6/13/02
Knoxville Raceway
Night One of the 360 Nationals
40 cars
Josh Higday (2nd car out) paced the field in time trials with a lap of 16.883 seconds on a track that was already badly drying out. Toby Brown (17th) was second quick, followed by Randy Martin (26th), John Kearney (14th), Larry Neighbors (40th), Kurt Davis (3rd), Matt Moro (31st), Michael Dupuy (22nd), Johnny Anderson (13th) and Jeff Young (1st). Dave Hesmer and Dave Middleswart needed a lap at the end to get their times in because of mechanical problems. 200 points were given to quick time, 198 to second quick and so on.
Heat one (started): 1. Garry Lee Maier 11x (3) 2. Randi Miller 2DX (1) 3. Christi Passmore 1A (4) 4. Danny Jennings 61J (2) / 5. Michael Jones 12 (8) 6. Davis 6K (5) 7. Jerry Crabb 12x (7) 8. Higday 24 (6)
Heats were inverted six with the top four finishers earning transfer spots to the A main. Heat winners earned 100 points, second place was awarded 97 points, and so on. After a nice battle, Maier wrestled the lead from Miller on the low side. Higday brought out the lone caution with a spin on lap seven of the eight lapper.
Heat two (started): 1. Hesmer 1 (2) 2. Doran Doty 99x (1) 3. Moro 2m (5) 4. Jake Peters 57x (4) / 5. Brown 61a (6) 6. Mitchell Moore 2D (7) 7. Tim Deaver 34 (3) 8. Billy Ray Olsen 92x (8)
Hesmer led flag to flag. Moro made his pass of Peters on the final circuit.
Heat three (started): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (2) 2. Don Cooper 11 (1) 3. Dupuy 4m (5) 4. Mike Chadd 4c (3) / 5. Martin 14 (6) 6. Mike Houseman Y5 (4) 7. Stacey Alexander 126 (7) 8. Matt Harms 53H (8)
This stacked heat was led wire to wire by Giannetto. Dupuy muscled his way up to third, and a transfer.
Heat four (started): 1. Kearney 86 (6) 2. Doug Wilson 33w (4) 3. Ryan Menninga 10 (2) 4. J. Anderson 7a (5) / 5. Rod Richards 5 (1) 6. Mitchell Alexander 6 (3) 7. Middleswart 40 (7) DNS - David Murcott 00
Kearney rode the rim from sixth to second in the first lap and went on to win. J. Anderson spun on lap seven, but managed to still move up into a transfer position.
Heat five (started): 1. Colin Northway 60 (2) 2. Chris Walraven 56 (1) 3. Neighbors 29N (6) 4. Ryan Anderson 71R (4) / 5. Brent Antill 1B (3) 6. Jeff Young B29 (5) 7. Mike Waddell 2 (8) 8. Jim Alexander Jr. 14A (7)
J. Alexander flipped when the green flag was dropped, ending his night. R. Anderson was black flagged on the ensuing restart, but recovered nicely to get by Antill for the final transfer. In the best heat of the night, front row starters Northway and Walraven battled, with the former coming to the stripe with the win.
B feature (started): 1. Davis (4) 2. Martin (3) / 3. Houseman (6) 4. Higday (1) 5. Antill (9) 6. Deaver (7) 7. M. Moore (12) 8. Jones (14) 9. Young (5) 10. S. Alexander (13) 11. Crabb (11) 12. M. Alexander (8) 13. Middleswart (17) 14. Richards (10) 15. Harms (16) 16. Waddell (18) 17. Brown (2) 18. Olsen (15) DNS - J. Alexander, Murcott
Brown wrestled the early lead from Higday and set sail. Brown saw disaster on lap eight when he tangled with the lapped machine of Harms and badly broke his front end. He was done for the night. Martin assumed the point on the restart, followed by Davis, Higday, Antill and Houseman. Davis overtook Martin and pulled away for the right to start the A at the tail.
A feature (started): 1. Peters (2) 2. Moro (6) 3. Dupuy (5) 4. J. Anderson (4) 5. Wilson (1) 6. Jennings (12) 7. Maier (10) 8. Miller (17) 9. Northway (16) 10. Neighbors (7) 11. Hesmer (13) 12. R. Anderson (9) 13. Walraven (20) 14. Menninga (15) 15. Giannetto (14) 16. Cooper (19) 17. Davis (21) 18. Doty (18) 19. Martin (22) 20. Passmore (3) 21. Kearney (8) 22. Chadd (11)
Peters and Wilson battled early, with Peters taking the point and setting sail on a track that was taking on rubber. Chadd dropped out on lap twelve, but the caution didn't fly until Kearney lost a cylinder and coasted to a stop on lap eighteen. The restart saw Peters leading Dupuy, Moro, J. Anderson and Wilson to the stripe. Moro got Dupuy with two to go, with the rest falling in line. Miller was the hard-charger, moving up nine spots from the ninth row.
Thanks to Rustin Nelson for his help the last couple of weeks.