Owens a First Timer Winner at Knoxville

 Saturday morning Keagan and I made our annual trip to Knoxville, Iowa for day three of the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals. This day is almost as much about the pomp and circumstance as the racing itself, taking in the atmosphere, visiting with old friends, and getting a healthy dose of bench racing. However with almost no exceptions, the racing never disappoints, and the 2018 version was as good as it gets. The SLMR late model " invitational " addition to the program was icing on the cake for late model fans. The Nebraska based organization which I believe has its roots at I-80 Speedway under the direction of legendary driver Joe Kosiski, and branched out into Iowa this season to a handful of weekly tracks used some combination of driver and owner points for weekly venues and special events to arrive at a group of thirty who were eligible to compete for the $4,000 top prize. Of that group, only Todd Shute did not field an entry, and the 29 cars on hand time trialed, five at a time, competed in three heat races, then staged a 22 lap feature event with 27 cars answering the bell. Their events were interspersed with hot laps and C and B mains for the Lucas Oil drivers, all coming ahead of the $40,000 to win 100 lap headliner.
  Veteran racer Paul Glendenning set quick time for the SLMR cars with a lap of 18.776 seconds, and their three eight lap heats clicked off in good time, with Tad Pospisil, Josh Krug, and Allan Hopp picking up wins. Pospisil moved quickly from row two to the lead in the feature, with the only caution coming at lap 14. As the laps wound down, polesitter Kyle Berck began to close the gap on the leader, with contact between the two in the final lap. Both drivers had to fight to maintain control, with Pospisil taking the win by about 1/2 car length. Berck gave the winner a parting shot following the checkers. A pair of second generation drivers with with a familiar last name and car numbers finished in the top five. Andrew Kosiski wheeled his #53 home in third, while Iowan Chad Holladay was fourth. Completing the top five was Brian Kosiski in #52. Krug finished sixth ahead of Jason Hahne, Matt Buller in a Car from the Cooney racing team, Denny Eckrich in the #1 formerly driven by Buller , and Ryan Griffith.
  The SLMR turns out good car counts at the western Iowa, eastern Nebraska tracks, and offered up close competitive racing at Knoxville. Hopefully they continue to grow and spread their wings in 2019.
   All but three of the original 57 Lucas Oil entries raced on Saturday night, with the 24 who accumulated the highest point totals from either their Thursday or Friday night runs already locked into the first twelve rows of the feature. Twelve cars started the 15 lap C main, with the top four moving on to the B. Polesitter Scott James held off charges by Gregg Satterlee and Morgan Bagley to score the win. Bagley ran second, and Satterlee and Brent Larson also advanced to the B main.
  Twenty laps was the distance for the B main, with Jeremiah Hurst and former 100 lap winner Brian Shirley in row one. But it was Ricky Thornton Jr. make a dramatic charge from row seven to lead the six cars that would move on to the finale. Jared Landers, Dennis Erb Jr., and Shirley took the top four spots. James rolled off from 19th after his C main win and finished fifth to move on, and Darrell Lanigan also picked up a transfer spot. Satterlee was the only Lucas Oil regular to not qualify, and he was awarded the first provisional. Jason Feger had finished one spot out of a transfer slot, so the second and final provisional was his. Jesse Stovall was scheduled to start in row twelve but had his engine expire in hot laps, so he  borrowed the Rob Toland #39 and tagged the tail of the 32 car starting field.
   The green flag for the feature waved about 9:30 in front of one of the largest Saturday night crowds in the 15 years of the event. With solid qualifying times and a Friday night feature win after starting nineteenth, Brandon Sheppard earned enough points to start on the pole, with Earl Pearson Jr. along side. The two shared the lead before Sheppard used a low side move on lap seven to take command. Stovall made a quick exit, and crowd favorite Brian Birkhofer appeared to lose an engine in the early laps. Sheppard caught slower traffic on lap ten, and two laps later the first caution came for Thornton. At this point Bobby Pierce had gained ten positions after starting 22nd. Back under green, third starting Scott Bloomquist moved to second, and the leaders had again caught the tail of the pack when Mason Zeigler brought on the caution 22 laps in. It was at this juncture that the race was red flagged for a five minute fuel stop that was instituted last season to address driver concerns with regards to possibly running out of fuel. It then took several pace laps to run through oil dry used to soak up spilled fuel, and Zeigler was able to make repairs during the down time. Row three starter Jimmy Owens slipped around Pearson as racing resumed while row eight starter Jimmy Mars and Pierce marched towards the front, riding sixth and seventh with 33 laps scored. Caution period three came with 62 laps to go, and the Delaware restart saw Owens take second, Don Oneal fourth, and Pierce enter the top five. Two circuits later, Owens took the lead while Pierce claimed fourth. Landers brought out another yellow one lap later as he smacked the guardrail. It was Oneal second and Pierce third as the green waved. Caution number five came at lap 47 for a slowing Tyler Bruening. Pierce powered to second on the restart as Oneal and Bloomquist battled for third. Oneal then used a debris caution at lap 51 to regain second. Now it was Owens opening a big lead as Oneal, Pierce, Bloomquist, and Sheppard raced hard behind him, but three more laps saw a three car pile up on the backstretch involving Tim McCreadie, Kyle Bronson, and Satterlee. Josh Richards entered the fray as the green waved, coming from tenth to sixth, Shane Clanton was charged with another yellow at lap 56, and back to green Oneal, Pierce, and Bloomquist raced three wide. Bloomquist cleared the others at lap 58, as Owens opened a huge lead and Bloomquist began to distance himself from the pack as well. But Pierce again went on the move, taking third on lap 66 and driving around a slowing Bloomquist two laps later. Sheppard found his way to third as Bloomquist was now apparently racing on only seven cylinders. By lap 80, Pierce had caught the leader, then nosed ahead before stumbling on the backstretch and Owens again pulled away. Sheppard slowed with a flat to create a yellow at lap 81. Richards was fourth at the restart, and followed Oneal as both eased around Pierce. Again Pierce took third and was pressuring Oneal. With 13 laps remaining, Oneal jumped the cushion out of turn four and Pierce tried to drive past when Oneal suddenly slid sideways, sending Pierce for a 360 degree spin down the front straightaway, bringing out the tenth and final caution. Pierce rejoined the tail of the field after a quick pass through the work area, picking off cars at a frantic pace. As the checkers waved just ahead of the 11:00 hour, it was Owens with his first Nationals win. Oneal took runner up honors, with Richards, Bloomquist, and Shirley, who started 28th, rounding out the first five. Sheppard rebounded to sixth and Pierce to seventh, while Tyler Erb, Chad Simpson, and Pearson scored top ten finishes.
  Half mile racing may not be everyones cup of tea, but we always leave Knoxville already thinking about going back the next year!
  Tonight I will be back "home," as the Sprint Invaders headline the card at Quincy Raceways backed up by sport mods, stock cars, sport compacts, two person cars, and maybe even some midgets.
The weather is perfect, hope to see you there!