8/3
Knoxville Raceway
48 410s
55 360s
410s
Danny Wood (11th car out) set quick time with a lap of 15.780 seconds. Brent Antill (48th) was second quick, followed by Terry McCarl (9th), Skip Jackson (16th), Ricky Logan (10th), Dennis Moore Jr. (13th), Kerry Madsen (28th), Calvin Landis (25th), Travis Cram (32nd) and Jaymie Moyle (29th). Shane Stewart broke a U joint and was unable to get a time in. Jason Johnson was scheduled to take the track as the seventh qualifier, but he spun in turn four and was awarded a lap at the end. Pinegar also just got one lap in.
Heat one (started): 1. Leonard Lee 16L (2) 2. Wood 6 (6) 3. Brooke Tatnell 66 (4) 4. Randy Anderson 02 (8) / 5. Matt Moro 2m (7) 6. D. Moore 71 (5) 7. David Murcott 20 (1) 8. John Lambertz 12L (9) / 9. Bob Bennett 3 (3) 10. Tyler Houseman 50 (10)
Lee led the distance. Wood looked sharp and battled on the bottom with Tatnell before gaining the second spot. D. Moore changed a motor before the B. Heats had an invert of six, and took four to the A.
Heat two (started): 1. Kevin Frey 2K (1) 2. Tim Kaeding 35w (4) 3. Toni Lutar 4x (2) 4. Antill 1 (6) / 5. Madsen 82 (5) 6. Colin Northway 12 (3) 7. Chad Meyer 1w (7) 8. Jeff Johnson 11J (8) / 9. Robert Bell 71x (10) 10. Peter Murphy 0 (9)
Murphy exited on lap three with an ill-sounding machine. Frey led flag to flag, while Kaeding made the pass for second on the final go-around. It was close, but no cigar for Madsen.
Heat three (started): 1. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (2) 2. Stewart 8h (10) 3. Jason Sides 7 (1) 4. Landis 70 (5) / 5. Mike Reinke 17 (4) 6. McCarl 24 (6) 7. Tommy Tarlton 21T (3) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (7) / 9. Shane Hunter 8s (8) 10. Doug Strong 43 (9)
Mitrisin was only slowed by a caution for Montana native Strong on lap four. Stewart rode high and low as he sliced his way from tenth to second. Landis used the restart to get by Tarlton for the final transfer.
Heat four (started): 1. Craig Agan 4 (2) 2. Jason Johnson 41 (4) 3. Justin Henderson R19 (1) 4. Derek Beckman 50D (3) / 5. Cram 92 (5) 6. Larry Pinegar II 11L (8) 7. Randy Martin 14 (7) 8. Mike Moore 69 (9) / 9. Jackson 21 (6)
Jackson fell out on the second circuit. Agan was impressive, pulling away from Jason Johnson, who had a nice battle with Henderson for second.
Heat five (started): 1. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (2) 2. Lynton Jeffrey 4k (1) 3. Moyle 10 (5) 4. Logan 3s (6) / 5. Chris Walraven 56 (3) 6. Don Droud Jr. 55 (7) 7. Wayne Johnson 29 (4) 8. Greg Jones 35 (9) / 9. Tony Norem 47 (8)
Ball set sail and was never touched. Norem went up in smoke on lap four. W. Johnson went pitside after being passed by Logan for the final transfer on the white flag lap.
C feature (started): 1. Jackson (1) 2. Murphy (4) / 3. Hunter (2) 4. M. Moore (6) 5. Bell (8) 6. Houseman (7) 7. Strong (5) 8. Bennett (3) DNS - W. Johnson, Norem
For a time, there was an entertaining battle for second between Murphy and Hunter. By then, Skip was gone. Bennett fell out on lap seven.
B feature (started): 1. Madsen (3) 2. McCarl (1) 3. Cram (4) 4. Reinke (5) / 5. Northway (6) 6. Moro (10) 7. Murcott (9) 8. VanDenBerg (12) 9. D. Moore (2) 10. Meyer (11) 11. Pinegar (16) 12. Tarlton (7) 13. Droud (14) 14. Murphy (20) 15. Martin (13) 16. Jeff Johnson (15) 17. Lambertz (17) 18. Walraven (8) 19. Jones (18) 20. Jackson (19)
The B held four out of the top five in Knoxville points. It ended up being an entertaining showdown, with Madsen and McCarl swapping the lead early. It went non-stop, but Jackson did pull off on lap five. Reinke passed D. Moore who held fourth with two laps to go. Later, D. Moore's right rear would go flat on the white flag lap.
A feature (started): 1. Kaeding (6) 2. Jason Johnson (5) 3. Logan (10) 4. Landis (9) 5. Moyle (8) 6. Madsen (21) 7. Wood (12) 8. Tatnell (7) 9. Reinke (24) 10. McCarl (22) 11. Sides (16) 12. Lee (3) 13. Cram (23) 14. Anderson (19) 15. Ball (14) 16. Lutar (2) 17. Antill (11) 18. Jeffrey (18) 19. Henderson (17) 20. Agan (13) 21. Beckman (4) 22. Mitrisin (1) 23. Frey (15) 24. Stewart (20)
The invert was twelve. Mitrisin jumped to a huge margin, while Stewart came cutting through the field. Unfortunately, his bid came up short when he pulled it in on lap five. The only caution of the race came on lap ten, when Frey stopped. Mitrisin who had succumbed to third with no brakes in lapped traffic, retired. Kaeding took over on the low side, but brought it to the cushion later. Beckman fell out on lap 14. Logan made a late bid, using the low side of the track, but Jason Johnson barely held him off at the stripe. The victory was Tim's first at Knoxville. Reinke and Madsen both moved up fifteen spots from their original position giving them hard-charger honors.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Doug Wilson 33w (1*) 2. Ryan Anderson 71R (4*) 3. Joe Beaver 53 (3*) 4. Dave Middleswart 40 (2*) 5. Chris Coyle 56 (8*) 6. Mike Woodring 19w (9) 7. Terry Alexander 77 (5) 8. Rob Edwards 22 (11) 9. Kramer Williamson 00 (10) 10. Jerry Crabb 12x (6) DNS - Rob Caho Jr. B1st (7)
Caho was blacked by officials and not allowed to start the event. R. Anderson dogged Wilson the distance, but Wilson never wavered. Lap two saw Coyle and Crabb getting together with the latter suffering the most damage. He retired at that point. Williamson spun to avoid Crabb in the Larry Week's "Double Nuthin'" car.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Clint Garner 40x (5*) 2. Michael Jones 12 (4*) 3. Tim St. Arnold 7s (11*) 4. Mitchell Alexander 6 (2) 5. Steve Breazeale 66 (6) 6. Eric Mason B29 (1) 7. Trevor Lewis 15 (8) 8. Erin Crocker 16 (9) 9. Mike Waddell 2 (3) 10. Rick Smith 26 (7) 11. Ryan Coniam 6c
The initial green saw Smith get into Coniam, with Coniam ending up with heavy front end damage. Smith also retired at that point. St. Arnold charged through the field after visiting the work area. Garner was impressive, and Jones was a strong second. Breazeale's last lap pass of Mason moved him up a bit in the B main.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Curtis Thorson 91 (1*) 2. Tom Lenz 8L (2) 3. Brett Golik 5G (3*) 4. Michael Dupuy 4m (8*) 5. Johnny Anderson 7a (6) 6. Menninga (5) 7. Dave Hall 51 (4) 8. Greg Coverdale 97 (9) 9. Johnny Gilbertson 12G (7) 10. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (10) 11. Eric Jobe 23 (11)
C. Thorson was the race long leader in a mostly single file performance. Dupuy did move up nicely early.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brian Brown 3 (3*) 2. Mike Houseman Y5 (2*) 3. Josh Higday 24 (4*) 4. Bobby Hawks 5H (8*) 5. Tracy Nichols 19 (7) 6. Chuck Swenson X (10) 7. Kevin Welsh 18w (9) 8. Chris Martinez 7m (1) 9. Mark Detrick 12D (11) 10. Doran Doty 99x (5) 11. Stacey Alexander 126 (6)
S. Alexander and Doty got together, and Alexander cartwheeled in turn two. He was unhurt. Doty suffered front wing and drag link damage. He was finished. After Brown got into the lead, he wasted the field. Detrick pitted on lap three.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dave Hesmer 1 (2*) 2. Terry Thorson 9 (4*) 3. Brett Mather 54 (1*) 4. Ed Ergenbright 11 (3) 5. Jamie Ferrell 7 (5) 6. Dave Ely 5Gx (11*) 7. Tim Deaver 34 (10) 8. Rick Ideus 5B (7) 9. Virgil Brandt 2VK (6) 10. Rusty Potter 3P (8) 11. Ehren Layton 51L (9)
Potter and Brandt got together on the back straightaway, sending Brandt spinning. Unable to avoid the incident was Layton who took a wicked ride. He was unhurt. Potter and Brandt also called it quits. Hesmer led on the restart and went on to an easy win.
C main (started): 1. Doty (11) 2. Coverdale (2) / 3. Williamson (6) 4. Coniam (12) 5. Crocker (1) 6. Gilbertson (8) 7. Ideus (5) 8. Heimbaugh (12) 9. Smith (9) 10. Crabb (10) 11. Martinez (3) 12. Waddell (7) 13. Jobe (13) 14. S. Alexander (15) 15. Detrick (4) DNS - Caho, Brandt, Layton, Potter
Detrick exited early. S. Alexander left the race on lap three, after Jobe spun in four. Waddell also spun. Jobe somehow evaded the two-spin rule after doing the same on lap five. Doty was a rocket, ripping through the field to take the checkered.
B main (started): 1. Ergenbright (4) 2. Nichols (2) 3. Menninga (11) 4. M. Alexander (1) 5. Ferrell (8) / 6. Doty (17) 7. Swenson (3) 8. Woodring (5) 9. J. Anderson (7) 10. Deaver (9) 11. Mason (10) 12. Edwards (13) 13. Hall (16) 14. Breazeale (6) 15. T. Alexander (15) 16. Lewis (14) 17. Coverdale (18) 18. Welsh (12)
Eyes were on Welsh after passing his way to fourth. Unfortunately, he came to a rest on lap six and was done for the night. Lewis brought out the caution on that lap with a spin. Menninga was flying to get a transfer, and Doty made another charge. He passed 21 cars in the C and B combined. Nichols led the distance before smoking profusely the last couple of laps. Ergenbright got around him, and he was not able to start the A, due to motor troubles. He was replaced by Ferrell, who was involved in a five car race for the first four transfer spots.
A main (started): 1. Brown (10) 2. Dupuy (2) 3. Garner (12) 4. Hesmer (9) 5. St. Arnold (11) 6. Higday(14) 7. Hawks (13) 8. T. Thorson (4) 9. Wilson (8) 10. Houseman (1) 11. Lenz (3) 12. Ryan Anderson (7) 13. Golik (16) 14. C. Thorson (5) 15. Ergenbright (21) 16. Menninga (23) 17. Jones (6) 18. Middleswart (20) 19. M. Alexander (22) 20. Ferrell (24) 21. Coyle (18) 22. Beaver (15) 23. Mather (17) 24. Ely (19)
Ely jumped the cushion on the initial green, and flipped. He was unhurt. On the restarted circuit, Beaver spun after contact with someone, and collected Mather and Ferrell. Mather got upside down, the rest continued, though Beaver spun again on lap nine and was sent to the pits. Dupuy followed T. Thorson early, before getting under him on a restart for the second Beaver spin. Brown was soon on the low side, with Dupuy on the cushion. The two duked it out for several laps. Brown tried a slide job to no avail with two to go, but managed to find his way under Dupuy on the final corner for an exciting win. The Tournament of Champions on Sunday should be full of good racing. Garner and Brown were both hard-chargers moving up nine spots.