Landis cops $3000 in NMRA Spring Challenge
4/12/03
Oskaloosa, IA - For Phoenix, Arizona’s Calvin Landis, patience paid off in the end in the 25-lap NMRA Spring Challenge for sprint cars. Snohomish, Washington’s Travis Cram set the pace early and was dicing through traffic on lap four when he spun into the infield berm, and flipped on his top. Quick repairs got him back in the action, albeit at the tail.
Australia’s Kerry Madsen was running in the top five at the time, but was caught up in the mess as well and joined Cram in the back on the restart. Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Justin Henderson assumed the lead with Landis, Chad Meyer, Skip Jackson and Jaymie Moyle in tow. Brian Brown was surging through the field after winning the B main, when a throttle linkage problem forced him to stop and bring out a lap seven caution. He would restart at the rear, surrendering eighth place.
Henderson looked strong, as he entered traffic three laps after the restart for Brown’s stoppage. Landis pulled up beside Henderson a couple of times before passing him briefly on lap 18, but that bid was thwarted. The winning pass came on lap 22, when Henderson clipped the infield berm and lost momentum. The win was worth $3000 for Landis, and it was a good tune-up in his run for a Knoxville Season
Championship. Following him across the line were Henderson, Meyer, Jackson, Madsen (charging back from his early misfortune), Wayne Johnson, Cram, Moyle, Brown and Derek Beckman. Brown earned $200 for being the hard-charger in the event.
Madsen turned a qualifying lap of 15.018 seconds, shattering Busch Series regular Kasey Kahne’s track record (set last August 5) by almost a half second. The quick qualifier was awarded $200, while Josh Higday earned $100 for the quickest lap by a 360 competitor. Higday also earned $300 for the highest finishing 360 driver (17th). Heats were won by Henderson, Tim St. Arnold, Johnson, and Scotty Neitzel. Brown took the B main over Jeff Mitrisin. Mike Houseman (360) and Brown (410) each earned $500 for winning Dashes for Cash in their respective classes. Houseman won his dash after flipping in his heat race and making repairs. Other heat flip victims were Mike Kertscher and Johnny Anderson.
Results (*-denotes 360 engine)
Quick time: Kerry Madsen, 15.018 seconds
Heat one (started): 1. Justin Henderson R19 (4) 2. Kerry Madsen 82 (6) 3. Travis Cram 92 (5) 4. Mike Moore 69 (7) 5. Ryan Anderson 71R* (8) / 6. Adam West 00* (10) 7. Jeff Johnson 11J (2) 8. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (3) 9. Howie Gleason 21G (9) 10. Mike Kertscher 80K (1)
Heat two (started): 1. Tim St. Arnold 7s (2) 2. Jesse Giannetto D1 (1) 3. Aaron Berryhill 97 (3) 4. Chad Meyer 1w (4) 5. Kim Mock 1m (6) / 6. John Sernett 91 (5) 7. Rod Richards 5* (9) 8. Brad Martin 21s (8) 9. Brandon Hainline 4J* (10) 10. Ryan Bunton 66 (7)
Heat three (started): 1. Wayne Johnson 12x (1) 2. Skip Jackson 21 (4) 3. Travis Whitney 7x (5) 4. Josh Higday 24* (7) 5. Joey Beaver 53* (8) / 6. Kurt Davis 6K (9) 7. John VanDenBerg V10 (3) 8. Don Droud Jr. 55 (2) 9. Brian Brown 6 (6) DNS - Allan Zoutte 33
Heat four (started): 1. Scotty Neitzel 2w (1) 2. Derek Beckman 50D (3) 3. Colin Northway 60 (2) 4. Jaymie Moyle 10 (4) 5. Calvin Landis 70 (6) / 6. Ed Ergenbright 11* (7) 7. Tyler Houseman 50 (10) 8. Johnny Anderson 7a (5) 9. Stacey Alexander 126* (9) 10. Mike Houseman 83* (8)
360 Dash for Cash (started): 1. M. Houseman (2) 2. Richards (1) 3. Higday (6) 4. Beaver (3) 5. R. Anderson (4) 6. Ergenbright (5)
410 Dash for Cash (started): 1. Brown (2) 2. Madsen (4) 3. Landis (3) 4. Sernett (6) 5. Mock (5) 6. Whitney (1) DNS - J. Anderson
B feature (started): 1. Brown (1) 2. Mitrisin (5) / 3. Sernett (3) 4. Ergenbright (7) 5. Gleason (2) 6. Kertscher (10) 7. West (6) 8. T. Houseman (8) 9. Hainline (9) 10. S. Alexander (4) DNS - Droud, Zoutte, VanDenBerg, M. Houseman, J. Anderson, Davis, Richards, Martin, Bunton, J. Johnson
A feature (started): 1. Landis (4) 2. Henderson (1) 3. Meyer (7) 4. Jackson (8) 5. Madsen (6) 6. W. Johnson (15) 7. Cram (2) 8. Moyle (9) 9. Brown (21) 10. Beckman (10) 11. Berryhill (11) 12. Giannetto (16) 13. Mock (5) 14. St. Arnold (12) 15. Neitzel (14) 16. Northway (13) 17. Higday (18) 18. R. Anderson (19) 19. Moore (17) 20. Beaver (20) 21. Whitney (3) 22. Mitrisin (22)