Knoxville King Doodlebug and Masters Classic Results and Stories

Friday, June 3, 2005
6/3/05

Knoxville Raceway

47 Midgets
19 Masters

Midgets

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Scott Hatton 15H (5*) 2. Eric Wilkens 21az (2*) 3. Brad Kuhn 74 (4*) 4. Kevin Doty 5 (6*) 5. Andy Martin 21m (8) 6. Tony Rossi 14R (9) 7. Frank Polimeda 44 (1) 8. Davey Ray 2x (3) 9. Carey Becker 20 (10) 10. Joe Boyles 7B (7)

Eight lap heats transferred the top 18 in passing points to the King Doodlebug Classic. Wilkens took the early lead and held it through two spins by Becker. The second spin occured at the halfway point, and Hatton took advantage taking the lead for good. Doty moved into third briefly using the high side, but was passed back by Kuhn. Ray never did get up to speed in the Kittleson car, and exited early.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Danny Stratton 2 (3*) 2. Rik Forbes 95x (5*) 3. Steve Buckwalter 5x (8*) 4. Rick England 12c (6) 5. John Jones 21 (2) 6. Kenny Adams Jr. 17K (9) 7. Jeff Davis D33 (10) 8. Mike Dibart 23 (1) DNS - Brian Ramstack 02R (4), Russ Harper 9 (7)

Jones led the first circuit, but gave it up for good to Stratton who was too strong on the cushion. Forbes quickly followed in tow, challenging Stratton to the end, but coming up a half a car length short in a drag race to the finish! Buckwalter and England had a nice fight for third, with the former coming out on top and earning a transfer to the A.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Don Droud Jr. 27 (3*) 2. Johnny Rodriguez 30R (4*) 3. Craig Carey 30 (5*) 4. Brad Loyet o5 (8*) 5. Harley Slotten 87 (2) 6. Jimmy Voitel 14 (6) 7. Ken Dull 56 (9) DNS - Bryan Walters 5w (1), Aaron Fiscus 7 (7)

Rodriguez jumped around the front row starters to lead early. Droud was quickly in pursuit and worked his familiar cushion, while Rodriguez worked low. Droud waited until the final lap to make his move for the win. Loyet did a nice job of moving up and earned a transfer of his own.

Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Ryan Durst 51x (1*) 2. Chad DeSelle 6 (6*) 3. Mike Hess 4x (8*) 4. Brandon Waelti 3 (7*) 5. Ray Bull 22m (2) 6. Matt Hummel 52 (4) 7. Kenny Love 71x (3) 8. David Shirk 2m (9) 9. Buddy Luebke 43 (5)

Durst led flag to flag in dominating fashion, winning by a straightaway. Hummel and Bull were quickly overtaken by 2003 Midget Nationals champ, DeSelle. Hess rode patiently in fifth, before splitting Hummel and Bull on lap six to take home third and a transfer. He parked his own car to take over the Klatt 4x just before hot laps.

Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Ron Kuhn 10K (4*) 2. Rick Mueller 22 (6*) 3. Mike Miller 1 (1*) 4. Donnie Lehmann 31 (2) 5. Cody Brewer 96 (8) 6. Michele Miller 4 (7) 7. Daniel Adler 50 (3) 8. Bob Shreffler 21s (9) DNS - Al Murie 11m (5)

Mike Miller took the point early before succumbing to Kuhn. Mueller ran strong on the cushion to run second and earn a transfer. Murie was black-flagged to the pits before the event ran.

B main one (started): 1. Martin (1) 2. Fiscus (8) 3. England (2) / 4. Harper (13) 5. Slotten (4) 6. Adler (9) 7. Voitel (6) 8. Rossi (3) 9. Davis (7) 10. Adams Jr. (5) 11. Shreffler (10) 12. Luebke (11) 13. Becker (12) DNS - Dibart, Boyles

With three transferring to the back of the A, Martin led the 10 lapper, flag to flag. Martin, England and Slotten had broken from the pack before Becker spun, bringing out a yellow. Fiscus jumped from fourth to second on the restart, ending a nice run and putting himself in the show. In his fourth race ever, Harper came one spot short of a transfer from the tail after a DNS in his heat race.

B main two (started): 1. Brewer (1) 2. Bull (4) 3. Lehmann (2) / 4. Hummel (6) 5. Polimeda (7) 6. Jones (3) 7. Michele Miller (5) 8. Walters (9) 9. Dull (12) 10. Murie (13) 11. Love (8) 12. Ray (10) 13. Ramstack (11) DNS - Shirk

Brewer led flag to flag. Bull and Lehmann made up for average heat performances by transferring to the A. The only caution came for Ramstack, who stalled going into the pits early. Ray struggled again and pulled it in shortly thereafter. Love flipped in turn four on the final go-around.

King Doodlebug (started): 1. Stratton (4) 2. B. Kuhn (15) 3. Wilkens (13) 4. Mueller (1) 5. Loyet (12) 6. Forbes (7) 7. Brewer (20) 8. Durst (10) 9. Fiscus (21) 10. Bull (22) 11. Buckwalter (11) 12. Hess (8) 13. R. Kuhn (5) 14. Waelti (16) 15. Lehmann (24) 16. DeSelle (2) 17. Carey (14) 18. Hatton (6) 19. Doty (17) 20. Martin (19) 21. Rodriguez (9) 22. Droud (3) 23. Mike Miller (18) 24. England (23)

Stratton took the early lead and built himself a large advantage over DeSelle, Hatton, Droud adn Rodriguez. Hatton exited, dumping liquid while running third. On lap 17 of 20, B. Kuhn was slicing into the top five and passed Droud and Rodgriguez for fourth. About that time, Rodriguez jumped the right front tire of a lapped Lehmann and veered straight into Droud. Droud suffered a wild ride of flips, but neither was seriously injured. Stratton led DeSelle and B. Kuhn back to the green flag. One lap later, DeSelle jumped the turn three cushion and flipped, collecting Carey, who got some serious air-time. Both were uninjured, but done. Now B. Kuhn had moved to the runner-up spot, but he had nothing for Stratton in the end. B. Kuhn and Brewer both moved forward 13 spots.

Masters

Jimmy Sills (17th car out to time) set the standard in qualifications with a circuit of 16.560 seconds. Jerry Potter (8th car out) was second quick, followed by Shane Carson (1st), Roger Rager (4th), AJ Weaver (9th), Dan Oswalt (5th), Terry Alexander (14th), Edd French (12th), Dale McCarty (7th) and Chris Maurer (2nd). Roy Jo Peltz slammed the wall on his second lap of time trials, ending his night. Randy Droescher never got a time in and scratched for the night.

Heat one (started): 1. Sills 20 (6) 2. Rager 2K (5) 3. Alexander 77 (4) 4. Jerry Crabb 12x (2) 5. Maurer 7w (3) 6. Earnest Jennings 61 (1) DNS - Droescher 24

Sills took the lead from Crabb on lap two and never looked back.

Heat two (started): 1. Bill Smith 33 (2) 2. Potter 10 (6) 3. Weaver 55 (5) 4. Tommy Scott 14P (3) 5. French Grimes F1 (1) 6. Edd French 7777 (4)

Smith led flag to flag in front of an impressive Potter. Weaver also came on strong late, nearly getting by Potter.

Heat three (started): 1. Carson 4 (4) 2. David Brown 43 (1) 3. Oswalt D1 (3) 4. McCarty 6 (2) DNS - Peltz 90, Dave Heskin 84

Carson took the lead from a bobbling Brown in Jon Agan's 4 on lap two and cruised.

Masters Classic: 1. Rager (1) 2. Sills (4) 3. Carson (2) 4. Alexander (7) 5. Potter (3) 6. Crabb (13) 7. Oswalt (6) 8. French (8) 9. Weaver (5) 10. Maurer (10) 11. Scott (11) 12. Smith (14) 13. Jennings (15) 14. Grimes (16) 15. McCarty (9) 16. Heskin (17) 17. Brown (12) DNS - Peltz, Droescher

Rager took the early advantage, but Sills was cruising and took the point on lap 3 of the 22 lapper. On lap eight, Sills tried to duck under the 43 of Brown. Rager went between Brown and the fence and had the lead for good in Kevin Frey's 2K exiting turn two. Rager and Sills sliced through lapped traffic until Weaver blew his right rear on lap 20 while running fifth. Rager held the lead through the restart, as only five cars finihed on the lead lap. Crabb was the hard-charger, moving up seven spots. Rager earned $3000 for his win.