KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Ryan Timms was in a class by himself on Brandt Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night No. 1 at the 64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Wednesday night at the Knoxville Raceway.
The Oklahoma City driver registered the third quick time of the night, made it through his heat race, driving from eighth to fourth and then won the 25-lap main event, garnering 487 points for Saturday’s finale.
The driver of the Liebig Racing No. 10 also cashed in $12,000 for his fifth win of the season here at the Sprint Car Capital of the World.
Sheldon Haudenschild banked the second most points with his third-place finish, and Corey Day was the hard-charger in the feature, and had the third highest point total.
The feature began with Justin Peck leading from outside row one, ahead of Garet Williamson, Timms, who charged from eighth, Lucas Wolfe and Chris Windom. Timms stormed by Williamson for second on lap two.
Haudenschild made a move from sixth to fourth on lap three, and then passed Williamson for third on lap six.
Timms slowly reeled in Peck and stayed within striking distance before sliding in front of him entering turn one on the tenth lap. The leaders entered lapped traffic before Kaleb Johnson flipped hard in turn one, bringing out the red flag. He walked away from the crash.
Timms led Peck, Haudenschild, Haudenschild, Williamson and Windom back to green. Emerson Axsom entered the top five on the restart.
Though there wasn’t much changeup front the last 14 laps, Corey Day and Rico Abreu were charging after coming from the back of the pack and the B main, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
Timms won by over a second over Peck, Haudenschild, Williamson and Axsom.
Abreu set quick time over the 51-car field.
2019 Knoxville Nationals champion, David Gravel, came out very late in qualifying, but laid down the fourth quick time of the night. Unfortunately, he crashed on the first lap of his heat after contact with Hunter Schuerenberg. He came back to win the C and drove from 21st to eighth in a B main won by Abreu.
“That’s awesome,” said Timms e. “I don’t even know what to say! This thing is so fast. I just got a really good start there and kind of was able to hunt them down. What a night. That one was for Sam Liebig, who passed away not too long ago (January). Man, this is just great. I can easily say this is the biggest crowd I’ve ever won in front of. You don’t get any better feeling than right now.”
“We showed up Sunday and we were terrible,” said the second place Peck. “We were way too tight today, but I was confident in what we had going on. We understood the changes we were making, and figured it out from there. All in all, we hit it on the setup come feature time. Unfortunately, part way through that race, the engine kind of started to lay down. Once Ryan got in front of me, it was pretty much smooth sailing for him. I feel we have a good package for a dry track or a track like that.”
“The first few laps there were major,” said Haudenschild. “I got to the outside of the 7s and had Lucas there. I had to throw a pretty good slider on Lucas and just get going. I had to get by the 23, and I knew he was good. It’s probably the best I’ve ever felt at Knoxville. Without that yellow, I think I was the only one running the bottom. I was kind of waiting for traffic, and after that caution, it got strung out around there.”
64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Naitonals Presented by Casey’s Brandt Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night No. 1 Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 24R-Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA, 00:15.411[7]; 2. 14BC-Corey Day, Clovis, CA, 00:15.414[3]; 3. 10-Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, OK, 00:15.479[16]; 4. 2-David Gravel, Watertown, CT, 00:15.505[49]; 5. 17A-Jack Anderson, Newton, IA, 00:15.526[1]; 6. 42-Sye Lynch, Cowansville, PA, 00:15.534[18]; 7. 27-Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA, 00:15.591[5]; 8. 21T-James McFadden, Alice Springs, NT, Aust., 00:15.623[21]; 9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson, Glendale, AZ, 00:15.635[23]; 10. 88-Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA, 00:15.689[41]; 11. 87-Justin Sanders, Aromas, CA, 00:15.697[10]; 12. 18-Emerson Axsom, Franklin, IN, 00:15.698[37]; 13. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH, 00:15.705[32]; 14. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO, 00:15.711[2]; 15. 23-Garet Williamson, Kingdom City, MO, 00:15.724[25]; 16. 7S-Chris Windom, Canton, IL, 00:15.731[6]; 17. 26-Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN, 00:15.779[40]; 18. 39M-Anthony Macri, Dillsburg, PA, 00:15.784[30]; 19. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO, 00:15.786[24]; 20. 17GP-Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA, 00:15.799[47]; 21. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, Mechanicsburg, PA, 00:15.832[43]; 22. 6-Zach Hampton, Plainfield, IN, 00:15.851[9]; 23. 36-Jason Martin, Lincoln, NE, 00:15.901[11]; 24. 48-Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA, 00:15.932[20]; 25. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, Sunnyvale, TX, 00:15.951[50]; 26. 15-Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND, 00:15.952[38]; 27. 13-Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK, 00:15.956[51]; 28. 09-Matt Juhl, Tea, SD, 00:15.964[8]; 29. 24D-Danny Sams III, North Port, FL, 00:15.966[17]; 30. 52-Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK, 00:15.967[14]; 31. 18T-Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR, 00:15.986[29]; 32. 6K-Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD, 00:16.005[46]; 33. 45X-Landon Crawley, Benton, AR, 00:16.033[31]; 34. 32B-Brandon Spithaler, Butler, PA, 00:16.034[42]; 35. 74-Xavier Doney, Odessa, MO, 00:16.038[15]; 36. 1K-Kelby Watt, Adel, IA, 00:16.074[34]; 37. 15JR-Cole Mincer, Burlington, IA, 00:16.098[35]; 38. 22-Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA, 00:16.125[19]; 39. 44-Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA, 00:16.140[27]; 40. 12X-Hank Davis, Sand Springs, OK, 00:16.151[13]; 41. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust., 00:16.195[28]; 42. 25-Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA, 00:16.228[44]; 43. 9R-Chase Randall, Waco, TX, 00:16.228[48]; 44. 44X-Scotty Johnson, Melcher-Dallas, IA, 00:16.268[4]; 45. 4W-Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA, 00:16.268[26]; 46. 121-RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL, 00:16.269[33]; 47. 71-Brandon Worthington, Indianola, IA, 00:16.313[12]; 48. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek, Lagrange, OH, 00:16.382[39]; 49. 67-Justin Whittall, Vincentown, NJ, 00:16.416[45]; 50. 10V-Ben Brown, Marshall, MO, 00:16.567[22] / 51. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL, NT (36)
Heat one (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. 18T-Tanner Holmes[2]; 2. 1K-Kelby Watt[1]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]; 4. 7S-Chris Windom[5] / 5. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 6. 42-Sye Lynch[7]; 7. 24R-Rico Abreu[8]; 8. 87-Justin Sanders[6] / 9. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell[9]; 10. 121-RJ Johnson[10]
Heat two (started), 10 Laps, 2:53.3: 1. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[2]; 2. 18-Emerson Axsom[6]; 3. 26-Justin Peck[5]; 4. 13-Daison Pursley[3] / 5. 27-Carson McCarl[7]; 6. 15JR-Cole Mincer[1]; 7. 14BC-Corey Day[8]; 8. 25-Tim Kaeding[9] / 9. 6-Zach Hampton[4]; 10. 71-Brandon Worthington[10]
Heat three (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. 45X-Landon Crawley[2]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 3. 22-Riley Goodno[1]; 4. 10-Ryan Timms[8] / 5. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 6. 21T-James McFadden[7]; 7. 39M-Anthony Macri[5]; 8. 09-Matt Juhl[3] / 9. 9R-Chase Randall[9]; 10. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[10]
Heat four (started), 10 Laps, 2:52.9: 1. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 3. 32B-Brandon Spithaler[2]; 4. 24D-Danny Sams III[3] / 5. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[7]; 6. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[6]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]; 8. 67-Justin Whittall[10] / 9. 44X-Scotty Johnson[9]; 10. 2-David Gravel[8]
Heat five (started), 10 Laps, 3:13.9: 1. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 23-Garet Williamson[6]; 4. 88-Austin McCarl[7] / 5. 74-Xavier Doney[2]; 6. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[5]; 7. 17A-Jack Anderson[8]; 8. 12X-Hank Davis[1] / 9. 10V-Ben Brown[9]; 10. DNS – 4W-Jamie Ball
C Main (started), 10 Laps, 3:07.8: 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 6-Zach Hampton[2]; 3. 9R-Chase Randall[4]; 4. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell[3] / 5. 121-RJ Johnson[6]; 6. 10V-Ben Brown[8]; 7. 44X-Scotty Johnson[5]; 8. 71-Brandon Worthington[7]; 9. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[9]; DNS – 10. 4W-Jamie Ball; 11. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek
B Main (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. 24R-Rico Abreu[1]; 2. 14BC-Corey Day[2]; 3. 17A-Jack Anderson[3]; 4. 21T-James McFadden[6]; 5. 42-Sye Lynch[4]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri[10]; 7. 27-Carson McCarl[5]; 8. 2-David Gravel[20]; 9. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[9]; 10. 87-Justin Sanders[8]; 11. 36-Jason Martin[13]; 12. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[7]; 13. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[11]; 14. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 15. 09-Matt Juhl[15]; 16. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell[23]; 17. 67-Justin Whittall[19]; 18. 9R-Chase Randall[22]; 19. 25-Tim Kaeding[18]; 20. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[12]; 21. 74-Xavier Doney[16]; 22. 15JR-Cole Mincer[17]; 23. 6-Zach Hampton[21]; DNS – 24. 12X-Hank Davis
Feature (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. 10-Ryan Timms[8]; 2. 26-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 4. 23-Garet Williamson[4]; 5. 18-Emerson Axsom[6]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[10]; 7. 14BC-Corey Day[22]; 8. 24R-Rico Abreu[21]; 9. 7S-Chris Windom[3]; 10. 88-Austin McCarl[7]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich[9]; 12. 18T-Tanner Holmes[14]; 13. 13-Daison Pursley[11]; 14. 1K-Kelby Watt[18]; 15. 21T-James McFadden[24]; 16. 17A-Jack Anderson[23]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn[13]; 18. 44-Chris Martin[20]; 19. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[1]; 20. 45X-Landon Crawley[16]; 21. 24D-Danny Sams III[12]; 22. 22-Riley Goodno[19]; 23. 32B-Brandon Spithaler[17]; 24. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[15].
