8/15
Knoxville Raceway Non-qualifiers Night
57 Non-qualifiers
Chris Walraven flipped in hot laps ending his night.
Heat one (started): 1. Randy Hannagan 1x (1) 2. Jesse Giannetto D1 (3) 3. Byron Reed 5R (2) 4. Toni Lutar 4x (5) / 5. Adam West 20A (4) 6. Jerrod Hull 50 (8) 7. Dr. Bob Altmeyer 14 (7) 8. Marty Perovich 17P (10) / 9. Kurt Winker 48H (11) 10. Joe Bustillos 37 (6) 11. Doug Strong 43 (9) 12. Steve Cushman 1c (12)
Hannagan led this single-file fest the distance which is usually customary with Friday night heat races. Heats are lined up according to points, as are the features. First four to A, second four to B, third four to C.
Heat two (started): 1. Max Dumesny 1J (1) 2. Roger Crockett 11c (2) 3. Todd Hepfner 28T (3) 4. Johnny Herrera 5 (6) / 5. Randy Anderson 1s (4) 6. Chuck Swenson X (7) 7. Derek Beckman 50D (9) 8. Mike Moore 69 (5) / 9. Rob Tvedte 1w (10) 10. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (8) DNS - John Lambertz 12L, Stevie Walsh 19w
Another flag to flag leader, single-file affair. Herrera took fourth by getting around Ra. Anderson in the first turn. Leavitt retired with a flat tire on the initial start.
Heat three (started): 1. Justin Henderson R19 (1) 2. Kelly Kinser 4KK (5) 3. Jon Agan 4 (3) 4. Ty Bartz 75 (6) / 5. Matt Moro 47 (4) 6. Kurt Davis 6K (9) 7. Bobby Mincer 15m (7) 8. Mark Toews 5T (10) / 9. Brian Brown 6 (2) 10. Kim Mock 1m (8) DNS - Walraven 56
After the initial start was called back, Mock took a hellacious ride involving several flips down the frontstretch on the next try. His flip included taking out both the top and front wings on Mincer's car. Mincer would borrow a couple of wings and continue. Mock was talking to the safety team when they took him in for a checkup. Brown took the early lead when the green dropped, but dumped a motor on lap four with a good lead. Henderson assumed the lead, while Ke. Kinser made the bottom work in getting up to second. Bartz gained the final transfer from Moro after a good battle with two laps to go.
Heat four (started): 1. Travis Rilat 29 (4) 2. Aaron Berryhill 97 (2) 3. John VanDenBerg V10 (1) 4. Dean Jacobs 29J (6) / 5. Colin Northway 60 (5) 6. Curt Trainer 36 (7) 7. Troy Little 20AU (10) 8. Tony Menard 12 (11) / 9. Bob Hildreth 55KC (9) 10. Jan Howard 51 (3) 11. Greg Jones 35x (8)
Rilat took the early lead from Berryhill before a Trainer spin on lap two. At the same time, Jones was shown the pits after he lost his muffler. The restart saw Rilat leading Berryhill, D. Jacobs, VanDenBerg and Howard. Howard would lose sixth to Northway before coming to a stop and retiring on lap five. The restart saw VanDenBerg and D. Jacobs having a great battle for third with VanDenBerg prevailing in the end.
Heat five (started): 1. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (2) 2. Fred Rahmer 88H (4) 3. Manny Rockhold 02 (1) 4. Bob Bennett 3B (6) / 5. Jonathan Allard 35w (3) 6. Jim Moughan Jr. 1mx (8) 7. Bruce Robenalt 98 (5) 8. Marty Wilcox 3 (9) / 9. Seth Brahmer 13 (10) 10. Jeff Johnson 11J (7) 11. Robert Bell 71 (11)
Wimmer led the distance. Bennett stuck his nose under Rahmer about lap four to threaten the fourth position. Rahmer looked like someone was shooting at him after he saw that and quickly surged to second. Bennett managed to get under Allard for the final transfer in impressive fashion.
C main (started): 1. Je. Johnson (1) 2. Bustillos (2) / 3. Leavitt (4) 4. Brahmer (8) 5. Jones (3) 6. Tvedte (10) 7. Winker (7) 8. Bell (9) 9. Strong (6) 10. Hildreth (5) 11. Cushman (11) DNS - Howard, Walraven, Mock, Lambertz, Walsh
Bustillos led until the last lap when he let off the gas behind the lapped Hildreth. Je. Johnson coasted around him on the top for the win in the non-stop ten lapper.
B main (started): 1. Allard (1) 2. Hull (11) 3. Moro (4) 4. Swenson (9) / 5. Moughan (12) 6. Northway (7) 7. Wilcox (15) 8. Ra. Anderson (3) 9. West (2) 10. Trainer (10) 11. Beckman (13) 12. Little (18) 13. Je. Johnson (21) 14. Davis (19) 15. Robenalt (6) 16. Toews (17) 17. Bustillos (22) 18. M. Moore (5) 19. Perovich (16) 20. Altmeyer (8) 21. Menard (20) 22. Mincer (14)
Allard ran and hid. The only yellow came for a lap seven M. Moore spin. The restart saw Allard leading Moro, West, Hull, Moughan and Swenson. Hull ended up gaining nine spots from his starting spot to gain second. Swenson used the cushion to move up five spots after a spirited duel for the final transfer with Moughan who briefly held it.
A main (started): 1. Herrera (16) 2. Hannagan (1) 3. VanDenBerg (3) 4. Ke. Kinser (20) 5. Rilat (12) 6. Rahmer (13) 7. Wimmer (8) 8. Giannetto (9) 9. D. Jacobs (18) 10. Dumesny (2) 11. Hull (22) 12. Henderson (11) 13. Lutar (14) 14. Swenson (24) 15. Reed (5) 16. Bennett (19) 17. Rockhold (4) 18. Bartz (17) 19. Allard (21) 20. Agan (15) 21. Berryhill (7) 22. Hepfner (10) 23. Moro (23) DQ - Crockett (6)
Moro was sent in before starting with no brakes. Hannagan shot out to the early from the pole over Dumesny. The two led Crockett, VanDenBerg and Wimmer to a lap two restart for Hepfner. Hepfner had made contact with the wall after meeting Reed on the track. He retired with a broken Jacob's ladder. Crockett hunted Hannagan for seven laps before passing him on the high side. Lap eleven saw Berryhill turn over in turn two. He was done for the night. Henderson visited the work area to fix a leak problem and restarted at the tail. The restart saw Crockett leading Hannagan, Herrera, VanDenBerg and Dumesny back to the stripe. Four laps later, the action slowed again. Allard, who was up to sixth from 21st, tagged Agan. Allard fixed his flat left rear, while Agan did the same with his right front. Now Herrera was on Crockett's bumper for the restart with Hannagan, VanDenBerg and Rilat in tow. On lap sixteen, Herrera took over for good to earn the $4000 win. Unfortunately for Crockett, who crossed second, he was light at the scales and DQed. Though Herrera came from 16th to win, Ke. Kinser was the hard-charger, finishing fourth from 20th on his patented low side.
C Scramble (started): 1. Tim Kaeding 7T (5) 2. Ryan Coniam 6c (3) 3. Dennis Moore Jr. 0 (7) 4. Jason Johnson 22 (4) 5. Ricky Logan 17G (10) 6. Brian Paulus 28 (6) 7. Mike Reinke 02x (2) 8. Danny Smith 4D (9) 9. Mike Kertscher 80K (8) 10. Clint Garner 55 (1)
Reinke set sail and led by almost half a lap before he suffered right side flat tires after getting into the fence on lap ten of twelve. Garner who was running second at the time had his brake rotor go away and he retired. Reinke did manage to get back to seventh. On the lap 10 restart, Ja. Johnson was leading Kaeding, Coniam, D. Moore and Logan. Kaeding would streak to the lead on the restart and never look back. C main start on Saturday will be:
1. Kaeding 2. D. Moore 3. Logan 4. Coniam 5. Ja. Johnson 6. Paulus 7. D. Smith 8. Kertscher 9. Reinke 10. Garner
B Scramble (started): 1. Lance Dewease 77 (2) 2. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (1) 3. Jeff Shepard 92 (3) 4. Chad Kemenah 15K (9) 5. Travis Cram 92c (8) 6. Jaymie Moyle 10 (5) 7. Kraig Kinser 11K (10) 8. Calvin Landis 70 (7) 9. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (6) 10. Jason Sides 7s (4)
Vanderploeg wrestled the early lead from Dewease, before Lance would take it back for good on lap five. Cram moved up a couple spots early and was fun to watch, but Kemenah made a late charge on him to grab fourth and valuable passing points. Vanderploeg ran a steady race on the bottom for second. Saturday B main lineup:
1. Kemenah 2. Kr. Kinser 3. Cram 4. Dewease 5. Moyle 6. Landis 7. Vanderploeg 8. Shepard 9. Mitrisin 10. Sides
A Scramble (started): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (1) 2. Greg Hodnett 12 (6) 3. Daryn Pittman 21 (3) 4. Donny Schatz 15 (10) 5. Kenny Jacobs 70J (5) 6. Kerry Madsen 82 (2) 7. Paul McMahan 11h (8) 8. Sammy Swindell 1 (7) 9. Danny Lasoski 20 (9) 10. Steve Kinser 11 (4)
Stewart led the distance and Hodnett was quickly into second. No one had anything for them. Pittman and Schatz battled in the pack. S. Kinser was working on passing Madsen for third when he cut in front of the 82 and had his left front ripped off. Madsen continued. Jacobs was shuffled back to tenth at one point, but came back strong in the late going.
Saturday A main lineup:
1. Schatz 2. Hodnett 3. McMahan 4. Lasoski 5. K. Jacobs 6. Pittman 7. Stewart 8. Swindell 9. Madsen 10. S. Kinser
Kele World Challenge (started): 1. Rilat (5) 2. Logan (9) 3. Winker (2) 4. D. Smith (8) 5. Jackson (10) 6. Tatnell (11) 7. Pittman (14) 8. Schatz (15) 9. Little (3) 10. Saldana (12) 11. Madsen (13) 12. Dumesny (7) 13. Perovich (4) 14. West (6) 15. Menard (1) 16. Walsh (16)
Drivers were inverted by Nationals qualifying points (excluding Walsh). Beforehand, a donation was taken for the Hutton family. The 55 was towed Australian style in front of the field and a "missing man" formation was formed. Jenny Hutton threw the green flag for the race and received a standing ovation in an emotional moment. Other pageantry included that blasted cannon and fireworks. Unfortunately, the racing did not live up to the hype. Rubber was laid about the halfway point after early leader Perovich was passed by Rilat on a restart for a spun West who was running fifth at the time. By the time Logan was within striking distance, the top three had found the rubber, including Winker who grabbed $3000 for third. Winker benefited from a last minute decision Wednesday to go back to Wisconsin and bring his car back to qualify on Thursday. Rilat earned $10,000 for his victory.
Saturday lineups (from TJSlideways.com):
E-Main (2 transfer to the D-Main) Row One: 50D - Derek Beckman 20AU - Troy Little Row Two: 11J - Jeff Johnson 6K - Kurt Davis Row Three: 98 - Bruce Robenalt 5T - Mark Toews Row Four: 37 - Joe Bustillos 69 - Mike Moore Row Five: 17P - Marty Perovich 14 - Robert Altmeyer Row Six: 12 - Tony Menard 15M - Bobby Mincer Row Seven: 1A - Eddie Leavitt, Jr. 13 - Seth Brahmer Row Eight: 35x - Greg Jones 1W - Bob Tevdte Row Nine: 48H - Kurt Winker 71 - Robert Bell Row Ten: 43 - Doug Strong
D-Main (2 Transfer to the C-Main) Row One: 50 - Jerrod Hull R19 - Justin Henderson Row Two: 35W - Jonathan Allard 4X - Toni Lutar Row Three: X - Chuck Swenson 5R - Byron Reed Row Four: 3B - Bob Bennett O2 - Manny Rockhold Row Five: 75 - Ty Bartz 4 - John Agan Row Six: 97 - Aaron Berryhill 28T - Todd Hepfner Row Seven: 47 - Matt Moro 11C - Roger Crockett Row Eight: 1MX - Jim Moughan 60 - Colin Northway Row Nine: 3 - Marty Wilcox 1S - Randy Anderson Row Ten 20A - Adam West 36 - Curt Trainer
C-Main (4 Transfer to the B-Main) Row One: 7T - Tim Kaeding 0 - Dennis Moore, Jr. Row Two: 17G - Ricky Logan 6C - Ryan Coniam Row Three: 22 - Jason Johnson 28 - Brian Paulus Row Four: 4D - Danny Smith 80K - Mike Kertecher Row Five: O2X - Mike Reinke 55 - Clint Garner Row Six: 5 - Johnny Herrera 1x - Randy Hannigan Row Seven: V10 - John VanDenBerg 4KK - Kelly Kinser Row Eight: 29 - Travis Rilat 88H - Fred Rahmer Row Nine: 7TW - Brandon Wimmer D1 - Jesse Giannetto Row 10: 29J - Dean Jacobs 1J - Max Dumesny
B-Main (4 Transfer to the A-Main) Row One: 11K - Kraig Kinser 15K - Chad Kemenah Row Two: 92C - Travis Cram 77 - Lance Dewease Row Three: 10 - Jamie Moyle 70 - Calvin Landis Row Four: 57A - Eric Vanderploueg 92 - Jeff Shepard Row Five: 5J - Jeff Mitrisin 7S - Jason Sides Row Six: 83JR - Kasey Kahne 2K - Kevin Frey Row Seven: 24H - Josh Higday 21X - Skip Jackson Row Eight: 7x - Don Droud, Jr. 10C - Jeremy Campbell Row Nine: 4H - Jac Haudenschild 4K - Lynton Jeffery Row Ten: 75J - Jesse Hockett 35 - Tyler Walker
A-Main (30 Laps) Row One: 15 - Donny Schatz 12 - Greg Hodnett Row Two: 11H - Paul McMahan 20 - Danny Lasoski Row Three: 70K - Kenny Jacobs 4M - Shane Stewart Row Four: 21 - Daryn Pittman 1 - Sammy Swindell Row Five: 82 - Kerry Madsen 11 - Steve Kinser Row Six: 17 - Joey Saldana 83 - Tim Shaffer Row Seven: 19 - Stevie Smith 16 - Erin Crocker Row Eight: 24 - Terry McCarl 5M - Mark Kinser Row Nine: 7 - Jason Meyers 2L - Ed Lynch, Jr. Row Ten: 12x - Wayne Johnson 66 - Brooke Tatnell