7/5
Knoxville Raceway
WoO
56 cars
Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski, Jason Meyers and Tim Shaffer were locked into the dash for their finishes on Friday. Sammy Swindell (6th car out to time) set quick time at 15.426 seconds. Terry McCarl (8th car out) was second quick, followed by Tyler Walker (20th), Kevin Frey (5th), Kerry Madsen (33rd), Joey Saldana (4th), Stevie Smith (32nd), Jeff Mitrisin (18th), Paul McMahan (36th) and Mark Kinser (1st). Marty "Muscles" Perovich was a no show in time trials. Brian Brown underwent a motor change after timing in 37th.
Mini-feature one (started): 1. McMahan 11h (2) 2. Mitrisin 5J (3) 3. Swindell 1 (4) 4. Randy Hannagan 1x (5) / 5. Randy Anderson 1s (7) 6. Scott Young 47 (9) 7. Chris Walraven 56 (8) 8. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (10) 9. Robert Bell 71 (11) 10. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (1) 11. Bob Bennett 3 (6) 12. Jeff Johnson 11J (12) DNS - Calvin Landis 70
Any heats over 12 cars will now be called mini-features in this report (Can I get a holla for five heats here?). McMahan shot out to a lead with Vanderploeg in tow. J. Johnson and Bennett would drop out on lap four. On the same circuit Swindell worked the fourth and final transfer from Hannagan. The move would be a moot point when Vanderploeg came to rest in turn four bringing out a caution.
Mini-feature two (started): 1. M. Kinser 5m (2) 2. McCarl 24 (4) 3. Daryn Pittman 21 (5) 4. Wayne Johnson 12x (7) / 5. Johnny Herrera 2w (9) 6. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (1) 7. Derek Beckman 50D (8) 8. Clint Garner 55 (11) 9. Adam West 20A (10) 10. S. Smith 19 (3) 11. Brooke Tatnell 66 (6) 12. Greg Jones 35x (12) DNS - Brent Antill 1J
M. Kinser led the distance. West spun on lap two, bringing caution. S. Smith was sailing and had gotten by Pittman who had passed him earlier, when he lost some debris bringing out a caution. His hood was obstructing his view, so he had to go pitside to make repairs. Tatnell bowed out at the same time while running in the third spot. W. Johnson snatched the opportunity to gain the final transfer.
Mini-feature three (started): 1. Saldana 17 (3) 2. Walker 35 (4) 3. Kraig Kinser 11K (1) 4. Don Droud Jr. 7x (2) / 5. Ricky Logan 17G (6) 6. Jaymie Moyle 10 (5) 7. Jeremy Campbell 10c (9) 8. Jon Agan 4 (8) 9. Mike Moore 69 (11) 10. Adam Clarke 14 (10) 11. Tyler Houseman 50 (12) 12. Colin Northway 60 (7) DNS - Travis Cram 92
Northway exited early. K. Kinser took the early advantage until a lap four caution for a spun Houseman. The restart saw him leading Saldana, Walker, Droud and Logan. Saldana performed his slidejob on the restart, and Walker followed him a lap later.
Mini-feature four (started): 1. Donny Schatz 15 (1) 2. Madsen 82 (3) 3. Jason Sides 7s (2) 4. Justin Henderson R19 (5) / 5. Frey 2K (4) 6. Skip Jackson 21x (6) 7. Jesse Giannetto D1 (7) 8. Brown 6 (9) 9. John VanDenBerg V10 (8) 10. Brian Paulus 28 (12) 11. Rob Tvedte 1w (10) 12. Brian Carlson 18 (11) DNS - Perovich 12
Paulus brought out a backup mount for the heat, surrendering his third row starting spot. Schatz led the distance while Madsen and Sides went wheel to wheel behind him. Jackson and Giannetto also went tooth and nail as if it was for the lead. Carlson went pitside on lap four.
C main (started): 1. VanDenBerg (3) 2. Garner (5) / 3. Leavitt (2) 4. J. Johnson (10) 5. Young (6) 6. West (9) 7. Tvedte (12) 8. Bell (11) 9. Brown (1) 10. Clarke (4) 11. Houseman (14) 12. Carlson (7) 13. Moore (8) DNS - Antill, Jones, Paulus
Brown was cruising until he started to slow on lap seven. VanDenBerg in his first Knoxville 410 start of the season, assumed the lead. Two laps later, Brown would slow and as he pulled low on the backstretch, he was tagged by Houseman. Both were done. Clarke would also pull in before the green fell.
Dash (started): 1. S. Kinser (1) 2. Lasoski (2) 3. Meyers (3) 4. Shaffer (4) 5. Swindell (5) 6. McCarl (6) 7. Walker (7) 8. Madsen (8)
Good battle between Meyers and Shaffer for most of the five laps, though everyone finished the way they started.
B main (started): 1. S. Smith (2) 2. Moyle (5) 3. Jeffrey (3) 4. Logan (8) / 5. Jackson (15) 6. Northway (10) 7. Vanderploeg (4) 8. Giannetto (11) 9. Herrera (17) 10. VanDenBerg (19) 11. Garner (18) 12. Campbell (16) 13. Beckman (13) 14. Bennett (6) 15. Agan (12) 16. Frey (1) 17. Tatnell (7) 18. R. Anderson (9) 19. Landis (14) DNS - Walraven
S. Smith was the class of the field in this non-stop affair. Jackson was in need of a stoppage, as he was a missile, but couldn't reel in the top four after getting by ten competitors. Jeffrey slipped back but came on late and was putting pressure on Moyle at the end. Landis, R. Anderson, Tatnell, Frey and Agan all exited early.
A main (started): 1. Lasoski (2) 2. Walker (7) 3. McCarl (6) 4. Schatz (16) 5. Madsen (8) 6. McMahan (12) 7. Shaffer (4) 8. Meyers (3) 9. Saldana (9) 10. Hannagan (19) 11. Smith (10) 12. K. Kinser (17) 13. S. Kinser (1) 14. Droud (14) 15. Logan (23) 16. W. Johnson (24) 17. Sides (15) 18. Jeffrey (18) 19. Pittman (20) 20. Moyle (21) 21. M. Kinser (13) 22. Swindell (5) 23. Henderson (22) 24. Mitrisin (11)
S. Kinser led the first lap of the 40 lapper, but Lasoski quickly got by him on lap two. Mitrisin exited on lap five. McCarl set his sights on Meyers and then Shaffer, putting them behind him as he settled into third. Walker was relentless and finally slid McCarl for third on lap six. Henderson tagged the wall and came to a stop on lap seven. Swindell also exited at this time. Lasoski led S. Kinser, Walker, McCarl and Meyers at the time. Madsen was making his presence known and started a battle with McCarl that would last a good share of the race. The contest went non-stop for the next 29 laps. S. Kinser succumbed to Walker around the halfway point, and both chased Lasoski into lapped traffic. McCarl got back around Madsen before a lap 36 caution came out for a stopped Pittman. Lasoski led Walker, S. Kinser, McCarl and Madsen on the restart, with four to go. Schatz would complete his hard charge with a pass of Madsen. The final lap saw disaster for S. Kinser as his right rear blew after getting passed by McCarl. With two in the top five, the Knoxville regulars had their best showing in quite awhile. Next week Sammy will return for the $25,000 Gold Rush Challenge.