7/23/04
Knoxville Raceway
Summer Classic
80 410s
The cars were split into two groups, odd and even. Passing points were used with the top twenty cars in each group making the A and lining heads up according to points. The top eight finishers in each A main are locked into Saturday's championship and will line up with a redraw.
First Group
Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Scott Biertzer 4B (2*) 2. Jesse Hockett 75 (4*) 3. Chris Walraven 56 (3*) 4. Ricky Logan 7x (5*) 5. Jesse Giannetto D1 (8*) 6. Barry Ruble 63R (1) 7. Greg Wilson 63 (7) 8. Steve Meyer 85m (6)
Knoxville Raceway is "Back in Black". The surface that is. A late afternoon shower delayed the start of things and made for the tackiest track to date this year. This meant the first few heats were run with a fast and narrow track. Biertzer led the distance in this one. The rest followed, mainly single-file with Giannetto making a late bid on Logan for fourth.
Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Billy Alley 22 (2*) 2. Terry McCarl 24 (4*) 3. Colin Northway 60 (1*) 4. Dean Jacobs 51 (5*) 5. Lynton Jeffrey 10 (7*) 6. Aaron Berryhill 97 (8) 7. Eddie Lynch 29 (6) 8. Ryan Irwin 49 (3)
Alley led flag to flag. McCarl worked over Northway and passed him on the final go-around. Irwin exited on lap five.
Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (7*) 2. Tim St. Arnold 8s (5*) 3. Jerrol Slinkard 15s (1*) 4. Brock Mayes 11B (3) 5. Mike Moore 69 (8) 6. Wayne Modjeski 77 (4) 7. Tyler Houseman 50 (6) 8. Kurt Davis 6K (2)
Davis elected to start at the rear and went pitside on lap two. Modjeski led early, but it was only a matter of time before Stewart would overtake him and he did on lap three, getting by second place St. Arnold and the leader with one pass. He checked out from there.
Heat four (started): 1. Brooke Tatnell 66 (1*) 2. Ryan Anderson 71R (2*) 3. Travis Whitney 9 (6*) 4. John Sernett 91 (3) 5. Mike Kertscher 80K (4) 6. Bill Rose 6 (8) 7. Dave Uttech 68 (5) 8. Scotty Neitzel 2w (7)
Tatnell led the duration in another mostly single-file affair.
Heat five (started): 1. Jeff Johnson 11J (2*) 2. Kaley Gharst 44G (1*) 3. Kim Mock 1m (6*) 4. Chad Kemenah 15K (5*) 5. Patrick Bourke 27 (3) 6. Ty Bartz 75x (4) 7. Robert Bell 71 (7) 8. Matt Wasmund 4w (8)
Je. Johnson took command early while Bartz tucked in behind him. On lap four, Wasmund's driveline exploded bringing out a caution. He was done for the night. On the restart, Je. Johnson led Bartz, a surging Kemenah, Gharst and Mock back to the green flag. Kemenah lost some debris from his car, sending him to the rear when the restart was attempted. He did a good job to move back to fourth. Mock hit Bartz broadside going into turn one, knocking Bartz out of third on lap six.
B main (started): 1. Berryhill (4) 2. Mayes (1) 3. Moore (3) 4. Rose (6) / 5. Kertscher (5) 6. Wilson (9) 7. D. Uttech (12) 8. Bourke (7) 9. Bartz (8) 10. Lynch (10) 11. Bell (13) 12. Irwin (15) 13. Davis (16) 14. Neitzel (17) 15. Sernett (2) 16. Houseman (11) 17. S. Meyer (14) DNS - Ruble, Modjeski, Wasmund
Sernett jumped out to the early advantage and looked to be in charge. He was leading by a straightaway when the lapped car of Houseman tangled with him, ending both their nights. Mayes inherited the lead on the restart, over Moore, Berryhill, Rose and Kertscher. Four more laps were in the books, when Neitzel lost his left rear wheel and flipped in turn three. The wheel flew over the barns and back into the night, but Neitzel was uninjured. Berryhill had moved up to second and passed Mayes for the point when the green flag resumed. Meyer went pitside with a smoking motor on lap three.
A main (started): 1. McCarl (7) 2. Stewart (1) 3. Alley (3) 4. Jacobs (18) 5. Kemenah (19) 6. St. Arnold (4) 7. Northway (14) 8. Mock (10) / 9. Giannetto (17) 10. Hockett (6) 11. Logan (16) 12. Whitney (9) 13. Berryhill (21) 14. Jeffrey (20) 15. Walraven (13) 16. Rose (24) 17. Moore (23) 18. Mayes (22) 19. Biertzer (2) 20. Jer. Slinkard (15) 21. Ry. Anderson (11) 22. Je. Johnson (5) 23. Gharst (12) 24. Tatnell (8)
Stewart shot out to the early lead in commanding fashion with St. Arnold in tow. Hockett blew his right rear on lap two, bringing out the caution flag. He was able to make repairs and came back to score a top ten finish. On the lap two restart, Stewart led St. Arnold, Alley, Tatnell and McCarl back to the green flag. On lap six of the twenty lapper, Ry. Anderson came to a stop slowing the action again. McCarl had managed to get by Tatnell for fourth. Tatnell would exit with mechanical ills on lap ten of twenty. Stewart still had a nice lead, but McCarl was coming. He went from fourth to second on lap 13, getting by Alley and St. Arnold. One lap later, Biertzer stopped on the backstretch. The stoppage was what McCarl needed, and he got by Stewart on the 15th lap for his 41st Knoxville win. Jacobs and Kemenah were the hard-chargers, both moving up fourteen spots. Kemenah was closing at the end, but ran out of laps. Alley, St. Arnold, Northway and Mock all had strong runs earning spots in Saturday's redraw.
Group two
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Clint Garner 40 (4*) 2. Kerry Madsen 55 (6*) 3. Chad Meyer 1w (3*) 4. Travis Cram 92 (8*) 5. Randy Hannagan 1x (7*) 6. Jon Agan 4J (5) 7. Rusty Egan 50E (1) 8. Scott Uttech 7 (2)
Garner slipped around the front row to lead early. The heat was action packed, with Madsen, Cram and Hannagan coming from deep in the pack. Cram came early, but got caught behind S. Uttech briefly. This was enough for Madsen to roar by him. All three surged enough to qualify for the A.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Joe Beaver 53 (1*) 2. Jason Solwold R19 (4*) 3. Brent Antill 1 (3*) 4. Mark Hurd 44m (5*) 5. Adam Jones 4A (7) 6. Andy Hunt 9A (2) 7. Dan Owings 19k (6) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (8)
Beaver led early, while VanDenBerg was up to fourth before a lap was in the books. Unfortunately, he broke a rear end on lap three and went pitside. Beaver led Solwold, Antill, Hurd and Hunt back to the green flag and that is how the top four would finish.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jaymie Moyle 1s (1*) 2. Don Droud Jr. 83 (4*) 3. Skip Jackson 2 (8*) 4. Bill Warren 95 (2) 5. Mike Stefka 83D (3) 6. Greg Jones 35 (5) 7. Steve Martin 20AZ (7) 8. Calvin Landis 70 (6)
Moyle led flag to flag. Jackson was in the third spot by the time a lap was complete. Landis came to a rest on lap six while running fourth and retired.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jeremy Campbell 10c (1*) 2. Matt Moro 47 (8*) 3. Danny Smith 4 (4*) 4. Mike Reinke 02 (5*) 5. Marty Perovich 17AU (2) 6. Johnny Anderson 7a (3) 7. Tim Hunter 2H (7) 8. Phil Gressman 70x (6)
Campbell led the distance. Moro was on a mission and was in third on the first lap. He would run down Campbell at the finish line, but come just short of getting by him. Smith and Reinke worked hard to get by Perovich in a good three-way battle.
Heat five (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (2*) 2. Jac Haudenschild 5 (1*) 3. Jeff Slinkard 21az (3*) 4. Paul May 71m (5*) 5. Jack Dubin 91x (8) 6. Daron Clayton 92D (4) 7. Jason Johnson 50D (6) DNS - Jeff Mitrisin 17G (7)
Mitrisin suffered a fule line problem before the green could be thrown. W. Johnson got the jump on Haud, powered by a new Fisher motor. Ja. Johnson and Clayton were battling hard for third when the two touched. Ja. Johnson went head-first into the turn four wall in a scary accident. He was uninjured, but had some stitches put in his right hand. Clayton also retired. Haud could never reel in W. Johnson, who was lightning.
B main (started): 1. VanDenBerg (14) 2. Stefka (3) 3. Warren (2) 4. Agan (5) / 5. Mitrisin (18) 6. Hunter (13) 7. J. Anderson (8) 8. A. Jones (1) 9. G. Jones (7) 10. S. Uttech (15) 11. Hunt (6) 12. Martin (12) 13. Egan (10) 14. Owings (11) 15. Dubin (19) 16. Gressman (16) 17. Clayton (9) 18. Perovich (4) 19. Landis (17) DNS - Ja. Johnson
Warren took off to the point, while VanDenBerg had moved up to eighth in the first circuit. Landis broke a left rear arm, bringing out a caution on lap three. Now Warren led Stefka, Agan, a surging VanDenBerg and Clayton back to the cone. Stefka took the lead from Warren on the restart, in some good racing action. Five laps later, VanDenBerg found the point and never looked back. Mitrisin also came a ways, moving up thirteen spots, one shy of a transfer.
A main (started): 1. Madsen (3) 2. W. Johnson (5) 3. Jackson (4) 4. Garner (2) 5. Moyle (8) 6. Haudenschild (12) 7. Cram (11) 8. Reinke (18) / 9. Hannagan (20) 10. Campbell (10) 11. Solwold (7) 12. Smith (13) 13. C. Meyer (14) 14. Antill (15) 15. VanDenBerg (21) 16. Droud (9) 17. May (19) 18. Agan (24) 19. Beaver (6) 20. Warren (23) 21. Hurd (17) 22. Stefka (22) 23. Moro (1) 24. Jef. Slinkard (16)
Moro jumped out in commanding fashion, but as he approached lapped traffic on lap five, he ducked into the pits, handing the lead to Garner. Two laps later, Madsen took command. W. Johnson could never quite run down the leader in the 20 lap non-stop event. Reinke ran a fine race to move up ten spots and qualify for Saturday's redraw. Hannagan also ran well, earning hard-charger honors, but missing the redraw. Jef. Slinkard exited on lap two, and Beaver on lap 19. Hurd and Stefka also retired early. Eleven of the sixteen drivers qualifying for the redraw are Knoxville regulars.