Lincoln's Alley Takes Knoxville Championship

By Bob Wilson

KNOXVILLE, Iowa - (October 7) It took over a month to settle the issue, but
Billy Alley of Lincoln, Nebraska was crowned the 2006 points champion at
Knoxville Raceway Saturday night. The long wait was brought about by a rain
postponement on September 2 of the 410 feature event of that night and was
then run in conjunction with a World of Outlaws program which was also
rained out and rescheduled on this same October night.

Nothing is simple on a night when the full moon is shining upon it. That
being said, Alley came into the make-up race with only a 45 points advantage
over Brian Brown. With a hefty check at the annual raceway banquet and the
prestige of being Knoxville Raceway track champion, both men had a chance of
winning it all.

Pole sitter Dusty Zomer took the early advantage and Brown settled in right
behind him. With a track which had become hard and dry early, most of the
front runners headed to the top for the fastest way around this big half
mile oval. At lap five Zomer led Brown by five car lengths as Alley
languished in the sixth spot.

One lap later the leaders hit lap traffic and it was really just a matter of
when that would impede Zomer enough for Brown to challenge him. Heavy lap
traffic on the eighth go around saw Brown with his chance but he did not
make good on it till lap ten when he pulled a slider in turns one and two
and took the lead as he shot down the backstretch.

Lap eleven saw the red flag fly for a violent crash on the backstretch as
Dennis Moore, Jr. and Brent Antill tagged each other. The contact sent
Antill flying through a series of wild flips as he finally came to a rest at
the entrance of turn three. Both cars retired from the race placing Alley in
the fifth spot for the restart.

When the race was flagged green, Alley made a bid on fourth running Lynton
Jeffrey but came up empty handed as Jeffrey fended off his moves. Three laps
later the red was displayed for second running Zomer who flipped hard at the
entrance of turn two. Neither Zomer nor Antill required medical assistance.

The lap 14 restart saw Alley running in fourth, just one spot shy of where
he needed to be in order to capture the points title. He jousted with
Jeffrey but could make no headway for a pass.

It wasn't until lap 19 that the deciding factor in the race happened. That
is when third running Jeffrey popped a right-rear tire and coasted to a halt
in turn four. This incident allowed Alley to move to third, a spot which
would give him the points he would need in order to capture the track title.

On the restart, Brown began to pull away from second running Calvin Landis.
Lap after lap Brown did what he needed to do to insure himself of the best
points finish possible. With Alley running third, there was nothing more he
could do.

The moonlit night had created some surreal situations in this race and one
more was about to happen. Lap 22 saw smoke beginning to flow from the Alley
machine. Was this a sign of a terminal problem with the Alley power plant?
There were only three laps to go and both Brown and Alley were on missions
to the end.

Although the smoke did become greater, Alley managed to keep his sprinter
together and to get it across the finish line in third place and a five
points advantage in the season's points race. The big check for the night
belonged to Brown in the Doogs Racing Maxim, as he became $4,000 richer but
certainly found disappointment in the outcome. It had boiled down to the
closest points finish in the history of Knoxville Raceway.

Though most eyes were on Brown and Alley, Landis had a great run and
finished in the runner-up position. Fourth went to Randy Anderson and Kaley
Gharst took fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Matt Moro, Bronson
Maeschen, Chris Walraven, Mike More and Clint Garner.

A non-points slate of events was also held for the 360 sprint division.
Capturing the feature was Jeff Mitrisin who led flag to flag in doing so. It
was the second of the season for Mitrisin in the Steve Wares-owned sprinter.
Randy Martin, Jon Corbin, Tony Bruce, Jr. and Rager Phillips completed the
top five finishers.

410 RESULTS
A Feature, 25 laps, No Time: 1. Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO; 2. Calvin
Landis, Knoxville, IA; 3. Billy Alley, Lincoln, NE; 4. Randy Anderson,
Clarion, IA; 5. Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL; 6. Matt Moro, Des Moines, IA; 7.
Bronson Maeschen, Knoxville, IA; 8. Chris Walraven, Knoxville, IA; 9. Mike
Moore, Des Moines, IA; 10. Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD; 11. Lynton
Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, AUST/Prairie City, IA; 12. Skip Jackson, Knoxville,
IA; 13. Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD; 14. Dennis Moore, Jr., Grinnell, IA;
15. Tony Shilling, Knoxville, IA; 16. Brent Antill, Ankeny, IA; 17. Tim St.
Arnold, Des Moines, IA; 18. Jake Peters, Sioux Falls, SD. Lap Leaders: Zomer
1-9; Brown 10-25