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Late Pass Gives Brian Brown Win #31 at Knoxville!

Brian Brown heated things up on a cool night with a late pass to net his 31st career 410 feature win on McKay Insurance/Nationwide Night at Knoxville Raceway Saturday. The Grain Valley, Missouri driver snagged $3,000 for his win in the Brian Brown Racing Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21. Justin Henderson grabbed his seventh career win in the 360 class, climbing from a starting spot in row five in the BDS Motorsports #1. Corey Kautz executed a pass in lap traffic to grab his first win in the 15-lap 305 feature in record time.

Brooke Tatnell set the pace early on in the 20-lap 410 main event. The Aussie pulled away from Matt Juhl and Austin McCarl, before McCarl stopped with a broken power steering line with four laps in the books. Brown would pass Juhl for second on the restart, but that was negated when AJ Moeller and Bronson Maeschen crashed hard in turn two. They were uninjured.

One more lap was in the books when RJ Johnson came to a rest against the turn four wall with five laps down. That restart saw Tatnell ahead of Juhl, Brown, Danny Lasoski and Ian Madsen. Juhl surged to a lead down the backstretch when the green flew again, but Tatnell powered back off the bottom of turn four to keep his advantage.

The next eleven laps went non-stop. Madsen and Craig Dollansky moved past Lasoski into fourth and fifth by the eighth lap. Dollansky would continue his charge, moving by Madsen with five laps to go to claim fourth. Brown surged as he and Juhl were in a dead heat on the completion of lap 16. Because his last lap was quicker, he assumed the runner-up position behind Tatnell on the restart.

Tatnell kept his advantage for two more circuits, and then Brown shot around to lead lap 18. Dollansky moved onto the podium, getting by Juhl on the same lap. Following Brown, Tatnell and Dollansky, was hard-charger, Tim Kaeding who drove from 17th to grab fourth on the last lap. Juhl, Madsen, Dusty Zomer, Justin Henderson, Lasoski and Davey Heskin rounded out the top ten. Maeschen set quick time on the night, and Mark Dobmeier, Brown and Moeller won heat races.

“We’ve ran in the top three the last eight or nine nights,” said Brown in Victory Lane. “That’s nice, but it’s nice to get wins too. I didn’t know if we’d be able to get it done tonight, but we did. The team’s been here the last five years. I don’t know if the driver has shown up the last couple of years. Sometimes it takes a wintertime to sift through everything to see what’s right and what’s wrong. This team busts their tail and they deserve to win every night. I’d really like to thank this crowd. It was a great crowd on a pretty cold night.”

Ian Madsen shot out from his starting spot outside row two of the 360 feature to lead the 18-lapper early on. Chris Martin, Jamie Ball, Joe Beaver and Billy Alley settled in behind him. Beaver suffered a rear-end issue in turn one, and backed into the fence with three laps down. He was uninjured, but surrendered his fourth place run.

Just one more lap was in the books, when a caution was displayed for Derrik Lusk, Dave Getchell and Mike Van Haaften, all of whom retired. Alley shot by Martin into third on the restart, as Ball ran down the leader. Justin Henderson was on the move, however, moving up to fourth on the restart and then tracking down Alley to gain third on lap seven.

The final caution came out for Kade Higday, who made contact with the turn three wall on lap ten. He was taken to the hospital, complaining of a leg injury. With eight laps to go, Madsen led Ball, Henderson, Alley and Dusty Zomer back to green.

Ball would use the low side to shoot by Madsen on lap eleven, while Henderson would use the same move two laps later to take second. Henderson seemed to gain speed as the race went on, and shot by Ball with three laps to go to take the win. Ball held on to second, ahead of Madsen, hard-charger Clint Garner (from 15th) and Alley. Zomer, Martin, Tony Shilling, Nate Van Haaften and Ryan Giles rounded out the top ten. Beaver set quick time for the 360’s, while Zomer, Nate Van Haaften and Sawyer Phillips won heats.

“(Ball) was doing a really good job when he came up on a lapped car,” said Henderson in Victory Lane. “I didn’t know if I’d have time to get to him before we got to the lapped car. It just worked out for us. I’m really proud of this team. We were fighting hard all night to find something that was going to work.”

The 15-lap 305 main event went non-stop in record time at 4:27.2. Mike Mayberry, who crossed first a week ago, but was two pounds light at the scales, pulled away in the early going from Corey Kautz, Chris Walraven and McKenna Haase. Haase would shoot by Walraven on the second lap for third.

At the halfway point, the top five was Mayberry, Kautz, Haase, Walraven and Mitchell Alexander. The tenth lap would see Kautz make his winning move. Mayberry elected to go low behind a lapped car, and Kautz used that as a pick, rocketing on the cushion into the lead. He would guide the Greenland Homes #51 to his first career feature win at Knoxville. Mayberry would maintain second ahead of Haase, Walraven and Mitchell Alexander. Christian Bowman, Matthew Stelzer, Stacey Alexander, Joe Simbro and Chase Wanner completed the top ten. Wanner set quick time, while Mayberry and Simbro won heats.

“We’ve really struggled,” said Kautz in Victory Lane. “We’re upside down more than we’re going forward. Tonight’s an awesome night! I’ve gotta thank Steve Gruber, Greg Jensen, David Chase and I have to thank the Ball team. They’ve made us quick and made us consistent. We won one!”

Join us next week as the National Sprint League makes its first appearance of 2016! Drivers will be shooting for a $5,000 win! It’s also $1 Busch Light Night! For more information on Knoxville Raceway, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!

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