6/19/04
Knoxville Raceway
Mid-Season Championship
35 410s
36 360s
410s
Kerry Madsen (3rd car out to time) set quick time at 16.187 seconds. Wayne Johnson (1st car out) was second quick, followed by Jason Johnson (7th), Travis Cram (2nd), Matt Moro (27th), Jeff Mitrisin (4th), Jaymie Moyle (30th), Mike Reinke (14th), Tim St. Arnold (22nd) and Lynton Jeffrey (29th). Colin Northway blew a motor and scratched for the night.
Heat one (started): 1. St. Arnold 8s (4) 2. Jesse Giannetto D1 (1) 3. Ricky Logan 17G (3) 4. Calvin Landis 70 (7) 5. Moro 47 (5) / 6. Jerrol Slinkard 15s (6) 7. Jeff Johnson 11J (8) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (2) DNS - Madsen 55
Madsen suffered fuel problems and could not start. VanDenBerg came to a rest on the parade lap, tried to restart at the tail and pulled off early. St. Arnold led the distance in what was mostly a single file affair.
Heat two (started): 1. Josh Higday 83 (1) 2. Jesse Hockett 75 (2) 3. Skip Jackson 2 (3) 4. Terry McCarl 24 (7) 5. W. Johnson 14AJ (6) / 6. Mitrisin 5J (5) 7. Jeffrey 10 (4) 8. Mark Hurd 44m (8) 9. Robert Bell 71 (9)
Higday grabbed the early lead. By the time Bell spun and brought out a caution on lap three, McCarl had maneuvered up to fourth. On the restart, he made a move to slide Jackson in turns one and two. Jackson dove back under and held his ground for the last five laps.
Heat three (started): 1. Moyle 1s (3) 2. Billy Alley 22 (4) 3. John Sernett 91 (2) 4. Ja. Johnson 50D (6) 5. Tyler Houseman 50 (5) / 6. Clint Garner 40 (1) DNS - Jon Agan 4, Roger Rager 6R, Northway
A race of attrition ended with only five cars on the track. Rager suffered electrical problems and could not make the start. Agan went to the work area, restarted and pulled in. Garner smacked the turn four wall on the first lap and went pitside. Houseman qualified for his first ever A main, while Moyle led the distance.
Heat four (started): 1. Randy Anderson R19 (1) 2. Chad Meyer 1w (2) 3. Brent Antill 1 (4) 4. Cram 92 (6) 5. Reinke 02 (5) / 6. Chris Walraven 56 (3) 7. Troy Little 20AU (7) 8. Bob Weuve 35 (8)
Ra. Anderson jetted out to an early lead. Reinke was on the move and was in third when Antill put an ill-fated slidejob to try to gain the spot back. Reinke did not waver on his line and nailed Antill's tail tank. The impact knocked off Reinke's front nerf bar, causing a caution and sending Reinke to the rear on the restart. Reinke responded by moving back through the pack to gain the final transfer from Walraven.
B main (started): 1. Mitrisin (1) 2. Jeffrey (2) 3. VanDenBerg (4) 4. Madsen (12) / 5. Garner (5) 6. Little (6) 7. Agan (11) 8. Walraven (3) 9. Slinkard (7) 10. Je. Johnson (10) 11. Hurd (8) 12. Bell (9) DNS - Weuve, Rager, Northway
Jeffrey shot out to an early lead over Mitrisin. Meanwhile, Madsen was picking off cars from the rear of the field. In lapped traffic, Mitrisin took the lead on lap 10 of the non-stop 12 lapper. Madsen was able to grab the last transfer from Garner late to complete a nice run.
A main (started): 1. Cram (4) 2. Ja. Johnson (5) 3. Moyle (2) 4. Moro (3) 5. Reinke (1) 6. W. Johnson (6) 7. Logan (10) 8. St. Arnold (7) 9. Jackson (11) 10. Hockett (12) 11. Alley (8) 12. Madsen (22) 13. Jeffrey (20) 14. Sernett (13) 15. Ra. Anderson (15) 16. Meyer (14) 17. McCarl (23) 18. Mitrisin (17) 19. VanDenBerg (19) 20. Landis (18) 21. Antill (9) 22. Giannetto (21) 23. Higday (16) 24. Houseman (24)
A vicious "R" word terrorized the track tonight, though it was not the wet stuff. Rubber turned right rears into drag slicks, with the name of the game saving tires. Giannetto and McCarl elected for new right rears, and headed for the tail on the start. The 25 lapper went non-stop with Cram going from fourth to first and leading early. Coming to traffic on lap ten, Cram slipped up the track a bit allowing dry track master, Moyle, to grab the advantage from him. Five laps later, in dense lapped traffic, Cram grabbed the lead back and the points leader never looked back. Ja. Johnson made a bid on the last lap sliding underneath Cram in turn one, but it was not to be as the Washington native grabbed his seventh career Knoxville win.
Notes: Hockett will not compete at Knoxville next weekend, as he will be racing at Gas City in Indiana, and then travel on to Ohio Speedweek...Marty Perovich is in town and should be competing in as little as two weeks once he secures a truck and trailer.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (1*) 2. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (4*) 3. Rob Edwards 22 (2*) 4. Dusty Zomer 1z (6*) 5. Eric Mason B29 (8*) 6. Brett Mather (7) 7. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (5) 8. Bobby Mincer 15 (9) DNS - Doug Wilson 86 (3)
Heimbaugh led the distance in a mostly single-file affair. Vanderploeg knocked on the door a few times but the track was one-lane around the cushion.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Schulz 2s (2*) 2. Eric Jobe 23 (5*) 3. Dave Hall (7*) 4. Brett Golik 5G (6*) 5. DJ Heskin 56 (3) 6. Curtis Thorson 91 (1) 7. Terry Alexander 77 (9) 8. Larry Ball Jr. 7x (8) 9. Bronson Maeschen 96 (4)
Schulz ran out to the early lead after squeezing by Heimbaugh on the high side of turn two. Maeschen spun on lap five while running fifth. He spun again coming to the restart. When the yellow was thrown, the field was bunched together behind the cone. Ball got over Thorson's right rear and took a wild ride down the frontstretch. He was uninjured. Schulz held his advantage despite nice charges by Jobe and Hall.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jake Peters 57x (1*) 2. Joe Beaver 53 (6*) 3. Ryan Jamison (7*) 4. Stevie Walsh 20 (3) 5. Jerry Crabb 12x (9*) 6. Rager Phillips 9 (5) 7. Troy Meyer 11m (2) 8. Michael Jones 10 (4) 9. Jerod Smith 77J (8)
Peters led the distance, despite two stoppages. On lap two, Smith spun a car purchased from the Cox family in his first night in a sprint car. The restart saw Peters leading Walsh, Beaver, Meyer and Jamison. Two laps later, Jones flipped in turn two. It was a rough night for his first ride in Steve Ware's 10. Now Peters led Beaver, Walsh, Jamison and Meyer. Jamison would move up another spot to complete an impressive run from row four.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Mike Trent 14c (1*) 2. John Kearney 83 (6*) 3. Mitchell Alexander 6 (2*) 4. Johnny Anderson 7a (4) 5. Dave Hesmer 1 (7) 6. Stacey Alexander 126 (3) 7. Doran Doty 99x (8) 8. Alan Zoutte 33 (5) 9. Nate Van Haaften 3 (9)
Trent led flag to flag. Kearney and M. Alexander staged a nice battle for second before Kearney took command.
B main (started): 1. Hesmer (3) 2. Anderson (2) 3. Mather (5) 4. S. Alexander (9) / 5. Thorson (6) 6. Meyer (12) 7. Walsh (1) 8. T. Alexander (7) 9. Zoutte (13) 10. Maeschen (14) 11. Phillips (8) 12. Doty (10) 13. Heskin (4) 14. Houseman (11) 15. Van Haaften (15) DNS - Jones, Wilson, Ball, Mincer, Smith
Anderson beat Walsh to the punch when the green flag fell. Phillips was a spin victim on lap four. Anderson led Hesmer, Mather, Heskin and a charging S. Alexander back to the green flag. Anderson held his lead, while S. Alexander grabbed the fourth and final transfer before a red flag was displayed for a flipped Heskin. Houseman was also involved in the incident. Hesmer took advantage on the restart, blowing under Anderson and holding on the last two laps.
A main (started): 1. Kearney (5) 2. Peters (8) 3. Jobe (3) 4. Zomer (12) 5. Hall (7) 6. Heimbaugh (2) 7. Jamison (7) 8. Beaver (6) 9. Trent (10) 10. Hesmer (15) 11. Anderson (18) 12. Thorson (19) 13. Crabb (14) 14. S. Alexander (20) 15. Mather (17) 16. Schulz (4) 17. Edwards (11) 18. Golik (13) 19. Mason (16) 20. Vanderploeg (1) DNS - M. Alexander
Vanderploeg dominated early and looked like he might be on his way to a second career Knoxville win. Lap seven saw the motor give way. By the time Vanderploeg coasted to a stop, there were nine of twenty laps down. After a 15 minute rain delay, Kearney led Jobe, Peters, Heimbaugh and Beaver back to the green flag. He held on while Peters came within striking distance. It was to no avail, as Kearney grabbed his 16th checkered flag at Knoxville tying him for third on the 360 list with Randy Martin. Rookies Jobe and Zomer were impressive in their performances, with the latter grabbing $100 for being the hard-charger. Hall also held his own.