4/22/06
Knoxville Raceway
39 410s
46 360s
410s
Jason Meyers (32nd car out to time) set the standard at 15.693 in time trials on a dry surface despite a late pill draw. Most of the quicker times were laid down early on. Brooke Tatnell (10th car out) was second quick, followed by Donny Schatz (38th), Ryan Anderson (1st), Jason Solwold (9th), Wayne Johnson (12), Brian Brown (36th), Shane Stewart (14th), Kerry Madsen (21st) and Terry McCarl (7th). Greg Jones and Michael Strader failed to get times in. NST visitor Danny Lasoski changed motors after hot laps.
Heat one (started): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (1) 2. Madsen 55 (4) 3. Solwold R19 (5) 4. Skip Jackson 2 (3) 5. Matt Moro 47 (7) / 6. Rager Phillips 9 (8) 7. Jerrel Slinkard 15s (2) 8. Dave Saffell 03 (10) 9. Tony Shilling 47T (9) 10. Meyers 14 (6)
The 8 lap heats inverted six and took five to the main event. Meyers contacted a slower Slinkard on the frontstretch at the first try at green and broke a front end. He was done for the heat, but Slinkard restarted at the tail. Giannetto slid in front of Madsen who started in row one in place of Slinkard on the restart and led the distance.
Heat two (started): 1. McCarl 24 (4) 2. Tim St. Arnold 7w (2) 3. Tatnell 8 (6) 4. Johnson 10 (5) 5. Chad Meyer 1w (1) / 6. Dusty Zomer 1z (7) 7. Tim Shaffer 6 (3) 8. Trevor Green 11AU (8) 9. Abe Sherwood 44J (9) DNS - Jones 3J
St. Arnold built a nice lead early, but on lap six, McCarl seemed to find another gear and slid under St. Arnold for the lead on the dry-slick surface, pulling away for good.
Heat three (started): 1. Billy Alley 17G (2) 2. Travis Rilat 29 (3) 3. Brown 21 (5) 4. Schatz 15 (6) 5. Chris Walraven 56 (1) / 6. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (8) 7. Bronson Maeschen 96 (7) 8. Lasoski 83 (4) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (9) DNS - Strader 7m
Alley led flag to flag in the mostly single file affair. The top four finishers were joined by Lasoski who ran fifth until bowing out for the night on lap six with more apparent motor problems. Walraven finished in the final transfer spot nearly a half lap behind the top four finishers.
Heat four (started): 1. Mark Dobmeier 13 (1) 2. Stewart 26 (5) 3. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (2) 4. Clint Garner 40 (4) 5. Kaley Gharst 44G (8) / 6. Anderson 71R (6) 7. Mike Moore 69 (7) 8. Gordy Vogelaar 1A (9) 9. Calvin Landis 70 (3)
Dobmeier led the distance. Landis was running in fourth when his machine went up in smoke on lap three and he retired. Gharst pried the final transfer from Anderson on the last lap with a slidejob through turns one and two.
B main (started): 1. Anderson (2) 2. Meyers (1) 3. Shaffer (3) 4. Green (10) / 5. Slinkard (5) 6. Moore (8) 7. Landis (4) 8. Shilling (12) 9. Vogelaar (15) 10. Ball (11) 11. Houseman (14) 12. Sherwood (13) 13. Zomer (6) 14. Phillips (9) 15. Maeschen (7) DNS - Lasoski, Jones, Strader, Saffell
Anderson was strong throughout and held off a challenge by Meyers and three cautions. Phillips jumped the cushion on lap four and flipped off of the wall. He was uninjured. Maeschen couldn't avoid the flipping machine and also went pitside. Vogelaar, Sherwood and Ball were spin victims. Zomer held down a transfer spot as late as the lap 10 restart, but went pitside at that point. Green was the beneficiary, snatching the transfer in his first race in his rookie Knoxville season.
A main (started): 1. McCarl (3) 2. Jackson (1) 3. Madsen (4) 4. Garner (2) 5. Stewart (5) 6. Solwold (8) 7. Tatnell (10) 8. Schatz (9) 9. Rilat (11) 10. Johnson (7) 11. Brown (6) 12. Meyers (22) 13. Alley (13) 14. Moro (19) 15. Jeffrey (14) 16. Giannetto (15) 17. St. Arnold (12) 18. Gharst (20) 19. Walraven (17) 20. Green (24) 21. Dobmeier (18) 22. Meyer (16) 23. Anderson (21) 24. Shaffer (23)
Rubber was laid down in the 360 feature and the 410s feasted on it. This is what the tire rule was supposed to prevent, unfortunately a dry track and a lot of cars showed the same results. Back to the drawing board! Jackson and McCarl put on a good duel for the lead early. Jackson led before McCarl took over on lap three. Two laps later, Jackson nosed back ahead of McCarl who drifted high, but the WoO regular regained the lead the next circuit and pulled away for his 42nd career Knoxville tally. The win put him by himself in fifth place on the all-time Knoxville ledger. Meyers earned passing honors on the one-lane surface moving forward from row 11 to 12th. Money was taken out of the heat purse this year and put in the back of the feature. The 410 A mains now pay $400 to start.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Stacey Alexander 2TX (3*) 2. Jon Corbin 33c (1*) 3. Randy Martin 14 (4*) 4. Eric Jobe 23 (5*) 5. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (12*) 6. Ryan Bickett 17B (2) 7. Alan Zoutte 33 (6) 8. Alan Gilbertson 97 (9) 9. Mitchell Alexander 6 (11) 10. Robbie Ross 15 (7) 11. Tyler Thompson 11T (8) 12. Rod Richards 5 (10)
Corbin shot out to an early lead with S. Alexander in tow in the 7 lapper. S. Alexander slid under Corbin on the dry-slick surface on lap five and never looked back. Martin made a late charge at Corbin, but came up short at the line. Houseman made the charge of the race from 12th to fifth.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Chuck Swenson X (1*) 2. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (2*) 3. Joe Beaver 53 (8*) 4. Curt Lund 87 (4) 5. John Schulz 2 (5) 6. Wade Nygaard 9 (3) 7. Dustin Lindquist 55L (7) 8. Josh Higday 24 (10) 9. Scott Winters R19 (9) 10. Terry Alexander 77 (6) 11. Pete Crall 11 (11) 12. John Anderson 4G (12)
Swenson and Heimbaugh traded the lead on lap one, but Swenson took command and won going away. Beaver made a charge from row four to claim third from Lund, who was making his first Knoxville appearance. Lindquist and Higday were putting on a good race, but too far back in the pack to matter for transfer hopes.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Troy Meyer 11m (4*) 2. Stevie Walsh 00 (3*) 3. Tom Lenz 8L (9*) 4. Brett Mather 54 (6*) 5. Rick Ideus 5B (8) 6. Chris Burke 81 (2) 7. Nate Mosher 22N (10) 8. Dustin Selvage 7 (7) 9. Tyler Thompson 2T (5) 10. Shane Spurlock 4s (11) DNS - Brett Golik 5G (1)
Meyer shot out early and simply left the field in the dust. Lenz was the mover and shaker, moving forward six spots to earn a transfer.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Kearney 83 (1*) 2. Johnny Anderson 7a (6*) 3. Jake Peters 57x (2*) 4. Josh Schneiderman 49 (8*) 5. Jeff Mitrisin 10 (5) 6. Tim Newman 18 (9) 7. Nate Van Haaften 3 (10) 8. Eric Mason B29 (11) 9. David Langford 32L (7) 10. Shawn Van Wyhe 99 (3) 11. Jeff Vonasek 12 (4)
As Kearney jumped to teh point, Anderson quickly moved into the runner-up spot with a tremendous start. Those two, along with Peters were in a class of their own, while Schneiderman showed a lot of moxy with a steady drive in holding off Mitrisin and earning a transfer.
C main (started): 1. Selvage (1) 2. Winters (2) 3. Crall (8) / 4. Ross (5) 5. Spurlock (7) 6. Thompson 2T (3) 7. Anderson 4G (10) 8. Van Wyhe (6) 9. Thompson 11T (9) 10. Vonasek (11) 11. T. Alexander (4) DNS - Langford, Richards
Selvage led early with Winters hot on his tail. A lap five caution for Thompson (Cape Girardeau, MO version) who spun, bunched the field. Winters took the lead on the restart and led until the last several yards of the eight lapper when he slowed, allowing Selvage to edge him by inches at the line. After the checkers, Anderson (4G version) drove over the back of the stopped Winters.
B main (started): 1. Mitrisin (5) 2. Lund (2) 3. Higday (12) 4. Ideus (1) / 5. Schulz (4) 6. Mosher (6) 7. Lindquist (13) 8. Newman (3) 9. Crall (16) 10. Nygaard (9) 11. Zoutte (10) 12. Mason (11) 13. M. Alexander (14) 14. Bickett (8) 15. Van Haaften (7) 16. Selvage (15) DNS - Burke, Gilbertson, Winters
Lund shot out to an early lead and looked smooth on the dry cushion in his first Knoxville showing. Mitrisin was into the runner-up spot quickly, and made his move to the front on lap eight of the non-stop 10 lapper when Lund got caught behind a lapped car. Higday looked like his new paint scheme (lightning) in moving up nine spots for a transfer.
A main (started): 1. Swenson (6) 2. Peters (15) 3. Kearney (4) 4. Anderson 7a (8) 5. Mitrisin (17) 6. Corbin (2) 7. Heimbaugh (1) 8. S. Alexander (9) 9. Lund (18) 10. Higday (19) 11. Mather (14) 12. Lenz (5) 13. Meyer (10) 14. Ideus (20) 15. Schneiderman (12) 16. Houseman (3) 17. Martin (13) 18. Jobe (16) 19. Beaver (7) 20. Walsh (11)
Swenson got a tremendous start, taking the lead from Heimbaugh on the first go-around. Kearney followed him by and set his sights on the X machine. Beaver spun and tipped over on lap four bringing out the red. On the restart, Swenson led Kearney, Anderson, Corbin and Peters from row 8. On more lap was completed when Jobe dumped it hard in three and four. He was also uninjured. The rest of the event went non-stop as Swenson used a middle groove, finding some rubber in turns one and two before anyone else in holding off Kearney. Kearney took the lead briefly on lap eight, but Swenson used a sliding maneuver to gain it back on the next circuit. Kearney made one last bid on the last lap, but checked up behind Swenson, allowing Peters to get by him in turn three for second. Peters was the hard-charger. The win was Swenson's first at Knoxville, and he became the 98th different winner in the 360 class. Mitrisin, Lund and Higday all scored top ten finishes after coming from the B.