By Lonnie Wheatley,
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 5, 2006) – It took less than eight minutes for "The Bulldog", Jesse
Giannetto, to capture the $10,000 winner's share in Saturday night's non-stop
25-lap conclusion to the 16th Annual American Sprint Car Series
Knoxville Nationals. The Palo, IA,
native completed the 25-lap distance in just seven minutes and 49.511 seconds.
Giannetto slipped around
early pacesetter Larry Pinegar on the 12th circuit then raced away
to his first O'Reilly ASCS National Tour feature win with a 5.682-second
advantage at the checkered flag aboard the Westman-powered Bulldog
Motorsports/Professional Freight Sales No. d1 Eagle.
Starting from the front row
outside, Pinegar outgunned polesitter Larry Ball, Jr., for the lead at the drop
of the green flag, as fourth-starter Giannetto climbed to second on the opening
round.
Giannetto stalked Pinegar
over the early rounds, with lapped traffic coming into play by the eighth
round. Giannetto soon closed to
Pinegar's rear bumper and when Pinegar briefly hesitated in lapped traffic,
Giannetto's tenacity paid off with what proved to be the race-winning move
exiting turn two on the 12th circuit.
Holding down the third
position from the outset, Josh Higday then began challenging Pinegar for
second. As Higday and Pinegar swapped
the runner-up slot several times over the ensuing rounds, Giannetto checked out
and held a straightaway advantage by the time Higday took command of second.
Giannetto worked lapped
traffic masterfully over the final rounds to take the checkered flag with a
healthy lead over Higday, with eighth-starter
Thursday night preliminary
feature winner Johnny Anderson claimed sixth, with Friday night winner
After Rager Phillips and Don
Droud, Jr., led the way in the early stages of the 15-lap "B" Main,
Chuck Swenson took command on the eighth lap to take the win in front of Droud,
Rilat and Jake Peters, who made a late move around Jeff Mitrisin to take the
final transfer to the "A" Main event.
Dustin Daggett wired the
field in the "C" Main, with Randy Martin topping the "D"
Main. Troy Meyer kicked off the night
with an "E" Main victory.
O’Reilly ASCS
"E" Main - Top
6 Advance to "D" Main:
E Feature (8 Laps): 1. 11m-Troy Meyer, 2. 84-Toby Chapman, 3.
00m-Danny Martin, Jr., 4. 53-Joe Beaver, 5. 75h-Danny Horner, 6. 51s-Lee
Sowell, 7. 33-Alan Zoutte, 8. 4x-Tim Gee, 9. 33x-Cameron McGahan, 10. d12-Doc
Sloan, 11. 51J-Ryan Jamison, 12. m20-Mike Brecht. Disqualified: 31-Mark Pace (failed to report
to scales after taking the checkered flag in fourth.
"D" Main - Top
5 Advance to "C" Main:
D Feature (10
Laps): 1. 14-Randy Martin, 2. 11x-Garry
Lee Maier, 3. 69m-Chad Meinholdt, 4. 7c-Chris Morgan, 5. 97-Cory Seeling, 6.
7m-Kevin Ramey, 7. 00m-Danny Martin, Jr., 8. 04-Frankie Heimbaugh, 9. 53-Joe
Beaver, 10. 84-Toby Chapman, 11. 29x-Brandon Harkness, 12. 75h-Danny Horner,
13. 19T-Matt Tiffany, 14. 11m-Troy Meyer, 15. 53h-Matt Harms, 16. 14J-Josh
Riggins, 17. 1x-Jake Martens, 18. 51s-Lee Sowell, 19. 67-
"C" Main - Top
5 Advance to "B" Main:
C Feature (12
Laps): 1. 85-Dustin Daggett, 2.
k9-Justin Zimmerman, 3. 18x-Tony Bruce, Jr., 4. 2x-Bryan Dobesh, 5. 9n-Wade
Nygaard, 6. 29n-Larry Neighbors, 7. 94-Jerrod Hull, 8. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek,
9. 8-John Carney, Jr., 10. 99-Curt Michael, 11. 2w-Kevin Welsh, 12. 11x-Garry
Lee Maier, 13. 98-J.D. Johnson, 14. 11p-Preston Peebles II, 15. 20-Luke
"B" Main - Top
4 Advance to "A" Main:
B Feature (15
Laps): 1. X-Chuck Swenson, 2. 2J-Don Droud,
Jr., 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 57x-Jake Peters, 5. 10-Jeff Mitrisin, 6. 75-Jesse
Hockett, 7. 9-Rager Phillips, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9. 88-Steven King, 10. 15-Jon
Corbin, 11. 11c-Roger Crockett, 12. 85-Dustin Daggett, 13. 18x-Tony Bruce, Jr.,
14. 1-Sean McClelland, 15. 00-Stacey Alexander, 16. 2x-Bryan Dobesh, 17.
5x-Dave Glennon, 18. 48-Tyler Thompson, 19. 61J-Danny
ASCS
A Feature (25
Laps): 1. d1-Jesse Giannetto, 2. 24-Josh
Higday, 3. 21-
Lap Leaders: Larry
Pinegar 1-11, Jesse Giannetto 12-25.