8/11/04
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, IA
Knoxville Nationals Night #1
63 cars
14 non-wing
Gary Wright suffered hot lap difficulties by dropping a valve. He was a scratch. Jerry Brey got a lap in before melting his powerplant for the night. Ty Bartz lost his front left wheel, but came back for a timed lap at the end of time trials. Qualifications looked like this:
1. Craig Dollansky 7 15.359 (18th car out to time) 2. Jason Sides 7s 15.401 (2nd car out) 3. Fred Rahmer 88H 15.412 (24th) 4. Brent Antill 1J 15.438 (4th) 5. Joey Saldana 2 15.443 (12th) 6. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L 15.454 (17th) 7. Chad Kemenah 15K 15.471 (28th) 8. Dale Blaney 72 15.495 (1st) 9. Billy Alley 22 15.499 (13th) 10. Brian Brown 21B 15.518 (20th) 11. Jason Johnson 50D 15.520 (16th) 12. Jeremy Campbell 10c 15.615 (19th) 13. Lucas Wolfe 5w 15.632 (8th) 14. Randy Hannagan 1x 15.632 (29th) 15. Donny Schatz 15 15.636 (27th) 16. Chris Walraven 56 15.640 (56th) 17. Jaymie Moyle 1s 15.646 (11th) 18. Mike Kertscher 80K 15.667 (3rd) 19. Greg Hodnett 12 15.679 (55th) 20. Loren Langerud 56L 15.715 (32nd) 21. Aaron Berryhill 97 15.724 (43rd) 22. Matt Moro 47 15.735 (38th) 23. Tim Kaeding 83JR 15.739 (39th) 24. Sammy Swindell 1 15.747 (46th) 25. Chad Meyer 1w 15.756 (23rd) 26. Mark Smith 1z 15.758 (33rd) 27. Calvin Landis 70 15.763 (44th) 28. Roger Rager 6R 15.771 (10th) 29. Brandon Wimmer 7TW 15.773 (5th) 30. Steve Kinser 11 15.780 (51st) 31. Roger Crockett 11c 15.798 (9th) 32. Travis Whitney 9T 15.802 (37th) 33. Colin Northway 60 15.830 (57th) 34. Mike Reinke 02 15.840 (7th) 35. Phil Gressman 70x 15.890 (36th) 36. Jason Solwold R19 15.900 (31st) 37. John Sernett 91 15.903 (30th) 38. Lance Dewease 77 15.928 (49th) 39. Tim Shaffer 6 15.941 (50th) 40. Shane Stewart 4m 15.955 (62nd) 41. Ryan Anderson 71R 15.966 (35th) 42. Ralph Spithaler Jr. 56x 15.995 (6th) 43. Danny Smith 4 15.995 (26th) 44. Bob Bennett 3 15.998 (14th) 45. Danny Wood 35A 16.003 (25th) 46. Kevin Frey 2K 16.009 (52nd) 47. Travis Rilat 29 16.021 (15th) 48. Chad Hill 44 16.051 (48th) 49. Brooke Tatnell 66 16.107 (58th) 50. Josh Higday 24J 16.251 (54th) 51. Bobby Mincer 15x 16.263 (34th) 52. Mike Lutz 98 16.302 (22nd) 53. Jeff Johnson 11J 16.353 (42nd) 54. CJ Johnson 44J 16.353 (53rd) 55. Jerrel Slinkard 15s 16.391 (41st) 56. Stevie Walsh 20s 16.579 (59th) 57. Bill Rose 6B 16.571 (61st) 58. Chuck Swenson X 16.654 (45th) 59. Greg Jones 35 16.881 (21st) 60. Ty Bartz 75AC 17.116 (40th) 61. Brent Matus 33 17.611 (47th) 62. Jerry Brey 17.667 (60th) NT - Gary Wright 9G
The top fifty qualifiers are put into five totally inverted heats. The remaining cars race the non-qualifiers heat, with the top eight tagging the tail of the C.
Non-qualifiers heat (started): 1. Rose (7) 2. Lutz (2) 3. Mincer (1) 4. Je. Johnson (3) 5. Slinkard (5) 6. Swenson (8) 7. Jones (9) 8. Matus (11) / 9. Bartz (10) 10. CJ Johnson (4) 11. Walsh (6) DNS - Brey, Wright
The first try at green resulted in Walsh getting together with CJ Johnson and flipping hard down the backstretch. Both were uninjured. Once underway, Mincer took the early advantage. Rose used the bottom side to his advantage and began to pick towards the front. The last lap was the site of Rose's pass for the lead over Mincer, while Lutz followed him in the last corner.
Heat one (started): 1. Frey (1) 2. Solwold (3) 3. Crockett (4) 4. Berryhill (6) / 5. Ja. Johnson (8) 6. Dollansky (10) 7. M. Smith (5) 8. Lynch (9) / 9. Ry. Anderson (2) 10. Walraven (7)
First four to A, next four to B, last two to C. Frey led flag to flag. Dollansky and M. Smith spent a ton of time battling and that seemed to slow them from challenging for transfer spots in the ten lapper, though the track was a fast one. Solwold was coming at the end but couldn't overtake Frey.
Heat two (started): 1. Landis (5) 2. Kemenah (9) 3. Spithaler (2) 4. Whitney (4) / 5. Rilat (1) 6. Sides (10) 7. Moro (6) 8. Campbell (8) / 9. Sernett (3) 10. Moyle (7)
Sernett took the early lead from the front row starters. Landis was on the move and took the point on lap four. Moyle had moved up to sixth before exiting on lap five. Kemenah was the story of this one. Despite a slow start, he picked it up and diced to second using a last lap pass of Spithaler.
Heat three (started): 1. D. Smith (2) 2. Dewease (3) 3. Kaeding (6) 4. Rahmer (10) / 5. Wolfe (8) 6. Blaney (9) 7. Hill (1) 8. Kertscher (7) / 9. Rager (5) 10. Northway (4)
Smith led flag to flag. Rahmer was the man on the move and benefited from Moyle's smoking exit on lap six. Kertscher got by Rager in the last corner saving himself a trip to the C.
Heat four (started): 1. Shaffer (3) 2. Tatnell (1) 3. Hodnett (7) 4. Hannagan (8) / 5. Alley (9) 6. Reinke (4) 7. Antill (10) 8. Wimmer (5) / 9. Swindell (6) 10. Bennett (2)
Tatnell jumped to the point when the green fell. Bennett run in the top five ended when he smacked the wall and rolled on the frontstretch. He was done for the night. The restart saw Tatnell leading Shaffer, Reinke, a surging Swindell and Hannagan. Shaffer overtook Tatnell for the lead on lap five, but Swindell would not be denied. Using the entire track and outfoxing both Tatnell and Shaffer, he took the lead on lap seven. His bid came to an end with broken rear end gears on lap eight. Shaffer inherited the lead and never looked back. Hodnett came late and looked strong in grabbing third. Tatnell fought back and was nipped at the line by the winner.
Heat five (started): 1. Meyer (6) 2. Wood (2) 3. Stewart (3) 4. Schatz (8) / 5. S. Kinser (5) 6. Brown (9) 7. Langerud (7) 8. Higday (1) / 9. Gressman (4) 10. Saldana (10)
Wood led early. Saldana got a good stat from the back and was challenging S. Kinser early.
Contact between the two led to a shower of sparks in turn two as the battle waged on. Saldana would find the wall, ending his night on lap seven. Wood led Meyer, Stewart, Schatz and S. Kinser back to the green flag. The battle that ensued between Schatz and Kinser for the final transfer the last two laps was for the ages. Both would not give an inch. A final slide job by Kinser was countered by Schatz in the last corner and Donny garnered the last transfer. Meyer's winning pass came on lap eight.
C main (started): 1. Swindell (4) 2. Walraven (2) / 3. Northway (6) 4. Sernett (8) 5. Gressman (5) 6. Ry. Anderson (7) 7. Lutz (10) 8. Rose (9) 9. Je. Johnson (12) 10. Mincer (11) 11. Slinkard (13) 12. Swenson (14) 13. Jones (15) 14. Matus (16) 15. Rager (3) 16. Moyle (1) DNS - 17. Saldana 18. Bennett
Walraven gave his early lead to Swindell, who checked out on lap three in the mostly single-file affair.
B main (started): 1. Sides (2) 2. Dollansky (1) 3. Antill (3) 4. S. Kinser (16) / 5. Alley (6) 6. Lynch (4) 7. Brown (7) 8. Blaney (5) 9. M. Smith (14) 10. Langerud (12) 11. Kertscher (11) 12. Wolfe (10) 13. Wimmer (13) 14. Higday (20) 15. Campbell (9) 16. Rilat (18) 17. Hill (17) 18. Walraven (21) 19. Swindell (19) 20. Ja. Johnson (8) 21. Reinke (15) DNS - 22. Moro
Sides led the duration in the stacked 12 lapper. When is the last time you saw S. Kinser and Swindell in the same B main? Swindell was moving through the field when he stopped on lap six, bringing out a caution and retiring for the night. The caution benefited S. Kinser who was running seventh at the time. On the 11th lap of 12, Alley went low to try a line under Antill allowing S. Kinser, who was running fifth, to close. Kinser made his pass for the transfer in turn one on the last lap. Alley retaliated with a slider through three and four, but Kinser ducked back under to transfer and complete a nice run.
A main (started): 1. Kaeding (2) 2. Schatz (5) 3. Meyer (1) 4. Hodnett (4) 5. Shaffer (14) 6. Kemenah (7) 7. Rahmer (8) 8. Tatnell (20) 9. Stewart (15) 10. Hannagan (6) 11. Dollansky (22) 12. Dewease (13) 13. Landis (9) 14. Antill (23) 15. Sides (21) 16. Solwold (12) 17. D. Smith (17) 18. Berryhill (3) 19. Crockett (10) 20. Wood (18) 21. Whitney (11) 22. Spithaler (16) 23. Frey (19) 24. S. Kinser (24)
Meyer took the early advantage, while the "King" was charging. S. Kinser passed thirteen cars by lap four when the motor went up in smoke bringing out a caution and ending his night. Meyer led Kaeding, Schatz, Hodnett and Berryhill back to Doug Clark's green in the 20 lapper. Only one more lap could be completed before Frey came to a stop and retired. Crockett made a visit to the work area under caution. Lap six saw another stoppage when Whitney made contact with another machine, bicycled and somehow stayed off his lid. A change of the left rear tire put him back on the track. Schatz was still running third and put a slider on runner-up Kaeding on the restart. Kaeding worked under Schatz, masterfully passing him back and doing a good bit of driving. He managed to catch Meyer, who had got over the cushion, and passed him on lap thirteen. He held on the final seven laps for his third career Knoxville triumph. Shaffer was on the move late, settling for fifth, while the hard-charger was Tatnell, moving forward 12 spots. Meyer's run was particularly impressive considering he has struggled all year.
Richard Zimmerman Non-wing Challenge (started): 1. Sammy Swindell 11 (1) 2. Matt Westfall 54 (2) 3. Levi Jones 2B (5) 4. Zach Chappell 50z (8) 5. Dave Darland 2 (6) 6. Damion Gardner 50 (11) 7. J.J. Yeley 75 (13) 8. Jac Haudenschild 5 (4) 9. Jon Stanbrough 10 (7) 10. Jesse Hockett 75J (9) 11. Cory Kruseman 21 (3) 12. Dickie Gaines 70 (10) 13. Rickie Gaunt 2A (12) 14. Charles Davis Jr. 8A (14)
The top ten finishers from Tuesday's Ultimate Challenge were inverted and four provisionals were added in the race with a $17,000+ purse. Swindell earned $5000 by putting the field away in the non-stop 14 lap affair. The race was mostly a single-file affair, with the exceptions being a few sliders by Gardner and the low riding Yeley moving up six spots.
Unofficial points after Wednesday:
1. Rahmer 475 2. Kemenah 475 3. Dollansky 465 4. Schatz 461 5. Sides 455 6. Hodnett 452 7. Antill 450 8. Kaeding 450 9. Meyer 448 10. Hannagan 447 11. Landis 424 12. Berryhill 417 13. Shaffer 416 14. Alley 414 15. Lynch 409 16. Blaney 407 17. Brown 405 18. Dewease 401 19. Stewart 400 20. Crockett 398 21. Solwold 397 22. Wolfe 392 23. Whitney 389 24. Tatnell 387 25. S. Kinser 384 26. D. Smith 384 27. Ja. Johnson 380 28. Campbell 379 29. Langerud 376 30. Kertscher 375 31. Wood 371 32. Spithaler 370 33. M. Smith 366 34. Frey 366 35. Walraven 359 36. Wimmer 349 37. Moro 348 38. Swindell 344 39. Saldana 333 40. Reinke 329 41. Rilat 316 42. Moyle 311 43. Hill 306 44. Northway 305 45. Higday 305 46. Gressman 300 47. Sernett 298 48. Rager 294 49. Ry. Anderson 286 50. Bennett 253 51. Lutz 233 52. Mincer 226 53. Rose 224 54. Je. Johnson 221 55. Slinkard 210 56. Swenson 199 57. Jones 192 58. Matus 183 59. CJ Johnson 117 60. Walsh 110 61. Bartz 108 62. Brey 78 63. Wright 0