5/8/04
Knoxville Raceway
38 410s
42 360s
410s
Terry McCarl (30th car out to time) set the standard in time trials at 15.878 seconds. Billy Alley (28th car out) was second quick, followed by Jesse Giannetto (18th), Jason Solwold (1st), Kerry Madsen (31st), Ricky Logan (35th), John VanDenBerg (37th), Calvin Landis (23rd), Jesse Hockett (6th) and Chris Walraven (38th). The track had less moisture in it than a week ago, but provided no less than three grooves for racing all night long.
Heat one (started): 1. Brent Antill 1 (2) 2. McCarl 24 (6) 3. Jason Johnson 50D (3) 4. Madsen 55 (5) 5. Lynton Jeffrey 10 (1) / 6. Travis Cram 92 (7) 7. Hockett 75 (4) 8. Bobby Mincer 15 (8) 9. Jerrol Slinkard 15x (9) 10. Tim St. Arnold 8s (10)
Antill led the distance. McCarl made the most movement and got by Ja. Johnson after a nice duel for second.
Heat two (started): 1. Matt Moro 47 (2) 2. Colin Northway 60 (3) 3. Randy Anderson R19 (1) 4. Larry Ball Jr. 7x (9) 5. Walraven 56 (4) / 6. Chad Meyer 1w (10) 7. Jeff Johnson 11J (8) 8. Logan 17G (5) 9. Alley 22 (6) 10. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (7)
The first attempt at green saw Leavitt and Alley come together hard down the frontstretch. Alley ended up taking a series of flips. Both were uninjured, but done for the night. Once green, Moro led start to finish. Anderson rode second until running out of fuel on the white flag lap and coasting home third. Ball grabbed fourth from Walraven on the last lap after charging from the tail.
Heat three (started): 1. Josh Higday 83 (1) 2. Giannetto D1 (6) 3. Jaymie Moyle 1s (4) 4. VanDenBerg V10 (5) 5. Randy Martin 14 (7) / 6. Robert Bell 71 (9) 7. Greg Jones 35 (8) 8. Mike Reinke 02 (3) 9. Clint Garner 40 (2)
Garner led until bowing pitside on lap four. That handed the lead to Higday who won going away. Reinke was running fourth on the white flag lap when it appeared his motor let go. He was done for the night.
Heat four (started): 1. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (2) 2. Skip Jackson 2 (3) 3. Solwold 18 (6) 4. John Sernett 91 (4) 5. Landis 70 (5) / 6. Mike Moore 69 (1) 7. Mark Hurd 44m (8) 8. Tyler Houseman 50 (9) 9. Roger Rager 6R (7)
W. Johnson led the duration. Solwold looked strong running from sixth to third. Rager bowed out on lap six.
B main (started): 1. Logan (2) 2. Hockett (1) 3. Cram (3) 4. Moore (4) / 5. Meyer (13) 6. Je. Johnson (5) 7. Mincer (6) 8. Hurd (7) 9. St. Arnold (11) 10. Jones (8) 11. Slinkard (10) 12. Bell (9) 13. Houseman (12) DNS – Garner, Reinke, Alley, Leavitt, Rager
Hockett led early with Logan in tow. On lap six, Logan took the lead. In heavy traffic on lap seven, Cram knifed between two lapped cars and Hockett for second. A Bell spin on lap nine brought out the yellow and negated a pass Cram had made on Logan for the lead. Logan led the rest of the way after the restart, with Hockett winning a three lap duel with Cram for second. Meyer made a valiant charge but came up a spot short of a transfer.
A main (started): 1. Ja. Johnson (1) 2. Moyle (3) 3. Giannetto (9) 4. Sernett (2) 5. VanDenBerg (6) 6. Jackson (12) 7. W. Johnson (15) 8. Cram (23) 9. Landis (5) 10. Solwold (8) 11. Antill (13) 12. Martin (19) 13. Logan (21) 14. Jeffrey (16) 15. Walraven (4) 16. Higday (18) 17. Moro (14) 18. Ball (20) 19. Ra. Anderson (17) 20. McCarl (10) 21. Madsen (7) 22. Northway (11) 23. Moore (24) 24. Hockett (22)
Moro spun before a lap could be completed. Ja. Johnson led early with Sernett and Walraven chasing him. A Hockett spin on lap three bunched the field. Ja. Johnson led Walraven, Moyle, Giannetto and Sernett back to the green flag. Two laps later, Northway had something break and flipped in turn three. His last flip came down on top of Moore and both were done, but uninjured. Now Ja. Johnson led Moyle, Giannetto, a charging Madsen and Sernett. Madsen held down fourth until he burnt a piston a lap later. McCarl would be the next to suffer engine woes as he came to a stop on the backstretch just as he was making a move forward. Moyle surged around Ja. Johnson to lead lap seven, but Ja. Johnson returned the favor on the next circuit. Ra. Anderson struck the final blow to the event, flipping in turn one of lap 11. He was unhurt. The rains that had been threatening throughout the night finally hit and the race was deemed complete at the halfway mark. Cram earned hard-charger honors moving to eighth from his 23rd starting spot.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brett Mather 54 (2*) 2. Rager Phillips 9 (1*) 3. Stacey Alexander 126 (9*) 4. Brett Golik 5G (3*) 5. Dave Hall 51 (6) 6. Eric Jobe 23 (7) 7. Tony Stewart 20L (11) 8. Mitchell Alexander 6 (4) 9. Rodney Turner 69 (10) 10. Tom Lenz 8L (8) 11. Alan Zoutte 33 (5)
Mather led the distance. Phillips was again impressive. He’s now two for two in qualifying for features in his short career. S. Alexander was the car on the move in this one, though few eyes were on him as Stewart drew all the attention.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Johnny Anderson 7a (4*) 2. Curtis Thorson 91 (1*) 3. Travis Rilat 29 (10*) 4. Dave Hesmer 1 (8*) 5. Mike Trent 14c (7) 6. Ryan York 5R (9) 7. DJ Heskin 56 (2) 8. Dave Heskin 84 (6) 9. Nate Mosher 22N (11) 10. Mike Waddell 2 (3) DNS – Michael Jones 12 (5)
Jones suffered motor woes in hot laps and scratched for the night. Thorson led J. Anderson throughout until the last lap when J. Anderson used the lowest part of the track to slip by. Rilat was impressive and moved around Hesmer for third with two laps to go.
Heat three (started, I*qualified for feature): 1. John Kearney 83 (6*) 2. Brad Barickman 10 (1*) 3. Dusty Zomer 1z (3*) 4. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (4) 5. Ryan Anderson 71R (10*) 6. Doran Doty 99x (8) 7. Ryan Jamison 51J (2) 8. Rob Edwards 22 (7) 9. Bronson Maeschen 96 (9) 10. Curtis Boyer 72 (5)
Kearney took the point from the early leader, Barickman, on the second lap. Boyer was running fifth on lap four when he went up in smoke, bringing out a caution. Kearney led Barickman, Zomer, Vanderploeg and Jamison back to green. Barickman grabbed the lead from Kearney on the restart, with the latter grabbing it again on the next go-around.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jake Peters 57x (5*) 2. Troy Meyer 11m (3*) 3. John Schulz (4*) 4. Joe Beaver 53 (9*) 5. Stevie Walsh 20 (6) 6. Jerry Crabb 12x (8) 7. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (2) 8. Eric Mason B29 (7) 9. Ryan Voss 2H (10) DNS – Doug Wilson 86 (1)
Wilson did not start due to a broken rocker arm. Meyer jumped out to an early lead. Peters took over on a lap two restart, that was a result of a Houseman spin. Actually the first restart saw Mason spin, collecting Voss, who had nowhere to go in his first Knoxville start. Both were done. Schulz found a rhythm late and, on the last two laps, got back by Walsh and Beaver who had previously passed him.
B main (started): 1. Stewart (4) 2. Trent (5) 3. Vanderploeg (1) 4. Hall (2) / 5. Doty (6) 6. M. Alexander (13) 7. Jamison (11) 8. Jobe (8) 9. Maeschen (17) 10. Lenz (19) 11. Voss (20) 12. Edwards (15) 13. DJ Heskin (10) 14. Zoutte (21) 15. Mason (16) 16. Dave Heskin (14) 17. Waddell (22) 18. Crabb (7) 19. Mosher (18) 20. Houseman (12) 21.York (9) 22. Walsh (3) DNS – Turner, Boyer, Jones, Wilson
Walsh flipped on the backstretch after the green was dropped. Vanderploeg led early until Trent slipped by on lap three. Two laps later, Stewart was getting the hang of the low side and moved out in front. York was running sixth when he smacked the wall on lap six. The restart saw Stewart leading Trent, Vanderploeg, Hall and Doty back to green. That would be their order of finish.
A main (started): 1. Hesmer (2) 2. Peters (6) 3. Rilat (8) 4. Kearney (10) 5. J. Anderson (9) 6. Stewart (17) 7. Golik (16) 8. Thorson (3) 9. Trent (18) 10. S. Alexander (7) 11. Vanderploeg (19) 12. Schulz (13) 13. Barickman (1) 14. Meyer (11) 15. Zomer (15) 16. Hall (20) 17. Phillips (4) 18. Beaver (14) 19. Mather (5) 20. Ry. Anderson (12)
Hesmer led half the race until a lap seven spin by Phillips. The restart saw Hesmer leading Peters, Rilat, Thorson and Kearney. Six laps later, Ry. Anderson stopped with mechanical problems. Hesmer was still in command over Peters, Rilat, Kearney, Thorson and Stewart. This set up a three lap dash for the finish. Hesmer commanded his 61st career Knoxville victory, while J. Anderson came from nowhere to pass Thorson and Stewart on the low side on the last lap for a top five finish. Stewart earned hard-charger honors moving forward 11 spots.