8/9/02
Knoxville Nationals
Non-qualifiers Night
Heat one (started): 1. Kraig Kinser 11K (1) 2. Danny Smith 51 (2) 3. Colin Northway 12 (3) 4. Kevin Frey 2K (4) / 5. Bobby Mincer 15m (6) 6. Manny Rockhold 02 (8) 7. Troy Meyer 11m (11) 8. Mike Moore 69 (7) / 9. Scott Fokken 1FX (9) 10. Bob Hildreth 55KC (10) 11. Gary Wright 9 (5) DNS Kurt Winker 10w
K. Kinser roasted the field. Wright was running fifth when he exited on lap three.
Heat two (started): 1. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (2) 2. John Sernett 91 (1) 3. Don Droud Jr. 55 (7) 4. Tim Kaeding 35w (4) / 5. Leonard Lee 16L (3) 6. Randy Martin 14M (6) 7. Jeff Johnson 11J (8) 8. Curt Trainer 36 (11) / 9. Robert Bell 71x (10) 10. Ralph Spithaler Jr. 56x (5) 11. Dr. Robert Altmeyer 14A (11) DNS - Jason Johnson 44
Ball led flag to flag in impressive fashion. Droud moved up through the field using mostly the low side of the track, but fell just short of passing Sernett for second at the checkered flag. Altmeyer got together with Bell as the green fell. Serious front end damage sent Altmeyer to the pits, while Bell continued without a nose wing. Lee worked Kaeding over the final two laps, but couldn't get by for the A main transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Larry Pinegar II 11L (5) 2. Chad Kemenah 15K (12) 3. Brooke Tatnell 66 (4) 4. John Lambertz 12L (2) / 5. Matt Moro 2m (3) 6. Tim Monson 1wm (7) 7. Scotty Neitzel 2wx (8) 8. Wayne Modjeski 77m (10) / 9. Doug Strong 43 (9) 10. Peter Murphy 0 (6) 11. Sean Michael 1z (1) 12. Steve Cushman 30 (11)
Kemenah blasted through the field, but came just short of Pinegar when he had to change his line around a lapped car. Tatnell was the leader taking the white flag lap, but slowed over the final circuit to a third place finish. Michael was also leading on lap two when the motor would go no more. Cushman was also an early exit. Murphy also suffered problems on the white flag lap, costing him a B main spot.
Heat four (started): 1. Chris Walraven 56 (1) 2. Tony Norem 47 (2) 3. Jerrod Hull 50 (3) 4. Lynton Jeffrey 4k (4) / 5. Derek Beckman 50D (7) 6. Shane Hunter 8s (5) 7. Johnny Anderson 7a (9) 8. Terry Pletch 29T (6) / 9. David Murcott 20m (8) 10. Kris Spitz 4KS (11) 11. Bruce Robenalt 98 (10)
Walraven led the distance in a mostly single file affair. Murcott went up in smoke at the finish line.
Heat five (started): 1. Michael Dupuy 4m (2) 2. PJ Chesson 76 (1) 3. Bob Bennett 3 (3) 4. Doug Wilson 33w (4) / 5. Tommy Tarlton 21T (7) 6. Steve King 88 (10) 7. Ty Bartz 75 (6) 8. Jim Cameron 96c (5) / 9. Ryan Jamison 51J (9) 10. Destiny Hays 20D (11) 11. Brian Carlson 18 (8)
Dupuy shut down Chesson on lap one, and held the advantage the rest of the heat. Tarlton worked hard on Wilson to no avail. Carlson exited on lap six. Hays brought out a caution on the same lap with a spin.
C main (started): 1. Wright (1) 2. Murphy (3) 3. Jamison (7) / 4. Fokken (2) 5. Carlson (5) 6. Altmeyer (11) 7. Strong (4) 8. Hildreth (6) 9. Bell (9) 10. Hays (8) 11. Spitz (10) DNS - Spithaler, Murcott, Jason Johnson 44, Robenalt, Cushman, Michael, Winker
Wright rode the rim with Murphy in tow the whole way in the non-stop event. Fokken and Carlson put on an entertaining battle for the fourth spot. Jamison worked the low side to move up to third, which turned out to be a transfer spot.
B main (started): 1. Martin (4) 2. Lee (1) 3. Mincer (5) 4. Cameron (2) / 5. Murphy (20) 6. Bartz (6) 7. T. Meyer (19) 8. Jeff Johnson (12) 9. Wright (21) 10. Rockhold (13) 11. Modjeski (17) 12. Neitzel (15) 13. Monson (8) 14. M. Moore (9) 15. J. Anderson (14) 16. Pletch (7) 17. Beckman (11) 18. Jamison (22) 19. Hunter (3) 20. King (16) 21. Trainer (18) 22. Tarlton (12) DNS - Moro
Before a lap could be completed, Jeff Johnson and Tarlton got together, with the latter suffering front wing problems and retiring. The second try was no better, as Trainer got sideways and King could not avoid tagging him. Both were done. The third attempt was not a charm as Beckman and Monson got together and collected Rockhold, Murphy and Jamison in the mess. Pletch retired while running one spot out of a transfer on lap four. Martin passed race long leader Lee in the last corner for the win.
A main (started): 1. Chesson (4) 2. Ball (6) 3. Norem (8) 4. Droud (19) 5. K. Kinser (1) 6. Dupuy (9) 7. D. Smith (5) 8. Kemenah (20) 9. Tatnell (15) 10. Northway (10) 11. Hull (11) 12. Walraven (3) 13. Frey (13) 14. Pinegar (18) 15. Martin (21) 16. Jeffrey (16) 17. Lee (22) 18. Lambertz (7) 19. Sernett (2) 20. Mincer (23) 21. Bennett (12) 22. Kaeding (14) 23. Cameron (24) 24. Wilson (17)
Wilson had nowhere to go when Tatnell slowed on the front stretch at the drop of the green. Wilson went over Tatnell's right rear and flipped. He was uninjured. The race went non-stop from there, with K. Kinser taking the early lead with Ball close behind. Chesson eventually worked his way forward for his first Knoxville win. Ball ran a solid second, while Norem battled back from as far back as ninth to take third. Kemenah moved up well, as did hard-charger Droud. The top ten earned their way into the back of Saturday's C.
C Scramble (started, points total after scramble): 1. Jeff Swindell 6s (5, 417) 2. Chad Meyer 1w (2, 404) 3. Jon Agan 4 (3, 405) 4. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1, 398) 5. Josh Higday 24H (7, 410) 6. Justin Henderson R19 (9, 410) 7. Brent Antill 1 (10, 411) 8. Todd Hepfner 28H (6, 400) 9. Randy Anderson 02x (8, 401) 10. Travis Cram 92T (4, 394)
Cram's motor detonated on lap eight. J. Swindell got the lead from C. Meyer and pulled away from the field. He suffered a flat, but after the checkered flag fell. It was enough to earn him the pole in Saturday's C inside of Antill.
B Scramble (started, points total after scramble): 1. Randy Hannagan 1x (1, 440) 2. Jeff Shepard 92 (3, 451) 3. Ricky Logan 3s (8, 460) 4. Brian Paulus 28 (2, 445) 5. Kasey Kahne 51K (7, 452) 6. Kenny Jacobs 6K (5, 437) 7. Fred Rahmer 88H (9, 449) 8. Brad Furr 2 (10, 449) 9. Danny Wood 6 (6, 442) 10. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (4, 438)
Mitrisin, who was hurt a bit on Thursday night, exited early. Logan moved up nicely and earned the pole for Saturday's B. Hannagan and Shepard battled the first half of the race, before Hannagan established himself on the cushion. Rahmer worked over Jacobs to no avail the last couple of laps.
A Scramble (started, points total after scramble): 1. Tyler Walker 35 (1, 494) 2. Steve Kinser 11 (4, 500) 3. Donny Schatz 15 (2, 491) 4. Johnny Herrera 2w (3, 491) 5. Tim Shaffer 83 (7, 499) 6. Craig Dollansky 7 (5, 492) 7. Danny Lasoski 20 (9, 493) 8. Jac Haudenschild 5 (6, 489) 9. Joey Saldana 17 (10, 500) 10. Daryn Pittman 21 (8, 487)
Walker dominated this event, and even lapped Pittman before it was over. Eighteen Nationals Championships will be represented in the front row when Lasoski starts inside S. Kinser.
Kele World Challenge Dash (started): 1. Schatz (14) 2. Chesson (6) 3. Tatnell (4) 4. Antill (7) 5. Furr (12) 6. Jeffrey (3) 7. Shepard (10) 8. Tarlton (1) 9. Kerry Madsen 82 (13) 10. Skip Jackson 21x (9) 11. Logan (11) 12. Pittman (15) 13. Kemenah (16) 14. Toni Lutar 4x (8) 15. D. Smith (5) 16. Murcott 2K (17) 17. Murphy (2) DNS - Lasoski
Lasoski took this race off. Murphy was running second when he came to a stop on lap two and retired. Murcott was driving Frey's 2K after the Trostle 20 suffered mechanical ills. Chesson chased down Tarlton and took the lead several laps in. Schatz was moving up quickly in the 16 lap race. He made his winning move with a slide job in turns three and four on the very last lap for the $10,000 prize.