8/10/04
Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA
Ultimate Challenge
53 cars
Opening ceremonies included a fitting tribute to the late Keith Hutton led by Jenny. Laps of tribute and a balloon release were included in a farewell to Keith in a touching ceremony.
Zach Chappell (5th car out to time) shattered the non-wing track record by over half a second by touring the half-mile in 19.435 seconds. Jon Stanbrough (21st car out) recorded the second quickest lap, followed by Dave Darland (7th), Jesse Hockett (12th), Levi Jones (33rd), Cory Kruseman (36th), Dickie Gaines (17th), Bill Rose (22nd), Travis Rilat (15th) and Kyle Wissmiller (28th). Sean Walden recorded what would have been the 8th best time, but was light at the scales. He took a lap at the end, but was 1.4 seconds slower. The top forty qualifiers were put into four heats, the rest went directly to the tail of the B. The heats had an invert of eight and took four to the A main. The rest went to the B.
Heat one (started): 1. Josh Wise 67 (4) 2. Jones 2B (7) 3. Justin Marvel 47 (1) 4. Chappell 50z (8) / 5. Troy Rutherford 7 (9) 6. John Scott 83 (2) 7. Rilat 29 (6) 8. Mike Kirby 38 (5) 9. Troy Little 20AU (3) 10. Ryan Anderson 71R (10)
Kirby slowed to bring out a caution at the first start attempt. Wise took the early lead from the pole-sitter, Marvel when the green fell again in the ten lapper. Both Jones and Chappell were on the move and were impressive in their charges. Jones steered the Benic 2B, last year's winner, past Marvel in turn four on the final go-around for second.
Heat two (started): 1. Charles Davis Jr. 8A (3) 2. Kruseman 21 (7) 3. Stanbrough 10 (8) 4. Rob Chaney 9x (5) / 5. CJ Johnson 44J (1) 6. K. Wissmiller 2K (6) 7. Mike Spencer 44 (2) 8. Kevin Huntley 21R (4) 9. Donny Schatz 1st (9) 10. Davey Ray 21x (10)
Davis took the lead from front row starter, Spencer, but relinquished it before the flagstand. Schatz spun on lap two bringing out the yellow. Spencer led Davis, Johnson, Chaney and Huntley back to the green flag. Kruseman was on the move, as was Stanbrough on the low side. The two quickest qualifiers in the heat passed all but Davis in a quest for the front. Also impressive was Chaney on the high side. Though he stumbled on the last lap, he was able to hold on to a transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Rickie Gaunt 2A (2) 2. Matt Westfall 54 (3) 3. Gaines 70 (7) 4. Jay Drake 20 (4) / 5. Sammy Swindell 11 (5) 6. Darland 2 (8) 7. Damion Gardner 50 (9) 8. Mitch Wissmiller 7m (6) 9. Bud Kaeding 45 (1) 10. Ronnie Clark 33 (10)
This one was stacked front to back and was led flag to flag by Gaunt. The only driver really on the move was Gaines who battled with Westfall the last second for the runner-up spot. Swindell and Darland went at it with the former gaining fifth on the last lap. It was fun to see the two veterans go at it.
Heat four (started): 1. JJ Yeley 75 (2) 2. Jac Haudenschild 5 (4) 3. Hockett 75J (6) 4. Kent Christian 10T (1) / 5. Rose 6R (7) 6. Mat Neely 17N (3) 7. Jimmy Crawford 13 (9) 8. Greg Wilson 97w (8) 9. Tom Hessert 5H (5) DNS - Kevin Doty 50D
The outside row starters benefited when Doty went pitside from his front row position. Christian took the early lead before succombing to Yeley, who had the front wheels rocking on the low side. Haudenschild was soon in hot pursuit, but never headed Yeley. Hockett stormed to third on the high side, while Christian and Rose exchanged the final transfer spot before Christian claimed it at the checkered flag.
Dash (started): 1. Hockett (4) 2. Jones (3) 3. Gaines (1) 4. Chappell (6) 5. Haudenschild (7) 6. Kruseman (2) 7. Stanbrough (5) 8. Chaney (8)
The six lap dash determined starting spots for the A main. Hockett jumped around the front row using the high side cushion and never looked back in checking out. The best race was for second with Jones claiming the spot with a last corner pass of Gaines.
B main one (started): 1. Darland (1) 2. Gardner (10) 3. Swindell (4) / 4. M. Wissmiller (3) 5. Johnson (8) 6. Neely (6) 7. Josh Ford 73 (14) 8. Huntley (5) 9. Spencer (7) 10. Ry. Anderson (11) 11. Jimmy Davies 99 (16) 12. Mike Martin 57 (13) 13. Clark (12) 14. Mel Murphy 62 (17) 15. Robert Bell 71 (15) 16. Rilat (2) 17. Rutherford (9) DNS - Terry Pletch 29P, Sean Walden 14
Darland bumped by Rilat for the early lead with Rilat and M. Wissmiller following. A blanket could be thrown over Rilat, M. Wissmiller, Swindell and Neely in a battle for second, when Gardner entered the fray from row five. The "Demon" chucked Rilat on an attempted slide job for fifth place bringing out a red. The restart saw Darland leading, M. Wissmiller, Neely, Swindell and Gardner. Gardner continued his strong run high on the cushion and came close to grabbing the win in the 12 lapper.
B main two (started): 1. Little (5) 2. Rose (1) 3. K. Wissmiller (2) / 4. Ray (9) 5. Wilson (12) 6. Hessert (4) 7. Garry Lee Maier 18 (13) 8. Schatz (7) 9. Scott (6) 10. Jeremy Sherman 83JR (14) 11. Kaeding (8) 12. Seth Wilson 17 (15) 13. Crawford (10) 14. Alan Ballard 97 (11) 15. Mark Nation 3N (17) 16. Johnny Parsons III 85 (16) 17. Kirby (3) DNS - Doty
Rose and Little exchanged the lead a few times in the first couple of laps, before Parsons stopped to bring out a caution on lap two. Rose led Little, K. Wissmiller, Hessert and a surging Schatz back to the green flag. Little took the lead on the restart and never looked back as K. Wissmiller held on to the final transfer, despite a charge from row five by Ray. Kirby exited on lap five.
A main (started): 1. Gaines (3) 2. Hockett (1) 3. Chappell (4) 4. Stanbrough (7) 5. Darland (9) 6. Jones (2) 7. Haudenschild (5) 8. Kruseman (6) 9. Westfall (18) 10. Swindell (12) 11. Gardner (22) 12. Drake (14) 13. Christian (21) 14. Rose (10) 15. Yeley (15) 16. Little (16) 17. Gaunt (19) 18. Wise (13) 19. Marvel (20) 20. Davis (17) 21. Chaney (8) 22. K. Wissmiller (11)
Hockett rocketed out to a huge lead with Gaines and Jones tucking in behind him. Lap 13 of 30 saw the first caution come out for a stalled Gaunt. He restarted at the tail of the field. Hockett led Gaines, Jones, a surging Chappell and Kruseman back to the green flag. Chappell seized the opportunity at a restart and passed both Jones and Gaines for second, setting his sights on Hockett. On lap 17, Chappell ducked under Hockett to take the point. Chappell built a large lead on what was now a rubber down track, but the advantage was eliminated on lap 26, when Chaney was escorted upside down by Darland's right rear while racing for sixth. Chappell led Gaines, Hockett, Jones and Stanbrough back to the green flag and appeared on his way to the $30,000 payday. He could see the checkered while in turn three, when Davis flipped hard in turn one. This set up a one lap shootout for the cash. A slow restart allowed Gaines to duck under Chappell for the restart lead. Hockett shot around both Chappell and Gaines to take the advantage down the backstretch on the last lap. He rode the cushion through three and four as well, but Gaines found some bite down low. The drag race to the line was won by inches in one of the most exciting races of the year to date. Gaines pocketed a well earned $30K for his efforts. The top ten finishers were invited to Wednesday night's non-wing special twelve lapper at the Knoxville Nationals. Four provisionals will fill the 14 car field.