6/5/04
Knoxville Raceway
410s and Midget Classic
45 410s
40 Midgets
410s
Terry McCarl (4th car out to time) set the standard in time trials at 16.076 seconds. Mike Reinke (18th car out) was second quick, followed by Chris Walraven (1st), Keith Kauffman (21st), John VanDenBerg (10th), Jesse Giannetto (17th), Jon Agan (7th), Jaymie Moyle (44th), Matt Moro (3rd) and Lynton Jeffrey (31st). Ricky Logan managed one lap in qualifying before having to undergo a motor change. He was not able to make it out for his heat and would start at the tail of the B.
Heat one (started): 1. Skip Jackson 2 (2) 2. Moro 47 (4) 3. McCarl 24 (6) 4. Brent Antill 1 (3) 5. Clint Garner 40 (1) / 6. VanDenBerg v10 (5) 7. Joe Beaver 53 (9) 8. Tim St. Arnold 8s (8) 9. Bobby Mincer 15 (7) 10. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (8) DNS - Scott Young F22
Leavitt got over the cushion and flipped on the first try at green. He was done for the night. Jackson led early in what would be a great battle for the lead. Antill took over on lap four, before Jackson took the point back for good on the following go-around.
Heat two (started): 1. Jason Johnson 50D (1) 2. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (2) 3. Giannetto D1 (3) 4. Brooke Tatnell 66 (5) 5. Reinke 02 (6) / 6. Jeffrey 10 (4) 7. Billy Alley 22 (8) 8. Johnny Anderson 7a (7) 9. Mike Moore 69 (10) 10. Greg Jones 35 (9) DNS - Logan 17G
Jason was the Johnson taking charge when the green dropped. He led throughout. The best racing was between Tatnell and Reinke for fourth. Reinke came up just short at the line.
Heat three (started): 1. Josh Higday 83 (1) 2. Kevin Frey 2K (2) 3. Calvin Landis 70 (4) 4. Jesse Hockett 75 (3) 5. Walraven 56 (6) / 6. Jeff Johnson 11J (9) 7. Chad Meyer 1w (8) 8. Roger Rager 6R (7) 9. Mark Hurd 44m (10) 10. Robert Bell 71 (11) 11. Agan 4J (5)
Higday led from the outset and left the field behind. Hockett grabbed what appeared to be the final transfer after battling around Walraven with two to go. Agan, who was running fourth, went up in smoke on the white flag lap and was done for the night, giving Walraven the final transfer to the A.
Heat four (started): 1. Randy Anderson R19 (1) 2. Travis Cram 92 (4) 3. Moyle 1s (5) 4. Kauffman 4K (6) 5. Larry Ball Jr. 7x (9) / 6. Jerrol Slinkard 15x (10) 7. Tyler Houseman 50 (11) 8. Colin Northway 60 (2) 9. Kerry Madsen 55 (3) 10. Ryan Anderson 71R (8) 11. Aaron Berryhill 97 (7)
Berryhill and Ball came to a stop after a rocky attempt at a start. Ball would restart, Berryhill was done for the night. Ra. Anderson grabbed the early advantage before Ry. Anderson smacked the turn two wall and stopped on lap three. Madsen also came to a stop with rear end problems to join Ry. Anderson in going pitside. Anderson led Cram, Northway, Moyle and Kauffman back to green flag racing. Northway became the next casualty after smacking the wall and retiring on lap six while running a solid third. Slinkard made a late run at Ball for a transfer to no avail.
B feature (started): 1. Madsen (2) 2. Alley (6) 3. Logan (18) 4. J. Anderson (10) / 5. Meyer (9) 6. St. Arnold (14) 7. Moore (15) 8. Mincer (4) 9. Houseman (20) 10. Hurd (12) 11. Bell (16) 12. Beaver (11) 13. Rager (7) 14. VanDenBerg (1) 15. Je. Johnson (13) 16. Jones (19) 17. Slinkard (17) 18. Jeffrey (3) 19. Ry. Anderson (8) 20. Northway (5) DNS - Agan, Berryhill, Young, Leavitt
Madsen led early, while Northway exited on lap one. A Houseman spin on lap three bunched the field again. Three laps later, Je. Johnson would spin. The restart saw Madsen leading VanDenBerg, Alley, Jeffrey and J. Anderson. A lap later, Slinkard would spin. Ry. Anderson retired and Jeffrey, who was running fourth, did the same on the restart. On lap nine, Je. Johnson and Jones spun, collecting Slinkard. All three retired. Now the restart saw Madsen leading Alley, VanDenBerg, and a surging pair in Beaver and Rager. The final three laps saw transfer positions up for grabs when fuel became a factor. The first to bow out was VanDenBerg, who was running third on the lap nine restart. Next was Rager who had moved into fourth on lap ten. Beaver was the last victim on the white flag lap, negating a great run. Logan was able to take advantage of the number of cautions, in picking his way through the field and moving up fifteen spots.
A feature (started): 1. Antill (1) 2. Cram (2) 3. Moro (4) 4. Jackson (13) 5. Tatnell (19) 6. Moyle (5) 7. Giannetto (6) 8. Ja. Johnson (11) 9. Alley (22) 10. Landis (3) 11. McCarl (10) 12. Garner (16) 13. J. Anderson (24) 14. Reinke (9) 15. Ra. Anderson (18) 16. Walraven (8) 17. Frey (15) 18. Hockett (12) 19. Kauffman (7) 20. Ball (20) 21. W. Johnson (14) 22. Higday (17) 23. Logan (23) 24. Madsen (21)
Before the first lap could be completed, Ball spun in turn three collecting Madsen, who got upside down. The restart was not a good one, with W. Johnson, Higday and Logan getting tangled up on the frontstretch. Only W. Johnson would restart, but he only lasted three laps before suffering from mechanical ills. Cram led early and pulled away before Landis hit the turn four wall while running third. He would restart at the tail and advance back into the top ten. The restart saw Cram leading Antill, Moro, Moyle and McCarl. On lap 12, McCarl had moved into fourth, but suffered from a right rear packed with mud. Making a stop in the work area to correct the problem moved him back to the rear of the field. Cram still led, but now he had Moro, Antill, Giannetto and Moyle on his tail. Three more laps passed before Hockett suffered rear end problems and came to a stop. The final five circuits went uninterrupted and Cram continued his dominance, with eyes turned towards Australians Jackson and Tatnell who were on the move. After taking the white flag, Cram began to sputter and slow despite his dominance and limped towards the frontstretch, apparently out of fuel. Antill, who had taken second from Moro, seized the opportunity and beat Cram to the line by one car-length, also beating him in a race for seven career Knoxville wins. One could not help but to draw a comparison to Smarty Jones attempt at the Triple Crown that came up a horse short at the line. Tatnell earned an extra $300 for being the night's hard-charger.
Midgets
Dash (started): 1. Davey Ray 11 (1) 2. Jerry Coons Jr. 23 (5) 3. Chad DeSelle 81 (2) 4. Roger Rager 97J (3) 5. Brian Gerster 94 (9) 6. Scott Hatton 15 (8) 7. Damion Gardner 25 (7) 8. Brad Kuhn 99B (4) 9. Critter Malone 7 (6) DNS - Danny Stratton 2K
The six lap dash determined the starting order in the night's A main. Ray set a new track record for the distance, despite having to hold off a hard-charging Coons.
B main one (started): 1. Craig Carey 30 (1) 2. Steve Buckwalter 5 (5) 3. Michael Kendall 40 (2) / 4. Aaron Fiscus 7F (6) 5. Mike Hess 71 (10) 6. Harley Slotten 87 (8) 7. Tim Siner 97 (7) 8. Luke Icke 2I (9) 9. Derek Rossio 10R (4) 10. Korey Weyant 99 (3) DNS - Bruce Donaldson 4D
Carey took the early lead before a lap two spin by Siner. Carey led front row mate, Kendall, Buckwalter, Fiscus and Rossio back to the green flag. Weyant would exit on lap three. The race for the final transfer was a good one with Kendall running high and Fiscus low. Kendall pulled away the last couple laps of a scheduled twelve. Hess had to go to a back-up car driven Friday by Chad Branson.
B main two (started): 1. Don Droud Jr. 4 (7) 2. Rik Forbes 95J (9) / 3. Matt Hummel 18 (2) 4. John Jones 21 (5) 5. Dave Shirk 2 (1) 6. Buddy Leubke 43 (6) 7. Mallory Armfield 5MA (4) 8. Jim Doyle 79 (3) 9. Billy Wood Jr. 4AJ (8) DNS - Greg Leatherberry 10
Droud blistered the twelve lap midget record in an impressive run. Shirk led early before Hummel took control on lap three. Droud, who was up to third passed both previous leaders on the fourth lap and set sail. Second place, and the final transfer, were still up for grabs. A blanket could have been thrown over second through fifth place the last three laps. Forbes completed a masterful run from the tail to gain the spot on the last lap from Hummel.
A main (started): 1. Coons (2) 2. Ray (1) 3. DeSelle (3) 4. Kevin Doty 50 (11) 5. Gerster (5) 6. Hatton (6) 7. Malone (9) 8. Droud (21) 9. Fiscus (26) 10. Ray Bull 22 (17) 11. Hess (27) 12. Carey (20) 13. Kuhn (8) 14. Jones (30) 15. Steve Knepper 55 (14) 16. Forbes (23) 17. Kendall (24) 18. Siner (29) 19. Gardner (7) 20. Buckwalter (22) 21. Brandon Waelti 3 (10) 22. Cody Brewer 96 (16) 23. Cody Weisensel 20 (13) 24. Rick England 12 (18) 25. Shirk (25) 26. Doyle (28) 27. Rager (4) 28. Ryan Durst 51 (19) 29. Donnie Lehmann 31 (15) 30. Josh Wise 20s (12)
Coons led from the start. The lone stoppage in the 25 lapper came for a lap six red flag for Wise. Hatton made contact with the youngster, sending him head over heels. Gardner happened upon the scene and was also collected. Coons led Ray, DeSelle, Rage and Gerster back to the green flag. Droud was charging through the pack and was in the top ten in the next couple of laps. Following him was Fiscus, who ended up being the night's hard-charger. Ray drew close to Coons with two to go, but lost him in traffic. Coons earned $4000 for his effort, while Ray collected $3000 and DeSelle, last year's champ took home $2000.