1970 - Morris sweeps Knoxville races

Knoxville, Iowa (May 29, 1970) - Mel Morris made a clean sweep of the late model super stock car races Friday night at the Marion County Fairgrounds track in Knoxville.

Morris of West Liberty won the trophy dash, third heat, Australian pursuit and the feature event. Mel led from the second lap on to capture the 20-lap feature.

Len Blankenship of Keokuk was challenging hard, but couldn't quite overtake Morris and had to settle for second place.

Morris took the lead from Don Hoffman on the white flag lap to take home the trophy dash win.

Don Hoffman led all the way to take the checkers for the first 10-lap heat. Don Davidson of Des Moines won the second heat and Morris the third heat.

The only other car on the track besides winner Morris at the end of the Australian pursuit was Lem Blankenship. Blankenship was closing the gap on Morris, but run out of time when the finish came.

Because of the large field of cars, two semi-mains were run. Dan Dickey of Packwood won the first semi-main by a wide margin over second place Shorty Selsor of Des Moines. Paul Uhlenberg of Garwin was third and Marvin Korns of Brooklyn was fourth. Ed Pilcher of Ottumwa finished fifth.

Ron Perdock of Washington was the victor of the second semi-main event in a very close finish over Joel Rasmussen of Ames. Bill McDonough of Cedar Rapids was third and Earl Wagner of Pleasantville finished, fourth.


Results -

Trophy Dash – Mel Morris, West Liberty
First Heat – Don Hoffman, Des Moines
Second Heat – Don Davidson, Des Moines
Third Heat – Mel Morris
Australian Pursuit – Mel Morris
Semi-Main #1 – Dan Dickey, Packwood
Semi-Main #2 – Ron Perdock, Washington
Feature –
1. Mel Morris
2. Lem Blankenship, Keokuk
3. George Barton, Ankeny
4. Don Hoffman
5. Phil Reese, Des Moines
6. Arnie Braland, Boone
7. Dan Clement, Rhodes
8. Ron Perdock
9. Shorty Selsor, Des Moines
10. Joel Rasmussen, Ames
11. Arlo Dorenbusch
12. Ed Pilcher, Ottumwa