5/15/04
Knoxville Raceway Knoxville/IRA Shootout
65 410s 43 360s
410s
The 410 class lost two competitors in hot laps. John Haeni, the 2002 IRA champ, appeared to blow his motor, while Mike Moore took a nasty ride in turn one after jumping the cushion. No time trials were run. The feature was set up by passing points through the heat races.
Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Travis Cram 92 (1*) 2. Josh Higday 83 (3*) 3. Matt Moro 47 (5*) 4. Jeff Mitrisin 5 (6) 5. John VanDenBerg V10 (10*) 6. Calvin Landis 70 (12) 7. Jaymie Moyle 1s (13) 8. Ricky Logan 17G (9) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (8) 10. Steve Meyer 85m (11) 11. Bobby Mincer 15 (4) 12. Shane Dayney 53D (2) 13. Rusty Egan 50R (7)
Cram took the early advantage in the ten lapper. Dayney had been lapped when he flipped hard in turn two of lap eight. He was uninjured. Egan and Mincer also retired on lap eight.
Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Skip Jackson 2 (11*) 2. Lynton Jeffrey 10 (3*) 3. Jason Johnson (LA) 50D (5*) 4. Jeremy Campbell 10c (6) 5. Jeff Johnson 11J (13*) 6. Billy Warren 95 (4) 7. Scott Biertzer 4B (8) 8. Bill Wirth 53w (9) 9. Chris Walraven 56 (7) 10. Joe Symoens 96 (1) 11. Ty Bartz 75B (10) 12. Kim Mock 1m (2) DNS - John Haeni 21J (12)
Symoens got the jump on an ailing Mock at the start. Mock would go pitside on lap two. Symoens was scoring one for the little guy by leading, when Bartz had a right rear tire explode, sending into a series of flips down the frontstretch. Under red, Symoens experienced a flat right rear, relinquishing his lead to Jeffrey. Jeffrey led Jason Johnson, Jackson (from 11th), Walraven and Campbell back to green on teh lap four restart. Jackson continued his surge, picking off both Jason Johnson and Jeffrey (on lap 7) using his patented low groove. Jeff Johnson was able to advance nicely and earn himself a spot in the A main. Walraven exited on lap eight while running fifth.
Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Jesse Hockett 75 (3*) 2. Kerry Madsen 55 (4*) 3. Scotty Neitzel 2w (6*) 4. Chad Meyer 1w (10*) 5. Brent Antill 1 (12*) 6. Jerrol Slinkard 15x (2) 7. Billy Alley 22 (8) 8. Travis Whitney 9 (13) 9. Kurt Davis 6K (11) 10. Jason Johnson (WI) 44 (1) 11. Mike Stefka 83D (5) 12. Mark Hurd 44m (9) DNS - Mike Moore 69 (7)
Jason Johnson spun on the initial try at a start. Hockett led flag to flag once the race was underway. Neitzel and C. Meyer put on the best battle for position after C. Meyer moved up from row five. Whitney suffered with a smoking motor.
Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (3*) 2. Terry McCarl 24 (5*) 3. Colin Northway 60 (7*) 4. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (9*) 5. Ryan Anderson 71R (2) 6. Randy Anderson R19 (6) 7. Wayne Modjeski 77 (8) 8. Jim Melis 51m (1) 9. Scott Uttech 7 (12) 10. Ryan Irwin 49 (10) 11. Andy Hunt 9A (11) 12. Larry Ball Jr. 7x (4) 13. Dan Owings 19K (13)
Owings dropped out on lap one. Melis took the early advantage, before Giannetto stormed to the point on lap two. Despite a nice run by McCarl, Giannetto held his position on the cushion to win. Ball exited on lap eight. W. Johnson had a nice run passing two cars in the last two laps to gain a transfer to the A.
Heat five (started, *qualified for A): 1. Jason Solwold 18 (1*) 2. Tim Kaeding 83JR (11*) 3. Clint Garner 40 (3) 4. Mike Reinke 02 (5) 5. Roger Rager 6R (10*) 6. Greg Jones 35 (4) 7. Robert Bell 71 (6) 8. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (7) 9. Dave Uttech 68 (12) 10. Brent Laurson 4 (13) 11. John Sernett 91 (8) 12. Scott Young F22 (2) 13. Mike Kertscher 80K (9)
Kaeding, starting 11th, made a move to go three wide down the front straight at the drop of the green. The result was Kertscher flipping hard into the turn one fence. Kaeding recovered from the collision by storming forward to second. He came just short of Solwold, who led the distance. Young dropped out on lap five, with Sernett following.
B main one (started): 1. Campbell (2) 2. Mitrisin (1) / 3. Alley (5) 4. Logan (7) 5. Melis (9) 6. Slinkard (3) 7. Walraven (11) 8. Sernett (16) 9. Jason Johnson (WI) (13) 10. Modjeski (6) 11. S. Uttech (8) 12. Hurd (17) 13. Stefka (15) 14. S. Meyer (12) 15. Laurson (10) 16. Mincer (14) 17. Young (19) 18. Ryan Anderson (4) 19. Egan (18) DNS - Reinke, Jones, Owings, Moore
Mitrisin led early. Campbell gained on the leader by utilizing the low side of the track, and took control on lap six of twelve. Alley was within shouting distance of the leaders, but never threatened.
B main two (started): 1. Landis (1) 2. Garner (2) / 3. Moyle (3) 4. Biertzer (6) 5. Whitney (7) 6. Warren (4) 7. Ra. Anderson (5) 8. Mock (14) 9. Houseman (12) 10. Davis (13) 11. D. Uttech (10) 12. Bell (8) 13. Irwin (15) 14. Leavitt (11) 15. Hunt (16) 16. Wirth (9) DNS - Symoens, Bartz, Dayney, Ball, Kertscher, Haeni
Garner led to the halfway point, when Landis took over. This event was mainly a single file affair.
A main (started): 1. McCarl (4) 2. Cram (6) 3. Higday (1) 4. Jackson (10) 5. Kaeding (9) 6. W. Johnson (16) 7. C. Meyer (5) 8. Solwold (2) 9. VanDenBerg (19) 10. Northway (3) 11. Mitrisin (23) 12. Hockett (8) 13. Rager (20) 14. Antill (15) 15. Jeffrey (11) 16. Campbell (21) 17. Landis (22) 18. Moro (17) 19. Garner (24) 20. Madsen (13) 21. Neitzel (14) 22. Jeff Johnson (12) 23. Giannetto (7) 24. Jason Johnson (LA) (18)
Solwold outdueled Higday for the early lead. Higday bounced back to lead on lap two. Jason Johnson's mount went up in smoke on lap three, bringing caution. Under yellow, VanDenBerg made repairs in the work area. Higday led McCarl, Solwold (who had a pass of McCarl negated by the yellow), Cram and Northway. Higday held his ground for three more circuits before McCarl took control. Giannetto stopped with mechanical problems on lap seven. McCarl led Higday, Solwold, Cram, and a surging Jackson. Madsen crashed hard in turn three, obliterating his machine on lap nine. He was uninjured. Jeff Johnson and Neitzel were disqualified for not stopping for the red flag in a timely manner. McCarl led the final 11 laps to record his 37th career Knoxville triumph. Late movers included Kaeding, W. Johnson, VanDenBerg (from the back on lap three), and hard-charger, Mitrisin, who earned an extra $300 for his efforts.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Kearney 83 (1*) 2. Stevie Walsh 20 (3*) 3. Doran Doty 99x (4*) 4. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (8*) 5. Rodney Turner 69 (9*) 6. Dave Heskin 84 (5) 7. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (10) 8. Rob Edwards 22 (7) 9. Matt Harms 53H (11) 10. Nate Mosher 22N (6) 11. Tom Lenz 8L (2)
Kearney led the duration. Lenz dropped out on lap three while running second. Nice charges by Vanderploeg who couldn't quite grab third from Doty, and Turner.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Eric Jobe 23 (1*) 2. Dave Hesmer 1 (8*) 3. Dave Hall 51 (6*) 4. Eric Mason B29 (5*) 5. DJ Heskin 56 (2) 6. Brad Barickman 10 (9) 7. Mike Waddell 2 (4) 8. Tim St. Arnold 7s (11) 9. John Hall 7H (10) 10. Brett Mather 54 (7) 11. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (3)
Houseman exited on the first lap. Jobe led throughout. On the third lap, Mather smacked the turn two wall hard, breaking his fuel tank off. He was uninjured. On the restart, Heskin was slow to the green, holding the field up behind Jobe. Mason grabbed fourth and a transfer from DJ Heskin on the last go-around.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Mike Trent 14c (2*) 2. Jerry Crabb 12x (1*) 3. Ryan Jamison 51J (4*) 4. Ryan York 5R (3) 5. Tracy Nichols 19 (10*) 6. Jake Peters 57x (7) 7. Troy Meyer 11m (6) 8. Doug Wilson 86 (8) 9. Chris Maurer 8s (11) 10. Curtis Thorson 91 (9) 11. Alan Zoutte 33 (5)
Crabb grabbed the early lead. Trent would overtake him on lap three. The most excitement in this one happened after the checkered as Maurer got together with Wilson, sending the 86 hard into the fence. Wilson was done for the night.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Mitchell Alexander 6 (1*) 2. Dusty Zomer 1z (4*) 3. Brett Golik 5G (2*) 4. Bronson Maeschen 96 (3) 5. Johnny Anderson 7a (5) 6. John Schulz 2s (7) 7. Joe Beaver 53 (8) 8. Stacey Alexander 126 (6) 9. Rager Phillips 9 (9) 10. Donnie Steward 16s (10)
M. Alexander led flag to flag. Zomer moved up well and is improving in his rookie campaign.
B main (started): 1. Peters (7) 2. Maeschen (2) 3. J. Anderson (5) 4. Beaver (10) / 5. St. Arnold (12) 6. S. Alexander (17) 7. Schulz (8) 8. Barickman (3) 9. DJ Heskin (4) 10. Heimbaugh (6) 11. Edwards (14) 12. T. Meyer (13) 13. Maurer (18) 14. Thorson (21) 15. Harms (15) 16. Steward (22) 17. Dave Heskin (9) 18. Zoutte (23) 19. Waddell (11) 20. Mosher (19) 21. Houseman (24) 22. J. Hall (16) 23. York (1) 24. Phillips (20) DNS - Wilson, Mather, Lenz
Maeschen jumped out to an early lead while pole-sitter, York, dropped out on lap two. Phillips suffered a flat left front tire on lap two. The restart saw Maeschen leading DJ Heskin, Barickman, J. Anderson and Heimbaugh, with Peters and Beaver on the move. The latter two wasted little time moving into transfer spots. Many hard charges went unnoticed such as St. Arnold and S. Alexander. Peters made his winning pass of Maeschen on lap seven.
A main (started): 1. Kearney (8) 2. Hesmer (10) 3. Peters (17) 4. M. Alexander (6) 5. Vanderploeg (2) 6. Crabb (1) 7. Trent (9) 8. Beaver (20) 9. Jobe (7) 10. Zomer (5) 11. Nichols (13) 12. J. Anderson (19) 13. Golik (15) 14. Turner (14) 15. Maeschen (18) 16. Walsh (4) 17. Mason (16) 18. D. Hall (3) 19. Jamison (12) 20. Doty (11)
Vanderploeg took the early advantage, but the veteran, Crabb, took the point on lap two. Doty got upside down on lap three bring a stop to things. He was uninjured. Crabb led Vanderploeg, Kearney, D. Hall and Zomer back to Justin Clark's green flag. Three more laps passed in the books before D. Hall, who was running sixth, spun out and exited. Jamison also went pitside. Crabb was still leading with Kearney, Hesmer, Vanderploeg and a surging Peters in tow. Kearney quickly took the lead from Crabb and led the rest of the way for win #14 at Knoxville. Peters earned hard-charger honors and $100 by moving forward 14 spots.