KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Tyler Courtney rocketed to the win on the Fourth of July at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night on Nolan Wren Memorial Higher View Enterprises Night.
The Indianapolis, Indiana native now living near Knoxville notched his fourth career win here in the Leighton State Bank 410 class amongst a potent field of 36 sprinters.
Once green, the feature went non-stop and saw Garet Williamson out front, ahead of J.J. Hickle, Justin Peck, Courtney and Xavier Doney. Peck took second from Hickle on lap five, while Ryan Timms worked his way into the top five.
Hickle regained the runner-up spot a lap later, and Courtney joined him with a pass of Peck into the third spot. Up front, Williamson was into lapped traffic on the eighth lap. Timms moved by Peck for fourth.
On lap ten, Coutney used the low side of turn one to gain second from Hickle. A lap later, Timms found his way by Hickle for the third spot.
With 10 to go, Courtney shot off the low side of turn two and went by Williamson to take the point for good. Timms also used the low side to pass Williamson for third on lap 19. Peck held on for fourth, while hard-charger Austin McCarl worked into the top five after starting 16th.
Rico Abreu, Aaron Reutzel, Hickle, Jace Park and Doney rounded out the top five.
“Ralph (Wren) is a great guy,” said Courtney. “He and his whole family are great people. I’ve known Ralph since 2010 or 2011. To win a race in honor of his Dad is really cool. This whole weekend has been cool. To get a win here is always really special. We still need to qualify better. The format kind of worked in our favor, but we still had to come from sixth. The guys in front of us were tough. It was just a great night.”
J.J. Hickle won for the first time in the Randall Roofing 360 class, and J Kinder made it 6 for 6 in the Raceway Tire & Muffler Pro Sprints class.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 7BC, Tyler Courtney (6); 2. 10, Ryan Timms (8); 3. 23, Garet Williamson (2); 4. 26, Justin Peck (4); 5. 88, Austin McCarl (16); 6. 24R, Rico Abreu (11); 7. 87, Aaron Reutzel (10); 8. 2M, JJ Hickle (1); 9. 28, Jace Park (14); 10. 74, Xavier Doney (3); 11. 27, Carson McCarl (9); 12. 21, Brian Brown (12); 13. 3P, Sawyer Phillips (15); 14. 11, Justin Henderson (17); 15. 44, Chris Martin (19); 16. 15K, Creed Kemenah (24); 17. 2K, Lynton Jeffrey (5); 18. 19H, Joel Myers Jr (20); 19. 45X, Rees Moran (7); 20. 4W, Jamie Ball (21); 21. 74S, Sammy Swindell (22); 22. 27B, Garrett Benson (23); 23. 1X, Scott Bogucki (18); 24. 25, Jy Corbet (13).
