Knoxville Raceway ASCS Sprint Bandits Results and Stories

Saturday, May 29, 2004
5/29/04

Knoxville Raceway

Sprint Bandits

43 410s
31 360s

410s

Drivers drew for heat lineups.  Passing points were scored and a second set of heats called qualifiers were lined up with high point-getters inverted to the rear.  Total points were kept to determine feature lineups.

Heat one (started): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (2) 2. Jesse Hockett 75 (1) 3. Larry Ball Jr. 7x (7) 4. Jeff Johnson 11J (5) 5. Jason Martin 36 (9) 6. Josh Higday 83 (11) 7. Scott Young F22 (6) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (8) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (10) 10. Robert Bell 71 (4) 11. Zach Chappell 50z (3)

Chappell pulled in the pits during pace laps with a broken rear end.  Stewart led from the start and was gone.  Ball made a nice move up through the pack using the high side of the dry slick track.  Martin moved up well, but just came short of getting by Je. Johnson at the line.

Heat two (started): 1. Jaymie Moyle 1s (2) 2. Lynton Jeffrey 10 (1) 3. Skip Jackson 2 (5) 4. Randy Anderson R19 (3) 5. Travis Rilat 29 (6) 6. Tim St. Arnold 8s (10) 7. Travis Cram 92 (11) 8. Danny Jennings 61J (9) 9. Calvin Landis 70 (7) 10. Mark Hurd 44m (4) 11. Foster Landon 11F (8)

Moyle led flag to flag in a mostly single file affair.

Heat three (started): 1. Jason Johnson 50D (2) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (4) 3. Kerry Madsen 55 (6) 4. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (5) 5. Jesse Giannetto D1 (8) 6. Jerrol. Slinkard 15x (1) 7. Matt Moro 47 (11) 8. Ryan Anderson 71R (10) 9. Clint Garner 40 (7) 10. Billy Alley 22 (9) 11. Greg Jones 35 (3)

Ja. Johnson led the distance.  Great racing in this one, as Mitrisin and Madsen dueled with Madsen just falling short at the line.  Giannetto and W. Johnson went tooth and nail most of the way, swapping positions.  W. Johnson held on to fourth by a nose.

Heat four (started): 1. Aaron Berryhill 97 (2) 2. Colin Northway 60 (1) 3. Ricky Logan 17G (3) 4. Terry McCarl 24 (6) 5. Mike Reinke 02 (10) 6. Brent Antill (8) 7. Jay Landolt 21s (4) 8. Mike Moore 69 (9) 9. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (7) 10. Chris Walraven 56 (5)

Berryhill took the early advantage before a lap two caution for a stopped Walraven.  Berryhill would lead the rest of the way, while Reinke made a great charge through the pack and grabbed fifth from Antill after some good racing.  McCarl couldn’t get around Logan, who was just fast enough to hold down third.

Qualifier one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Stewart (11*) 2. Chappell (1) 3. Ball (10*) 4. Higday (7*) 5. Martin (8*) 6. Houseman (3) 7. Bell (2) 8. Landolt (4) DNS – Jeffrey (9) DQ – Antill (5), St. Arnold (6)

Antill and St. Arnold were disqualified for being late to staging. For some reason, they were pushed on to the track, so they were black-flagged during a caution for a Houseman spin.  Landolt visited the work area and retired for the night at the same time.  These absences allowed Stewart and Ball to pick up valuable passing points in getting towards the front.  Stewart gained the lead on lap one from his starting spot in the third row, and said, “See ya!”

Qualifier two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. W. Johnson (7*) 2. Landon (1) 3. Slinkard (5*) 4. Logan (8*) 5. Jackson (9*) 6. Moyle (11*) 7. Rilat (6) 8. Jennings (4) 9. Mitrisin (10*) 10. Hurd (2) DNS – Landis (3)

Landon gained the early advantage, but was overtaken by W. Johnson on lap two.  W. Johnson checked out on the field, while Logan came just short of improving his A main position when he finished a car length behind Slinkard, who made his first main event of the year.

Qualifier three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Alley (2) 2. Cram (6*) 3. McCarl (8*) 4. Madsen (10*) 5. Garner (3) 6. Northway (9*) 7. Moore (4) 8. Young (5) 9. Ja. Johnson (11*) 10. Jones (1) 11. Giannetto (7)

As Alley took an early advantage, Cram and Moore collided sending both towards the rear.  Cram roared back and began picking off competitors.  He was up to fifth by the time Giannetto came to rest on the front straight after popping out of gear while running third.  Alley led Garner, McCarl, Cram and Madsen back to green flag racing.  Cram quickly disposed of McCarl and Garner to move into second.  Both McCarl and Madsen followed suit around Garner on the last lap.  Ja. Johnson lost the use of his nose wing early.

Qualifier four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Walraven (1) 2. Reinke (8*) 3. Leavitt (2) 4. Ra. Anderson (6*) 5. Moro (5) 6. VanDenBerg (3) 7. Berryhill (10*) 8. Ry. Anderson (4) 9. Hockett (9) 10. Je. Johnson (7)

Though Walraven led the distance, Reinke was a rocket and just simply ran out of time in his quest of the lead.

B main one (started): 1. Moro (1) 2. Rilat (3) 3. Chappell (4) / 4. VanDenBerg (6) 5. Walraven (2) 6. Young (8) 7. Landis (10) 8. Jeffrey (11) 9. Je. Johnson (5) 10. Jennings (9) 11. Moore (7) DNS – Antill, Hurd

Moro ran away and hid from the rest.  Rilat and Chappell tailed Walraven most of the way, but both got under him late to grab the final transfers.

B main two (started): 1. Hockett (2) 2. Alley (1) 3. St. Arnold (9) / 4. Garner (5) 5. Landon (4) 6. Ry. Anderson (8) 7. Leavitt (3) 8. Bell (7) 9. Houseman (6) DNS – Giannetto, Jones, Landolt

Giannetto lost a rear end while staging.  Hockett led early until a lap three caution for a stopped Houseman, who exited.  Hockett led Alley, Garner, St. Arnold and Landon back to the green flag.  St. Arnold completed a run from the fifth row on the restart, holding on to the final transfer for the last nine laps.

A main (started): 1. McCarl (6) 2. Cram (8) 3. W. Johnson (3) 4. Madsen (5) 5. Ball (4) 6. Jackson (10) 7. Moyle (7) 8. Ja. Johnson (17) 9. Berryhill (11) 10. Ra. Anderson (13) 11. Northway (12) 12. Logan (9) 13. Alley (22) 14. Rilat (21) 15. Chappell (23) 16. Mitrisin (18) 17. Higday (14) 18. Martin (15) 19. Slinkard (16) 20. Moro (19) 21. Stewart (1) 22. Reinke (2) 23. Hockett (20) 24. St. Arnold (24)

Stewart and Reinke dueled from the start.  As the two headed down the backstretch, Stewart appeared to be a little loose.  When he came down in turn three, he made contact with Reinke’s tires and went high into the air in a series of flips.  Reinke suffered heavy damage as well.  Behind them St. Arnold and Hockett got together when slowing for the crash.  Both took wild rides and destroyed cars.  No one was injured.  Once underway, W. Johnson, who inherited the pole broke out to an early lead, while McCarl wrestled with Madsen and Ball.  Soon Cram would be entering the fray.  McCarl took the point from W. Johnson in traffic on lap ten and never looked back in the non-stop 25 lapper.  He earned $4000 for the win.  Several battles were waged between a charging Cram and Madsen and W. Johnson.  Both Ja. Johnson and Alley moved forward nine positions.

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jake Peters 57x (2*) 2. Mike Trent 14c (3*) 3. Eric Jobe 23 (8*) 4. Dusty Zomer 1z (6*) 5. Mitchell Alexander 6 (5) 6. Nate Mosher 22N (7) 7. Rager Phillips 9 (4) 8. John Schulz 2s (1)

Peters jumped out to a big advantage before a lap four Phillips spin on the dry surface.  Schulz, who was running second, stopped on the restart and retired to the pits.  Peters led Trent, Jobe, Zomer and M. Alexander back to green, and they would stay in that order.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Kearney 83 (5*) 2. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (1*) 3. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (2*) 4. Brett Golik 5G (3*) 5. Eric Mason (8*) 6. Curtis Thorson 91 (4) 7. Ryan Jamison 51J (6) 8. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (7)

Vanderploeg led early and battled with Kearney throughout the seven lapper.  Kearney would take the point on lap four and never relinquish it.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dave Hesmer 1 (5*) 2. Brett Mather 54 (2*) 3. Bronson Maeschen 96 (1*) 4. Johnny Anderson 7a (3) 5. Joe Beaver (7) 6. Dave Hall 51 (8) 7. Rob Edwards 22 (6) 8. Stacey Alexander 126 (4)

Mather grabbed the early lead, with S. Alexander in pursuit.  After taking the lead on lap three, S. Alexander came to a stop on lap five and went pitside.  Mather inherited the lead, but Hesmer passed him on the restart.  Beaver had spun under the yellow flag while running fourth, and had to restart at the tail.

Heat four (started, qualified for feature):  1. Troy Meyer 11m (2*) 2. Stevie Walsh 20 (1*) 3. Brad Barickman 10 (5*) 4. Doug Wilson 86 (6*) 5. Alan Zoutte (7) 6. Mike Waddell 2 (4) 7. Rodney Turner 69 (3)

Meyer shot out to the early lead, while Wilson surged up to second by lap two.  On lap three, Wilson had his left wing side panel collapse.  Though he lost two positions, he held on to fourth and gained a transfer to the A.

B main (started): 1. Beaver (2) 2. J. Anderson (1) 3. M. Alexander (4) 4. Schulz (13) / 5. S. Alexander (15) 6. Turner (12) 7. Hall (5) 8. Mosher (6) 9. Zoutte (3) 10. Thorson (7) 11. Edwards (11) 12. Waddell (8) 13. Phillips (9) 14. Houseman (14) 15. Jamison (10)

J. Anderson relinquished and early lead he had to Beaver on lap five.  Mosher was running seventh on lap nine, when he got over the cushion and spun.  Under caution, Jamison came to a stop and went pitside, surrendering the final transfer spot to Zoutte.  Schulz took full advantage on a restart, and finished a remarkable run in fourth.  S. Alexander passed ten cars but came up one short.

A main (started): 1. Vanderploeg (4) 2. Hesmer (9) 3. Beaver (17) 4. Trent (5) 5. Mather (3) 6. Kearney (10) 7. Walsh (2) 8. Schulz (20) 9. Meyer (6) 10. Mason (15) 11. Wilson (14) 12. Heimbaugh (12) 13. Jobe (7) 14. Golik (16) 15. M.Alexander (19) 16. J. Anderson (18) 17. Maeschen (13) 18. Barickman (1) 19. Peters (8) 20. Zomer (11)

Two cars were eliminated immediately.  Several cars got squirrelly in front of Peters, who ended up sideways, collecting Zomer and Maeschen.  All were wedged against the infield fence, but there were no injuries.  Maeschen restarted without a nosewing.  Barickman shot out in the lead before stopping on lap three with mechanical difficulties, and retiring.  Vanderploeg gained the lead and led Mather, Trent, Walsh and Kearney back to the lap three restart.  Hesmer performed a slider on Kearney to gain fifth when the green flag fell again.  He picked off competitors and was gaining on Vanderploeg in traffic.  The Grandview Park Baptist high school valedictorian held on for his first career win.  Beaver earned an extra $100 for being the night’s hard-charger.  Heimbaugh flipped after the checkered flew, but was uninjured.