3/30/02
I-55 Raceway
Pevely, MO
WoO
44 cars
Stevie Smith (32nd car out) shattered Sammy Swindell's five year old track record and seventeen other drivers were under the same mark. Stevie circled the 1/3 mile banked tacky and lightning-fast oval in 10.189 seconds. Brian Paulus (10th) was second quick, followed by Tyler Walker (37th), Danny Lasoski (8th), Jac Haudenschild (23rd), Mark Kinser (16th), Jason Sides (19th), Terry McCarl (21st), Blake Feese (25th), and Brad Furr (31st). Greg Wilson (2nd car out) timed in 24th, but had a mechanical breakdown and sat out the rest of the evening.
Heat one (started): 1. Feese 1F (4) 2. Randy Hannagan 1x (2) 3. Haudenschild 5 (5) 4. Colin Northway 12 (1) 5. Tim Shaffer 83 (3) / 6. S. Smith 11h (6) 7. Scotty Neitzel 2w (9) 8. Kurt Winker 10w (7) 9. Tom Busch 4B (8) 10. Chris Urish 77u (11) 11. Dan Oswalt D1 (10)
Feese was impressive in the non-stop event and hounded the leader Hannagan until the final circuit when he got around him on the high side for the win. Northway ran steady in his first appearance after the family joined forces with Mike Robuck. The invert for the heats with the WoO this year is six, with five transferring to the A.
Heat two (started): 1. Kelly Kinser 4k (2) 2. Furr 2 (4) 3. Craig Dollansky 7 (3) 4. M. Kinser 5m (5) 5. Paulus 28 (6) / 6. Todd Kane 29 (1) 7. Mike Reinke 17R (9) 8. Jason Keith 28x (10) 9. Jerrod Hull 12H (8) 10. Eddie Lynch 29L (11) 11. Tommy Worley Jr. 97 (7)
Worley brought out the yellow when he slowed and exited on lap three. K. Kinser stuck to his patented low groove and held off Furr, however he suffered some motor woes and was not able to make the call for the dash. Paulus needed a late race effort and some contact to get by Ohio's Kane for the final transfer. Reinke was impressive and looked to be ready to possibly move into a transfer before bobbling in turn two.
Heat three (started): 1. Danny Wood 6 (1) 2. Steve Kinser 11 (3) 3. Walker 35 (6) 4. Danny Smith 51 (2) 5. Sides 7s (5) / 6. Kraig Kinser 11k (4) 7. Jan Howard 11J (7) 8. Jim Moughan Jr. 1m (9) 9. Jason Hunt 19 (11) 10. Jason Johnson 44 (8) 11. Robbie Standridge 86 (10)
Wood led flag to flag, while a tremendous race-long battle for position between S. Kinser, Walker and Smith ended with the King prevailing. Standridge was in the car usually piloted by Mark Siciliano. Hunt is 17 years old.
Heat four (started): 1. Donny Schatz 15 (1) 2. Joey Saldana 17 (4) 3. Joey Montgomery 21 (5) 4. McCarl 24 (3) 5. Lasoski 20 (6) / 6. Steve Zelch Jr. z34 (7) 7. Larry Pinegar II 11L (8) 8. Brian Kristan 5K (9) 9. Derek Beckman 50D (2) DNS - Greg Wilson 63, Steve Short 8
Wilson scratched from the pole, moving the inside rows up. McCarl and Lasoski made contact on the first lap sending both back a few spots. Zelch held down a transfer for part of the race, but eventually surrendered it to Lasoski. Beckman was solidly in a transfer spot before getting both front wheels off the ground and flipping violently down the frontstretch on lap three. He was talking to emergency personnel at the track at last report.
C feature (started): 1. Oswalt (1) 2. Keith (2) / 3. Urish (5) 4. Standridge (3) 5. Lynch (6) 6. Kristan (4) 7. Hunt (7) DNS - Short
Oswalt led flag to flag, despite pressure from Keith on the high side.
Dash one (started): 1. Lasoski (2) 2. Paulus (1) 3. M. Kinser (3) 4. Furr (5) 5. Shaffer (6) 6. S. Kinser (7) 7. Hannagan (8) 8. McCarl (4)
Lasoski jumped the start, the yellow was not thrown and the race was a single file affair to the checkered. The two dashes take the top sixteen qualifiers who transferred to the A from the heat races. Dash one lines up the inside of rows one through eight in the feature, and Dash two lines up the outside of the same rows.
Dash two (started): 1. Walker (1) 2. Haudenschild (2) 3. Feese (4) 4. Sides (3) 5. Schatz (7) 6. Dollansky (6) 7. Saldana (5) DNS - Kelly Kinser
K. Kinser did not start the dash and would start 24th in the A. Walker led this parade and left the rest behind in dominating fashion.
B feature (started): 1. S. Smith (1) 2. Howard (8) 3. Kraig Kinser (2) 4. Kane (4) / 5. Worley (3) 6. Winker (6) 7. Hull (10) 8. Neitzel (9) 9. Busch (5) 10. Moughan (11) 11. Keith (16) 12. Pinegar (12) 13. Reinke (14) 14. Johnson (7) 15. Zelch (15) 16. Oswalt (13) DNS - Wilson, Beckman
Smith led flag to flag, but got a late challenge from a very impressive Howard who picked his way through six challengers in the non-stop affair. Oswalt checked out on lap six. Kane battled with Worley midway through the event for what turned out to be the final transfer spot.
A feature (started): 1. Haudenschild (4) 2. Walker (2) 3. Schatz (10) 4. S. Kinser (11) 5. Lasoski (1) 6. S. Smith (16) 7. Shaffer (9) 8. Feese (6) 9. Sides (8) 10. Dollansky (12) 11. M. Kinser (5) 12. Howard (22) 13. Saldana (14) 14. Wood (21) 15. Furr (7) 16. Paulus (3) 17. Kane (20) 18. Hannagan (13) 19. D. Smith (18) 20. Kraig Kinser (17) 21. Northway (19) 22. Montgomery (23) 23. McCarl (15) 24. Kelly Kinser (24)
Kelly Kinser limped off immediately, still suffering from motor problems. McCarl would exit two laps later. Walker jumped out to a lead with Haud in tow. Haud moved around him when he bobbled on lap four. A yellow for a stalled Montgomery ensued on lap eight. Lap nine saw disaster for Hannagan as he flipped hard in turn four. D. Smith was also involved and went pitside. Both drivers walked away. Kraig Kinser and Northway both exited at this time as well. Furr, who had been charging from his seventh starting spot charged around Haudenschild on the restart and began pulling away. Kane exited on a lap sixteen restart for Dollansky who changed a tire and rejoined the field. Furr dominated until lap 21, when M. Kinser had a tire go down, coming to rest in turn two. Almost simultaneously, Furr's dominating performance came to an end as the motor went up in smoke. Haudenschild led the rest of the way for his first win of 2002. The 40 lap scheduled race was shortened to 30 laps, a surprise to fans and announcers alike.