KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Brian Brown won a wild one Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway on Farm Bureau Financial Services Night.
Brown overcame his tough run this season to take a late lead and net $6,000 aboard his No. 21 machine.
Aaron Reutzel also made a late pass to win his thirteenth career 360 feature and fourth of this season, and J. Kinder also won his fourth feature of the year in the Pro Sprints class.
Emerson Axsom shot out to an early lead in the 30-lap 410 feature with Kerry Madsen, Chase Randall, Brown and Austin McCarl breathing down his neck. Brown gained third from Randall on lap two, and McCarl followed him into the fourth spot two laps later. Axsom was into lapped traffic on the sixth lap.
Behind him, Brown squeaked by Madsen in heavy lapped traffic at that point, and McCarl and Randall followed into third and fourth on lap seven. McCarl gained on Brown and cruised by him on the low side to take second on lap 13. Randall chose the cushion to get by Brown with six to go, and claim the third spot.
McCarl closed on Axsom and pulled beside him low in turn two with four to go. He caught the inside berm a bit and the two cars came together, sending McCarl spinning and collecting Randall, ending both of their top three runs. Axsom led Brown, Tasker Phillips, Dutsy Zomer and Aaron Reutzel with four to go.
As Axsom dove low in turn two, Brown hit the curb on the high side and flew to the lead, never looking back. Axsom held onto second, while Phillips won a late battle with Zomer for third. Reutzel was fifth.
“I’ve made some dumb mistakes to start the year here,” said Brown. “I’ve just been overdriving and making some big mistakes. I apologize for that. I don’t know if I was the fastest car in the middle of the race. I felt like I was the fastest car early and I kind of got stalled out and let Austin and (Randall) get by. I got my wing back, and I saw Emerson’s dad tell to run the bottom on the restart. You don’t tell me twice to go to the top, and it worked out.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. Brian Brown (5); 2. Emerson Axsom (1); 3. Tasker Phillips (9); 4. Dusty Zomer (7); 5. Aaron Reutzel (4); 6. Carson McCarl (11); 7. Kerry Madsen (3); 8. Kaleb Johnson (10); 9. JJ Hickle (13); 10. Zach Hampton (15); 11. Matt Juhl (14); 12. Justin Henderson (16); 13. Lynton Jeffrey (8); 14. Chris Martin (17); 15. Creed Kemenah (20); 16. Dustin Selvage (19); 17. Sawyer Phillips (24); 18. Joe B. Miller (21); 19. Tyler Drueke (18); 20. John Carney II (12); 21. Cole Mincer (23); 22. Austin McCarl (6); 23. Chase Randall (2); 24. Scotty Johnson (22); 25. Landon Hansen (25) DNS – 26. AJ Moeller 27. Jamie Ball.