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Mike Knight Racing
RIPLEY, N.Y. (July 30) - Mike Knight is looking for a little help from his friends and fans after scoring a career-best World of Outlaws Late Model Series finish on Sunday night at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.
The 21-year-old standout from Ripley, N.Y., placed a solid fifth in his hometrack's 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main, earning him a berth in the tour's 'Alltel Ohio Speedweek All-Star' contest. Only the top-five finishers in each of the four Alltel Ohio Speedweek events gained entry to the competition, which features an on-line poll at www.AlltellAllStar.com that will be worth $10,000 to the top vote-getter.
Fans can vote for Knight once a day through Sept. 9 at www.AlltelAllStar.com.
"I guess I have to campaign and get everybody I know to vote for me," said Knight, a personable rising star known as 'Hollywood.' "It sure would be nice to win $10,000 at the end of the contest. I know our race team could really put that money to good use."
Knight's good buddy, fellow dirt Late Model driver Dave Hess Jr. of Waterford, Pa., won a similar 'Alltel All-Star' on-line contest earlier this year after winning a UMP DIRTcar Modified feature in February during the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.
"Maybe Hess will help us out by getting some of his fans and friends to vote for us," smiled Knight.
The opportunity to be in the Alltel Ohio Speedweek All-Star contest alongside some of the sport's biggest names is an honor for Knight, who left Eriez Speedway on Sunday night very satisfied with his performance against the Outlaws.
"I really wanted to get my first top-five finish in an Outlaw show," said Knight, who timed third-fastest, won a heat race and stayed in the top-five for the A-Main's entire distance after starting third. "I probably could've moved up and run the top like I usually do at Eriez and maybe finished a little higher, but I decided to be smart about it. I wanted to finish in the top five so I decided to stay on the bottom rather than risk falling back if I went up top.
"After Tim McCreadie passed me on the top on the last lap (for fourth place), I went home and laid awake in bed for awhile thinking about why I didn't try running up there. But I was real happy to get a top-five finish, and getting in the Alltel All-Star contest made it an even better night."
Knight also enjoyed a memorable outing in Tuesday night's WoO LMS Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. Returning to the four-tenths-mile oval to complete the second half of the Firecracker 100 weekend that was rained out on June 28-29, Knight fell four spots short of transferring to the $40,000-to-win A-Main through the first B-Main but made up for his disappointment in the 'Uncle Sam 30' for non-qualifiers. He grabbed the lead fr om Ron Davies on lap nine of that event and never looked back, roaring to a victory that put a cool $3,000 in his bank account.
"I definitely would have rather made the big show, but winning the Uncle Sam race was a great consolation prize," said Knight, who earned more money than the last-place finisher in the Firecracker 100. "Mike Farr of Genesis Shocks helped us with some different shock valvings and I think we really hit on something. I have to thank him a lot because that was the best I've ever run at Lernerville."
Knight's other weekend appearance came in Saturday night's WoO LMS event at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. It was a tough evening for the talented racer, who was involved in a multi-car heat-race and then - after repairing his Rocket car during a four-hour rain delay - fell two spots short of transferring to the feature through a B-Main.
Coming off back-to-back strong performances, Knight has three events on his schedule for this weekend. He's planning to enter United Late Model Series (ULMS) events on Thursday night (July 31) at McKean County Raceway in East Smethport, Pa., and Saturday night (Aug. 2) at Woodhull (N.Y.) Raceway, and he'll cap his swing with a regular show on Sunday night (Aug. 3) at Eriez Speedway.
An up-and-coming dirt Late Model driver whose breakout 2007 season was highlighted by a points title at Eriez Speedway, Knight has an ambitious schedule of 70-plus races across the region planned with his family-owned team in 2008. His operation carries sponsorship from Arrowhead Wine Cellars, Mobilia Fruit Farm, Ottawaya's Auto Parts, Knight Farms, NYPenn Surveying, TeCulver Contracting, Ley Machine & Tool, Genesis Shocks, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts and American Racing Tires.
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