8/16
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals
97 cars
E main (started): 1. Troy Little 20AU (2) 2. Jeff Johnson 11J (1) 3. Kurt Davis 6K (4) 4. Brian Brown 6 (20) 5. Mike Moore 69 (8) / 6. Joe Bustillos 37 (5) 7. Seth Brahmer 13 (14) 8. Tony Menard 12 (7) 9. Rob Tvedte 1w (16) 10. Dr. Robert Altmeyer 14 (10) 11. Bobby Mincer 15m (12) 12. Robert Bell 71 (18) 13. Greg Jones 35x (11) 14. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (9) 15. Doug Strong 43 (15) 16. Steve Cushman 1c (17) 17. Bob Hildreth 55KC (19) 18. Mark Toews 5T (6) 19. Bruce Robenalt 98 (3) 20. Kurt Winker 48H (13) DNS - Derek Beckman 50D, Marty Perovich 17P, Jan Howard 51
Little shot out to the lead on a narrow track that was building a cushion. Brown found a way through the field from the scratch position and was sitting in sixth when fourth place Toews got over the cushion and became the first driver to flip over the fence in turns three and four since Jerry Richert Jr. two years ago. Thankfully, he was uninjured. The lap seven (of ten) restart saw Little leading Je. Johnson, Davis, M. Moore and Brown to the green. Brown managed to snatch fourth from M. Moore who grabbed the final D transfer to complete his run. Winker exited on lap three, with Robenalt following him off.
D main (started): 1. Jerrod Hull 50 (1) 2. Jonathan Allard 35w (3) / 3. Aaron Berryhill 97 (11) 4. Bob Bennett 3B (7) 5. Manny Rockhold 02 (8) 6. Todd Hepfner 28T (12) 7. Matt Moro 47 (13) 8. Adam West 20A (17) 9. Jim Moughan Jr. 1mx (15) 10. Curt Trainer 36 (18) 11. Davis (21) 12. Little (19) 13. Jon Agan 4 (10) 14. Marty Wilcox 3 (18) 15. Toni Lutar 4x (4) 16. Justin Henderson R19 (2) 17. Chuck Swenson X (5) 18. Je. Johnson (18) 19. M. Moore (22) 20. Brown (20) 21. Colin Northway 60 (14) 22. Ty Bartz 75 (9) DNS - Byron Reed 5R, Roger Crockett 11c, Randy Anderson 1s
Somehow Allard started third when he should have started ninth. A 19th place finish in Friday's A should have put him inside row five. He benefited from the mistake. This was a race to fill the tanks. Cautions and open reds resulted in competitors running out of fuel. Most notable was Henderson who bowed out after surrendering second to Lutar on lap eight. Other apparent victims of empty tanks were Lutar who at one time held second, Swenson, Wilcox and Agan. The race started off bad as Bartz slowed against the wall, sped up and was whacked by Je. Johnson. The result was Bartz suffering a series of flips in turn two. He was uninjured. Northway made heavy contact with the wall and suffered enough damage to retire on the next try at a start. Finally, Hull took the early lead, but a lap two red for a M. Moore flip in turn four brought things to a halt. Brown suffered damage in the incident and went pitside. Je. Johnson flipped on the next attempt to go green. He too, was uninjured. Hull led Henderson, Lutar, Allard and Agan back to the cone. Lutar got under Henderson for second on lap five. Three laps later, Swenson would run dry of fuel and bring out the caution. Henderson also went trackside, and Lutar did the same on a restart that saw him second to Hull. Allard, Agan and Berryhill moved up in order. The competitors dropped like flies and Hull and Allard were the beneficiaries.
C main (started): 1. Tim Kaeding 7T (1) 2. Brian Paulus 28 (6) / 3. Jason Johnson 22 (5) 4. Ricky Logan 17G (3) 5. Clint Garner 55 (10) 6. Johnny Herrera 5 (11) 7. Mike Reinke 02x (9) 8. Randy Hannagan 1x (12) 9. Fred Rahmer 88H (16) 10. Kelly Kinser 4KK (14) 11. Dean Jacobs 29J (19) 12. Danny Smith 4D (7) 13. Allard (22) 14. Hull (21) 15. John VanDenBerg V10 (13) 16. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (17) 17. Max Dumesny 1J (20) 18. Travis Rilat 29 (15) 19. Ryan Coniam 6c (4) 20. Jesse Giannetto D1 (18) 21. Mike Kertscher 80K (8) 22. Dennis Moore Jr. 0 (2)
D. Moore stopped after a lap had been completed with unknown problems. He was done. In the first lap, Paulus managed to go from sixth to second, a position he would finish in. Kaeding led flag to flag. Kertscher flipped on the restart, but was uninjured. The next restart saw Giannetto get into the wall hard and go pitside. Coniam who was running third, also pulled in. Kaeding led Paulus, Logan, Garner and Ja. Johnson back to the cone. Paulus chased down and passed Kaeding on lap 11 only to have the favor returned two circuits later in a great battle for the trophy.
B main (started): 1. Chad Kemenah 15K (1) 2. Kraig Kinser 11K (2) 3. Lance Dewease 77 (4) 4. Jeff Shepard 92 (6) / 5. Jeremy Campbell 10c (16) 6. Jaymie Moyle 10 (5) 7. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (9) 8. Kaeding (21) 9. Kasey Kahne 83JR (11) 10. Calvin Landis 70 (6) 11. Paulus (22) 12. Travis Cram 92c (3) 13. Jason Sides 7s (10) 14. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (18) 15. Jesse Hockett 75J (19) 16. Tyler Walker 35 (20) 17. Jac Haudenschild 4H (17) 18. Don Droud Jr. 7x (15) 19. Kevin Frey 2K (12) 20. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (7) 21. Josh Higday 24H (13) 22. Skip Jackson 21x (14)
A root canal would be less painful than getting this B main completed tonight. With umpteen officials in the place, no one seemed to notice that Walker jumped every start he was a part of, which was plenty. This caused serious repercussions. The first start saw Higday and Jackson flip together down the frontstretch. Higday got some serious airtime high above the catchfence. Both drivers climbed out of their machines unscathed. Droud appeared to have bent an axel in the fray, but he tried to continue on. Haudenschild also made repairs and Walker changed a tire and restarted at the tail. He would change a tire when the next attempted start saw Jeffrey and Kaeding get together. Kaeding's front end was eliminated, but he would have time to change it when Vanderploeg brought out yet another red with his flip in turn two. Kr. Kinser led when the 22 lapper was finally under green flag conditions. Frey would stop with motor issues on lap eight. At the time, Kr. Kinser led Cram, Kemenah, Dewease and Landis. Haud and Walker dropped out on laps 15 and 17 respectively, but the race went non-stop until Hockett blew his right rear and flipped in turn three on the 19th go-around. Kr. Kinser led Kemenah, Cram, Dewease and Shepard back into green flag conditions. Cram did not make it a lap before apparently running out of fuel. When he thought the coast was clear he made a left into the pits. It wasn't clear. Jeffrey broadsided him and flipped hard down the frontstretch. He was not a happy camper. Cram bent too much in the contact to continue. The red negated Campbell's passes of both Moyle and Shepard to get into the fourth and final transfer. He would come within feet of passing Shepard at the line. Nonetheless he would watch from the infield. Kemenah's pass for the lead came on the next restart and he was joined by Kr. Kinser, Dewease and Shepard as A main transfers.
A main (started): 1. Danny Lasoski 20 (4) 2. Donny Schatz 15 (1) 3. Kenny Jacobs 70J (5) 4. Sammy Swindell 1 (8) 5. Greg Hodnett 12 (2) 6. Steve Kinser 11 (10) 7. Shane Stewart 4m (7) 8. Paul McMahan 11h (3) 9. Jason Meyers 7 (17) 10. Stevie Smith 19 (13) 11. Tim Shaffer 83 (12) 12. Joey Saldana 17 (11) 13. Terry McCarl 24 (15) 14. Kemenah (21) 15. Mark Kinser 5m (16) 16. Kerry Madsen 82 (9) 17. Shepard (24) 18. Dewease (23) 19. Wayne Johnson 12x (19) 20. Kr. Kinser (22) 21. Erin Crocker 16 (14) 22. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (18) 23. Brooke Tatnell 66 (20) 24. Daryn Pittman 21 (6)
Schatz rushed out to an early lead with Lasoski in tow. Lasoski took the point on lap seven of thirty. Hodnett trailed in third for much of the race with McMahan in fourth. The race went non-stop until Pittman stopped on the front stretch on lap 28. The restart saw Lasoski (who had broken a shock) lead Schatz, K. Jacobs (who had resurged from eighth), Hodnett, S. Kinser and Swindell. Lasoski held out for his third Nationals win, while Swindell had a nice restart moving up into fourth. K. Jacobs could have benefited from a few more laps as he recorded the fastest time of anyone on the final circuit. The highest finishing local was McCarl, who spent a great deal of time in the top ten before fading. Meyers and Shepard both finished seven spots ahead of where they started for hard-charger honors. Meyer's car won best appearing, while Stewart's crew won the same honor. Crocker was the hands down Rookie of the Year.