8/8/02
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals, Night #2
63 cars
Danny Lasoski (9th car to time) came back from injury to set quick time with a lap of 15.277 seconds. It was advantageous to time early as the track went away quite a bit later in the qualifications. Jac Haudenschild (1st) scored second quick, followed by Johnny Herrera (7th), Stevie Smith (23rd), Jeff Mitrisin (4th), Mark Kinser (21st), Greg Hodnett (31st), Sammy Swindell (33rd), Donny Schatz (27th) and Tyler Walker (5th). Chad Kemenah, who qualified for last year's championship, scratched before time trials. Travis Cram underwent a motor change after hot laps and took one lap at the end.
Last Chance Heat (started): 1. Ryan Jamison 51J (2) 2. Steve King 88 (5) 3. Wayne Modjeski 77m (4) 4. Bruce Robenalt 98 (1) 5. Troy Meyer 11m (3) 6. Steve Cushman 30 (8) 7. Dr. Robert Altmeyer 14A (6) 8. Kris Spitz 4KS (7) / DNS - Destiny Hays 20D, Kurt Winker 10w, Curt Trainer 36, Randy Plath 14P, Kemenah 15K
Jamison dusted the field. King did a nice job moving up and around Modjeski after a nice battle. The eight cars filled the back of the C main.
Heat one (started): 1. Todd Hepfner 28H (3) 2. Lasoski 20 (10) 3. Kim Mock 1m (5) 4. Randy Anderson 02x (4) / 5. M. Kinser 5m (9) 6. Larry Pinegar II 11L (2) 7. Dean Jacobs 21G (1) 8. Kraig Kinser 11K (8) / 9. PJ Chesson 76 (7) 10. Jim Cameron 96c (6)
Hepfner led flag to flag, and was too far ahead for Lasoski to catch, despite his impressive showing moving up through the pack. M. Kinser fell just short of a transfer, when he couldn't work his way around R. Anderson in the last corner.
Heat two (started): 1. Tony Norem 47 (2) 2. Hodnett 12A (9) 3. Randy Hannagan 1x (6) 4. Haudenschild 5 (10) / 5. Danny Smith 51 (5) 6. Lynton Jeffrey 4k (4) 7. Byron Reed 5R (7) 8. Justin Henderson R19 (8) / 9. Darren Stewart 9s (1) 10. Tim St. Arnold 7s (3)
St. Arnold took a horrific flip and collided with the top of his cage headed into the wall when he got over Jeffrey's right rear. Amazingly, he was back at the track by feature time. Norem led the duration, while Hodnett was a rocket on the low side. D. Stewart also dropped out early.
Heat three (started): 1. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1) 2. S. Swindell 83JR (9) 3. Kerry Madsen 82 (7) 4. Herrera 2w (10) / 5. Brent Antill 1 (8) 6. Jerrod Hull 50 (5) 7. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (6) 8. Randy Martin 14m (3) / 9. Brian Carlson 18 (2) 10. Don Droud Jr. 55 (4)
Moyle broke out and led the whole way. Droud exited after stopping with driveline problems. Under Droud's yellow, Ball spun while running third and restarted at the tail. Herrera's side panel on his top wing flew off in turn one on the white flag lap. The caution was not brought out however, and he drove a faster Antill practically off the track to hold his position. This was met with disapproval by both fans and Antill, who let him know about it afterwards.
Heat four (started): 1. Jason Meyers 14 (4) 2. Ricky Logan 3s (6) 3. Shane Stewart 8h (8) 4. Schatz 15 (9) / 5. S. Smith 11h (10) 6. Tim Monson 1wm (1) 7. Peter Murphy 0 (2) 8. Kevin Frey 2K (5) / 9. Matt Moro 2m (7) 10. Manny Rockhold 02 (3)
Meyer led the distance, while Logan had to track S. Stewart down and dueled him for second. Schatz move up nicely, and S. Smith came up one spot short in a tough heat.
Heat five (started): 1. Travis Cram 92T (3) 2. Blake Feese 1F (7) 3. Walker 35 (9) 4. John Sernett 91 (4) / 5. Mitrisin 5J (10) 6. Terry McCarl 24 (6) 7. Wayne Johnson 29 (5) 8. Jeff Swindell 6s (8) / 9. Scotty Neitzel 2wx (2) 10. Travis Rilat 1A (1)
Rilat, Tuesday's non-wing Ultimate Challenge winner to the tune of $30,000 stumbled to a stop before the green could fall. Cram assumed the pole and led the duration of the race. Mitrisin's bid to get by Sernett for the final transfer came up short at the line.
C main (started): 1. Moro (2) 2. Chesson (1) / 3. Droud (4) 4. Rilat (10) 5. Neitzel (8) 6. Cameron (3) 7. Rockhold (6) 8. Modjeski (9) 9. King (12) 10. Carlson (5) 11. Jamison (7) 12. Robenalt (14) 13. T. Meyer (11) 14. Altmeyer (13) 15. Cushman (15) 16. Spitz (16) DNS - St. Arnold, D. Stewart
Moro cut off Chesson on lap one, and pulled away to a huge margin of victory in the non-stop event. Droud made a hard charge on Chesson on the final circuit but was pinched off in turn three and came up short of the final transfer to the B.
B main (started): 1. M. Kinser (3) 2. S. Smith (1) 3. McCarl (10) 4. Mitrisin (2) / 5. J. Swindell (7) 6. Henderson (5) 7. D. Smith (11) 8. Antill (6) 9. Ball (9) 10. Frey (13) 11. Chesson (21) 12. Moro (19) 13. Hull (12) 14. K. Kinser (4) 15. Pinegar (17) 16. Reed (8) 17. Jeffrey (15) 18. Murphy (18) 19. Monson (20) 20. Martin (16) 21. W. Johnson (14) 22. DNS - D. Jacobs
A great two-way battle between first and second was halted on lap ten by a stopped W. Johnson. He retired. The restart saw a hard-charging McCarl get under Mitrisin for third. Mitrisin almost bobbled on the final circuit enough to let J. Swindell by. J. Swindell had just passed Henderson in turn three and came close to getting the final transfer as well. M. Kinser managed to get under S. Smith for the win.
A main (started): 1. Schatz (3) 2. Walker (2) 3. Lasoski (8) 4. Haudenschild (7) 5. M. Kinser (21) 6. Herrera (6) 7. Logan (12) 8. Hodnett (5) 9. Madsen (9) 10. S. Smith (22) 11. Meyers (15) 12. Moyle (20) 13. McCarl (23) 14. S. Stewart (1) 15. S. Swindell (4) 16. Cram (18) 17. Hannagan (11) 18. R. Anderson (14) 19. Hepfner (17) 20. Mock (13) 21. Feese (10) 22. Sernett (16) 23. Mitrisin (24) 24. Norem (19)
Schatz wrestled the lead from S. Stewart on the first few laps. Norem took the right rear of Cram in his left front, breaking the steering arm and brake lines. He ended up hitting the wall then crossing the track and coming to a rest against the infield guard rail. Madsen went to the infield to check on an ignition problem, then restarted. S. Stewart spun on the restart while trying to hold off Hodnett for second. The next restart saw disaster again as Feese tipped over, and Mitrisin hit the wall hard. R. Anderson was also involved, but restarted. Sernett retired at this point as well. The last twenty laps went non-stop and will go down in Knoxville history as one of the best. To try to describe the three way duel between Schatz, Walker and Lasoski would not be possible, so I won't try. Needless to say, the three swapped the lead a few times, with Schatz finally gaining control from Walker with a slider with about four to go. Logan did the locals proud by moving strongly up to seventh. Madsen came back from the tail to finish ninth. McCarl moved up ten spots, and M. Kinser was the hard-charger moving up sixteen spots from where he started.