8/6/02
Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA
Non-wing Ultimate Challenge
37 cars
J. J. Yeley (16th car to time) set quick time over the field with a track record of 19.866 seconds. Tony Elliott (5th) was second quick, followed by Boston Reid (3rd), Richard Griffin (4th), Rickie Gaunt (6th), Kasey Kahne (22nd), Damion Gardner (26th), Jac Haudenschild (31st), Levi Jones (28th) and Bud Kaeding (7th). It was advantageous to get out early as the track was drying out. Yeley pulled a car out of his trailer with side panels extending to approximately the front axle. He was told to cut them shorter, and did so. Haudenschild was driving a Terry Pletch car, and Kahne was in the Kunz car.
Heat one (started): 1. Dickie Gaines 25 (2) 2. Charles Davis Jr. 94 (3) 3. Yeley 76 (8) 4. L. Jones 138 (6) / 5. Gaunt 4 (7) 6. Troy Rutherford 61 (4) 7. Bobby Graham 38 (5) 8. Mike Spencer 44 (1) 9. Stacey Alexander 126 (9) DNS - Jack DeArmott Jr. 24
Gaines led flag to flag. All heats had an invert of eight and took four to the feature. Heat winners were awarded a Sander Engineering wheel. Yeley impressed up on the cushion and had a good battle with L. Jones ending in a last corner pass. Rutherford was also in the mix for a transfer, but eventually was overcome.
Heat two (started): 1. John Scott 83 (2) 2. Pletch 29P (5) 3. Elliott 39 (8) 4. Kahne 67 (7) / 5. Tracy Hines 6x (3) 6. Kaeding 29 (6) 7. Adam Mitchell 99 (4) 8. Miles Grein 38G (1) 9. Robert Bell 71x (9)
Scott was gone in the non-stop event. Pletch was impressive on the low side, while Elliott came out ahead of a four-way battle for the final two transfer positions. Kahne wrestled the last spot from Kaeding and then Hines.
Heat three (started): 1. Mike Kirby 5 (3) 2. Reid 2B (8) 3. Gardner 20 (7) 4. Rip Williams 3 (4) / 5. Tony Jones 87 (6) 6. Justin Marvel 47 (5) 7. Ryan Jamison 51J (2) 8. Lance Gremett 85 (1) 9. Howie Gleason 21G (9)
Reid rode the high side through the field, but came just short of Kirby at the stripe. Gardner also went to the cushion to fly into third.
Heat four (started): 1. Griffin 50 (8) 2. Mike English 6 (6) 3. Travis Rilat 1A (4) 4. Rodney Argo 19 (2) / 5. Keith Hutton 55 (1) 6. Terry Thorson 9 (9) 7. Bobby Cody 41 (3) 8. Cory Kruseman 1 (5) 9. Haudenschild 29H (7)
A lap two incident saw Haudenschild pass three cars on the backstretch, then attempt to squeeze between the leader, Cody, and the wall. He failed and went upside down. Also taking a ride was Kruseman. All three drivers were done. Only Kruseman would make repairs for the B. Griffin restarted fourth, but used the cushion to fly by the top three cars and claim the heat.
Dash (started): 1. Gardner (1) 2. Griffin (3) 3. Kahne (2) 4. Yeley (6) 5. Reid (4) 6. Elliott (5) 7. L. Jones (7) 8. English (8)
Gardner obliterated the field, Kahne was close to capturing second from Griffin at the checkered flag. The finish determined the first eight starting spots in the A.
B feature (started): 1. T. Jones (3) 2. Kruseman (6) 3. Rutherford (7) 4. Marvel (5) 5. Jamison (10) 6. Gaunt (1) / 7. Kaeding (2) 8. Hines (9) 9. Graham (4) 10. Mitchell (8) 11. Grein (12) 12. Gleason (17) 13. Spencer (11) 14. Hutton (14) 15. DeArmett (15) 16. Alexander (19) 17. Gremett (13) 18. Bell (16) 19. Thorson (18) DNS - Haudenschild, Cody
T. Jones won convincingly, though a blanket could have been thrown over the second through fourth place finishers. Jamison was impressive, using the lowest part of the track possible in his first non-wing event in four years. A lap two spin by Thorson brought out a caution. The restart saw a collision involving Gremett, Hutton and Bell. Bell would retire.
A feature (started): 1. Rilat (16) 2. Gardner (1) 3. Kahne (3) 4. Reid (5) 5. Yeley (4) 6. Pletch (11) 7. Griffin (2) 8. L. Jones (7) 9. Kruseman (13) 10. Gaines (19) 11. Elliott (6) 12. Gaunt (9) 13. Jamison (21) 14. English (8) 15. Marvel (12) 16. Scott (20) 17. Kirby (18) 18. T. Jones (10) 19. Argo (22) 20. Williams (15) 21. Rutherford (14) 22. Davis (17)
Gardner, Kahne and Yeley swapped the lead to start things, while Griffin hovered close behind. It looked like a five car battle when Reid joined the fray. Gardner eventually took charge with Yeley and Kahne breathing fire right behind. Slowly, Rilat was picking off positions on the extreme low side of the track. The 30 lapper's first stoppage came on a Rutherford flip in turn two. He was uninjured. The restart saw Gardner leading Yeley, Kahne, Rilat, Reid and Griffin for the six lap dash for $30,000, the highest paying non-wing winner's check in history. It took Rilat one lap to move under the trio in front of him and pull away for the impressive win. It was the second time Rilat has ever piloted a non-winged machine. Jamison was also impressive moving up eight spots using the same groove. Gaines moved up nine spots, and Pletch moved up strongly as well.