8/13
Knoxville Raceway Nationals
Wednesday Night Qualifying
50 cars
The following is the way qualifications panned out. The track stayed fast throughout time trials. Both Corey Haigh 17x and Adam Clarke 14A failed to register a time. They were done for the night. Time trials:
1. Sammy Swindell 1 15.286 (36th car to time) 2. Paul McMahan 11h 15.303 (3rd) 3. Donny Schatz 15 15.309 (2nd) 4. Danny Lasoski 20 15.374 (28th) 5. Erin Crocker 16 15.376 (26th) 6. Joey Saldana 17 15.402 (9th) 7. Kraig Kinser 11K 15.462 (8th) 8. Greg Hodnett 12 15.475 (46th) 9. Chad Kemenah 15K 15.489 (25th) 10. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L 15.529 (22nd) 11. Calvin Landis 70 15.563 (35th) 12. Shane Stewart 4m 15.565 (49th) 13. Jason Meyers 7 15.577 (7th) 14. Mike Kertscher 80K 15.603 (4th) 15. Jon Agan 4 15.628 (33rd) 16. Mark Kinser 5m 15.667 (38th) 17. Brooke Tatnell 66 15.687 (15th) 18. Johnny Herrera 5 15.694 (13th) 19. Eric Vanderploeg 57a 15.711 (11th) 20. Kevin Frey 2K 15.738 (43rd) 21. Kasey Kahne 83JR 15.761 (21st) 22. Lance Dewease 77 15.765 (31st) 23. Jaymie Moyle 10 15.766 (29th) 24. Jesse Hockett 75J 15.770 (6th) 25. John Sernett 91 15.788 (10th) 26. Justin Henderson R19 15.805 (17th) 27. Skip Jackson 21x 15.851 (40th) 28. Toni Lutar 4x 15.916 (48th) 29. Curt Trainer 36 15.924 (23rd) 30. Jason Sides 7s 15.937 (44th) 31. Adam West 20A 15.943 (30th) 32. Bruce Robenalt 98 15.954 (18th) 33. Brandon Wimmer 7TW 15.955 (5th) 34. Jeremy Campbell 10c 15.960 (24th) 35. Jan Howard 51 16.029 (27th) 36. Joe Bustillos 37 16.053 (12th) 37. Derek Beckman 50D 16.058 (32nd) 38. Jeff Johnson 11J 16.096 (39th) 39. Matt Moro 47 16.134 (42nd) 40. Mike Moore 69 16.197 (1st) 41. Ty Bartz 75 16.219 (20th) 42. Bobby Mincer 15m 16.271 (37th) 43. Dr. Bob Altmeyer 14 16.382 (16th) 44. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A 16.395 (41st) 45. Chuck Swenson X 16.588 (50th) 46. Bob Hildreth 55KC 16.888 (14th) 47. Greg Jones 35x 16.929 (45th) 48. Doug Strong 43 17.300 (34th) NT - Haigh (19th), Clarke (47th)
With only 48 cars eligible for the heats, the format was revised. How and why it was, was a mystery to me so don't e-mail me questions about it. The third heat became the first and the first became the third, the fourth became the fifth and the fifth became the fourth. The second heat stayed where it should have been. Why is not important. Here's how it went:
Heat one (started): 1. Hodnett (7) 2. Schatz (9) 3. Meyers (8) 4. Moyle (6) / 5. Wimmer (4) 6. Altmeyer (2) 7. Strong (1) 8. Je. Johnson (3) / 9. Herrera (7) DNS - Lutar
The first start saw Je. Johnson get buzzed across the bow by Meyers causing him to get crossed up. Herrera had nowhere to go and destroyed the Forbrook 5. Johnson also suffered heavy damage but returned for the B. Meyers suffered minor damage to his left rear and restarted. Turn one of the first lap of the restart decided who would finish one, two and three as Hodnett led Schatz and Meyers by the rest.
Heat two (started): 1. Stewart (6) 2. McMahan (8) 3. Dewease (4) 4. Tatnell (7) / 5. Jackson (5) 6. K. Kinser (9) 7. Jones (1) 8. Robenalt (2) / 9. Beckman (3) DNS - Mincer
Jackson came to a stop before a lap could be completed. He restarted at the tail. Dewease jumped around Robenalt to lead the first two laps, before Stewart got by him and set sail. Jackson fought back to fifth and was working on Tatnell when Beckman spun bringing caution on lap seven. Jackson couldn't quite steal the last transfer spot from Tatnell. McMahan made his pass for second on the restart.
Heat three (started): 1. Kahne (6) 2. M. Kinser (7) 3. Swindell (10) 4. Saldana (9) / 5. Landis (8) 6. West (4) 7. Bartz (2) 8. Bustillos (3) / 9. Hildreth (1) 10. Henderson (5)
Bartz jumped out to the early lead, before Henderson took command on the second circuit. He was still leading on lap eight when his motor let go and he stopped on the frontstretch. The restart saw Kahne leading M. Kinser, Swindell, Landis and Saldana. Saldana used the restart to slide under Landis for the final transfer to the A.
Heat four (started): 1. Sides (4) 2. Lynch (8) 3. Crocker (9) 4. Frey (6) / 5. M. Moore (2) 6. Howard (3) 7. Sernett (5) 8. Swenson (1) / 9. Agan (7)
M. Moore shot out to the early lead. On lap three, Swenson, running fourth at the time, spun in turn one. The restart saw M. Moore leading Sides, Lynch, Howard and Crocker. Sides used the restart to move around M. Moore as he tried to make up for a bad qualifying effort. Frey who was black-flagged to the rear on the initial start, came back strong and managed to get in a transfer position. Agan pulled off on the white flag lap relegating himself to the C.
Heat five (started): 1. Lasoski (9) 2. Campbell (3) 3. Kemenah (8) 4. Hockett (5) / 5. Moro (2) 6. Vanderploeg (6) 7. Kertscher (7) 8. Leavitt (1) / 9. Trainer (4)
Campbell shot out to an impressive lead until Trainer stopped on the frontchute on lap three. He went pitside. Campbell led Kemenah, Lasoski, Moro and Vanderploeg to the cone. Lasoski took second and then the lead on the restart and was never seriously challenged. Hockett came on strong late and grabbed the final transfer with two to go.
C main (started): 1. Lutar (1) 2. Henderson (2) / 3. Mincer (6) 4. Trainer (4) 5. Beckman (3) 6. Hildreth (5) DNS - Agan, Herrera
Lutar led a single file affair the entire six laps.
B main (started): 1. K. Kinser (1) 2. Landis (2) 3. Jackson (6) 4. Vanderploeg (4) / 5. Kertscher (3) 6. Howard (10) 7. Wimmer (9) 8. Henderson (22) 9. Moro (13) 10. Sernett (5) 11. West (7) 12. M. Moore (14) 13. Bartz (15) 14. Swenson (18) 15. Lutar (21) 16. Bustillos (11) 17. Robenalt (8) 18. Leavitt (17) 19. Altmeyer (16) 20. Jones (19) 21. Strong (20) 22. Je. Johnson (12)
Je. Johnson exited early on, while K. Kinser led the distance. The race went non-stop, much to the dismay of Henderson, who could have used a stoppage to have a shot at the top four. As it was, he passed fourteen cars on his way to eighth.
A main (started): 1. Schatz (6) 2. Lasoski (5) 3. Hodnett (2) 4. Stewart (10) 5. McMahan (7) 6. Swindell (8) 7. Saldana (3) 8. M. Kinser (12) 9. Tatnell (13) 10. Meyers (11) 11. Moyle (17) 12. Sides (19) 13. Jackson (23) 14. Campbell (20) 15. Crocker (4) 16. Lynch (9) 17. K. Kinser (21) 18. Vanderploeg (24) 19. Dewease (16) 20. Landis (22) 21. Frey (14) 22. Kemenah (1) 23. Hockett (18) 24. Kahne (15)
Saldana got under Kemenah and Hodnett to take the early lead. Schatz would surge forward and pass Saldana for the lead on the seventh go-around. Kahne lost power on lap 10 and could not restart. Schatz led Saldana, Hodnett, Kemenah, Swindell and Lasoski back to the green flag. Lasoski began to move forward picking off four spots until Hockett blew his right rear and got into the fence on lap 21 of 25. The restart saw Schatz have a cushion of three lapped cars between himself and Lasoski. Hodnett, Swindell and a resurgent McMahan followed. One lap later, the order was the same except for a McMahan pass of Swindell when Kemenah made contact with the wall and spun. Schatz led the rest of the way with Lasoski hot on his heels. Stewart made a late bonzai run into fourth. Jackson moved up eleven spots earning hard-charger honors.