RacingNation.com
Home / USAC / Sweet Sensation At Knoxville Midget Nationals

Sweet Sensation At Knoxville Midget Nationals

Knxoville, Iowa, June 21—Brad Sweet completed a sweep of midget racing action at the Knoxville Raceway, Saturday Night capturing the 7th annual Pepsi Knoxville Midget Nationals presented by Iowa Telecom. This event was co-sanctioned by the USAC National, Badger, POWRi and SMRS Midget Series. Sweet drove the Kasey Kahne Racing owned Spike/Mopar#49.

Sweet jumped into the lead at the start, after drawing the pole position earlier in the evening. By the fifth lap Sweet held an eight car length advantage over Cole Whitt and Jerry Coons Jr. Close quarters racing was occurring for most positions through the field, while Sweet slowly increased his advantage each lap.

The events first caution occurred at the midway point on lap 13, when Brad Kuhn hit the Turn 1 wall, erasing Sweet’s 2.4 second advantage over Coons. On the restart Coons stayed on Sweet’s rear bumper while Michael Pickens took over the third position. A stalled car caused a caution on lap 17. On the restart Coons took the lead entering Turn 3, barely edging Sweet at the start/finish line to lead lap 18.

Caution again occurred one lap later for another stalled car. This time Coons led Sweet on the restart, Sweet carried his momentum down the backstretch and passed Coons for the lead entering in Turn 3. Sweet then pulled away over the final five circuits to score a 1.53 second victory over Coons, who won the event in 2004.

Coons barely edged Sweet’s teammate Brady Bacon for the runner-up honors. Pickens and Darren Hagen completed the top five. ” Any victory at Knoxville is huge but to get two in days is a big honor and thrill” commented Sweet in victory lane. Only four cars in the 27-car starting field failed to complete the entire distance around the half-mile track.

SUMMARY
25-lap Feature: 1. Brad Sweet, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Michael Pickens, 5. Darren Hagen, 6. Cole Whitt, 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Mike Hess, 11. Brad Loyet, 12. Bobby East, 13. Chris Windom, 14. A.J. Fike, 15. Levi Jones, 16. Scott Hatton, 17. Aaron Fiscus, 18. Kody Swanson, 19. Gary Altig, 20. Brett Anderson, 21. Russ Harper, 22. Brent Beauchamp, 23. Gary Taylor, 24. Chad Boat, 25. Brad Kuhn, 26. Dustin Morgan, 27. Danny Stratton.

10-lap Semi Feature Winners: Kuhn, Altig.

8-lap Heat Race Winners: Hagen, Stratton, Boat, Taylor.

Cars Present: 43 Feature Lap Leaders: Sweet 1-17, Coons 18-19, Sweet 20.

**Matt Smith and Kevin Swindell flipped during the first semi in separate accidents. Both drivers uninjured.

Share Button