4/26
Knoxville Raceway
WoO
55 410s
40 360s
410s
Mark Kinser (2nd car out to time) set quick time with a lap of 15.025 seconds, just a tick of Don Droud Jr.'s record. Daryn Pittman (4th) was second quick, followed by Terry McCarl (13th), Kevin Frey (20th), PJ Chesson (6th), Joey Saldana (31st), Brian Brown (16th), Kraig Kinser (43rd), Jason Sides (26th) and Craig Dollansky (49th). Tyler Walker and Lynton Jeffrey missed their time slots and took one lap at the end of qualifications. Kurt Winker was unable to get a time in, or hot lap, due to mechanical ills in the Robuck 12. Danny Lasoski, Donny Schatz, Steve Kinser and Tim Shaffer locked themselves into the dash with their Friday night performances.
Heat one (started): 1. M. Kinser 5m (4) 2. K. Kinser 11K (3) 3. Sides 7s (2) 4. Walker 35 (5) / 5. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (10) 6. Calvin Landis 70 (1) 7. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (7) 8. Blake Feese 3 (8) 9. Jaymie Moyle 10 (6) 10. Jeff Hodgson V8 (9) 11. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (12) 12. Adam West 20A (11) 13. Robert Bell 71x (13)
K. Kinser worked himself into the lead early and was followed by M. Kinser. Meanwhile, Ball made a charge up to sixth from his row five starting spot. Lap six saw a caution for debris (nerf bar) and a flat left rear for Bell. M. Kinser took the lead on the restart, while Ball put serious pressure on Walker for the final transfer, falling just short. Because of his time trial, he would have to go to the C. Feese drove the Ritchhart racing, Durst Motorplex car.
Heat two (started): 1. Dollansky 7 (2) 2. Travis Cram 92 (1) 3. Jac Haudenschild 5 (6) 4. Pittman 21 (4) / 5. Brown 6 (5) 6. Stevie Smith 19 (8) 7. Johnny Herrera 2w (5) 8. Jeff Johnson 11J (9) 9. Mike Moore 69 (7) 10. Droud 55 (10) DNS - Brent Antill 1, Tony Menard 7m, Tyler Houseman 50
Dollansky went flag to flag in a mostly single file race. Haudenschild's move into a transfer came on the first lap when he used the cushion.
Heat three (started): 1. Kerry Madsen 82 (2) 2. Jeff Shepard 11h (1) 3. Brooke Tatnell 66 (6) 4. McCarl 24 (4) / 5. Ricky Logan 17G (8) 6. Brian Paulus 28 (7) 7. Saldana 17 (3) 8. Tim St. Arnold 7st (5) 9. Derek Beckman 50D (9) 10. Jon Agan 4 (11) 11. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (10) 12. Greg Jones 35x (12) DNS - Winker 12
Madsen and Shepard had a great race, going back and forth for the lead, before Madsen made his final pass in the last lap. Saldana got off to a rough start when he was bumped around by contact from several competitors on the first lap. He would restart at the tail. Regrettably, in a later interview he blamed someone else rather than himself when he said, "I guess that's how they drive here." Bad move.
Heat four (started): 1. Chris Walraven 56 (2) 2. Jonathan Allard 35w (1) 3. Chesson 76 (3) 4. Skip Jackson 21x (9) / 5. Justin Henderson R19 (7) 6. Colin Northway 60 (6) 7. Randy Hannagan 1x (5) 8. Randy Martin 14 (8) 9. Frey 2K (4) 10. Clint Garner 47 (10) DNS - Wayne Johnson 12x, Jeffrey 4K
Good racing among the top four in this heat. For the second night in a row, Garner was a victim of the two spin rule. His first came on lap four, his second on lap five. Frey was in a transfer spot before giving way to Jackson and fading late until he went pitside on the white flag lap. Walraven and Allard swapped the lead until Walraven moved under Allard for good, while taking the white flag. Jackson moved up by using the bottom of the track, which was especially good in turns one and two.
C feature (started): 1. Martin (4) 2. Ball (3) / 3. Droud (6) 4. J. Johnson (1) 5. Beckman (2) 6. Vanderploeg (5) 7. Agan (9) 8. West (7) 9. Garner (8) 10. Leavitt (11) 11. Bell (12) 12. Houseman (10) DNS - Antill, Jones, Winker
Martin dominated a caution filled C. Ball followed him for the entirety of the race, despite stops for a Bell spin on lap five, a wicked flip by Leavitt on the restart, and a spin by Garner on lap nine.
Dash (started): 1. Lasoski (1) 2. Schatz (2) 3. S. Kinser (3) 4. Shaffer (4) 5. Pittman (6) 6. M. Kinser (5) 7. McCarl (7) 8. Chesson (8)
A parade, but McCarl and M. Kinser exchanged positions a couple of times.
B feature (started): 1. Saldana (2) 2. Herrera (5) 3. Brown (3) 4. Paulus (12) / 5. Moyle (8) 6. Mitrisin (10) 7. Frey (1) 8. Henderson (13) 9. Logan (16) 10. St. Arnold (6) 11. Northway (9) 12. Feese (14) 13. Martin (17) 14. Hodgson (18) 15. Landis (4) 16. Hannagan (7) 17. Smith (15) 18. Ball (19) 19. Moore (11) DNS - W. Johnson
Saldana broke out to the early lead and held it until a lap six red resulted from contact between Hannagan and Smith. Both were done for the night. Landis exited on lap eight. Hard charges were put on by both Paulus, who moved up eight spots, and Moyle.
A feature (started): 1. Lasoski (1) 2. Schatz (2) 3. S. Kinser (3) 4. M. Kinser (6) 5. Shaffer (4) 6. Pittman (5) 7. McCarl (7) 8. Walker (19) 9. Saldana (9) 10. Shepard (17) 11. Brown (10) 12. Dollansky (13) 13. Sides (12) 14. Jackson (24) 15. Haudenschild (21) 16. Allard (16) 17. K. Kinser (11) 18. Herrera (20) 19. Paulus (23) 20. Walraven (15) 21. Tatnell (22) 22. Madsen (14) 23. Cram (18) 24. Chesson (8)
Lasoski led the whole way and was never challenged for his 80th win at Knoxville. S. Kinser did move into second place for a time. The real race was for fourth through seventh. Walker was the hard-charger, moving up 11 spots. Chesson exited on lap two, Cram on lap eleven, Madsen on lap 13, and Tatnell on lap 20. The only caution came on lap 22, when Walraven and Paulus came together. Walraven exited.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Josh Higday 24 (6*) 2. Curtis Thorson 91 (5*) 3. Ryan Menninga 10 (4*) 4. DJ Heskin 56 (7*) 5. Rob Edwards 22 (3) 6. Tom Lenz 8L (1) 7. Jim Cruise Jr. 77c (2) 8. Allan Zoutte 33 (8) 9. John Hall 7H (10) 10. Eric Mason B29 (9)
A good race between Higday and Thorson ended when Josh took the lead for good with two to go. Lenz's motor was ailing more and more as the race went on and he gradually moved backwards.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Mike Houseman 83 (2*) 2. Joe Beaver 53 (3*) 3. Matt Moro 2 (6*) 4. Steve Breazeale 57 (1) 5. Ed Ergenbright 11 (7) 6. Johnny Anderson 7a (8) 7. Ryan York 5R (4) 8. Dave Hall 51 (5) 9. Ryan Anderson 71R (10) 10. Bruce Defries 82 (9)
Houseman torched the field from his front row starting spot. Moro looked strong with his new black and white paint job.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (2*) 2. Rod Richards 5 (1*) 3. Rodney Turner 69 (3*) 4. Doug Wilson 33w (7*) 5. John VanDenBerg V10 (9*) 6. Dave Middleswart 40 (4) 7. Bobby Mincer 15 (10) 8. Dave Heskin 84 (5) 9. Mitchell Alexander 6 (8) DNS - Michael Jones (6)
Giannetto was out of reach. Alexander pulled in on the first lap. Wilson and Middleswart had quite a battle before Wilson grabbed fourth on the last lap. VanDenBerg followed him and that was good enough for a spot in the feature for the former 410 pilot. Jones scratched after a major brake rotor fire suffered during hot laps.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dave Hesmer 1 (2*) 2. Brett Golik 5G (8*) 3. Stacy Alexander 126 (5*) 4. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (1) 5. Billy Alley 22A (9*) 6. Jerry Crabb 12x (4) 7. Brett Mather 54 (7) 8. Brandon Hainline 4J (3) 9. Nate Mosher 45 (10) DNS - Chris Martinez 7m (6)
Hesmer checked out. Golik moved up nicely, as did Alley, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame's 2002 360 national co-rookie of the year. Mosher, a Prairie City high schooler, looped his sprinter on lap five. It was his first competition in the sprint car class after a successful kage kart career.
B feature (started): 1. Ergenbright (2) 2. Breazeale (1) 3. Mincer (6) 4. Mather (12) / 5. J. Anderson (5) 6. York (11) 7. R. Anderson (18) 8. Hall (14) 9. Mason (21) 10. Crabb (9) 11. Lenz (7) 12. Dave Heskin (15) 13. Hainline (16) 14. Hall (17) 15. Middleswart (8) 16. Cruise (10) 17. Zoutte (13) 18. Defries (22) 19. Edwards (4) 20. Heimbaugh (3) 21. Mosher (19) DNS - M. Alexander, Jones, Martinez
This one took forever. Mosher flipped after jumping the cushion on lap four. Heimbaugh exited while running strong up front. Edwards spun and exited on lap five. Cruise spun on the next circuit, collecting Zoutte and Defries, who both crashed hard. All were finished. Middleswart exited on lap nine. Ergenbright led the distance, while Mather used his familiar low-line to move under J. Anderson and seven others into the last transfer.
A feature (started): 1. Hesmer (1) 2. Giannetto (2) 3. S. Alexander (10) 4. Houseman (3) 5. Golik (5) 6. Thorson (4) 7. Ergenbright (17) 8. Mather (20) 9. VanDenBerg (15) 10. Richards (9) 11. Turner (14) 12. Mincer (19) 13. Breazeale (18) 14. Menninga (11) 15. Higday (6) 16. Moro (8) 17. Beaver (7) 18. DJ Heskin (12) 19. Wilson (13) 20. Alley (16)
The opening circuit saw the elimination of six cars. Higday got into one and two hard and spun, collecting Beaver and DJ Heskin. Moro tried to squeeze between the mess and wall, came back across the track and collected Wilson, who turned over hard. Alley did not have time to make repairs to his sprinter in the work area. Hesmer led the distance for his record 58th career 360 win. S. Alexander came out of nowhere at the halfway mark and slipped under Houseman to grab a podium finish. Mather moved up twelve spots from his scratch starting position.