KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Kerry Madsen made a veteran move to capture his 26th career feature at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night.
The St. Mary’s, New South Wales native became the winningest Aussie at Knoxville, passing two-time track champion Skip Jackson for that honor. The win was worth $5,000 and came aboard the Guy Forbrook No. 5.
Aaron Reutzel followed up his 360 win at Jackson Motorplex on Friday night to capture the $3,000 bonus by winning Saturday’s main event at Knoxville. The win paid him $3,000 and with his Jackson earnings totaled $9,000 for his 360 efforts.
Mike Mayberry spoiled J. Kinder’s bid for a win by making a last lap pass and capturing the Pro Sprints main event.
Lynton Jeffrey led the first of 20 laps in the 410 feature, before Chase Randall, in his second week in the Beaver Drill & Tool No. 12x cruised by him on the high side of turn four to lead lap two. Jeffrey slid across the track in turn two, jumped the cushion and took a wild ride to halt things. He was uninjured.
Randall led Austin McCarl, Kerry Madsen, Davey Heskin and Aaron Reutzel back to green. Madsen jetted to second on the restart, while Reutzel took fourth and Brown moved into the top five. Furious action saw Reutzel get by McCarl for third and set his sights on Madsen. He passed Kerry for second on lap five.
Rubber was developing through the middle of the track and Madsen seemed to have the best grasp on it, shooting back by Reutzel for second on lap nine. Randall was cruising on the cushion, unknowing of the development of rubber through the middle of the track.
Madsen used the middle of turns three and four at the halfway point to move by Randall and take the lead from the teenager. Randall would follow him home for second, trailed by Reutzel, Brown and Tasker Phillips.
“I had a really good racecar to get to the front,” said Madsen. “I wanted to get in there and really attach the lapped cars. I tried it once and we got up the track. We just tried to drive a smart race from there. The car was really good before the rubber came down, and we could go anywhere. Aaron drove around me in the rubber there, but my car was really good on the exits. The car’s been quick, but I hadn’t been able to put it all together for the guys. I didn’t make a mistake tonight, so that’s a bonus.”
Tyler Groenendyk had a strong lead early in the 20-lap 360 feature over Garet Williamson, Jamie Ball, Dustin Selvage and Kaleb Johnson. Johnson moved up to fourth on lap two, but Aaron Reutzel was on the move from his starting spot outside row three. He took fourth from Johnson by lap five.
Up front, Groenendyk was entering lapped traffic by the seventh circuit. A lap later, Reutzel diamonded turns three and four to dive under Ball for the third spot. He quickly took Williamson’s spot and set his sights on Groenendyk as the trio were in close quarters in traffic.
On lap 11, Reutzel made his winning move in traffic. The next time around, he shot around the lapped car of Alex Hill. Groenendyk tried the inside and made contact with his right front, sending him careening into the infield fence in turn three.
Reutzel shot back out to a lead over Williamson, Ball and Johnson. Chase Randall was soon fourth, however, and picked off Ball for third with seven to go. Reutzel appeared to be cruising on the white flag lap, when Ryan Giles slowed to set up a green-white-checker finish.
Reutzel cruised to victory in the Ridge & Sons Racing #8 ahead of Williamson, Randall, Johnson and Ball. Kinder led the 15-lap Pro Sprints feature in dominant fashion for much of the way. Mike Mayberry was in pursuit. Kade Higday gained third from Matthew Stelzer early on before Josh Jones tipped over in turn four with seven laps in the books.
After a Matt Allen spin in turn four, Stelzer shot from fifth to third on that restart. The caution had been a penalty for Kinder, who had built a margin of several seconds.
Mayberry stayed close after the restart and went through the middle of turns one and two, gaining on the leader. He made the same move in turns three and four and shot by to win in exciting fashion. Kinder, Stelzer, Chase Young and Higday followed him to the line.
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. Kerry Madsen (6); 2. Chase Randall (3); 3. Aaron Reutzel (8); 4. Brian Brown (7); 5. Tasker Phillips (9); 6. Austin McCarl (4); 7. Davey Heskin (2); 8. Ian Madsen (16); 9. Carson McCarl (5); 10. AJ Moeller (12); 11. Brooke Tatnell (19); 12. Garet Williamson (14); 13. Lachlan McHugh (10); 14. Dustin Selvage (17); 15. Kasey Kahne (21); 16. Sawyer Phillips (11); 17. Ayrton Gennetten (13); 18. Justin Henderson (15); 19. Riley Goodno (18); 20. McKenna Haase (23); 21. Christopher Thram (22); 22. Ryan Timms (20); 23. Joe Simbro (24, alt.); 24. Lynton Jeffrey (1) DNS – Clint Garner.