KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Vermeer Night at Knoxville Raceway belonged to Brian Brown Saturday night.
The Grain Valley, Mo., native started the evening by besting a 15-year-old one-lap track record and ended it winning not only the scheduled main event, but also the make-up feature from a week ago.
Week and day long showers did not deter the track crew or fans from getting the races in on Saturday. A delay of over one hour did not slow anyone down either. What it did do was make for a lightning-fast half-mile.
It was a unique night in 2006 when Brooke Tatnell set the one-lap track record at 14.407 seconds. Though many have flirted with the mark, none eclipsed it until Saturday, when Brown posted the new mark at 14.351 seconds, an average speed of around 125 mph.
Lining up third in the first 20-lap feature of the night, Brown shot by the front row to lead almost immediately ahead of Sawyer Phillips and AJ Moeller. Justin Henderson soon entered the top three.
Brown entered lapped traffic on the seventh lap and had built a 2.8 second lead by the halfway point. Henderson worked on Phillips and passed him on the high side with four laps to go to take the second spot.
Brown’s 5.5-second lead was eliminated after he took the white flag when Austin Miller came to a stop in turn two. Brown led Henderson, Phillips, Moeller and Matt Juhl back to green. Phillips used the low side to fly by Henderson for second, but that was negated when his brother Tasker went up in smoke in turn two.
The restart saw Brown take off, Sawyer take second for good, and Carson McCarl charge from seventh to round out the podium in the last two laps. Henderson, Juhl, Moeller, Parker Price-Miller, Lynton Jeffrey, Terry McCarl and Ayrton Gennetten rounded out the top 10.
“I was just trying to keep up the pace,” said Brown. “Those Outlaw guys run hard. If you’re going to beat them here in a couple of weeks (June 11 and 12), you’ve got to run hard in traffic. It’s something I need to keep working at as a driver. We’ll keep working on that.”
In the make-up feature, Gennetten got the jump from outside of the front row and set a good pace ahead of Carson McCarl, Price-Miller, Brown and Moeller. Price-Miller drove the Forbrook No. 5x into second on lap two, while Davey Heskin entered the top five.
Brown passed McCarl for third on lap three, while up front, Gennetten was maneuvering lapped traffic by the fifth circuit. At that point, Austin Miller stopped to bring a caution.
Gennetten led Price-Miller, Brown, McCarl and Heskin back to green. Heskin used the low side to gain fourth, while Brown and Price-Miller battled hard for the runner-up spot. Brown took that on lap nine.
Gennetten was smooth on the cushion, however and he was back in lapped traffic with four to go. Brown stalked him slowly and then performed a slide job to lead lap 19. Gennetten’s impressive run ended in second, ahead of Price-Miller, Heskin and McCarl. Sawyer Phillips, Henderson, Jeffrey, Juhl and hard-charger Terry McCarl completed the top 10.
“Hats off to Ayrton,” said Brown. “He did a really good job there and I didn’t think I was going to get him. I found the bottom in one and two, and I figured I’d have one chance if I didn’t mess it up. I felt like when he got to that lapped car he hesitated just for a second and I got a good run. I was able to cross there. Hat’s off to the Dunkin’s and the track crew for getting it in. Overall, this was just an awesome night.”
Ryan Giles made a late restart pass to claim his tenth career main event win in the 360 class, while Tyler Groenendyk won his second Pro Sprints presented by Pace Performance feature of the year.