KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Ricky Stenhouse scored a wire-to-wire victory in the sixth-annual Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals Saturday Night at Knoxville Raceway.
The event was sanctioned by the USAC National, Badger, POWRi, SMRS, ARDC and RMMRA midget car series.
Stenhouse took the lead from the start and quickly moved away to a 2.8-second advantage when the caution appeared on lap eight for a stalled car. On the restart, Darren Hagen passed Jones for second and closed to within a two car lengths when the caution appeared for another stalled car six laps later.
Jerry Coons, Jr. passed Jones for third on the restart. Hagen, running one car length behind Stenhouse, suffered a flat tire on the 17th lap and retired from the event.
On the restart Stenhouse and Coons pulled away from the field while Jones, Brady Bacon, Kevin Swindell and Davey Ray led eight cars battling within the top 10. Brad Mosen hit the inside frontstretch wall with two laps remaining, setting up a final chance for Coons to challenge StenhouseStenhouse. Stenhouse pulled away and went onto victory driving the Tony Stewart Racing/Spike-Hawk Chevrolet No. 21.
Coons, Ray, Jones and Swindell followed.
Hagen, driving the RFMS Racing/Spike/Ford-Esslinger, passed Droud with two laps remaining to win the 20-lap King Doodlebug feature run earlier in the evening. Droud, Dustin Morgan, Jones, Stenhouse and Steve Sussex earned automatic starting positions for the 25-lap championship feature.
The summary:
First Heat (8 laps): Jerry Coons, Jr., Don Droud, Jr., Brandon Waelti, Danny Stratton, Cody Brewer, Brad Kuhn, Matt Sherrell, Joe Liguori, Chase Barber, Brad Sweet.
Second Heat (8 laps): Darren Hagen, Brad Mosen, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Casey Shuman, Nathan High, Dave Darland, Doug Schenck, Tim Noble, Chase Scott, Brandon Wagner.
Third Heat (8 laps): Davey Ray, Dustin Morgan, Donnie Ray Crawford, Chris Windom, Brad Loyet, Joe Wipperfurth, Tracy Readinger, Doug Dewitt, Dan Mecum, Chad McDaniel.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Kevin Swindell, Russ Harper, Tony Roney, Aaron Fiscus, Buddy Luebke, Scott Hatton, Kevin Battles, Trish Dover, Will Pierce, A.J. Fike.
Fifth Heat (8 laps): Steve Sussex, Ryan Durst, Brett Anderson, Chuck Gurney, Jr., Kenny Biro, Bradley Galedrige, Matt Smith, Chett Gehrke, Jonathan Beason.
Sixth Heat (8 laps): Levi Jones, Brady Bacon, Alfred Galedrige, Jr., Gary Taylor, Mike Hess, Chad DeSelle, Stephanie Mockler, Nick Lundgreen, Garrett Hood.
King Doodlebug (20 laps): Hagen, Droud, Morgan, Jones, Stenhouse, Sussex, Ray, Kuhn, Mosen, Taylor, Hess, Windom, Gurney, Shuman, Waelti, Durst, Anderson, Crawford, Luebke, Fiscus, Bacon, Stratton, Harper, Readinger, Roney, Galedrige, Beason, Swindell, Coons, Loyet.
First Semi (10 laps): Coons, Bacon, Windom, Cole Carter, Shuman, Hatton, Brewer, Smith, Gehrke, Biro, Barber, Noble, B. Wagner, Taylor, Battles, Roney.
Second Semi (10 laps): Mosen, Gurney, Stratton , Kuhn, Swindell, DeSelle, Hess, Schenck, Waelti, Lundgreen, Sherrell, Mecum, Hood, Dewitt, Luebke, Mockler.
Third Semi (10 laps): Ray, Anderson, Harper, Crawford, Darland, B. Galedrige, Durst, High, Wipperfurth, Fiscus, Readinger, Scott, Dover, Pierce, Sweet, Liguori.
Feature (25 laps): Stenhouse, Coons, Ray, Jones, Swindell, Bacon, Kuhn, Stratton, Hess, Droud, Carter, Gurney, Hatton, Morgan, Darland, Windom, Anderson, Shuman, DeSelle, Sherrell, Crawford, Mosen, Waelti, Sussex, Hagen, Harper, B. Galedrige, Readinger, Scott.