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KNOXVILLE, IA – It’s very rare in racing when a car that almost takes you out of an event ends up being the reason why you reach victory lane. That was the case Thursday night in the 47th Annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals Preliminary Night One at the Knoxville Raceway.
Jeff Sheppard, of Upperco, Md., picked up his second career win at the famed ½ mile Marion County oval while pocketing the $12,000 winner’s prize for car owners John and Terry Zemaitis.
“We haven’t won a whole lot of races this year,” stated Sheppard in victory lane. “We didn’t qualify well but we didn’t give up tonight and I’m really happy with the way things turned out. It was a job well done by everybody.”
Sheppard ran second for much of the race after starting on the pole for the 25-lap feature event. With two laps remaining a slower car broke right in front of him as he raced through turns one and two. Sheppard squeezed himself between the car and the outside wall narrowly missing a violent crash.
On the restart, Sheppard bolted to the bottom of the racing surface and drove by Brooke Tatnell as he went to the high side of the speedway. Sheppard led the final two laps for to claim the victory and hopefully enough points to get him into Saturday night’s main-event.
Tatnell, who’s been a Knoxville regular the past few weeks, had to settle for a runner-up finish in the event after leading 23 laps. Wayne Johnson, of Mustang, Okla., took some time off from running a 360 Sprint Car to come home third.
Joey Saldana, of Brownsburg, Ind., finished in fourth after starting the event from the sixth position with his Kasey Kahne Racing no.9. Paul McMahon, of Nashville, Tenn., brought his Tony Stewart Racing ride from the eighth starting position to finish fifth.
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GOOD START: Tatnell, utilizing his outside front row starting position, took the lead as the race got underway. Tatnell went right to the high side of the speedway with Sheppard following suit in turns one and two. Tatnell quickly got away with Johnson sneaking by Sheppard for the second spot on lap 3.
FINDING THE LINE: Johnson continued to run second to Tatnell until Sheppard finally moved his Zemco sponsored ride down to the inside groove. Sheppard quickly closed back in on Johnson and was able to retake the runner-up position by lap 5.
“Tatnell was really good on the top so I followed him up there,” said Sheppard. “That allowed Wayne (Johnson) to get by me on the bottom. Once the tires got going I started moving around and the car worked good on the bottom and I was able to pull back in on Brooke (Tatnell).”
THE PLOT THICKENS: Sheppard continued to chase Tatnell with the duo hitting heavy lapped traffic on lap 8. Tatnell continued to work the outside while Sheppard was patiently maneuvering through down low. At times Tatnell was able to pull away from Sheppard in order to open up a half straightaway advantage. As traffic got heavier, Sheppard began closing in and on the 16th circuit the pair was side-by-side for the lead off of turn two.
CLOSE CALL: The pair remained in lap traffic until the first caution of the event came out on lap 23. Lynton Jeffrey’s no. 12 had something let go in the rear causing him to slow right in front of Sheppard. Sheppard took evasive action and barely avoided contact with the slower car.
“Brooke (Tatnell) got by without a problem and then the 12 car almost stopped in front of me,” stated Sheppard. “I almost ran right over the back of him. To be honest I was fortunate that I didn’t hit him. It was just my night.”
TO GO HIGH OR LOW: The caution came out for the Jeffrey ride giving Sheppard one more opportunity with two laps remaining. On the restart, Tatnell went high and Sheppard went low with Sheppard taking the lead as they raced off of turn two in front of the Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
“A yellow always helps the guy out in second place,” commented Sheppard. “My car was really good on the bottom and when the race got going again he left the bottom open and I was able to get the lead.”
DISSAPOINTMENT: Tatnell was unable to regain the top spot and settled for second after leading much of the affair. It was a disappointing finish for the driver out of San Sousi, Australia.
“We really needed this win order to get as many points as possible,” said Tatnell. “We didn’t qualify well so hopefully the points shake down in our favor.”
THE MISTAKE: Tatnell’s only mistake of the event was on the final restart when the decision was made to go the outside in turns one and two rather than protecting the bottom.
“I wanted to go low but the team kept telling me from the infield to go to the outside,” stated Tatnell. “We win as a team and we lose as a team so I went to the top and it was the wrong decision.”
IMPRESSIVE RUN: Johnson finished third after starting on the outside of the second row. A solid run for a driver making only his fifth start in a 410 powered Sprint Car of the season. He was hoping that Tatnell and Sheppard both were going to go high on the final lap opening the door for him on the inside.
“I thought they were both going to go high,” said Johnson. “Then Sheppard dove low and it took the air of my nose wing and I got stuck in the middle. I spun the tires off of turn two and from that point on I was trying to hold on to third.”
QUALIFYING: McMahon set a new Nationals record in time-trials with a lap of 14.817. The 10-lap heat races were won by Tatnell, Jeffrey, Randy Martin, Ben Gregg and Greg Wilson. Travis Cram won the 12-lap B-Feature and Kenny Jacobs won the C-Feature.
Weld Racing A Feature (25 laps): Jeff Shepard, Brooke Tatnell, Wayne Johnson, Joey Saldana, Paul McMahan, Steve Kinser, Don Droud Jr., Tim Kaeding, Tony Bruce Jr., Terry McCarl, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Stevie Smith, Ed Lynch Jr., Brian Brown, Dion Hindi, Randy Martin, Travis Cram, Greg Wilson, Seth Brahmer, Natalie Sather, JD Johnson, Todd King, Lynton Jeffrey, Ben Gregg
B Feature (12 laps): Travis Cram, Stevie Smith, Terry McCarl, Dion Hindi, Jason Johnson, Kerry Madsen, Justin Henderson, Rob Chaney, Calvin Landis, Bronson Maeschen, Jac Haudenschild, Tayler Malsam, Clint Garner, Jack Dover, Chad Hillier, Jesse Hockett, Kenny Jacobs, Robert Ballou, Garrett Ishii, Brock Mayes, Jason Meyers, Nick Smith
C Feature (8 laps): Kenny Jacobs, Chad Hillier, Josh Higday, Neil Shepherd, Mike Moore, Ray Allen Kulhanek, DNS: Ricky Logan, Kaley Gharst, Eric Baldaccini, Kim Mock
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