With the national tours rained out, a stout group of 42 cars were rolled in to compete at Knoxville Raceway on Saturday night.
Each of them were beat by Carson Macedo, who captured his third career win at the Sprint Car Capital of the World.
“It feels really good,” Macedo said after the race. “My car was incredible. Philip Dietz did a phenomenal job at Knoxville like always. At the beginning of the race, I wasn’t exactly sure where to be. I just had to figure out how to run my car around the bottom the way that it was set up. I feel like I got in a really good rhythm to be able to pass (Justin) Henderson.”
Henderson led a plethora of the laps early on in the race, and looked like he was going to expand more and more on the small points lead that he has built through a pair of A-Mains at the track.
However, it was Macedo, the lone World of Outlaws full-timer to make the trip to Iowa this weekend, that went to victory lane.
In a field with already talented competition weekly, along with a handful of ASCoC full-time stars, Macedo stood out as the class.
“I’m happy to be racing this weekend where we can’t be with the World of Outlaws, due to weather,” Macedo said. “It was really technical. You really had to be patient to go down there and run the bottom, and then if you were running the top, it was pretty razor thin up there. I think that made me as patient as it possibly could.”
That information will come in handy for Macedo. Every driver that runs a 410 sprint car regularly has ambitions to improve and succeed at Knoxville Raceway.
It’s the home of the biggest race in the dirt track side of motorsports.
It’s why Macedo and the other national teams that made the tow to the track came along. Now, with a third win under his belt, the California native will look to carry the momentum on the famous half-mile into next month’s Brownell’s Big Guns Bash.
The win for Macedo also comes on a night where his sponsor, Dennis Albaugh, was present to see a win for the first time in person.
“Knoxville is always a pretty cool place to be , especially when we can be around special fans, people and Dennis,” Macedo said. “It’s pretty cool and I’m definitely thankful to pick up the performance.”
The race’s polesitter, Sam Hafertepe Jr., took the runner-up spot and Henderson rounded out the podium. Aaron Reutzel and Kerry Madsen came behind him, while Brian Brown settled for sixth to end the night with a 39-point deficit on Henderson.
Clint Garner took down Terry McCarl in the 360 division to earn his 44th career win at the track. Mike Mayberry took one of the 305 class races and Scotty Johnson capped off the night with his first career win at Knoxville Raceway.
The Knoxville Championship Cup Series will be back in action next week on Saturday, May 15, to take on a third night of racing for each class and a make-up event in the 360 division.
The World of Outlaws will be back on track Wednesday at Lincoln Speedway for the annual Gettysburg Clash. Each of the two events can be seen live on DirtVision.
Knoxville Cup Results
410 Class, Race 2
Saturday, May 7, 2022
1. Carson Macedo
2. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
3. Justin Henderson
4. Aaron Reutzel
5. Kerry Madsen
6. Brian Brown
7. Austin McCarl
8. Gio Scelzi
9. Cory Eliason
10. Tasker Phillips
11. Hunter Schuerenberg
12. Ayrton Gennetten
13. Davey Heskin
14. Rico Abreu
15. Parker Price-Miller
16. Lynton Jeffrey
17. Sawyer Phillips
18. Carson McCarl
19. Matt Juhl
20. Mark Dobmeier
21. Riley Goodno
22. Ryan Giles
23. Emerson Axsom
24. Tyler Courtney (DNS, broke valve)
360 Class Results
1. Clint Garner (8); 2. Terry McCarl (2); 3. Jamie Ball (6); 4. Davey Heskin (7); 5. Chase Randall (18); 6. Joe Beaver (1); 7. Riley Goodno (10); 8. Garet Williamson (3); 9. Ryan Roberts (15); 10. Calvin Landis (11); 11. Collin Moyle (13); 12. Brady Forbrook (4); 13. Kaleb Johnson (5); 14. Ryan Leavitt (21); 15. Nathan Mills (16); 16. Jacob Dykstra (22); 17. Chase Porter (23); 18. Cam Martin (12); 19. Gunner Ramey (20); 20. Tyler Lee (24); 21. Devin Kline (19); 22. Dylan Westbrook (9); 23. Ricky Montgomery (17); 24. Christian Bowman (14). Lap Leaders: T. McCarl 1-16, Garner 17-20. Hard-charger: Randall.
PACE Pro Sprint Class May 7 Results
1. Mike Mayberry (4); 2. Brandon Worthington (2); 3. Mike Johnston (1); 4. Tyler Groenendyk (6); 5. Matthew Stelzer (7); 6. Scotty Johnson (3); 7. Chase Young (10); 8. Matt Allen (9); 9. Jeff Wilke (5); 10. Eric Bridger (8); 11. Joel Thorpe (11); 12. JJ Beaver (12); 13. Ryan Navratil (15); 14. Nick Guernsey (16); 15. Tyler Barrick (13); 16. Kade Higday (14); 17. Josh Jones (17). Lap Leaders: Johnston 1, Worthington 2-5, Mayberry 6-15. Hard-charger: Mayberry.
PACE Pro Sprint Class Make-up April 23 Results
1. Scotty Johnson (2); 2. Tyler Groenendyk (4); 3. Jeff Wilke (1); 4. Eric Bridger (3); 5. Matt Allen (8); 6. Brandon Worthington (6); 7. Mike Mayberry (5); 8. Chase Young (9); 9. Ryan Navratil (11); 10. Mike Johnston (7); 11. Joel Thorpe (10); 12. JJ Beaver (12) DNS – Tyler Barrick, Kade Higday, Josh Jones. Lap Leader: Johnson 1-15. Hard-charger: Allen.
