KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Austin McCarl celebrated his fourth 410 Knoxville Raceway track title at Saturday’s McKay Group Season Championship.
The Altoona, Iowa native led all 25 laps to garner the $7,000 top prize aboard the Country Builders Construction No. 88. It was his ninth career 410 win at Knoxville, but his first of the season.
Kade Higday earned $3,000 for his first career win in the Randall Roofing 360 class. Luke Lane, the top rookie in the Pro Sprints class, won his first career main event as well, leading from green to checker, and sweeping the night.
Season champions who joined McCarl in clinching titles coming into the night were first-timer Tasker Phillips in the Randall Roofing 360s, and J. Kinder in the Pro Sprints. Kinder won the 305 title here in 2014.
A point invert of 0 saw McCarl start on the pole of the 25-lap 410 feature ahead of Riley Goodno, Landon Crawley, Tasker Phillips and Brandon Wimmer. Phillips moved by Crawley for third on lap two.
Wimmer slid by Crawley on lap six to take over fourth. Crawley could not avoid Wimmer’s rear bumper, and shot to the wall, ending his good run.
McCarl led Goodno, Phillips, Wimmer and Justin Henderson back to green. Sawyer Phillips entered the top five after the green fell. Tasker and Goodno battled hard for the second spot, with Tasker taking the spot for good on lap eight.
When Cam Martin and Carson McCarl came together and ended their night 12 laps in, Austin led Tasker, Goodno, Wimmer and Sawyer back to green. Austin pulled away from there to win by 4.5 seconds.
Tasker was second, ahead of Goodno, Wimmer, and a late charging Kelby Watt.
“We’ll take that,” McCarl said. “I thought we had a few more of these this year. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out. I didn’t want to get up at the banquet and have to go up there with a goose egg in the win column in November at Prairie Meadows. That thing was on rails and starting up front was huge. Being in clean air was fun. I got to do my best Brian Brown and Ryan Timms there for awhile. We’ll take it. It was a great way to finish the year at Knoxville.”
Kade Higday shot out from the pole of the 20-lap Randall Roofing 360 main event ahead of Tony Rost, Tasker Phillips, Riley Goodno and Hickle. Rost was strong on the cushion and led lap two, but Higday slid back by to recapture the point on the following circuit.
Carson McCarl and Hickle traded the fifth spot three times in great action before Joe Beaver slowed on lap seven, bringing a caution. Higday led Rost, Phillips, Goodno and McCarl back to green. Hickle and McCarl continued to trade fifth.
Up front, Higday was pulling away and into traffic on lap 13. With 11 laps to go, Logan Alexander got sideways. When Kurt Mueller clipped him, it sent Alexander upside down inside turn four. He walked away.
On the restart, Phillips pressured Rost and made contact while passing him in turn four. Rost lost several spots, with Hickle moving into third, and Goodno into fourth. Hickle would work under Phillips for second with two to go.
Higday was able to hold off all challengers for his first career 360 win here. Hickle was second, ahead of Phillips, Goodno and McCarl.
“We’ve busted our butts this year, and honestly, it’s been a subpar year for us,” said Higday. “We kind of just went back to the basics tonight. We really didn’t touch the thing since we showed up. We qualified decent. That’s a huge win off my shoulders, and obviously a big confidence boost going into next year.”
The Pro Sprints feature was a bit rough and tumble with the original 18-lap event being shortened to 17. Before a lap could be completed, Tyler Thompson spun after contact with another car. Though he kept it going, Jeff Wilke checked up and tipped over.
Once underway, Luke Lane shot from outside row two to lead, ahead of fellow rookie Brody Johnson, J Kinder, Devin Kline and Matt Allen. On lap three, Josh Higday entered the top five, but he exited two laps later. Lane entered lapped traffic on lap seven before Hansen spun again on lap eight. Allen exited out of fourth with a flat left-rear tire.
Lane led Johnson, Kinder, Chase Young and Matthew Stelzer back to green. Lane shot out to a lead over Johnson again. Evan Jones and Stelzer exchanged fifth three ties before Jones came to a stop on lap 15.
A green-white-checkered finish saw Lane get his first win, ahead of Johnson, Kinder, Chase Young and Stelzer.
“That was amazing,” said Lane. “It’s been such a struggle all year. We’ve got some speed, and if anyone else was driving this car, they would have won five times this year. It just means everything to me. I’ve been coming here since I could walk. I just live 20 minutes away. This is where my heart’s at…right here, Knoxville, Iowa!”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 88-Austin McCarl (1); 2. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips (4); 3. 22-Riley Goodno (3); 4. 6K-Brandon Wimmer (6); 5. 1K-Kelby Watt (15); 6. 2M-JJ Hickle (17); 7. 55-Justin Henderson (5); 8. 2KS-Jack Anderson (13); 9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips (8); 10. 39-Lynton Jeffrey (7); 11. 44-Chris Martin (9); 12. 51-Scott Bogucki (19); 13. 49-Josh Schneiderman (10); 14. 11-Roger Crockett (14); 15. 74-Xavier Doney (16); 16. 1-Sammy Swindell (22); 17. 15JR-Cole Mincer (18); 18. 7W-Alex Vande Voort (21); 19. 27-Carson McCarl (11); 20. 4-Cameron Martin (12); 21. 45X-Landon Crawley (2); 22. 121-RJ Johnson (23); 23. 8-Jacob Hughes (20); 24. 44X-Scotty Johnson (24).
