9/14/02
Spoon River Speedway
Tom Knowles Memorial
42 sprints
48 midgets
Sprints
“The Spoon” provided great racing action as usual. High speeds on the high banks provided great racing action in both classes. A hot lap incident saw contact from Jeff Mitrisin send Gary Bonar and Dustin Whiting spinning. Whiting was done for the evening.
Heat one (started): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (5) 2. Matt Rogerson 45 (1) 3. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (8) / 4. Derek Rossio 70 (3) 5. Tim Moore 10T (4) 6. Doug Wilson 33w (9) 7. Michael Strader 7m (2) 8. AJ Bruns 44 (7) 9. Brad Martin 21s (6)
Giannetto came back after a spin on the initial green to roar around the rim of the high banks victorious. His winning move came around Rogerson on the final lap. Bruns was collected by the Giannetto incident, and contact with Martin on lap four, would send the two drivers pitside. They were trying to avoid Strader who was coming across the track in front of them. Strader was shown the black flag.
Heat two (started): 1. Joey Montgomery 32 (1) 2. Manny Rockhold 02 (6) 3. Terry Babb 2s (8) / 4. Kevin Doty 50 (5) 5. Matt Sutton 3 (2) 6. Mitrisin 5J (4) 7. Roger Branson Jr. 3B (3) 8. Jeff Schulz 50x (7) 9. Pat Moore 93 (9)
Montgomery led the distance in his brother’s backup machine. Rockhold was impressive in moving up through the field. Schulz spun out on the white flag lap while running fourth. Branson spun bringing out the only caution of the event on lap four. P. Moore retired from the heat at this point. Sutton now has a 410 under the hood and is getting used to the power difference.
Heat three (started): 1. Jaymie Moyle 10 (6) 2. Korey Weyant 4c (7) 3. Chris Couch 36 (2) / 4. Jeremy Standridge 10s (4) 5. Tony Daniels 14 (3) 6. Jimmy Hurley 35 (1) 7. Robert Bell 71x (5) DNS – Whiting 1
Moyle blasted to the front and left the rest behind. It was also a strong performance by Weyant. Couch held off Standridge in a good battle for the final transfer.
Heat four (started): 1. Jim Moughan Jr. 1m (2) 2. Jerrod Hull 12H (4) 3. Kerry Madsen 82 (7) / 4. Kaley Gharst 44G (3) 5. Jim Davies 99 (1) 6. Mike Deavers 72 (5) 7. Corey Bruns 42 (6) 8. Brett Samans 47 (8)
Samans dropped out early. Madsen may very well have had the fastest car and was flying from the last row, but the two leaders had a good head start on him. Gharst passed Davies for fourth on the final circuit.
Heat five (started): 1. Don Droud Jr. 55 (2) 2. Ryan Jamison 51J (5) 3. Colin Northway 12 (7) / 4. Tommy Rockwell 95 (4) 5. Bobby Hawks 83 (8) 6. Justin Newberry 36 (1) 7. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (3) 8. Bonar 97x (6)
Droud led the distance. Hawks was going for third when he was tagged from behind by Jeffrey sending both spinning over the turn one berm. Northway made a nice run from the last row, but couldn’t quite get by Jamison at the checkered flag.
B main one (started): 1. Davies (5) 2. Schulz (12) 3. Doty (2) / 4. Hawks (6) 5. Rossio (1) 6. Martin (13) 7. Deavers (8) 8. AJ Bruns (11) 9. Bell (10) 10. Rockwell (3) 11. Hurley (7) 12. T. Moore (4) 13. Branson (9) DNS – P. Moore
This was a race of attrition. Three attempts to start the event were for naught. The initial green saw spins by the pole sitter Rossio, and AJ Bruns. The next attempt saw Hurley get tapped and spun. The incident collected Branson, Schulz, T. Moore and Bell. Branson and T. Moore were done. The third attempt was no better as Deavers spun. Once underway, Davies worked his 360 to the bottom of the high banks while Hawks was leading on the high side. Rockwell was running a strong third, when he was punted by Schulz who had come through the mess from the back on lap five. Meanwhile, Hawks spun while in the lead and roared back to finish one spot out of a transfer. Bell was blacked for being involved in his second caution with a lap six spin. AJ Bruns got the same treatment a lap later. Davies won impressively using the bottom, while Schulz followed him on the top.
B main two (started): 1. Jeffrey (6) 2. Sutton (3) 3. Gharst (2) / 4. Wilson (5) 5. C. Bruns (9) 6. Strader (8) 7. Bonar (10) 8. Standridge (1) 9. Newberry (7) 10. Samans (11) 11. Daniels (4) DNS – Mitrisin, Whiting
Daniels hit the front stretch wall and flipped violently. Despite ripping off the front of his machine, he emerged unscathed. The top three dueled almost the entire way, exchanging position, before Jeffrey took over for good. Wilson fell just short with his 360 after a top ten finish last year.
A main (started): 1. Hull (9) 2. Madsen (14) 3. Moughan (4) 4. Droud (5) 5. Weyant (8) 6. Moyle (3) 7. Jamison (10) 8. Babb (12) 9. Jeffrey (20) 10. Doty (17) 11. Rockhold (7) 12. Rogerson (6) 13. Ball (11) 14. Northway (15) 15. Davies (16) 16. Gharst (19) 17. Sutton (21) 18. Couch (13) 19. Giannetto (1) 20. Schulz (18) 21. Montgomery (2)
Giannetto, the pole sitter, shot out to an early advantage and led the first five laps before being overtaken by Droud. Montgomery brought out the first caution when he came to rest in turn four on lap 12 of the 25 lapper. He was done for the night. The restart saw top eight runners Giannetto and Rogerson spin sending them to the tail. Moughan ripped by Droud on the restart and began to separate himself from the pack. Much to his dismay, ten laps later, Couch came to a stop in turn four bringing out the caution again. The order at that time was Moughan, Hull, Madsen, Droud and Moyle. Hull blasted by when the green fell again, followed by Madsen who earned hard-charger honors.
Midgets
Heat one (started): 1. Brandon Waelti 3 (3) 2. Brian Gerster 66 (10) 3. Davey Ray 2 (1) 4. AJ Fike 69 (7) / 5. Boyd Calvert 10 (6) 6. Roger Miller 75 (2) 7. Donnie Lehman 31 (4) 8. Matt Riemenschneider 17x (8) 9. Steve Stroud 21 (9) 10. Greg Granath 24 (5)
Miller was tapped by Fike as the freight train went by him on lap one. The incident collected Stroud, Gerster, and Granath, who was done. Fike got the same treatment from Lehman on lap two and Stroud flipped and went pitside. Riemenschneider retired early as well. Waelti took command and held off a furious charge from the back by Gerster at speeds seldom seen for midgets.
Heat two (started): 1. Jay Drake 71 (2) 2. Aaron Fiscus 7x (1) 3. Aaron Fike 95 (9) 4. Mike Hess 51 (8) / 5. Tim Siner 15 (4) 6. Craig Carey 30 (3) 7. Ryan Durst 151 (10) 8. Rick Mueller 22 (7) 9. Chris Coers 43 (5) 10. Ken Dull 56 (6)
Dull was done after losing his left front tire. Fortunately, he didn’t end upside down. Drake made his winning move around fellow front row starter, A. Fiscus with just two laps to go after a three wide performance that was joined by Aaron Fike. Hess worked hard to gain the final transfer spot from Siner.
Heat three (started): 1. Kevin Doty 50 (2) 2. JC Bland 5 (3) 3. Mike Cox 46 (6) 4. Mike Stroehle 9 (5) / 5. Kenny Brown 17 (8) 6. Dave Camfield Jr. 86 (4) 7. Donnie Callahan 6c (7) 8. Todd Jackson 0 (1) DNS – Todd Houser 2x
This one turned into a furious battle for the win with Doty gaining the advantage at the stripe. Stroehle took the final transfer by mere inches over a late surging Brown.
Heat four (started): 1. Don Droud Jr. 4x (8) 2. Greg Lueckert 01 (4) 3. Steve Knepper 55 (6) 4. Chad Branson 44 (7) / 5. Patrick Jones 29 (5) 6. John Winstrup 34 (2) 7. Joey Montgomery 5o (3) 8. Eddie Sauer 1s (1) DNS – Randy Fiscus 6
Sauer spun on lap two. Droud had already moved into second way up on the rim of the high banks. He went on to dominate, despite a lap six spin by Winstrup. J. Montgomery was running fourth during the caution when he was black flagged for mechanical reasons.
Heat five (started): 1. Jeff Flescher 72 (2) 2. Cody Wiesensel 20 (4) 3. Kevin Olson 7 (10) 4. Korey Weyant 99 (5) / 5. Mike Heiss 00 (9) 6. Rich Camfield 87 (3) 7. Wally McDuffey 33 (8) 8. Lee Beckwith 3x (7) 9. 97 (1) 10. Critter Malone 7c (6)
Friday night’s winner, Malone, came to a stop on lap three after taking the lead from Flescher. He would not return the rest of the night. A three car, three-wide battle ensued between Flescher, Wiesensel and Olson who moved up from the fifth row.
Midget B one (started): 1. Mueller (7) 2. Siner (2) / 3. Coers (12) 4. Callahan (5) 5. Calvert (1) 6. Miller (4) 7. Heiss (3) 8. Jackson (10) 9. R. Camfield (6) 10. Granath (11) 11. 97 (9) 12. Montgomery (8) DNS – Malone, Stroud
The only caution in the twelve lapper came from a lap three spin by Miller. Mueller worked his way forward for the win, while Siner banged Montgomery on the white flag lap to retain the final transfer. Coers was right there with Lueckert most of the way but came up short.
Midget B two (started): 1. Lehman (5) 2. Carey (3) / 3. Camfield Jr. (4) 4. R. Fiscus (12) 5. Durst (6) 6. Brown (1) 7. McDuffey (7) 8. Riemenschneider (8) 9. Jones (2) 10. Dull (13) 11. Beckwith (10) 12. Sauer (9) 13. Houser (11)
Lehman led an impressive battle between himself, Carey and Camfield Jr. His winning pass came on the white flag lap. R. Fiscus made an impressive charge from the rear in a race slowed by spins by Sauer and Beckwith, but it wasn’t enough.
Midget A main (started): 1. Drake (6) 2. Lehman (22) 3. Hess (15) 4. Gerster (7) 5. Waelti (6) 6. AJ Fike (16) 7. A. Fiscus (2) 8. Droud (3) 9. Aaron Fike (12) 10. Wiesensel (1) 11. Flescher (9) 12. Carey (24) 13. Knepper (14)…………………23. Ray (11) 24. Cox (13)
Great racing action that at times was four and five wide. Lap two saw a spin by Stroehle. Drake took to the high side, but couldn’t shake the field. Lehman was a joy to watch, picking off cars on the lowest part of the track possible. Hess also was moving steadily forward. Weyant was a spin victim on lap 13, as was Cox on lap 16. The final stoppage came for a Ray flip. He was uninjured. That set up a two lap duel, and Drake held off a determined Lehman.