Shane Shines on ASCS Knoxville Nationals Night Two
by: Lonnie Wheatley

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 3, 2007) – Bixby, Oklahoma's Shane Stewart has enjoyed past success with both the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series as well as at the famed Knoxville Raceway.

On Friday night, it all came together with Stewart racing to victory lane in the 20-lap feature event that put the wraps on the second night of action for the 17th Annual American Sprint Car Series Knoxville Nationals. With the victory, Stewart has unofficially earned the pole position for Saturday night's $10,000 to win ASCS Knoxville Nationals finale pending a final audit of the points accumulated over the two qualifying nights.

Stewart battled past California's Jonathan Allard for the lead upon the completion of the eighth round and ultimately took the checkered flag with a comfortable 3.681 second advantage over Louisiana's Jason Johnson, who picked up the runner-up slot when apparent second-place finisher Clint Garner was disqualified after his car failed post-race technical inspection.

The victory marked Stewart's 13th career O'Reilly ASCoT National feature win and first since winning the Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals in 2004 and was his third career triumph at Knoxville Raceway, with his last win at the Marion County Fairgrounds facility coming during Knoxville Nationals preliminary action in 2005.

While Stewart gridded the feature field fifth aboard the Shaver-powered Doyle's Harley Davidson No. 1hd Maxim, it was Brett Mather and Ron Blair leading the way to the green flag. Mather led through the opening pair of corners, only to have third-starting Allard shoot into the lead as the pack exited turn two.

Climbing to fourth on the opening round, Stewart raced past both Blair and Mather to take over second on the second lap and set his sights on Allard. Stewart reeled in the leader and ducked to Allard's inside to edge into the lead as the pair raced off turn four to complete the eighth lap.

Once in front, Stewart immediately began to check out as Allard soon had his hands full with Wayne Johnson, who had worked forward from his sixth starting position.

Working through lapped traffic on a track that was conducive to slide jobs, Johnson put a slider on Allard in turns one and two on the 12th round that came up short. Johnson tagged Allard's left rear, with Allard getting upside down to bring out the red flag. Allard was uninjured but done for the night, while Johnson rejoined the field after quick repairs and climbed back up to 14th by race's end.

Stewart led the way on the restart with Clint Garner and Jason Johnson on his tailtank. Garner put a big slide on Stewart for the lead in turns one and two, but Stewart was up to the task and powered off the turn two cushion to retain command.

Stewart slipped away from his rivals and despite reaching lapped traffic over the final rounds, he managed to cruise to the checkered flag unabated.

Garner crossed the line 1.352 seconds behind Stewart, but Johnson took runner-up honors following Garner's disqualification. After starting eighth, current Knoxville Raceway points leader Josh Higday took the show position, accumulating enough points to earn the front row ouside starting position for Saturday night's finale.

Mather crossed the stripe fourth, with tenth-starter Darren Stewart rounding out the top five.

Gregg Bakker raced from 13th to claim sixth, with 12th-starter Chad Meyer, Skip Jackson, 15th-starter Garry Lee Maier and 16th-starter Joe Beaver completing the top ten.

New York's Chuck Hebing kicked off the night by touring the ½-mile clay oval at 16.179 seconds in his first visit to the track, besting Friday's field of 61 entries.

Dustin Selvage, Bakker, Maier, Wayne Johnson and Garner topped heat race action. Eric Baldaccini won the 10-lap "C" Main, with Darren Long winning the 12-lap "B" Main.

The night featured several wild rides, the first of which came in the opening corner of the fourth heat when Chris Morgan climbed a right rear tire and destroyed his machine in the resulting wild flip.

Ryan Roberts took a nasty ride down the backstretch on the first attempt to start the "B" Main. The second start had a multi-car tangle in turn four with both John Hall and Mike Houseman, Jr., getting upside down. On the third try to start the "B" Main, an errant car clipped Eric Lutz on the backstretch and sent him into the inside barrier.

There were no injuries.

A total of 112 entries competed over the two preliminary nights of the 17th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals.

17th Annual O’Reilly ASCS Knoxville Nationals Friday Preliminary Results:

Qualifying:

1. 45-Chuck Hebing (Ontario, NY) 16.179, 2. 2x-Josh Higday (Des Moines, IA) 16.183, 3. 41-Jason Johnson (Eunice, LA) 16.216, 4. 94-Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK) 16.245, 5. 1hd-Shane Stewart (Bixby, OK) 16.269, 6. 32-Justin Barger (Montrose, NY) 16.269, 7. 1m-Skip Jackson (Sydney, AUS) 16.432, 8. 7L-Darren Long (Elida, OH) 16.445, 9. 4-Mike Chadd (Lincoln, NE) 16.460, 10. 26-Tayler Malsam (Seattle, WA) 16.462, 11. 0-Jonathan Allard (Chico, CA) 16.512, 12. 35-Ron Blair (Troy, OH) 16.564, 13. 54-Brett Mather (Ames, IA) 16.573, 14. 7c-Chris Morgan (Topeka, KS) 16.579, 15. 40-Clint Garner (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.594, 16. 91-Darren Stewart (Bixby, OK) 16.603, 17. 5-Rick Ideus (Silver City, IA) 16.620, 18. Y2-Mike Houseman, Jr. (Norwalk, IA) 16.643, 19. 5g-Brett Golik (Newton, IA) 16.645, 20. 86x-Jesse Giannetto (Palo, IA) 16.650, 21. 7m-Chad Meyer (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.660, 22. 11T-T.J. Winegardner (Pierson, FL) 16.691, 23. 11x-Gregg Bakker (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.707, 24. 13-Jordan Martens (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.758, 25. 28-Mitch Runge (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.758, 26. 7-Dustin Selvage (Indianola, IA) 16.763, 27. 11xx-Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS) 16.773, 28. 53-Joe Beaver (Knoxville, IA) 16.799, 29. 98-J.D. Johnson (Goddard, KS) 16.801, 30. 4x-Jan Howard (Byhalia, MS) 16.805, 31. 1x-Matt Linder (Hoschton, GA) 16.831, 32. b4-Eric Baldaccini (Keller, TX) 16.834, 33. 2-Kevin Ingle (Huron, SD) 16.860, 34. 2d-Bryan Dobesh (Sioux Falls, SD) 16.896, 35. 3g-Tim Norman (Warsaw, IN) 16.927, 36. 85s-Forrest Sutherland (Cherryvale, KS) 16.966, 37. 7i-Ricky Logan (Little Rock, AR) 16.971, 38. 51-Dave Hall (Des Moines, IA) 16.979, 39. 84-Toby Chapman (Lincoln, NE) 17.027, 40. 35a-Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA) 17.028, 41. 11-Tim Allison (Lima, OH) 17.076, 42. 86J-Josh Fisher (Smithton, MO) 17.128, 43. 38m-Nick Mulheim (Navarre, OH) 17.131, 44. 7h-John Hall (Marion, IA) 17.133, 45. 28x-Jonathan Cornell (Sedalia, MO) 17.136, 46. 15s-Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK) 17.140, 47. 18r-Ryan Roberts (Aurora, NE) 17.158, 48. 7s-Jordan St. Arnold (Des Moines, IA) 17.176, 49. 5L-Eric Lutz (Sioux Falls, SD) 17.232, 50. 22n-Nate Mosher (Prairie City, IA) 17.234, 51. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek (Conroe, TX) 17.427, 52. 22b-Ben Gregg (Glendale, AZ) 17.429, 53. 46-Gary Moyer (Des Moines, IA) 17.515, 54. 5x-Dave Glennon (Casselton, ND) 17.570, 55. Y5-C.J. Houseman (Norwalk, IA) 17.690, 56. 57-Stu Snyder (Waverly, NE) 17.730, 57. 82-Jason Danley (Lincoln, NE) 17.741, 58. 00-Lauren Densley (Melbourne, AUS) 18.296, 59. 1a-Ryan Yeager (Ringstead, IA) 18.328. Illegal tire in qualifying: 14p-Rager Phillips (Pleasantville, IA) and 5ma-Mallory Armfield (St. Joseph, MO).



Heat Races (Top 4 Advance to "A" Main; Positions 5-8 to "B" Main; Positions 9-10 to "C" Main)

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 7-Dustin Selvage, 2. 91-Darren Stewart, 3. 0-Jonathan Allard, 4. 11-Tim Allison, 5. 45-Chuck Hebing, 6. 32-Justin Barger, 7. 15s-Nick Smith, 8. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 9. 1x-Matt Linder, 10. 11-Tim Allison.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11xx-Garry Lee Maier, 2. 2x-Josh Higday, 3. 1m-Skip Jackson, 4. 35-Ron Blair, 5. 11T-T.J. Winegardner, 6. 18r-Ryan Roberts, 7. 7i-Ricky Logan, 8. 5-Rick Ideus, 9. 86J-Josh Fisher, 10. b4-Eric Baldaccini.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 2. 53-Joe Beaver, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 54-Brett Mather, 5. Y2-Mike Houseman, Jr., 6. 51-Dave Hall, 7. 7L-Darren Long, 8. 38m-Nick Mulheim, 9. 2-Kevin Ingle, 10. 7s-Jordan St. Arnold.



Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 94-Wayne Johnson, 2. 98-J.D. Johnson, 3. 5g-Brett Golik, 4. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 5. 7h-John Hall, 6. 4-Mike Chadd, 7. 5L-Eric Lutz, 8. 84-Toby Chapman, 9. 13-Jordan Martens, 10. 7c-Chris Morgan.



Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 40-Clint Garner, 2. 1hd-Shane Stewart, 3. 4x-Jan Howard, 4. 35a-Brad Sweet, 5. 26-Tayler Malsam, 6. 22n-Nate Mosher, 7. 28-Mitch Runge, 8. 28x-Jonathan Cornell, 9. 86x-Jesse Giannetto, 10. 3g-Tim Norman.



"C" Main – Top 2 Advance to "B" Main
"C" Feature (10 Laps): 1. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 2. 86J-Josh Fisher, 3. 57-Stu Snyder, 4. 1x-Matt Linder, 5. 22b-Ben Gregg, 6. 5x-Dave Glennon, 7. 14p-Rager Phillips, 8. 7s-Jordan St. Arnold, 9. Y5-C.J. Houseman, 10. 46-Gary Moyer, 11. 5ma-Mallory Armfield, 12. 82-Jason Danley, 13. 1a- Ryan Yeager, 14. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 15. 2-Kevin Ingle, 16. 00-Lauren Densley. DNS: 7c-Chris Morgan, 86x-Jesse Giannetto, 13-Jordan Martens, 3g-Tim Norman, 11-Tim Allison.


"B" Main – Top 4 Advance to “A” Main
"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 7L-Darren Long, 2. 32-Justin Barger, 3. 45-Chuck Hebing, 4. 5-Rick Ideus, 5. 7i-Ricky Logan, 6. 86J-Josh Fisher, 7. 26-Tayler Malsam, 8. 22n-Nate Mosher, 9. 84-Toby Chapman, 10. 11T-T.J. Winegardner, 11. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 12. 51-Dave Hall, 13. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 14. 4-Mike Chadd, 15. 15s-Nick Smith, 16. 38m-Nick Mulheim, 17. 5L-Eric Lutz, 18. Y2-Mike Houseman, Jr., 19. 7h-John Hall, 20. 28x-Jonathan Cornell, 21. 18r-Ryan Roberts. DNS: 28-Mitch Runge.


O’Reilly ASCS Knoxville Nationals Friday Preliminary "A" Main Event:
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 1hd-Shane Stewart, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 2x-Josh Higday, 4. 54-Brett Mather, 5. 91-Darren Stewart, 6. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 7. 7m-Chad Meyer, 8. 1m-Skip Jackson, 9. 11xx-Garry Lee Maier, 10. 53-Joe Beaver, 11. 35a-Brad Sweet, 12. 4x-Jan Howard, 13. 7L-Darren Long, 14. 94-Wayne Johnson, 15. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 16. 35-Ron Blair, 17. 5-Rick Ideus, 18. 32-Justin Barger, 19. 98-J.D. Johnson, 20. 7-Dustin Selvage, 21. 0-Jonathan Allard, 22. 45-Chuck Hebing, 23. 5g-Brett Golik. Disqualified: 40-Clint Garner (failed to pass post-race technical inspection).

Lap Leaders: Jonathan Allard 1-7, Shane Stewart 8-20.