8/9/04
Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA
Front Row Challenge
45 cars
Danny Lasoski (13th car out to time) set quick time over the stout field at 15.938 seconds. Lance Dewease (12th car out) was second quick, followed by Brian Brown (23rd), Jeff Shepard (9th), Shane Stewart (39th), Wayne Johnson (21st), Zach Chappell (30th), John VanDenBerg (27th), Kerry Madsen (35th) and Erin Crocker (44th). Peter Attard failed to get a time in after mechanical problems. After a spin, Garry Lee Maier took one lap at the end of qualifying using a motor purchased from Dennis Roth. The top eight qualifiers who transferred through the heats to the A would qualify for the "King of the Hill" challenge which determined the front row starters.
Heat one (started): 1. Tim St. Arnold 8s (1) 2. Joey Saldana 2x (3) 3. Lasoski 20 (6) 4. Mark Smith 1z (2) 5. Stewart 4m (5) / 6. Madsen 55 (4) 7. Max Dumesny 83m (9) 8. Cameron Dodson 37 (7) 9. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (10) 10. Jeff Johnson 11J (11) 11. Ryan Anderson 71R (8)
St. Arnold won a new wheel and steering wheel for his flag to flag, eight-lap win on a heavy, fast track. Heats were inverted six spots by time, taking five to the A.
Heat two (started): 1. Skip Jackson 2 (2) 2. Dewease 77 (6) 3. Crocker 16 (4) 4. Jason Solwold R19 (1) 5. Lynton Jeffrey 10 (3) / 6. Travis Rilat 29 (10) 7. Brent Antill 1 (7) 8. Mike Benson 77m (9) 9. Andy McKisson 0 (11) 10. W. Johnson 14AJ (5) 11. Danny Smith 4 (8)
Jackson skipped out to an early lead with Crocker in tow. Dewease had worked over W. Johnson for third before Wayne brought the 14AJ to a stop with motor problems, surrendering his spot in the "King of the Hill" challenge on lap seven. The last two laps proved exciting as Dewease used the restart to pass Crocker, and Rilat charged into the last transfer spot before Jeffrey reclaimed it on the final go-around.
Heat three (started): 1. Chad Meyer 1w (2) 2. Jason Sides 7s (1) 3. Brown 21B (6) 4. Clint Garner 40 (3) 5. Chappell 97 (5) / 6. Blake Feese 12x (4) 7. Jason Johnson 50D (7) 8. Tim Shaffer 35 (9) 9. Garry Lee Maier 11x (10) 10. CJ Johnson 44 (11) 11. Roger Crockett 11 (8)
Meyer led flag to flag. Brown had a nice run claiming third on the last lap from a slowing Feese. Garner and Chappell (at the line by inches) got by as well relegating Feese to the B after a fine run.
Heat four (started): 1. Tim Kaeding 83JR (3) 2. Fred Rahmer 88H (1) 3. Jeff Mitrisin 17G (4) 4. Jesse Hockett 75 (2) 5. Shepard 8 (6) / 6. VanDenBerg v10 (5) 7. Dennis Moore Jr. 0x (7) 8. Roger Rager 6R (8) 9. Peter Attard 17H (12) 10. Jerod Smith 77J (11) 11. Stevie Walsh 20x (9) 12. Ricky Logan 7x (10)
Rahmer jumped out to an early advantage, with Kaeding on his heels. Logan came to a stop on lap five, bringing out the caution flag. Rahmer led Kaeding, who had battled tooth and nail to take the spot from Mitirisin, Hockett and Shepard. Kaeding dove under Rahmer when the green flew and never looked back despite one more caution for a stopped Walsh.
C main (started): 1. Shaffer (1) 2. Rilat (2) 3. Vanderploeg (3) 4. Maier (5) / 5. Attard (8) 6. McKisson (4) 7. J. Smith (6) 8. Je. Johnson (7) 9. CJ Johnson (9) DNS - Walsh, Logan
Shaffer set sail in the Wright 35 in a mostly single-file affair. The only stoppage came for a stalled CJ Johnson on lap two of ten.
King of the Hill Dash (Two lap dash tourney consisting of the top eight qualifiers who had advanced to the A main decided who would start in row one):
First Round: Lasoski over Mitrisin (Lasoski dusted him), Brown over Chappell (maybe the best one of the night as Chappell got the early lead before Brown tracked him down and passed him on the last corner), Shepard over Stewart (Shepard dominates), Dewease over Crocker (Dewease leaves her in the dust).
Second Round: Lasoski over Brown (no family love as Lasoski cuts Brown's line off in turn one and roars to victory), Shepard over Dewease (no contest)
Finals: Shepard over Lasoski (great battle but Lasoski couldn't get around Shepard who got a good jump on the start). Shepard declines the Front Row Challenge, but Lasoski accepts without hesitation.
B main (started): 1. Madsen (3) 2. Shaffer (15) 3. Ja. Johnson (7) 4. W. Johnson (1) / 5. D. Moore (8) 6. Dodson (5) 7. Rilat (14) 8. Crockett (11) 9. Ry. Anderson (9) 10. Dumesny (13) 11. Antill (6) 12. Maier (16) 13. Benson (12) 14. VanDenBerg (2) 15. Feese (4) 16. D. Smith (10) 17. Vanderploeg (17) DNS - Rager
The only red flag of the night marred the first lap. The front row starters got together setting off a chain reaction that sent Feese hard into the turn four wall. VanDenBerg, Benson, Shaffer and Vanderploeg were also involved in the incident. Only Benson and Shaffer would continue. Once underway, the 12 lapper went non-stop with Madsen leading the distance. C main transfer, Shaffer, was on a mission, moving up 13 spots to claim an A main transfer.
A main (started): 1. Shepard (1) 2. Dewease (2) 3. Stewart (5) 4. Lasoski (24) 5. Brown (3) 6. W. Johnson (9) 7. Madsen (8) 8. Saldana (11) 9. Jackson (14) 10. Mitrisin (6) 11. Rahmer (20) 12. M. Smith (15) 13. Sides (21) 14. Jeffrey (12) 15. Garner (13) 16. Crocker (7) 17. Solwold (18) 18. Meyer (17) 19. Kaeding (12) 20. St. Arnold (19) 21. Ja. Johnson (23) 22. Chappell (4) 23. Shaffer (24) 24. Hockett (18)
Shepard jetted out to a good lead before hitting traffic around lap eight. On lap 12, Dewease got by Shepard using the low side of the speedway in traffic. On lap 15, the first stoppage came out as a result of Chappell, running fifth at the time, stopping on the track and retiring. Both Hockett and Shaffer had preceded him. The restart saw Dewease leading Shepard, Stewart, a surging Kaeding and Brown. Lasoski was up to 12th and caught a break as he was 3/4 of a lap behind the leaders under green. On the restart, Shepard would take the point for good in his mount co-owned by Barry Jackson. Ja. Johnson would come to a stop on lap 19, slowing things again. In the four laps, Lasoski had now moved to 8th. St. Arnold brought out the last caution on lap 22. Under yellow, Kaeding went pitside relinquishing a strong fourth place run. Shepard led Dewease, Stewart, Lasoski and Brown back to green, and that is how they would finish. Lasoski's charge gave him hard-charger honors. Rahmer and Sides had nice runs further back in the pack. Shepard's win was his second Front Row Challenge Triumph, his first being in 2000. He joins Tyler Walker and Dewease as two-time winners of the event.