KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Ryan Timms survived an early duel with Austin McCarl and went on to win the 410 feature Saturday at the Knoxville Raceway on Dennison Tees/Jersey Freeze Night.
The victory was the second of the year at Knoxville for the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma driver and earned him $6,000.
Timms started on the pole of the 20-lap 410 main event and led early over Austin McCarl, Brian Brown, Kerry Madsen and Carson McCarl. While Timms ran low, the defending track champion, McCarl, rode high and took the lead on lap two. Timms responded in turns one and two, reclaiming the point for good.
The leaders were lapping cars by the sixth circuit, and on lap seven, thirteenth running Jason Martin and fourteenth runner Ben Brown were involved in a nasty accident in turn three. Cole Mincer was also involved and sustained enough damage to retire. R.J. Johnson flipped on the restart going down the backstretch.
Timms led Austin McCarl, Brian Brown, Madsen and Carson McCarl back to green. Madsen pressured Brown and took over third on lap nine, while Lynton Jeffrey passed Carson McCarl to get into the top five. McCarl returned the favor three laps later in a good battle.
Up front, Timms was going through traffic with six to go. Though he narrowed the gap a bit, Austin McCarl would settle for second at the line, ahead of Madsen, Brian Brown and Carson McCarl. Rookie Jack Anderson put on a show as the hard-charger, advancing from seventeenth to sixth.
“My car was so good,” said Timms. “It wasn’t easy. My hat’s off to my team (Liebig Racing #10). They put a ton of work in and they always give me a fast race car. I’m really happy to be standing here right now. This one is for (the late) Sam Liebig and the whole Liebig family, and my thoughts go out to Bill Wagner and his family while he’s getting healed up. We got some redraw luck. Sometimes, you may want to be more lucky than good.”
Tyler Groenendyk earned his first win in the Randall Roofing 360 class, and Devin Kline topped the Pro Sprints class for the 16th time in his career.
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Timms(1); 2. 88-Austin McCarl(2); 3. 55-Kerry Madsen(3); 4. 21-Brian Brown(4); 5. 27-Carson McCarl(6); 6. 17A-Jack Anderson(17); 7. 39-Lynton Jeffrey(9); 8. 22-Riley Goodno(7); 9. 6K-Kaleb Johnson(11); 10. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips(12); 11. 44-Chris Martin(10); 12. 3P-Sawyer Phillips(14); 13. 2M-JJ Hickle(18); 14. 45X-Landon Crawley(5); 15. 6-Brandon Wimmer(16); 16. 1M-Don Droud Jr(19); 17. 49-Josh Schneiderman(21); 18. 8H-Jacob Hughes(23); 19. 71-Brandon Worthington(24); 20. 31-Kyle Bellm(20); 21. 121-RJ Johnson(25); 22. 44X-Scotty Johnson(22); 23. 36-Jason Martin(15); 24. 7B-Ben Brown(8); 25. 15JR-Cole Mincer(13); DNS – 26. 19H-Kevin Thomas Jr.
