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410s (19 Cars)

Welcome Mat
Modern day "outlaws" Terry McCarl and Tony Bruce, Jr. make the trip up after Knoxville last night. Bronson Maeschen and Jack Dover also make their first visits of the year with Robby Wolfgang making his debut in a 410. Jason Eckard signs in for the first time ever at Huset's.

MIA
Scott Winters (motor), Joe Riedel, Wade Nygaard was reported to be racing tonight but did not show.

VIP
Set up shop again over in turn 1 with the newlyweds of LDA24 and his brand new wife from the night before. There was also a Ms. J sighting as well as plenty of friends and family joining the recently married couple including DudeFan.

Time Trials (1 lap each)
Terry McCarl (11^th out) set the quick time again for the 2^nd straight week by dropping a 10.690 lap at 126.286 MPH on a track that was lacking moisture and already throwing up dirt into the fan's faces. Jake Peters wound up 2^nd quick with a 10.774 lap, followed by Johnn Cressman, Jack Dover, and John Lambertz, all whom broke into the 10 second barrier. The rest of the top 16 that hit the heat race invert: Bruce, Jr., Clint Garner, Dobmeier, Gregg Bakker, Marlon Jones, Lynton Jeffrey, Chad Meyer, Gordy Vogelaar, Troy Meyer, Wolfgang, and Jody Rosenboom.

Time Trials Grade: B+; The track was already starting to show signs that it would not be like last week with a thinner cushion. A great driver's track to set up the night's festivities.

Heats (Top 8 Inverted from TT, All Cars to the A, Top 5 Hit Feature Invert)
Heat 1 Starting Order: 10 Laps

Heat 1 Finish: 24 11x 1A 40 56/ 12L 33 2H 12 (DNF) 96

Heat 1 Notes: Wolfgang shoots out to the lead in his first ever 410 heat by riding the cushion which was just over half way up the track. All eyes were on McCarl to see if he can get into the top 5, so he would have to decide about the back row challenge sponsored by Baete Forseth. He would be slicing his way to the front by running the bottom and would take the lead from Wolfgang with 4 laps to go out of turn two. Garner would spin in turn 4 and make it to the infield without a caution, only to see Vogelaar spin a half lap later over in turn 2 which did bring a caution. Garner would rejoin the field at the tail with 3 laps left, and would make his way up to 4^th eventually to make the A feature invert. McCarl would pull away on the restart to keep the perfect night alive.

Heat 2 Starting Order: 10 Laps

Heat 2 Finish: 6 13 4 53 18/ 16 1 9M 101

Heat 2 Notes: Rosenboom would take the lead at the green and just take off from the rest of the field. Dobmeier quickly moved into 2^nd, but could not come close to running Rosenboom down. Bruce had problems right away and faded as Dover and Peters were able to get by him early. But Bruce would find a little rhythm and was able to get by Peters for the 5^th and final invert position with 2 laps to go.

Heat Grades: A; McCarl going 8^th to 1^st to win the first heat will probably be the highlight of the year for the heat races at Huset's. The track was absolutely perfect as it was slicking off quickly by making drivers earn where they finished. The second heat lacked a little excitement, but it was still a good night of racing in the two heats.

B Feature (Top Tag the A, Laps)

B Feature Grade/Notes: All cars transferred to the A through the heats.

A Feature (25 Laps)
Starting Order: Invert of 6 drawn by McCarl

Finish: 40 24 13 18 53 56 16 4 11x 33/ 1 6 101 12 (DNF) 2H 1A 12 9M 96

A Feature Notes: What a great lineup there in the top 6 as any of those guys could bring home the victory. Rubber would be imminent following the 360 race, but the question was only when it would happen. Dobmeier would take the initial lead on the start but it wouldn't last as Jones and Vogelaar got together at the bottom of turn 2 on the start. This would bunch the field back together for a complete restart and this time it was Garner taking charge into turn 1. He would stay there and after a few laps McCarl would split Dover and Bruce with a beautiful move in turn 1. Another yellow came out on lap 4 for Rosenboom who spun out by himself.

The restart saw Garner leading Dobmeier, McCarl, Bruce Jr., and Dover with 22 laps to go. There would be another quick caution for Lambertz who stopped in turn 1. The next restart also saw another yellow caused by Bakker who spun out all by himself in turn 2 which collected Wolfgang and Jeffrey. Wolfgang would be done for the night with front-end damage on a night where he impressed in his 410 debut. Bruce Jr. had temporarily gotten by McCarl for 3^rd for a little bit, but it was relegated with McCarl getting back by him at the flag stand to complete the lap. On the next restart after 2 laps were put in, Jeffrey wound up on his lid at the bottom of turn 3 with Eckard and McGillivray involved. No one around us seen what had happened, but Lynton was awesome on the microphone as usual following the wreck.

So it had taken about 25 minutes to complete 4 laps, but hardly anyone was leaving the track due to the excitement that was to come. The wind was freezing cold and in the faces of the fans the whole night, causing the fans in attendance to head home covered in the dirt.

On the restart, McCarl was able to get by Dobmeier and was all over Garner about 10 laps into the race. The track was still okay at this point, but it would become completely rubberdown at the halfway point. Garner ran the bottom the whole race, so if anyone was going to get by him, it would have to be in the middle of the track by going on the outside of the #40 machine.

A restart with 9 laps to go seen McCarl peak under Garner after a slight mess-up on his part, but Garner was able to pinch McCarl off going into turn 3 to hold on to the lead and the eventual win that paid $2,500. This was Garner's 7^th career 410 win and 23^rd career win at the track. He also led all 25 laps.

A Feature Grade: A- for the first half, D- for the 2^nd half following the rubber. McCarl's quest for a perfect night ends up one spot short, but Garner definitely earned the win. If the track had stayed as slick as it was early in the race, for the entire race, then it would have been the race of the year. But of course, it took rubber and ruined it for the fans.

360s (18 Cars)
Dustin Evink took the lead from his pole position in the early going. Jody Rosenboom was on the move from his 7^th starting position and would finally run Evink down to take the lead on lap 8. Plenty of great action going on in the middle of the field between Eric Lutz, Dusty Ballenger, and Lane Brenden. Jeremiah Jordahl spun out in turn 3 while running 2^nd with 3 laps to go. Randy Droescher spun to avoid the 3J and would get his spot back on the restart. Cody Hansen flipped to avoid the pileup and was also done for the night. Rosenboom would take control after the restart and held on for his 1^st win of the year and 25^th career 360 win. Evink led laps 1-7, Rosenboom 8-18

360 Finish: 27 2D 24 8 76 17B 5 1A 12 17v/ 1 42 1z 21 (DNF) 11 3J 4 51

FOAW: Garner was pretty impressive tonight and did everything necessary to bring home the win. But it is great to see T-Mac in the house and bringing out the best game of everybody else.

Crowd Pleasing Moment #1: McCarl taking a quick jab at the Knoxville Raceway officials if they do not DQ Lasoski for the illegal softener he used on the left rear. Great stuff as usual from T-Mac on the mike.

Crowd Pleasing Moment #2: Great to see Jack Dover and Tony Bruce, Jr. stop in for 1 night of racing. After talking to Bruce's crew following the race, it sounds like he's going to do the Knoxville/Huset's double-dip again in a few weeks.

WTF: Bakker spinning out by himself in front of most of the field, sending Wolfgang to the infield and Lynton to the back. You don't see this happen very much with Bakker, but The Report really wanted to see what Wolfgang would have done for 25 laps in his first 410 feature.

"Home of the Professionals" Moment of the Night: Not adding water to the track that was screaming for water. Intermission would have been a perfect time to add a couple of laps of water, but the water truck stayed out back behind the billboards. Great way to treat the fans that stick it out through the cold by giving them half of a 410 feature that was a choo-choo train.

Mulligan Moment: Rosenboom coming over the microphone after the 360 feature saying he loves these kind of slick, driver's tracks; then going out and spinning out twice in the 410 feature.

Head Scratcher: Huset's promoting that NOSA will be bringing 12-15 cars next week for Sunday's NOSA sponsored show. The more cars the merrier, but we were highly doubting they'll be bringing that many cars, as they only brought 5 or 6 last year. Surprise the Report, please.

Thumbs Up: Tommy Barber finding victory lane in the new sprint class after getting taken out the week before. Marty and a few others looked ecstatic in victory lane after having to put together a brand new car for the week. Great job on the microphone too there Tommy.

Thumbs Down: Weather conditions that continued to suck for the fans this weekend. Jackson was a complete mess with the 40mph sustained winds blowing into the fan's faces. Then at Huset's we get a chilly wind blowing straight into the faces of the fans again, resulting in a dirt bath.

Prime Mover: Jake Peters passed the most cars coming from 12^th to finish 7^th.

Trophy Queen Grade: Looks like the same ones of the past, so N/A.

Closing Stat of the Night: McCarl takes the point lead that he's not running for. McCarl's up 7 over Dobs and 12 over Garner.

Final Thought: Should be 25+ 410s for next Sunday, and hopefully some of the NOSA guys stick around for the double-header on Monday night. Maybe some other Knoxville guys (Madsen, etc) can come on up for 2 nights of racing.

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Sounds like baseless allegations from the McCarl camp to me. The so called "smell" in victory lane was the smell of Lasoski opening yet another can of whoopass on the competition.

obviously just an average, but cold, night as no one has made any comments. Gotta love driving home at night and feeling the dirt in your teeth at the wind put it right in the fans faces.

Were you there? I was, and I'd like to get your opinion on the races.

McCarl sure can make you laugh sometimes...unless of course he just put your guy in the wall.

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

Yes i was in the "VIP". It was a decent night of racing except it turned into a nascar race halfway thru the A-feature. Dobmeier slipped which is uncommon at Husets. I thought it was good to see Bruce run the bottom pretty damn well and get past McCarl and then have it nullified on the caution.