Shane Clanton Wins His First Career Feature at Knoxville in Night #1 of Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals!
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (September 12, 2019) – Zebulon, Georgia’s Shane Clanton won his first career main event at the Knoxville Raceway Thursday night to open the 16th Annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals. Clanton won a battle that saw four different leaders, and emerged with a point total of 494, tops on the night.
Ricky Thornton Jr. led lap one of the 25-lap main event, ahead of Devin Moran and Tyler Erb. Moran charged on the high side to take the point on lap two. Four laps in, last weekend’s World 100 winner, Jonathan Davenport stopped in turn two to bring the only caution of the event.
Morgan led Thornton and Erb back to green, with Erb shooting by the top two to take the point for himself. Shane Clanton jetted from fifth to second, while Moran settled into third. Thornton would recover for third on lap seven.
Clanton reeled in Erb, who won the opener here a year ago, and used the low side of turn one to take the lead on lap 14. From there, he cruised to enter lapped traffic on lap 19. Clanton sliced through the backmarkers and pulled away to win by 3.6 seconds over Erb. Darrell Lanigan was third, ahead of a late closing Ricky Weiss by .001 of a second. Thornton was fifth, and Tyler Bruening, Brandon Sheppard, Moran, Bobby Pierce and Chris Simpson rounded out the top ten.
Clanton and Jimmy Owens set quick time in their respective groups. Shanon Buckingham, Pierce, Thornton, Shannon Babb, Josh Richards and Sheppard won heat races. Stormy Scott and Owens won the B mains.
“Our car was good all night long, and we just made the right adjustments there,” said Clanton in Victory Lane. “I was biding my time behind ‘Terbo’ (Erb) there. I thought he was hurting his tires a little bit. I could see him hazing them across the middle. We started cutting across the middle and my car stuck. I pulled up beside him, and that was all she wrote. This is a dream come true. It’s a team effort here. It’s big (to be locked in the feature). That’s a relief off my shoulders when I go to bed tonight. Hopefully, tomorrow we repeat and win again.”
“The last ten to fifteen laps, he (Clanton) just had a better car,” said Erb. “He could maneuver through there a lot better than I could. My car felt really good, but it seems the longer we go, our tires start getting hot. We’re going to work on it. It was a good run. This is my favorite racetrack that we come to. I’m just excited to get a good run. This should put us in the race for Saturday.”
“The car got a good run through the middle to the bottom,” said Lanigan. “I’d have like to have seen us have a late race charge. We had a good points night, and we have a really good hot rod for Saturday. When you come here, the track…the people…it’s just awesome to come out here.”
The 16th Annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals continue Friday night, September 13! For tickets and other information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!
Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals Night #1 Results
Time Trials Group A (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 25, Shane Clanton, Zebulon, GA (9), 17.932; 2. 1, Earl Pearson Jr., Trinity, NC (2), 18.114; 3. 29, Darrell Lanigan, Union, KY (8), 18.183; 4. 2S, Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, NM (10), 18.358; 5. 32S, Chris Simpson, Marion, IA (12), 18.391; 6. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, AZ (1), 18.431; 7. 50, Shanon Buckingham, Morristown, TN (21), 18.446; 8. 21JR, Billy Moyer Jr., Batesville, AR (25), 18.489; 9. 14J, Jake Neal, Omaha, NE (5), 18.564; 10. 1M, Mike Mataragas, Sycamore, IL (24), 18.564; 11. 58E, Dave Eckrich, Oxford, IA (11), 18.565; 12. 18J, Chase Junghans, Manhattan, KS (15), 18.583; 13. 28M, Jimmy Mars, Menomonie, WI (16), 18.597; 14. 32P, Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, IL (13), 18.608; 15. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., Frankfurt, IL (23), 18.626; 16. 15B, Brian Birkhofer, Muscatine, IA (14), 18.627; 17. 58, Jeremiah Hurst, Dubuque, IA (28), 18.730; 18. 5N, Dustin Nobbe, Batesville, IN (4), 18.777; 19. 32B, Cody Laney, Torrance, CA (20), 18.806; 20. 17, Tim Simpson, Iowa City, IA (3), 18.826; 21. 29D, Spencer Diercks, Davenport, IA (7), 18.959; 22. 25F, Jason Feger, Bloomington, IL (26), 18.960; 23. 6Z, Corey Zeitner, Bellevue, NE (18), 19.057; 24. 22C, Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake, IA (6), 19.353; 25. 14M, Reid Millard, Jefferson City, MO (19), 19.481; 26. 4W, JC Wyman, Griswold, IA (27), 19.604; 27. 0, Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, TN (17), NT; 28. 777, Jared Landers, Batesville, AR (22), NT.
Time Trials Group B (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 20, Jimmy Owens, Newport, TN (3), 18.087; 2. 1C, Chad Simpson, Mount Vernon, IA (11), 18.187; 3. 40B, Kyle Bronson, Brandon, FL (25), 18.189; 4. 71, Hudson O’Neal, Morgantown, IN (12), 18.245; 5. 1ST, Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, NM (20), 18.282; 6. 5, Don O’Neal, Martinsville, IN (15), 18.338; 7. 49, Jonathan Davenport, Mount Airy, NC (19), 18.378; 8. 0M, Chris Madden, Gray Court, SC (10), 18.379; 9. 7W, Ricky Weiss, Headingley, MB, Can. (8), 18.392; 10. 1T, Tyler Erb, Houston, TX (26), 18.448; 11. 1D, Devin Moran, Dresden, OH (18), 18.483; 12. 39, Tim McCreadie, Watertown, NY (14), 18.493; 13. 43, Jeremy Grady, Story City, IA (5), 18.509; 14. 16T, Tyler Bruening, Decorah, IA (4), 18.541; 15. 1S, Brandon Sheppard, New Berlin, IL (2), 18.542; 16. 18, Shannon Babb, Moweaqua, IL (13), 18.652; 17. 14, Josh Richards, Shinnston, WV (7), 18.715; 18. 28, Dennis Erb Jr., Carpentersville, IL (24), 18.766; 19. 99, Brian Harris, Davenport, IA (9), 18.774; 20. B1, Brent Larson, Lake Elmo, MN (22), 19.152; 21. 20W, Chad White, Saint Joseph, MI (16), 19.184; 22. 21, Billy Moyer, Batesville, AR (1), 19.197; 23. 54, Mike Fryer, Freeport, IL (23), 19.278; 24. 33, Nick Marolf, Moscow, IA (27), 19.353; 25. 22B, Jonathan Brauns, Muscatine, IA (17), 19.396; 26. 10C, Junior Coover, Norfolk, NE (21), 20.241; 27. DQ (Light at Scales) 44W, David Webster, Monroe, WI (6).
Group A Heat one (started), 12 Laps, 3:50.1: 1. Shanon Buckingham (4); 2. Brian Birkhofer (1); 3. Shane Clanton (6) / 4. Jimmy Mars (2); 5. Stormy Scott (5); 6. Mike Mataragas (3); 7. Jason Feger (8); 8. Cody Laney (7); 9. Reid Millard (9) DNS – 10. Jared Landers (10)
Group A Heat two (started), 12 Laps, 3:51.1: 1. Bobby Pierce (2); 2. Jeremiah Hurst (1); 3. Chris Simpson (5) / 4. Earl Pearson Jr. (6); 5. Billy Moyer Jr. (4); 6. Dave Eckrich (3); 7. Corey Zeitner (8); 8. JC Wyman (9); 9. Tim Simpson (7)
Group A Heat three (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr. (5); 2. Frank Heckenast Jr. (2); 3. Darrell Lanigan (6) / 4. Spencer Diercks (7); 5. Charlie McKenna (8); 6. Scott Bloomquist (9); 7. Dustin Nobbe (1); 8. Jake Neal (4); 9. Chase Junghans (3)
Group B Heat one (started), 12 Laps, 3:52.8: 1. Shannon Babb (1); 2. Jonathan Davenport (4); 3. Tyler Erb (3) / 4. Hudson O’Neal (5); 5. Jimmy Owens (6); 6. Billy Moyer (8); 7. Jeremy Grady (2); 8. Brian Harris (7); 9. Jonathan Brauns (9)
Group B Heat two (started), 12 Laps, 3:49.0: 1. Josh Richards (1); 2. Tyler Bruening (2); 3. Devin Moran (3) / 4. Chris Madden (4); 5. Chad Simpson (6); 6. Johnny Scott (5); 7. Brent Larson (7); 8. Mike Fryer (8); 9. Junior Coover (9)
Group B Heat three (started), 12 Laps, 3:50.0: 1. Brandon Sheppard (2); 2. Dennis Erb Jr. (1); 3. Ricky Weiss (4) / 4. Don O’Neal (3); 5. Kyle Bronson (6); 6. Chad White (5); 7. Nick Marolf (8); 8. David Webster (7) DNS – 9. Tim McCreadie
B Feature one (started), 15 Laps, 4:55.0: 1. Stormy Scott (2); 2. Earl Pearson Jr. (1); 3. Billy Moyer Jr. (3) / 4. Jimmy Mars (6); 5. Scott Bloomquist (9); 6. Mike Mataragas (4); 7. Spencer Diercks (7); 8. Charlie McKenna (8); 9. Jason Feger (10); 10. Corey Zeitner (11); 11. Cody Laney (13); 12. Dave Eckrich (5); 13. JC Wyman (14); 14. Reid Millard (16); 15. Jake Neal (15); DNS – 16. Tim Simpson (17); 17. Dustin Nobbe (12); 18. Chase Junghans (18); 19. Jared Landers (19);
B Feature two (started), 15 Laps, 4:59.2: 1. Jimmy Owens (1); 2. Chad Simpson (2); 3. Kyle Bronson (3) / 4. Hudson O’Neal (4); 5. Don O’Neal (6); 6. Chris Madden (7); 7. Johnny Scott (5); 8. Brent Larson (11); 9. Brian Harris (13); 10. Jeremy Grady (10); 11. Nick Marolf (12); 12. Jonathan Brauns (16); 13. Mike Fryer (14); 14. Chad White (8); 15. David Webster (15); 16. Billy Moyer (9); 17. Junior Coover (17); 18. Tim McCreadie (18);
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Shane Clanton (7); 2. Tyler Erb (4); 3. Darrell Lanigan (5); 4. Ricky Weiss (6); 5. Ricky Thornton Jr. (1); 6. Tyler Bruening (10); 7. Brandon Sheppard (12); 8. Devin Moran (2); 9. Bobby Pierce (11); 10. Chris Simpson (3); 11. Dennis Erb Jr. (18); 12. Frank Heckenast Jr. (13); 13. Josh Richards (16); 14. Stormy Scott (19); 15. Earl Pearson Jr. (21); 16. Jimmy Owens (20); 17. Shanon Buckingham (9); 18. Kyle Bronson (24); 19. Shannon Babb (14); 20. Brian Birkhofer (15); 21. Chad Simpson (22); 22. Billy Moyer Jr. (23); 23. Jeremiah Hurst (17); 24. Jonathan Davenport (8). Lap Leaders: Thornton Jr. 1, Moran 2-4, Erb 5-13, Clanton 14-25. Hard-charger: Erb Jr.
