David Gravel (SpeedwayShots Photo) (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (May 8, 2020) – In one of the most unique nights in sprint car racing history, David Gravel outlasted Ian Madsen in a 30-lap slugfest at the Knoxville Raceway on Friday night.
With no fans admitted due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the McKay Group with Nationwide Insurance presented the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Series for a Pay Per View only event. The surreal evening saw social distancing, the field limited to an invitation of 48 and current health guidelines enforced, but the action on the track was as thrilling as ever.
Daryn Pittman led the 30-lap main event early, ahead of Ian Madsen and Gravel. Six laps in, seventh running Shane Golobic had contact with Donny Schatz, flattening his left rear tire and bringing the yellow flag.
Madsen was fast and closed on Pittman before taking the point on lap nine. Three laps later, Kerry Madsen suffered a flat tire of his own. When he slowed, Sheldon Haudenschild could not avoid him and made contact, tipping over. He was uninjured.
The restart saw Madsen leading Pittman, Logan Schuchart, Gravel and Lynton Jeffrey back to green. Gravel surged to third utilizing the low side of the speedway on the restart. Pittman reeled in Madsen, but Gravel was in tow as well, and took the runner-up spot from him on lap 16.
The Connecticut native continued his torrid pace and passed Madsen for the lead in turn two on lap 19, only to be blocked by a lapped car coming out of turn four. Madsen maintained his lead and staved another haymaker from Gravel two laps later, when another pass for the lead in turn two was thwarted.
Schuchart was gaining late as well, taking third from Pittman on lap 21. With four laps to go, Madsen jumped the turn four cushion, but kept his lead. On lap 29, he did the same, but was not as lucky. Gravel pounced on the opportunity and led the final two laps for a $15,000 score and his seventh career win here aboard the Jason Johnson Racing #41.
Gravel led the top ten to the checkers ahead of Ian Madsen, Schuchart, Pittman, Cory Eliason, Donny Schatz, Jeffrey, Brian Brown, hard-charger Brad Sweet and Kyle Larson. Aaron Reutzel set quick time in his group, but motor issues in his heat, sidelined him for the night. Gravel set quick time in the second group, and was a heat winner, along with Ian Madsen, Schuchart and Eliason. Ian Madsen won the Dash, while Trey Starks claimed the C main and Sheldon Haudenschild won the B. Lucas Wolfe and Robbie Kendall contacted at the start of the C main and went off on the hook. Neither was injured.
“We haven’t been in the racecar a lot, and Ian and I made a lot of mistakes,” said Gravel in Victory Lane. “I was glad it was a 30-lap race. If it was 25, I would have lost that one. I was really good on the bottom of one and two, but I could not come off. If I hit my marks, we were fast, but man, it was hard to do. Hopefully, this was a good race for everybody (watching at home) to get everyone’s blood pumping again. Ian and I just battled, and lapped cars were in my way. He gave me a chance in three and four. It’s just good to come back in a racecar and be competitive.”
“It’s devastating to be honest,” said Madsen of his second place run. “I gave it my all. I made a little error at the end. I got my wing too far back and I couldn’t get around the top of three and four. I really buried myself a couple of times and David got by. I can’t make that kind of mistake around him. I feel like we did 99% of everything right all night, and we just came up a little short. It’s great progress for this KCP team this year.”
“It was a good start,” said Schuchart of his third place run. “We were quick right off the bat qualifying, and we ran good in the heat race. We have some things we can work on in the feature to make us a little bit better. It was real tough to hit your marks tonight. There were some rough spots out there. But it’s the same for everybody. It makes it exciting. It was a great start to the season for us.”
The next scheduled event for the Knoxville Raceway is Friday, May 29. Pella Motors/Kraig Ford will sponsor the 67th Annual Season Opener. Racing action is also scheduled for Saturday, May 30, for Knoxville Hospital & Clinics and Slideways Karting Center Night. Stay tuned to Knoxville Raceway’s Facebook, Twitter and www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com for any further updates concerning the 2020 season.
World of Outlaws Results
Time Trials Group 1 (started), 2 laps: 1. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (2), 15.162; 2. 2M, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (6), 15.398; 3. 83R, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (9), 15.47; 4. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (19), 15.478; 5. 18, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (14), 15.527; 6. 83, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (23), 15.535; 7. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (12), 15.615; 8. 5, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (20), 15.631; 9. 3Z, Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA (4), 15.643; 10. 24W, Lucas Wolfe, Mechanicsburg, PA (8), 15.735; 11. 48, Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA (10), 15.751; 12. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (22), 15.768; 13. 14P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (11), 15.774; 14. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (18), 15.788; 15. 64, Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (13), 15.859; 16. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (24), 15.871; 17. 55, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (21), 15.876; 18. 13, Paul McMahan, Nashville, TN (7), 15.886; 19. 56N, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (1), 15.891; 20. 41G, Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA (5), 15.904; 21. 55K, Robbie Kendall, Catonsville, MD (15), 15.911; 22. 17B, Bill Balog, Hartland, WI (3), 16.053; 23. 9W, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (16), 16.239; 24. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (17), 16.243
Time Trials Group 2 (started), 2 laps: 1. 41, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (7), 15.446; 2. 1A, Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA (11), 15.500; 3. 4, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (1), 15.544; 4. 26, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (9), 15.587; 5. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (22), 15.689; 6. 17W, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (15), 15.740; 7. 71, Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK (17), 15.754; 8. 2, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (21), 15.765; 9. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (18), 15.786; 10. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (2), 15.797; 11. 24, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (13), 15.904; 12. 7, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (19), 15.913; 13. 11K, Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (3), 15.924; 14. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (24), 15.951; 15. 15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (5), 15.977; 16. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (8), 15.994; 17. 2C, Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK (20), 16.122; 18. 2KS, Chad Boespflug, Hanford, CA (4), 16.149; 19. 9, Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, WA (6), 16.160; 20. 44S, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (14), 16.281; 21. 33M, Mason Daniel, Springville, CA (12), 16.426; 22. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (10), 16.691; 23. 7S, Jason Sides, Bartlett, TN (23), 16.720; 24. 15M, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (16), 17.495
Heat one (started), 8 Laps: 1. Ian Madsen (3); 2. Lynton Jeffrey (2); 3. Danny Dietrich (6); 4. Brock Zearfoss (5); 5. Brooke Tatnell (8) / 6. Davey Heskin (10); 7. Hunter Schuerenberg (9); 8. Parker Price-Miller (7); 9. Ryan Giles (12); 10. Robbie Kendall (11); 11. Aaron Reutzel (1); 12. Matt Juhl (4)
Heat two (started), 8 Laps: 1. Logan Schuchart (2); 2. Daryn Pittman (3); 3. Kerry Madsen (1); 4. Austin McCarl (6); 5. Brad Sweet (7) / 6. Dominic Scelzi (8); 7. Gio Scelzi (10); 8. Brent Marks (4); 9. Paul McMahan (9); 10. Lucas Wolfe (5); 11. Sawyer Phillips (12); 12. Bill Balog (11)
Heat three (started), 8 Laps: 1. David Gravel (1); 2. Brian Brown (3); 3. Donny Schatz (8); 4. Terry McCarl (2); 5. Kyle Larson (5) / 6. Shane Stewart (4); 7. Rico Abreu (6); 8. Jason Sides (12); 9. Kasey Kahne (10); 10. Kraig Kinser (7); 11. Mason Daniel (11); 12. Wayne Johnson (9)
Heat four (started), 8 Laps: 1. Cory Eliason (2); 2. Shane Golobic (3); 3. Jacob Allen (1); 4. Carson Macedo (4); 5. Justin Henderson (6) / 6. Sheldon Haudenschild (5); 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (7); 8. Chris Martin (8); 9. Chad Boespflug (9); 10. Trey Starks (10); 11. Bobby Mincer (12) DNS – Tasker Phillips
C main (started), 10 Laps: 1. Trey Starks (4); 2. Wayne Johnson (10) / 3. Bill Balog (9); 4. Mason Daniel (6); 5. Bobby Mincer (8); 6. Matt Juhl (7); 7. Sawyer Phillips (5); 8. Lucas Wolfe (3); 9. Robbie Kendall (1) DNS – Kraig Kinser, Tasker Phillips
Dash (started), 6 Laps: 1. Ian Madsen (2); 2. Daryn Pittman (3); 3. Shane Golobic (1); 4. David Gravel (5); 5. Lynton Jeffrey (7); 6. Logan Schuchart (6); 7. Brian Brown (8); 8. Cory Eliason (4)
B main (started), 12 Laps: 1. Sheldon Haudenschild (3); 2. Shane Stewart (1); 3. Rico Abreu (5); 4. Davey Heskin (2) / 5. Dominic Scelzi (4); 6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (7); 7. Jason Sides (9); 8. Parker Price-Miller (10); 9. Brent Marks (12); 10. Paul McMahan (16); 11. Kasey Kahne (13); 12. Chris Martin (11); 13. Hunter Schuerenberg (6); 14. Trey Starks (17); 15. Chad Boespflug (15); 16. Gio Scelzi (8); 17. Wayne Johnson (18); 18. Ryan Giles (14) DNS – Aaron Reutzel
A main (started), 30 Laps: 1. David Gravel (4); 2. Ian Madsen (1); 3. Logan Schuchart (6); 4. Daryn Pittman (2); 5. Cory Eliason (8); 6. Donny Schatz (10); 7. Lynton Jeffrey (5); 8. Brian Brown (7); 9. Brad Sweet (19); 10. Kyle Larson (18); 11. Brock Zearfoss (13); 12. Danny Dietrich (9); 13. Austin McCarl (15); 14. Carson Macedo (16); 15. Terry McCarl (14); 16. Shane Stewart (22); 17. Brooke Tatnell (17); 18. Kerry Madsen (11); 19. Davey Heskin (24); 20. Rico Abreu (23); 21. Jason Sides (26); 22. Kraig Kinser (25); 23. Jacob Allen (12); 24. Justin Henderson (20); 25. Sheldon Haudenschild (21); 26. Shane Golobic (3). Lap Leaders: Pittman 1-8, I. Madsen 9-28, Gravel 29-30. Hard-charger: Sweet.