KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Tyler Courtney passed the red-hot Ryan Timms and held off a closing Corey Day to win the 410 feature on Vermeer Night at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday.
The victory was Courtney’s third in a 410 at Knoxville and was worth $6,000 aboard the Clauson-Marshall No. 7bc.
Timms was vying for his third straight 410 feature win here early in the 20-lap 410 feature, as he led Courtney, Carson McCarl, Corey Day and Brian Brown early. On lap two, Kerry Madsen entered the fray, shooting from sixth to third, ending in a flying slidejob across McCarl’s bow.
On lap five, Day passed McCarl for fourth. Timms entered lapped traffic on lap six in the non-stop event. At the halfway point, Austin McCarl passed his brother Carson to entere the top five.
Courtney was sizing Timms up in traffic, and slid in front of him in turn four to lead lap 14. Day used a similar move to dispatch Madsen for third. Day did a slider in turn four three laps later to pick off second from Timms. Madsen followed into third, coming for the white flag.
When Courtney stumbled behind a lapper in turns three and four on the final lap, Day saw his chance. The two raced side-by-side down the frontstretch, with Courtney edging Day by .037 seconds.
Madsen was third, ahead of Timms and Austin McCarl.
“Honestly, I thought Corey got us at the line,” said Courtney. “I thought I was going the safe route, sliding myself across and around the guy running the bottom, but he smoked the berm and came across and I had to lift. I hung myself in the slick and I knew somebody had to be coming. I figured Corey was going to be good with a track like that. I’m happy to hang on and get our first win of the season.
“To get it at Knoxville is special. Sprint car racing right now is as good as it’s ever been and it’s hard. To race the High Limit Series night in and night out is tough. I’ve got the best group of guys behind me. I live in Newton (Iowa) now, so this is awesome. I love coming to Knoxville, this place means more to me than a lot of places. It’s special for a lot of reasons.”
Tasker Phillips led from beginning to finish in the Randall Roofing 360 Series for his second win of the year and the third in his career. Des Moines native Chase Young won his fifth career feature here in the Pro Sprints class.
The finish:
Feature (20 laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney(2); 2. 14BC-Corey Day(4); 3. 55-Kerry Madsen(6); 4. 10-Ryan Timms(1); 5. 88-Austin McCarl(7); 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel(10); 7. 5-Brenham Crouch(13); 8. 27-Carson McCarl(3); 9. 21-Brian Brown(5); 10. 19-Brent Marks(8); 11. 78-Scott Bogucki(11); 12. 14-Spencer Bayston(18); 13. 2M-JJ Hickle(16); 14. 17A-Jack Anderson(12); 15. 4W-Jamie Ball(15); 16. 3-Ayrton Gennetten (23); 17. 44-Chris Martin(9); 18. 45X-Landon Crawley(17); 19. 6K-Brandon Wimmer(14); 20. 22-Riley Goodno (24); 21. 39-Lynton Jeffrey (22); 22. 3P-Sawyer Phillips (21); 23. 15JR-Cole Mincer(20); 24. 3K-Tim Kaeding(19).
