7/26
Knoxville Raceway 1200 pound Nationals Night One
96 cars
Heats were lined up by draw with passing points used. Two complete shows, splitting the field by draw, were run. Events were rained out after nine laps were gone in the second B. Apparently, it was declared a final (though it was never announced). Saturday night's festivities will begin with the two A mains that were washed out tonight, and a full 360 program and 1200 pound national program to follow. Hot laps saw an incident involving David Murcott, Skip Jackson, and Larry Ball Jr. all suffering significant damage with two of the cars getting upside down. Both Jackson and Ball would get their cars ready enough to run their heat, while Murcott was done for the evening.
First Group
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Doug Wilson 33w (2*) 2. John Sernett 91 (3*) 3. Kerry Madsen 82 (7*) 4. Jeff Shepard 92J (9*) 5. Lynnton Jeffery 4k (6) 6. Leonard Lee 16L (10*) 7. Shane Hunter 8s (5) 8. Wayne Modjeski 77 (8) 9. Charley Osborn 53x (1) 10. Tim Ammon 1AA (4)
Wilson looked strong, wrestling the lead from Osborn and running well. Madsen and Shepard were both impressive with their charges from the rear, earning them valuable passing points. Osborn ran well, and was holding off Shepard on the white flag lap when he lost power and coasted home.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Kelly Kinser 4KK (2*) 2. John VanDenBerg V10 (5*) 3. Jackson 21 (4*) 4. Brian Ellenberger 20E (8*) 5. Jeff Schulz 45 (10*) 6. Ryan Jamison 51J (9) 7. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (7) 8. Robert Bell 71x (3) 9. Tim St. Arnold 7s (6) DNS - Murcott 20 (1)
Kinser led flag to flag, while VanDenBerg ran strong, holding off a challenging Jackson towards the end. Ball was up to fifth before suffering a flat right rear with two to go. St. Arnold had already brought out a caution on that lap when he coasted to a stop. He retired pitside.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Travis Rilat 1A (2*) 2. Brent Antill 1 (6*) 3. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (5*) 4. Bill Rose 6B (4) 5. Tony Norem 47 (3) 6. Joe Symoens 96 (1) 7. Jim Melis 51m (10) 8. Mike Moore 69 (7) 9. Todd Hepfner 28 (9) 10. Adam Constable 11JR (8)
Rilat led flag to flag. Antill ran well, holding off Lynch. Norem and Rose had a nice battle for fourth, but they would not have enough points to qualify for the A. Debris from M. Moore's car caused a caution on lap two and he restarted at the tail.
Heat four (started): 1. Justin Henderson R19 (2*) 2. Dean Jacobs 34 (1*) 3. Paul McMahan U2 (8*) 4. Ricky Logan 3s (7*) 5. Travis Cram 92 (3) 6. Jerrod Hull 12H (5) 7. Mike Wagner 55W (9) 8. Jon Agan 4 (6) 9. Ty Bartz 75 (4)
Henderson led the distance, but all eyes were on McMahan and Logan who put on driving exhibitions from the rear of the field. Good battles between McMahan and both D. Jacobs and Logan on a pretty narrow track.
Heat five (started): 1. Calvin Landis 70 (4*) 2. Travis Whitney 9T (1*) 3. Kenny Jacobs 6 (9*) 4. Johnny Anderson 7a (2) 5. Jan Howard 11JJ (3) 6. John Haeni 21J (8) 7. Steve Meyer 85m (7) 8. Todd King 97 (5) 9. Scotty Neitzel 2w (6)
Landis tucked in behind Whitney until a lap five caution for a stalled Neitzel. Landis blew by Whitney shortly after the restart and pulled away to victory. K. Jacobs also took advantage of the restart, and got by Anderson for third, good enough for a spot in the A.
B feature (started): 1. Norem (4) 2. Jeffery (3) 3. Haeni (7) 4. Wagner (12) / 5. M. Moore (18) 6. Hunter (13) 7. Ball (14) 8. Rose (1) 9. J. Anderson (2) 10. Melis (9) 11. S. Meyer (15) 12. Jamison (8) 13. Modjeski (16) 14. Symoens (10) 15. Bell (17) 16. Cram (5) 17. Agan (20) 18. Howard (6) 19. King (19) 20. Hull (11)
Norem wasted Rose on lap one, and looked very impressive on the cushion. Jeffery used the low side to garner second. Haeni and Wagner used the misfortune of Cram and Howard to gain the final transfers, capping off tremendous runs. Howard blew a left rear while running sixth on lap 12, and retired. Cram dropped out on the restart. M. Moore cruised forward 13 spots, but missed the A by one position. Agan, King and Hull were early casualties.
Second Group
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Greg Wilson 63 (1*) 2. Darren Stewart 9s (2*) 3. Terry McCarl 24 (4*) 4. Darrell Dodd 11 (3*) 5. Chad Meyer 1w (6) 6. Toni Lutar 4x (10*) 7. Rob Chaney 29 (5) 8. Bruce Robenalt 98 (7) 9. Jerrod Wilson 88J (9) 10. Larry Pinegar II 11L (8)
Wilson led flag to flag in a mostly single file affair. Lutar's charge from the back to sixth was enough to get A main points.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Travis Myze 29m (4*) 2. Chris Walraven 56 (9*) 3. Clint Garner 40 (7*) 4. Jason Johnson 41 (10*) 5. Derek Beckman 50D (5) 6. Jeff Johnson 11J (3) 7. Scott Uttech 7 (2) 8. Dave Uttech 68 (6) 9. Fred Ebler 64 (8) 10. John Lambertz 12L (1)
Lambertz dropped out with motor woes on lap three, while leading. 18 year old Myze assumed the lead and carried it to the checkered. Behind him were Walraven, Garner, and Jason Johnson who battled furiously for position, and did a nice job of gaining some passing points.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Blake Feese 1F (1*) 2. Danny Smith 51 (2*) 3. Joey Beaver 53 (3*) 4. Dennis Moore Jr. 71 (4*) 5. Chad Kemenah 15k (6) 6. Colin Northway 12 (8) 7. Matt Moro 2m (10) 8. Mike Reinke 17 (9) 9. Gary Wright 9 (5) 10. Scott Biertzer 4B (7)
Biertzer's wing collapsed, dropping him from contention on lap one. Wright was running an impressive fourth, before bowing out on lap four. In what was probably the most stacked heat of the night, Feese blistered the field to the tune of a new ten lap record at 2:40.4. Kemenah was on D. Moore's bumper, but couldn't muster a pass.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Kim Mock 1m (4*) 2. Don Droud Jr. 55 (5*) 3. Jaymie Moyle 10 (3*) 4. Brooke Tatnell 66 (7*) 5. Howie Gleason 21G (6) 6. Matt Wasmund 4w (9) 7. Curt Davis 36 (8) 8. Ryan Irwin 49 (1) 9. Billy Warren 95 (2)
Mock worked his way smoothly to the front and held off a determined Droud. Tatnell did a nice job of moving up through the pack as well. Warren brought out the lone stoppage with a flat left rear on lap three.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jac Haudenschild 5x (1*) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (6*) 3. Byron Reed 5 (5*) 4. Tim Monson 1wm (2) 5. Randy Martin 14 (3) 6. Randy Anderson 02 (8) 7. Rich Bubak 9x (4) 8. Barry Ruble 63R (9) 9. Greg Jones 35 (7)
Haudenschild led the duration, though Mitrisin wasn't far behind, fresh off his win last week.
B feature (started): 1. Kemenah (3) 2. C. Meyer (2) 3. Monson (1) 4. Martin (8) / 5. R. Anderson (9) 6. Reinke (14) 7. Chaney (13) 8. Bubak (15) 9. Wasmund (5) 10. Gleason (4) 11. Ruble (17) 12. Beckman (6) 13. Northway (7) 14. Jeff Johnson (11) 15. Robenalt (16) 16. Davis (10) 17. D. Uttech (19) 18. Irwin (18) 19. S. Uttech (14) DNS - Moro
Kemenah moved to the front quickly and was in lapped traffic on lap nine when fifth place runner, Beckman went over the berm bringing out the caution. Irwin spun and then stalled ending his night. S. Uttech was disqualified after not going to the tail after hitting the cone on the restart. The final restart was the last. Jeff Johnson flipped hard in turn one, and then Northway also turned over on the backstretch. Both drivers were uninjured. The rains came next and everyone called it a night.