5/26/02
Cresco Speedway
IRA
38 cars
Mike Reinke (31st car to time) set quick time at 14.619 seconds on an extremely dry surface affected mostly by the windy conditions. It was actually better to time late as some rubber was developing on the track helping with traction. Travis Whitney (24th) was second quick followed by Colin Northway (27th), John Sernett (30th), Blake Feese (18th), Tim St. Arnold in a 360 (38th), Dave Enders (35th), Billy Warren (26th), Steve Meyer (19th), and Scotty Neitzel (25th). Calvin Landis was not allowed to time.
Heat one (started): 1. Reinke 17 (6) 2. Feese 1F (5) 3. Meyer 85m (4) 4. Ty Bartz 75 (8) / 5. Wayne Modjeski 77 (2) 6. Todd King 97 (9) 7. Curt Grant 36 (7) 8. Charley Osborne 53 (10) 9. Dave Uttech 68 (1) 10. Jim Melis 51m (3)
Melis and Meyer made contact on the frontstretch on lap two, resulting in a broken front end in the Melis machine. He was done. D. Uttech went over the berm on a couple of occasions and called it quits on the seventh circuit. Reinke looked strong working his way to the front. Bartz also impressed moving up four spots for the final transfer. Heat winners start in the first two rows of the A, inverted by time.
Heat two (started): 1. Darrell Dodd 11 (2) 2. St. Arnold 7s (5) 3. Todd Hepfner 28 (8) 4. Derek Beckman 50D (1) / 5. Neitzel 2w (4) 6. Whitney 9 (6) 7. Mike Stefka 33 (3) 8. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (7) 9. Dan Biertzer 4B (9)
Beckman was blacked a row for jumping the initial start. Neitzel spun on lap three after Hepfner made contact with him and could only come back as far as fifth. Hepfner kept it going despite a mangled front wing, and delighted the crowd with his wheelies down the frontstretch. It was a good driving performance to move up to third. Dodd led flag to flag despite St. Arnold and his 360 power plant breathing down his back. Biertzer was a spin victim on lap six.
Heat three (started): 1. Travis Cram 92 (2) 2. Kim Mock 1m (1) 3. Northway 12 (6) 4. John Haeni 21J (3) / 5. Bill Boles 05 (4) 6. Enders 51e (5) 7. Scott Uttech 7 (7) 8. Matt Wasmund 4w (9) 9. Joe Symoens 96 (8) 10. Calvin Landis 70 (10)
Landis exited on lap two, while Cram impressed up front by passing Mock on lap three and cruising home. Boles was also piloting a 360 and nearly made the field.
Heat four (started): 1. Joe Roe 61 (2) 2. Terry McCarl 24 (3) 3. Dennis Moore Jr. 71 (7) 4. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (8) / 5. Larry Pinegar 11L (1) 6. Warren 95 (5) 7. Manny Rockhold 02 (4) 8. Tim Ammon 1A (9) 9. Sernett 91 (6)
Warren was running third on lap four, when he spun and collected Sernett. Rockhold's left rear tire exploded at the same time. Sernett spun on lap five and exited. Ammon stopped on lap three, bringing out the caution. Roe held off McCarl at the stripe.
B feature number one (started): 1. Whitney (1) 2. Neitzel (3) 3. Enders (2) / 4. Rockhold (4) 5. Stefka (5) 6. S. Uttech (8) 7. Grant (7) 8. Wasmund (10) 9. King (9) 10. Osborne (11) 11. D. Uttech (6)
Whitney dominated lapping up to sixth place, in a mostly single file affair.
B feature number two (started): 1. Sernett (1) 2. Melis (4) 3. Modjeski (5) / 4. Pinegar (6) 5. Symoens (8) 6. Boles (3) 7. Ammon (9) 8. Warren (2) 9. Biertzer (7) DNS - Mitrisin, Landis
Sernett led flag to flag. On lap seven, Warren stalled while running second and retired. A third place Boles hit the cone on the restart and had to go to the tail.
A feature (started): 1. McCarl (15) 2. Cram (2) 3. Roe (1) 4. Northway (7) 5. Haeni (14) 6. Dodd (3) 7. Mock (18) 8. Neitzel (12) 9. Moore (19) 10. St. Arnold (5) 11. Melis (13) 12. Modjeski (16) 13. Ball (22) 14. Enders (10) 15. Meyer (11) 16. Bartz (20) 17. Whitney (8) 18. Beckman (17) 19. Hepfner (21) 20. Reinke (4) 21. Feese (6) 22. Sernett (9)
Sernett elected to start at the tail and dropped out immediately as Cram got out to an early lead. Lap four saw top five runners Feese and Whitney do dual 360s. They were able to keep their cars running but Dick Witt had already brought out the caution and both had to go to the tail. Feese exited a lap later. Lap seven saw third place runner Reinke suffer fuel and power steering pump problems. He brought out a caution and went pitside. Cram was still leading, but with the attrition, McCarl had moved his way up to fifth at this point. Lap ten saw Beckman get upside down, with Whitney joining him. Enders and Hepfner were also caught up in the incident. Hepfner and Beckman were done, while Enders and Whitney restarted. McCarl worked his way around Roe for second after the green fell, but Whitney saw disaster again as he tangled with Bartz, ending both driver's nights. With four to go, it was Cram leading McCarl, Roe, Northway and St. Arnold. Approaching the white flag, Cram got a bit high coming out of turn four and McCarl slid under him to take the win, and hard-charger honors. IRA points leader, Haeni, moved up nine spots from his seventh row outside starting spot.