by Bill Wright

KNOXVILLE RACEWAY, Knoxville, IA, August 7, 2011 – With another great crowd on hand, Brady Bacon was without peer at the third running of the USAC Knoxville Non-wing Nationals on Sunday night at the Knoxville Raceway. Bacon posted quick-time, won his heat and the feature. It was the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver’s first win at a track in which he has played the bridesmaid on a few occasions. It came aboard a XXX Chassis with Wesmar power and was worth $5,000. Chad Huston was also a first-time winner, as he picked up the companion 305 sprint car main event win.

Jon Stanbrough paced the field for the first lap from his pole position starting spot. With one lap in the books, Dave Darland got upside down in turn one bringing the red flag. He was not injured. Stanbrough led Joey Moughan, defending race winner, Bud Kaeding, Jerry Coons Jr. and Bacon back to green flag racing.

Six laps in, the battled waged for the lead as Kaeding and Bacon had moved into the top three. On the eighth go-around, Kaeding seized the point by riding the choppy cushion. Chris Windom was on the move and into the top five by the halfway mark, and passed Coons on lap twelve for fourth.

Disaster struck the leader on the next lap, as Kaeding spun and flattened a left rear in turn two. Bacon assumed the lead ahead of Stanbrough, Windom, Coons, and Moughan with thirteen laps to go.

The remainder of the event went non-stop. Keith Bloom Jr. shot into the top five from seventh on the restart, and Windom moved by Stanbrough into second. Windom set his sights on the leader, using the low groove to pull alongside and briefly take the lead. Bacon seemed to hit another gear at that point and pulled away from the challenge.

"I was trying to be careful," said Bacon from Victory Lane. "The cushion was kind of treacherous, and Chris was fast. I saw him underneath me, and I wasn’t too good down there. I decided I needed to go harder up top and try not to mess up. I feel like this place owed me one. I’ve finished second here three or four times."

Windom settled for a solid second, followed by Coons, Stanbrough, and hard-charger, Bryan Clauson, who moved up fourteen spots. Travis Rilat, Hunter Schuerenberg, Bloom, Levi Jones and Tracy Hines rounded out the top ten.

In addition to Bacon, heats were won by Jones, Bloom and Dustin Morgan. Schuerenberg won the B main. Daron Clayton rode out a nasty flip in his heat race, and Robert Ballou also got upside down. Neither was injured, and Ballou returned to the program as a feature provisional.

Chad Huston used his starting spot on the pole to lead the distance in the 305 feature. He beat fellow front row starter Jamie Ball to turn one early on, as Casey Friedrichsen and Matt Stephenson battled for third in the 12-lapper.

A spin on the frontstretch by quick-timer, Tasker Phillips, with seven laps down, brought caution. Huston had to endure one more a lap later when Tim St. Arnold stopped in turn three. The top five remained the same the last five laps with Huston taking the win over Ball, Friedrichsen, Stephenson and Carson McCarl.

"We’ve been trying really hard to win one of these the last few years," said the Jamesport, Missouri driver in Victory Lane. "It hasn’t been in the cars for us, but it’s great to win one here at Knoxville. Those restarts were nerve-wracking. I was just praying for the white flag to come out."

Behind the top five, Matthew Stelzer, Mark Widmar, Mike Mayberry, Dustin Clark and Tim St. Arnold rounded out the top ten. Chris Mallicoat, McCarl and Mitchell Alexander won the heats. TJ Peterson jumped the turn one berm and turned over during his heat. He was uninjured.

The 51^{st Annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals are up next at the Knoxville Raceway. The event runs August 10-13, with tickets still available! Visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or call 641 842-5431 today!}

Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (5) 18.639; 2. 21x, Dave Darland, Lincoln, IN (12) 18.697; 3. 5x, Chris Windom, Canton, IL (9) 18.716; 4. 3*, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL (4) 18.775; 5. 69, Daron Clayton, Sikeston, MO (19) 18.784; 6. 29, Bud Kaeding, Campbell, CA (1) 18.828; 7. 53, Jon Stanbrough, Avon, IN (13) 18.831; 8. 37, Casey Riggs, Shelbyville, IN (3) 18.864; 9. 7, Bryan Clauson, Noblesville, IN (11) 18.957; 10. 2B, Jerry Coons Jr., Tucson, AZ (15) 18.993; 11. 27, Keith Bloom Jr., Anderson, CA (18) 19.003; 12. 14, Coleman Gulick, Binghamton, N (22) 19.027; 13. 35, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (17) 19.080; 14. 20, Levi Jones, Olney, IL (27) 19.088; 15. 21, Hud Cone, Oakland City, IN (2) 19.109; 16. 71P, Mike Spencer, Temecula, CA (6) 19.117; 17. 50, Travis Rilat, Forney, TX (10) 19.178; 18. 81, Robert Ballou, Rocklin, CA (16) 19.226; 19. 71, Damion Gardner, Concord, CA (23) 19.270; 20. 2, Dustin Morgan, Tulsa, OK (25) 19.322; 21. 10T, Bill Rose, Plainfield, IN (21) 19.388; 22. 11, Shane Cottle, Kokomo, IN (7) 19.419; 23. 40, Justin Grant, Bloomington, IN (29) 19.526; 24. 10, Blake Fitzpatrick, West Terre Haute, IN (24) 19.538; 25. 83, Wes McIntyre, McCordsville, IN (8) 19.547; 26. 1x, Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE (30) 19.568; 27. 69, Mike Moore, Des Moines, IA (19) 19.664; 28. 23s, Stu Snyder, Waverly, NE (14) 19.791; 29. 4, Tracy Hines, New Castle, IN (31) 19.834; 30. 55, Tony Everhart, El Cajon, CA (26) 20.508; 31. 1D, Don Dawson Sr., Corydon, IA (28) 21.799.

Heat one (started), 8 laps, NT: 1. Brady Bacon (6) 2. Travis Rilat (2) 3. Tracy Hines (8) 4. Bill Rose (1) / 5. Bryan Clauson (4) 6. Wes McIntyre (7) 7. Hunter Schuerenberg (3) 8. Daron Clayton (5)

Heat two (started), 8 laps, NT: 1. Levi Jones (3) 2. Bud Kaeding (5) 3. Dave Darland (6) 4. Jerry Coons Jr. (4) / 5. Shane Cottle (1) 6. Don Droud Jr. (7) 7. Tony Everhart (8) 8. Robert Ballou (2)

Heat three (started), 8 laps, 2:41.2: 1. Keith Bloom Jr. (4) 2. Jon Stanbrough (5) 3. Chris Windom (6) 4. Justin Grant (1) / 5. Damion Gardner (2) 6. Hud Cone (3) 7. Mike Moore (7) 8. Don Dawson Sr. (8)

Heat four (started), 8 laps, 2:41.1: 1. Dustin Morgan (2) 2. Joey Moughan (6) 3. Blake Fitzpatrick (1) 4. Coleman Gulick (4) / 5. Mike Spencer (3) 6. Casey Riggs (5) 7. Stu Snyder (7)

B main (started), 12 laps, NT: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg (3) 2. Hud Cone (4) 3. Bryan Clauson (2) 4. Damion Gardner (7) 5. Mike Spencer (5) 6. Wes McIntyre (9) / 7. Don Droud Jr. (8) 8. Casey Riggs (1) 9. Mike Moore (11) 10. Stu Snyder (10) 11. Shane Cottle (6) 12. Tony Everhart (12) DNS – Robert Ballou, Don Dawson Sr., Daron Clayton

A main (started), 26 laps, NT: 1. Brady Bacon (6) 2. Chris Windom (4) 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (7) 4. Jon Stanbrough (1) 5. Bryan Clauson (19) 6. Travis Rilat (11) 7. Hunter Schuerenberg (17) 8. Keith Bloom Jr. (8) 9. Levi Jones (10) 10. Tracy Hines (16) 11. Robert Ballou (23, pr.) 12. Hud Cone (18) 13. Joey Moughan (3) 14. Mike Spencer (21) 15. Bill Rose (13) 16. Coleman Gulick (9) 17. Dustin Morgan (12) 18. Mike Moore (25, pr.) 19. Wes McIntyre (22) 20. Damion Gardner (20) 21. Casey Riggs (24, pr.) 22. Bud Kaeding (2) 23. Stu Snyder (26, pr.) 24. Blake Fitzpatrick (15) 25. Justin Grant (14) 26. Dave Darland (5). Lap Leaders: Stanbrough 1-7, Kaeding 8-12, Bacon 13-26.