about 3:00AM, I had planned to attend the Sprint Invader special tonight at Quincy Raceways, but unexpected welcome guests kept me at home today. So we will watch the weather and see what next weekend brings!