by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE RACEWAY, Knoxville, IA, August 2, 2012 – With 56 drivers in the house on the Thursday night opening of the 22nd Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Nationals, it was a trio of “Show Me State” drivers who stole the show. Danny Lasoski registered his second career 360 win (his previous one was a 360 Nationals championship in 1996) on night #1. The win followed a racelong duel with fellow Missouri driver Jonathan Cornell. Brian Brown, from Grain Valley, Missouri charged from 19th to 2nd in a hotly contested event.
Cornell, from Sedalia, led at the outset from the pole position with Lasoski in tow. The pair pulled away from the field, before Lasoski made a pass on the bottom to lead lap five. A seventh place running Randy Hannagan suffered mechanical problems and stopped on the next circuit, setting up a restart that saw Lasoski leading Cornell, Ryan Anderson, Jack Dover and Kevin Swindell back to green.
Dover moved into the top three by lap seven, but the lead pair left the field behind again. With the bottom going away slightly, Cornell gained on Lasoski and took the point on laps twelve and thirteen in some outstanding action. Lasoski got back to the front on lap 14 in the Mark Burch Motorsports #1m. B main winner, Terry McCarl, brought out the final caution with 16 laps in the books setting up a four lap dash to the finish.
While Cornell continued to hound Lasoski, Swindell moved into third and Brown into the top five. On the white flag lap, Cornell looked to have the momentum in turns three and four and made a run at the leader. Unfortunately for him, his left rear tire shredded and he coasted home fifth. Brown shot by for second with a strong finish, followed by Swindell and Dover. Brad Sweet, Brady Bacon, Paul McMahan, Anderson and Kyle Larson rounded out the top ten.
“I want to thank Mark Burch for giving me the opportunity to drive his racecar,” said Lasoski in Victory Lane. “The guy does a heck of a job. He builds his own cars and engines. Jonathan and I had a heck of a race. He got to searching around and found the middle. Once I found it, we were pretty good. He did a good job.”
Clint Garner set quick time over the field. Larson, Tony Shilling, Danny Jennings, Jesse Giannetto and Hannagan won the heats. Ryan Roberts won the C main.
Bacon and Swindell emerged with high point honors, with each scoring 480, followed by Lasoski (479), Dover (471), McMahan (467), Garner (464), Cornell (462), Anderson (459), Sweet (451) and Hannagan (448).
The Arnold Motor Supply 360 Nationals continue Friday night! For more information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!
360 Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order, 2 laps): 1. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (11) 16.147; 2. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (3) 16.243; 3. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (1) 16.307; 4. 7x, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (25) 16.324; 5. 22H, Randy Hannagan, Pittsboro, IN (10) 16.350; 6. 39, Kevin Swindell, Charlotte, NC (53) 16.415; 7. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (46) 16.449; 8. 53D, Jack Dover, Springfield, NE (21) 16.458; 9. 01, Paul McMahan, Nashville, TN (20) 16.464; 10. 1m, Danny Lasoski, Dover, MO (34) 16.494; 11. 2m, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (13) 16.495; 12. 71R, Ryan Anderson, Deloit, IA (12) 16.499; 13. 28, Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, MO (44) 16.505; 14. 69, Larry Howery, Hearne, TX (2) 16.507; 15. 94, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (27) 16.520; 16. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (6) 16.534; 17. 48, Jake Martens, Fairview, OK (4) 16.580; 18. 51, David Hall, Des Moines, IA (29) 16.614; 19. 5J, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (18) 16.639; 20. 7K, Jac Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (30) 16.642; 21. 5H, Logan Forler, Lake Havasu City, AZ (7) 16.661; 22. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (15) 16.666; 23. 1J, Danny Jennings, Norman, OK (14) 16.673; 24. 10, Jesse Giannetto, Cedar Rapids, IA (23) 16.685; 25. 31, Mark Pace, Lincoln, NE (35) 16.692; 26. 1K, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (5) 16.698; 27. 47T, Tony Shilling, Knoxville, IA (9) 16.698; 28. 33v, Henry Van Dam, Enumclaw, WA (19) 16.727; 29. 45, Tony Norem, Dassel, MN (22) 16.728; 30. 71, RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL (37) 16.743; 31. 3m, Russ Hall, Pleasant Hill, IA (32) 16.744; 32. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (26) 16.770; 33. 9JR, Derek Hagar, Marion, AR (8) 16.774; 34. 56, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (38) 16.779; 35. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (50) 16.791; 36. 98, JD Johnson, Wichita, KS (36) 16.797; 37. 17, Jared Horstman, Cloverdale, OH (31) 16.798; 38. 4s, Danny Smith, Chillicothe, OH (16) 16.867; 39. 6, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Olive Branch, MS (43) 16.888; 40. 11c, Matt Covington, Glenpool, OK (56) 16.938; 41. 4J, Lee Grosz, Harwood, ND (51) 16.944; 42. 18R, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (40) 16.986; 43. 17R, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (42) 17.066; 44. 86, Kyle Bellm, Nixa, MO (45) 17.081; 45. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (28) 17.126; 46. 2, Dustin Morgan, Tulsa, OK (17) 17.161; 47. 27, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (52) 17.248; 48. 20K, Thomas Kennedy, Winnipeg, MB, Can. (48) 17.268; 49. 93A, Alan Ambers, Knoxville, IA (24) 17.348; 50. 4x, Shawn Peterson, Irving, TX (33) 17.376; / 51. 21T, Ray Allen Kulhanek, Conroe, TX (47) 17.400; 52. 11w, Chris Ackland, Bullsbrook, WA, Aust. (41) 17.401; 53. 87, Justin Carver, Millington, TN (49) 17.455; 54. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (55) 17.479; 55. 35, Rick Wright Jr., Ponca City, OK (39) 17.565; 56. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (54) NT.
Heat one (started), 8 laps, 2:18.8: 1. Kyle Larson (1) 2. Logan Forler (2) 3. Kevin Swindell (5) 4. Brad Sweet (3) / 5. Clint Garner (6) 6. Matt Moro (4) 7. Russ Hall (7) 8. JD Johnson (8) / 9. Dustin Morgan (10) 10. Lee Grosz (9)
Heat two (started), 8 laps, 2:19.4: 1. Tony Shilling (1) 2. Ryan Anderson (4) 3. Brady Bacon (6) 4. Bobby Mincer (2) / 5. Jon Agan (5) 6. Jake Martens (3) 7. Jared Horstman (8) 8. Daryn Pittman (10) / 9. Ryan Roberts (9) 10. Tasker Phillips (7)
Heat three (started), 8 laps, 2:20.8: 1. Danny Jennings (2) 2. Henry Van Dam (1) 3. Jonathan Cornell (4) 4. Jack Dover (5) / 5. Randy Martin (6) 6. David Hall (3) 7. Danny Smith (8) 8. Thomas Kennedy (10) / 9. Aaron Reutzel (9) 10. Derek Hagar (7)
Heat four (started), 8 laps, 2:20.1: 1. Jesse Giannetto (2) 2. Paul McMahan (5) 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8) 4. Tony Norem (1) / 5. Davey Heskin (7) 6. Josh Higday (3) 7. Alan Ambers (10) 8. Kyle Bellm (9) / 9. Dustin Selvage (6) 10. Larry Howery (4)
Heat five (started), 8 laps, 2:21.8: 1. Randy Hannagan (6) 2. Danny Lasoski (5) 3. RJ Johnson (1) 4. Brian Brown (7) / 5. Mark Pace (2) 6. Matt Covington (8) 7. Terry McCarl (4) 8. Kevin Ingle (9) / 9. Shawn Peterson (10) 10. Jac Haudenschild (3)
C main (started), 10 laps, 2:59.5: 1. Ryan Roberts (5) 2. Jac Haudenschild (1) 3. Derek Hagar (3) 4. Justin Carver (11) / 5. Aaron Reutzel (6) 6. Tasker Phillips (4) 7. Ray Allen Kulhanek (9) 8. Dustin Morgan (7) 9. Larry Howery (2) 10. Alan Zoutte (12) 11. Rick Wright Jr. (13) 12. Chris Ackland (10) 13. Shawn Peterson (8) DNS – Dustin Selvage, Lee Grosz, Joe Beaver
B main (started), 12 laps, NT: 1. Terry McCarl (5) 2. Clint Garner (1) 3. Jake Martens (6) 4. Jon Agan (3) / 5. Russ Hall (10) 6. Randy Martin (2) 7. Matt Covington (11) 8. Danny Smith (14) 9. JD Johnson (12) 10. Daryn Pittman (18) 11. Josh Higday (8) 12. Justin Carver (19) 13. Ryan Roberts (15) 14. Jared Horstman (9) 15. Matt Moro (4) 16. Kyle Bellm (16) 17. Kevin Ingle (13) 18. Mark Pace (7) 19. Alan Ambers (20) 20. Derek Hagar (17) 21. Jac Haudenschild (21) DNS – David Hall, Davey Heskin, Thomas Kennedy
A main (started), 20 laps, NT: 1. Danny Lasoski (3) 2. Brian Brown (19) 3. Kevin Swindell (6) 4. Jack Dover (5) 5. Jonathan Cornell (1) 6. Brad Sweet (9) 7. Brady Bacon (8) 8. Paul McMahan (4) 9. Ryan Anderson (2) 10. Kyle Larson (14) 11. Jesse Giannetto (13) 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (20) 13. Clint Garner (22) 14. Tony Shilling (15) 15. RJ Johnson (18) 16. Henry Van Dam (16) 17. Terry McCarl (21) 18. Jake Martens (23) 19. Bobby Mincer (11) 20. Tony Norem (17) 21. Danny Jennings (12) 22. Logan Forler (10) 23. Randy Hannagan (7) 24. Jon Agan (24). Lap Leaders: Cornell 1-4, Lasoski 5-11, Cornell 12-13, Lasoski 14-20.