8/1
Pella Classic Night #1
Knoxville Raceway
90 cars
Group one
Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Marty Perovich 17 (1*) 2. Jeff Johnson 11J (2*) 3. Dean Jacobs 29 (6*) 4. Tim Shaffer 83 (10*) 5. Marty Wilcox 3 (4) 6. Joe Roe 61 (8) 7. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (11) 8. Kurt Davis 6K (9) 9. Joe Bustillos 37 (3) 10. Brian Kristan 5 (5) 11. Darrell Dodd 11 (7) 12. Ryan Irwin 49 (12)
After a three hour rain delay, the heats started around 10:30 pm. Heats were by draw. The top four points getters using passing points in each heat got A main spots. A heavy and narrow surface awaited. Perovich led the distance in his former Joey Saldana mount. Shaffer made a run to third early, getting by D. Jacobs. D. Jacobs came back and got him on the low side later. Shaffer got by Wilcox coming for the checkered to nail down fourth.
Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Brian Brown 6 (3*) 2. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (6*) 3. Shane Stewart 4m (9*) 4. Jason Johnson (WI) 44 (1*) 5. Matt Wasmund 4w (2) 6. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (11) 7. Dave Uttech 68 (7) 8. Travis Cram 92 (8) 9. Scott Biertzer 4B (10) 10. Ty Bartz 75 (5) DNS - Adam West 20 (4)
Once Brown, who made a motor change after hot laps, got by Ja. Johnson on lap two he checked out on the field. Stewart moved up nicely from the fifth row to third. Bartz dropped out on lap nine. Cram was moving up well when he got too high in turn four and almost spun out in the slick stuff. He recovered, but not before the entire field got by him.
Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Wayne Johnson 12x (2*) 2. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4*) 4. Randy Hannagan 1x (8*) 5. Jesse Hockett 75J (6) 6. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (11) 7. John Sernett 91 (7) 8. Travis Whitney 9 (3) 9. John Schulz 45 (10) 10. Scott Neitzel 2w (9) 11. Doug Strong 43 (5)
W. Johnson led flag to flag, covering ten laps in a track record 2:39.6. It broke the mark set by Calvin Landis and tied by Brown in the previous heat. Good racing back in the field between Jeffrey, Sernett and Whitney. Jeffrey moved up five spots, his last one coming on the final lap.
Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Johnny Herrera 5H (1*) 2. Jeff Shepard 92A (4*) 3. Kenny Jacobs 70 (8*) 4. Colin Northway 60 (3) 5. Terry McCarl 24 (9*) 6. Fred Ebler 64 (7) 7. Kerry Madsen 82 (5) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (10) 9. Barry Ruble 63R (2) 10. Randy Anderson 1s (11) 11. Justin Henderson R19 (6)
Henderson checked up behind Ruble on the initial start in this stacked heat, and went sideways into a top-like spin on his nose and flip. He was done for the night. The next start saw Ra. Anderson flip violently after contact with Ruble. Ruble also ended up upside down. Neither was injured, but both were done. VanDenBerg suffered both front and top wing damage and had to make repairs to continue. His front wing would collapse on lap three as he came to rest on the backstretch. He retired and was followed by Madsen who also exited at the time. Herrera led a single file pack from that point on to take the win.
B main (started): 1. Northway (3) 2. Wimmer (2) 3. Jeffrey (1) 4. Madsen (12) 5. Hockett (4) 6. Mitrisin (7) / 7. Roe (6) 8. Cram (15) 9. VanDenBerg (13) 10. Sernett (11) 11. Davis (14) 12. Schulz (17) 13. Biertzer (19) 14. D. Uttech (10) 15. Wasmund (8) 16. Bustillos (18) 17. Ebler (9) 18. Whitney (16) 19. Wilcox (5) DNS - Ruble
A widening track lent to some good racing. Jeffrey shot out to an early led from the pole in the non-stop event. On lap six, Wimmer worked around Jeffrey for the lead. He held it for three laps before Northway assumed command. Madsen moved up eight spots to gain a transfer. Wilcox and Whitney exited early. Whitney was smoking as he went pitside.
A main (started): 1. Shaffer (2) 2. W. Johnson (6) 3. Stewart (7) 4. K. Jacobs (5) 5. Madsen (20) 6. Shepard (9) 7. D. Jacobs (10) 8. McCarl (15) 9. Hannagan (13) 10. Northway (17) 11. Mitrisin (22) 12. Vanderploeg (3) 13. Moyle (12) 14. Wimmer (18) 15. Hockett (21) 16. Jeffrey (19) 17. Je. Johnson (11) 18. Perovich (4) 19. Ja. Johnson (WI) (16) 20. Herrera (1) 21. Brown (8) 22. Giannetto (14)
After the green, a turn one spin by Brown collected Giannetto, who had nowhere to go and flipped after ramming Brown. Both were done. The restart saw Herrera get a jump on Shaffer and set sail until Perovich brought his car to a stop on lap five. At the time, Herrera led Shaffer, W. Johnson, K. Jacobs and Stewart. Herrera dominated again until coming to a stop on the backstretch with a broken rear end on lap nine. Shaffer assumed the lead in front of W. Johnson, Stewart, K. Jacobs and D. Jacobs. Shaffer held the lead and was never seriously challenged. Madsen worked his way through the pack by passing fifteen cars and grabbing hard-charger honors. Leonard Lee had Northway dialed in as he was as high as eighth place at one point from his ninth row starting spot. McCarl grabbed the all important eighth spot with two to go.
Group Two
Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (3*) 2. Tim Kaeding 7T (6*) 3. Jonathan Allard 35w (5*) 4. Jan Howard 51 (4) 5. Don Droud Jr. 7x (9*) 6. Kim Mock 1m (7) 7. Mike Stefka 35s (2) 8. Daron Clayton 92D (10) 9. Dave Enders 51E (11) 10. Wayne Modjeski 77 (8) 11. Tyler Houseman 50 (12) 12. Chris Walraven 56 (1)
Walraven took the early advantage, but ignited his engine on lap two bringing caution. Logan assumed the lead and held off the California challenges of Kaeding and Allard. Droud worked hard on Howard but couldn't get by. He did earn enough points to make the feature, though. Houseman exited on lap six.
Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Chad Kemenah 15K (4*) 2. Skip Jackson 21 (2*) 3. Jon Agan 4 (6*) 4. Mike Kertscher 80K (9*) 5. Todd Hepfner 28 (3) 6. Bill Rose 6R (10) 7. Manny Rockhold 02x (8) 8. Todd King 97 (1) 9. Mark Toews 5T (11) 10. Mike Moore 69 (5) 11. Brent Antill 12 (7)
Disaster struck for Antill in his first night in the Robuck 12. M. Moore slid sideways, leaving him nowhere to go. Antill flipped wildly, but was uninjured. Neither driver would restart. Lap five saw Toews hit a slowing Rockhold and flipping. He was unhurt, but done. King exited on lap six. Kemenah and Jackson raced side by side early on, before Kemenah took command. Kertscher impressed after the lap five restart and passed three cars to nail down fourth.
Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Jason Meyers 7m (1*) 2. Toni Lutar 4x (3*) 3. Derek Beckman 50D (2*) 4. Matt Moro 47 (6*) 5. Joe Beaver 53 (7) 6. Dennis Moore Jr. 0 (8) 7. Brooke Tatnell 66 (9) 8. Kelly Kinser 4KK (10) 9. Ryan Anderson 71R (4) 10. Mark Hurd 44m (11) 11. Robert Bell 71 (5)
Meyers left the rest more than a straightaway behind in a mostly single file event, except for some good side by side action between Lutar, who was on the bottom and Beckman, who was on the top.
Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Mike Reinke 02 (2*) 2. Jason Johnson (LA) 22 (3*) 3. Max Dumesny 1 (7*) 4. Clint Garner 55 (5*) 5. John Haeni 21J (4) 6. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (10) 7. Bill Warren 95 (8) 8. Troy Little 20AU (1) 9. Scott Uttech 7 (9) 10. Greg Jones 35 (11) 11. Ryan Coniam 6c (6)
Little rode the rim to the lead with Reinke behind. Lap five saw Coniam stop after a puff of smoke while running fifth on the backstretch. On the restart, Little's car did not take off well and the field got by the leader. Reinke led the rest of the way. Dumesny was driving the Jordan 1, recently driven by Antill.
B main (started): 1. Beaver (3) 2. Rose (2) 3. Mock (8) 4. Tatnell (9) 5. Hepfner (5) 6. D. Moore (6) 7. Leavitt 1A (4) / 8. Toews (18) 9. Clayton (13) 10. Little (16) 11. Stefka (12) 12. Enders (17) 13. Rockhold (10) 14. Warren (11) 15. King (15) 16. S. Uttech (20) 17. Ry. Anderson (19) 18. Kinser (14) 19. Haeni (7) DQ - Howard (1)
Haeni spun on the initial green. D. Moore jumped on the restart and was sent to the tail by Doug Clark, setting up a charge. Howard jumped out to a lead, followed by Beaver. Haeni was relegated to the pits with a second spin on lap three. Kinser retired as well. Rockhold performed a spin a lap later. The race went green the rest of the way, with Howard slowing on the last lap and getting passed by Beaver. Beaver too suffered problems and couldn't make the A lineup. He was replaced by Leavitt. Howard crossed the line second but was DQed for weight. D. Moore came back through the field and landed a transfer. Toews charged past ten cars after his heat race flip, but fell one short of a transfer.
A main (started): 1. Meyers (4) 2. Kaeding (6) 3. Kemenah (8) 4. Logan (7) 5. Jackson (12) 6. Droud (13) 7. Allard (11) 8. Agan (2) 9. Ja. Johnson (LA) (10) 10. D. Moore (22) 11. Kertscher (1) 12. Reinke (5) 13. Lutar (9) 14. Moro (15) 15. Dumesny (3) 16. Hepfner (19) 17. Mock (17) 18. Garner (16) 19. Rose (18) 20. Leavitt (21) 21. Tatnell (20) 22. Beckman (14) DNS - Beaver
On the first try, Leavitt spun and Beckman tagged the wall breaking his Jacob's ladder. Tatnell retired on lap four after bringing the caution out for his stoppage. Agan led the first two laps before Meyers took command of the events. Good charges were put on by Jackson and Droud. D. Moore came from the tail to the top ten bringing home a hard-charger. Kemenah gained third from Logan with two to go.