Knoxville Raceway 8-4-19
8th Annual Captani Classic
Results & Story by Bill Wright
David
Gravel Earns Capitani Classic After Epic Battle
with Brian Brown! by Bill
Wright KNOXVILLE,
Iowa (August 4, 2019) – Connecticut’s David Gravel claimed the $7,500
8th Annual Bell Helmets Capitani
Classic presented by Great Southern Bank Sunday night at the Knoxville
Raceway, overcoming half a dozen lead changes in the 25-lap
event. His exciting win came aboard the Jason Johnson Racing
#41, and was the fourth in his career at the
“Sprint Car Capital of the World.” There were seventy-seven
cars signed in. Brian
Brown earned the pole position by winning the $2,500 Ultimate Speedway
Nationals at Valvoline Raceway in Parramatta, New South Wales, Pole
Shuffle. Brown took the early lead in the main event, followed
by Gravel and Brock Zearfoss. Soon,
Brad Sweet shot around Zearfoss for third, but
the Pennsylvanian battled back. Holding
his line with a good run on the top of turn two, Zearfoss tried to fit between Sweet and the
wall. Though the cars made contact and lost several spots, they
both continued. Gio Scelzi was the benefactor, reaping third from the
incident. He had company, however and a good battle for the
position ensued with Ian Madsen. Up
front, Brown was nailing the bottom, with Gravel in
pursuit. Finally, Gravel shot to the bottom of turn one and
took the lead on lap eight. Kerry Madsen contacted the frontstretch wall at that point,
and collected Tim Shaffer. Both returned after repairs
in the work area. Gravel
led Brown, Scelzi, Ian Madsen and Sweet back to
green. Brown gained momentum on the high side this time and
reclaimed the point on lap 10, but Gravel battled back, taking Brown’s
line and leading lap 12. The final caution came out when a cone
was knocked onto the track with 13 laps to go. Sweet
claimed fourth on the restart, but up front, Brown ran low, Gravel through
the middle and Scelzi up top in a battle for the
lead. Lap 16 saw Scelzi pass Gravel
for second, but Gravel repaid the favor with a slide job on the following
circuit. The leaders approached traffic, and with Brown on the
bottom, Gravel found traction in the middle of turn two and took the lead
back for good on lap 20. Scelzi
was fast again on the big half-mile and used lapped traffic to get by
Brown on lap 21. Three laps later, he would get over the turn
one cushion and lose the position. At
the line, Gravel won over Brown, Scelzi, Sweet
and Daryn Pittman. Hard-charger Tim
Kaeding was sixth (from 20th), and
Ian Madsen, James McFadden, Sheldon Haudenschild and Aaron Reutzel rounded out the top ten. Reutzel and Brown set quick time over their respective
groups, while Brooke Tatnell, Shane Golobic, Mark Dobmeier,
Brown, McFadden and Sam Hafertepe Jr. won heat
races. Josh Baughman won the C main, and Reutzel and Kaeding claimed
twin B’s. “(Brown)
has been really good here all year, and he’s got one of the best cars,”
said Gravel in Victory Lane. “He had me thinking when you’re in
the lead, you don’t know what to do. He passed me on the top,
and I knew if I hit the bottom, I’d be o.k., but man it was
hard. I got tighter as the race went on, and it was harder to
hold it down there. The lapped cars were all over at the
end. We ran decent here at the Outlaw weekend, and to get a win
here tonight gives us confidence for the whole week.” “That
was pretty awesome racing from my seat,” said Brown. “David’s
one of the top two or three drivers in the world, and Gio is really good. I just wasn’t hitting
my lines, and my car wasn’t stuck on the entries. I used the
berm more than I wanted to. Three seconds in a row…it’s hard to
be disappointed. We could be on the other
end. Overall, it was a good night, and we’ll come back Thursday
and see if we can put ourselves in position.” “I
made mistakes throughout the race,” said Scelzi. “The bottom was so narrow, I kept
hitting the infield and squirting myself out. We had a restart
and felt like we could have won…we just made a mistake. I
pushed it a little bit too hard. It’s cool to do well on Bell
Helmets night. They do a lot for us.” The
59th Annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented
by Casey’s General Stores kick off Wednesday, August 7, and continue
through Saturday, August 10! For tickets and other information,
visitwww.KnoxvilleRaceway.com! 8th Annual
Bell Helmets Capitani Classic presented by Great
Southern Bank Time
Trial Group #1 (started), 2 laps: 1.
87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (6), 15.693; 2. 2M,
Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (11), 15.733; 3. 49X, Tim Shaffer,
Aliquippa, PA (8), 15.760; 4. 70, Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA (3), 15.774; 5. 41, David
Gravel, Watertown, CT (16), 15.776; 6. 71, Gio
Scelzi, Fresno, CA (9), 15.796; 7. 11, Hunter
Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (14), 15.879; 8. 83,
Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (27), 15.925; 9. 13, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (4), 15.976; 10. 55, Brooke
Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (28), 15.98; 11.
17W, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (12), 15.996;
12. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (7), 16.007; 13. 39, Sammy
Swindell, Lakeland, TN (35), 16.013; 14. 19P, Paige Polyak, Tiffin, OH (26), 16.017; 15. 48, Danny
Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA (36), 16.043; 16. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips,
Pleasantville, IA (1), 16.046; 17. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (21),
16.066; 18. 18S, Jason Solwold, Mount Vernon, WA
(5), 16.084; 19. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover,
PA (29), 16.084; 20. 91, Cale Thomas, Fairland, IN (15), 16.115; 21. 2,
Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (37), 16.143; 22. 5, Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK
(31), 16.145; 23. 33M, Mason Daniel, Springville, CA (10), 16.210; 24.
2KS, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (39), 16.213;
25. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (20), 16.218; 26. 2C,
Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK (25), 16.222; 27. 13X, Paul McMahan, Nashville,
TN (38), 16.265; 28. 44S, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (24), 16.288; 29. 2AU,
Andrew Schuerle, Toowoomba, QLD, Aust. (2),
16.296; 30. 70X, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (13), 16.358; 31. 45, Rusty
Hickman, Bendigo, VIC, Aust. (19), 16.407; 32. 18R, Lance Moss,
Cherryville, NC (23), 16.421; 33. 18, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (17),
16.448; 34. 92, Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA (18),
16.594; 35. 7S, Jeff Swindell, Bartlett, TN (30), 16.604; 36. 21P, Robbie
Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can. (22), 16.657; 37. 12N, Joey Saldana,
Brownsburg, IN (33), NT; 38. 19T, Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, AL (32), NT;
39. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (34), NT. Time
Trial Group 2 (started), 2 laps: 1.
21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (12), 15.874; 2. 49S, Brad Sweet, Grass
Valley, CA (22), 16.092; 3. 18M, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (24),
16.143; 4. 1, Travis Rilat, Heath, TX (8),
16.172; 5. 71BC, Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN (4), 16.192; 6. 4, Terry
McCarl, Altoona, IA (23), 16.217; 7. 7X, Justin
Henderson, Tea, SD (13), 16.277; 8. 9, James McFadden, Warrnambool, VIC,
Aust. (5), 16.296; 9. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr.,
Sunnyvale, TX (19), 16.297; 10. 83JR, Daryn
Pittman, Owasso, OK (35), 16.319; 11. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD
(25), 16.335; 12. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno,
CA (9), 16.339; 13. 7, Craig Dollansky, Elk
River, MN (11), 16.345; 14. 17S, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (30),
16.381; 15. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (15), 16.386; 16. 21K,
Thomas Kennedy, Winnipeg, MB, Can. (2), 16.405; 17. 5H, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (16), 16.417; 18. 88, Tanner
Thorson, Minden, NV (32), 16.419; 19. 19M, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA
(17), 16.422; 20. 26, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (38), 16.436; 21. 7SS, Tim
Kaeding, San Jose, CA (33), 16.566; 22. W20,
Greg Wilson, Benton Ridge, OH (6), 16.567; 23. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville,
IA (20), 16.581; 24. 99X, Skylar Gee, Leduc, ALB, Can. (21), 16.621; 25.
51, Freddie Rahmer, Salfordville, PA (27), 16.630; 26. 20, AJ Moeller,
Rockwell City, IA (7), 16.643; 27. 29, Willie Croft, Roseville, CA (36),
16.660; 28. 68, Chase Johnson, Penngrove, CA (37), 16.758; 29. 9JR, Derek
Hagar, Marion, AR (31), 16.773; 30. 10, RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL (26),
16.815; 31. 17, Josh Baughman, Odessa, TX (28), 16.853; 32. 56N, Davey
Heskin, St. Michael, MN (34), 16.957; 33. 1X,
Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE (14), 16.985; 34. 85,
Chase Wanner, Batavia, IA (18), 17.038; 35. 28,
Brian Paulus, Mooresville, IN (1), 17.295; 36. 14M, Marcus Dumesny, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (3), 17.362; 37. 56, Joe
Simbro, Pleasantville, IA (29), 17.411; 38. 71P,
Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (10), NT. Heat
one (started), 8 Laps, 2:14.4: 1.
Brooke Tatnell (1); 2. Hunter Schuerenberg (2); 3. Brock Zearfoss (3) / 4. Aaron Reutzel (4); 5. Shane Stewart (8); 6. Sammy Swindell
(5); 7. Logan Schuchart (7); 8. Matt Juhl (9); 9. Tasker Phillips (6); 10. Rusty Hickman
(11); 11. Trey Starks (10); 12. Sye Lynch (12)
DNS – Kevin Thomas Jr. Heat
two (started), 8 Laps, 2:14.7: 1.
Shane Golobic (1); 2. David Gravel (3); 3.
Lynton Jeffrey (2) / 4. Kerry Madsen (4); 5. Brady Bacon (6); 6. Mason
Daniel (8); 7. Paige Polyak (5); 8. Cale Thomas
(7); 9. Jeff Swindell (11); 10. Lance Moss (9); 11. Andrew Schuerle (10) DNS – Wayne Johnson, Joey
Saldana Heat
three (started), 8 Laps, 2:16.7: 1.
Mark Dobmeier (2); 2. Gio Scelzi (3); 3. Danny
Dietrich (5) / 4. Carson Macedo (7); 5. Tim Shaffer (4); 6. Josh
Schneiderman (1); 7. Jason Solwold (6); 8. Paul
McMahan (9); 9. Austin McCarl (8); 10. Justin
Peck (10); 11. Robbie Price (12); 12. Ryan Roberts (11) DNS – Bobby
Mincer Heat
four (started), 8 Laps, NT: 1.
Brian Brown (4); 2. Daryn Pittman (1); 3. Craig
Dollansky (5) / 4. Brent Marks (7); 5. Travis
Rilat (3); 6. Thomas Kennedy (6); 7. Chase
Johnson (10); 8. Greg Wilson (8); 9. Freddie Rahmer (9); 10. Josh Baughman (11); 11. Chase Wanner (12); 12. Justin Henderson (2); 13. Joe Simbro (13) Heat
five (started), 8 Laps, 2:18.5: 1.
James McFadden (2); 2. Brad Sweet (4); 3. Sheldon Haudenschild (5) / 4.
Spencer Bayston (6); 5. Cory Eliason (7); 6.
Clint Garner (1); 7. Parker Price-Miller (11); 8. Tyler Courtney (3); 9.
Brian Paulus (10); 10. AJ Moeller (9); 11. Derek Hagar (8) DNS – Jamie
Ball, Davey Heskin Heat
six (started), 8 Laps, 2:19.0: 1.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2); 2. Ian Madsen (4); 3.
Dominic Scelzi (1) / 4. Tim Kaeding (7); 5. Terry McCarl
(3); 6. Sawyer Phillips (5); 7. Tanner Thorson (6); 8. Skylar Gee (8); 9.
Willie Croft (9); 10. RJ Johnson (10); 11. Don Droud Jr. (11); 12. Marcus Dumesny (12) C
main (started), 10 Laps, 3:17.9: 1.
Josh Baughman (2); 2. Rusty Hickman (1); 3. Parker Price-Miller (14); 4.
Don Droud Jr. (4) / 5. Lance Moss (3); 6. Ryan
Roberts (5); 7. Brian Paulus (8); 8. Jeff Swindell (9); 9. Robbie Price
(11); 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13); 11. Marcus Dumesny (10); 12. Sye Lynch
(7); 13. Chase Wanner (6); 14. Joe Simbro (12) DNS – Wayne Johnson, Jamie Ball, Davey
Heskin, Joey Saldana, Bobby Mincer Pole
Shuffle #1 (started), 2 Laps, 0:34.8: 1.
Hunter Schuerenberg (1); 2. James McFadden
(2) Pole
Shuffle #2 (started), 2 Laps, 0:34.5: 1.
Ian Madsen (2); 2. Hunter Schuerenberg
(1) Pole
Shuffle #3 (started), 2 Laps, 0:33.9: 1.
Gio Scelzi (1); 2. Ian
Madsen (2) Pole
Shuffle #4 (started), 2 Laps, 0:34.0: 1.
Brad Sweet (1); 2. Gio Scelzi (2) Pole
Shuffle #5 (started), 2 Laps, 0:33.9: 1.
David Gravel (1); 2. Brad Sweet (2) Pole
Shuffle #6 (started), 2 Laps, 0:34.6: 1.
Brian Brown (1); 2. David Gravel (2) Pole
Shuffle #7 (started), 2 Laps, 0:34.7: 1.
Brian Brown (2); 2. Brock Zearfoss
(1) B
Feature #1 (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1.
Aaron Reutzel (1); 2. Kerry Madsen (2); 3. Tim
Shaffer (3) / 4. Jason Solwold (9); 5. Logan
Schuchart (10); 6. Carson Macedo (12); 7. Tasker
Phillips (7); 8. Sammy Swindell (5); 9. Brady Bacon (8); 10. Josh
Schneiderman (4); 11. Austin McCarl (15); 12.
Paul McMahan (17); 13. Josh Baughman (21); 14. Trey Starks (16); 15.
Parker Price-Miller (20); 16. Mason Daniel (14); 17. Cale Thomas (11); 18.
Justin Peck (18); 19. Andrew Schuerle (19); 20.
Shane Stewart (13); 21. Paige Polyak (6) DNS –
Matt Juhl B
Feature #2 (started), 12 Laps, 3:44.3: 1.
Tim Kaeding (12); 2. Justin Henderson (4); 3.
Spencer Bayston (8) / 4. Tyler Courtney (2); 5.
Terry McCarl (3); 6. Cory Eliason (11); 7. Brent
Marks (10); 8. Travis Rilat (1); 9. Clint Garner
(5); 10. Sawyer Phillips (6); 11. Thomas Kennedy (7); 12. AJ Moeller (16);
13. Chase Johnson (18); 14. Greg Wilson (13); 15. Tanner Thorson (9); 16.
Skylar Gee (14); 17. RJ Johnson (20); 18. Willie Croft (17); 19. Rusty
Hickman (21); 20. Freddie Rahmer (15); 21. Don
Droud Jr. (22); 22. Derek Hagar (19) A
main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1.
David Gravel (3); 2. Brian Brown (1); 3. Gio
Scelzi (5); 4. Brad Sweet (4); 5. Daryn Pittman (12); 6. Tim Kaeding (20); 7. Ian Madsen (6); 8. James McFadden
(8); 9. Sheldon Haudenschild (18); 10. Aaron Reutzel (19); 11. Mark Dobmeier (11); 12. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (10); 13. Dominic Scelzi (14); 14. Lynton Jeffrey (9); 15. Brooke Tatnell (13); 16. Justin Henderson (22); 17. Tim
Shaffer (23); 18. Spencer Bayston (24); 19.
Hunter Schuerenberg (7); 20. Kerry Madsen (21);
21. Danny Dietrich (17); 22. Craig Dollansky
(16); 23. Brock Zearfoss (2); 24. Shane Golobic (15). Lap Leaders:Brown 1-7, Gravel
8-9, Brown 10-11, Gravel 12-14, Brown 15-19, Gravel 20-25. Hard-charger: Kaeding.
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