KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Kerry Madsen picked up a side of beef and $4,000 for winning his 23rd career 410 sprint car feature Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway, while Brian Brown earned $5,000 for winning a make-up feature.
In the regularly scheduled 20-lap 410 feature, A.J. Moeller led lap one from his pole position. A point invert of eight had Kerry Madsen starting fifth, but at the conclusion of lap two, he was already at the point. Brian Brown started eighth, but was also in the top five by the second circuit. Lynton Jeffrey passed Moeller for second on lap three, before Jamie Ball spun in turn four.
Madsen led Jeffrey, Moeller, Brown and Wayne Johnson back to green. Brown quickly claimed third, while Parker Price-Miller jumped from seventh to fourth.
On lap five, Brown shot by Jeffrey for second, and pursued the leader. Terry McCarl and Price-Miller had an entertaining battle for the fourth spot going in the middle stages of the race, while the leaders hit lapped traffic.
As Madsen sliced through traffic, Brown stayed close, but could not catch the St. Mary’s, New South Wales native. Price-Miller, Gio Scelzi and Jeffrey chased the lead pair to the checkers.
Rico Abreu, Terry McCarl, Davey Heskin, Austin McCarl and Johnson rounded out the top 10.
“We have a great engine builder,” said Madsen, whose team changed an engine after the heat. “All of our stuff runs well. I wasn’t able to tinker on the car much, so maybe that helped us. I got a great start and the car was really ripping. That’s good racing (lapped traffic that he dealt with). What makes racing good is fighting through the lapped cars. That’s what it’s all about.”
The 25-lap make-up feature belonged to Brown. Brown started outside row one, and led every lap. Justin Henderson was on the move early, advancing into the top five by lap two, and then passing Matt Juhl for fourth on lap three.
Brown was into lapped traffic ahead of second place, Lynton Jeffrey, by lap six. A circuit later, both Terry McCarl and Henderson shot by Jeffrey in the second and third place spots.
Henderson clearly was fast on the cushion and shot by McCarl for second on lap nine. By lap 12, Brown’s lead was 5.4 seconds. Juhl entered the top three with nine to go, and Austin McCarl took fourth on lap 18.
With five to go, Brown’s lead peaked at over six seconds. At the checkers, he lapped up to eighth place. Henderson finished second, ahead of Juhl, Austin McCarl and Brooke Tatnell.
Terry McCarl, Trey Starks, Jeffrey, Mason Daniel and Davey Heskin completed the top 10.
The win was Brown’s 49th here, putting him one behind Sammy Swindell, who sits fifth all-time in feature wins.
“This is not easy by any stretch of the imagination,” said Brown. “This thing is just a pleasure to drive. I felt in the first race, we had Kerry where we might have an opportunity. I missed the bottom coming to the white and that was a little frustrating. Starting on the front, you have to go hard for 25 laps. It’s a long time, so you can’t run the tires off. You have to search around a little. Hat’s off to the Dunkins. It was a phenomenal track for this many cars in the heat.”
Clint Garner won his 40th career main event in the 360 class, while Matthew Stelzer became the all-time leading feature winner in the Pro Sprints presented by Pace Performance, with his 13th career victory.
Myles Michehl swept the two 10-lap Dirt Truck main events scheduled, his first wins here.