6/21
Knoxville Raceway
37 410s
40 360s
410s
Terry McCarl (22nd car out to time) set quick time with a circuit of 15.573 seconds on a very choppy, rutty track. Jeff Mitrisin (13th car out) was second quick, followed by Lynton Jeffrey (7th), Kerry Madsen (23rd), Clint Garner (5th), Mike Moore (6th), Travis Cram (7th), Brian Brown (10th), Chris Walraven (2nd), and Mike Reinke (28th). In hot laps, Randy Anderson who was in the 1s was slowing in turn two when Madsen made contact with him and had to be towed to his pit. The grader and skid loaders were brought out to smooth the surface over, though it was still pretty choppy all night.
Heat one (started): 1. Brent Antill 1 (1) 2. Don Droud Jr. 55 (3) 3. Brown 6 (5) 4. McCarl 24 (6) 5. Skip Jackson 21 (2) / 6. Jaymie Moyle 10 (7) 7. R. Anderson 1s (10) 8. Walraven 56 (4) 9. Jeff Johnson 11J (9) 10. Scott Neitzel 2w (8)
Antill led flag to flag in this stacked heat. McCarl's pass of Jackson came on the low side of turn four on the last lap.
Heat two (started): 1. Justin Henderson R19 (1) 2. Cram 92 (5) 3. Reinke 02 (4) 4. Adam Clarke 14A (2) 5. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (3) / 6. Mike Kertscher 80K (7) 7. Mitrisin 5J (6) 8. Adam West 20 (8) 9. Robert Bell 71 (9)
Henderson left the field behind. Cram was impressive in moving up four spots. Clarke, from Australia, drove a North Carolina based car with Richard Petty sponsorship and made the A main in his first Knoxville start, and second ever 410 start. The car is a regular in AOAS 360 competition. Mitrisin had fifth and a transfer wrapped up when his left front tire went down on the last lap, causing him to do a 360 and surrender two spots.
Heat three (started): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (2) 2. Wayne Johnson 12x (4) 3. Jeffrey 4K (6) 4. Randy Martin 14 (3) 5. Jon Agan 4 (1) / 6. Moore 69 (5) 7. Mark Hurd 44m (8) 8. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (7) 9. Greg Jones 35 (9)
Logan led the distance. Jeffrey worked the bottom to perfection in moving up three spots. Moore was approaching Agan on the white flag lap when he got out of shape in three or four and barely saved it.
Heat four (started): 1. Madsen 82 (6) 2. Marty Perovich 12 (1) 3. Calvin Landis 70 (4) 4. Colin Northway 60 (3) 5. Garner 40 (5) / 6. Kim Mock 1m (2) 7. Scott Young 47 (7) 8. Derek Beckman 50D (8) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (9)
Madsen was a rocket, and once he got the lead from Perovich, he pulled away. Garner, in the family car powered by a recently purchased Don Ott motor, created some excitement with a last corner pass of Mock for the final transfer.
B main (started): 1. Mitrisin (1) 2. Walraven (3) 3. Moyle (5) 4. Moore (2) / 5. J. Johnson (13) 6. West (10) 7. Neitzel (9) 8. Kertscher (6) 9. Beckman (12) 10. Mock (4) 11. Hurd (11) 12. Houseman (16) 13. Jones (15) 14. Leavitt (7) 15. Young (8) 16. Bell (14) DNS - Anderson
The initial start saw Young spin, collecting both Leavitt and Bell. All were done for the night. Mitrisin cruised, with no one even close despite a lap 10 yellow for Mock, who had spun. Mock was catching Moore and probably would have been able to get by him for the final transfer at the time.
A main (started): 1. Cram (4) 2. McCarl (8) 3. W. Johnson (1) 4. Jackson (14) 5. Madsen (6) 6. Brown (3) 7. Logan (16) 8. Reinke (2) 9. Droud (13) 10. Mitrisin (21) 11. Garner (5) 12. Henderson (19) 13. Northway (10) 14. Antill (20) 15. Moyle (23) 16. Martin (11) 17. Walraven (22) 18. Jeffrey (7) 19. Vanderploeg (12) 20. Clarke (15) 21. Agan (18) 22. Moore (24) 23. Perovich (17) 24. Landis (9)
W. Johnson jumped out to an early comfortable advantage, as fellow front row starter, Reinke, broke a spark plug a couple laps in and was relegated to seven cylinders. He did well to maintain a top ten finish. Lap seven brought a caution for a spun Vanderploeg. W. Johnson led Cram, Reinke, Brown and Madsen at the time. He jumped out to a comfortable lead before a lap 11 yellow for a spun Moore. This one W. Johnson didn't need as Cram got by on the restart. Three laps passed before the final stoppage resulted from a Moore/Perovich collision. Both would restart. Cram led W. Johnson, McCarl, Brown and a charging Jackson on the restart. Landis exited on lap 17. W. Johnson's move for the front was not to be, as he surrendered second to McCarl with two to go and Cram cruised to his second win in a row with a broken nose wing. Jackson charged through ten cars, but the hard-charger was Mitrisin who scratched up 11 spots into the top ten.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Matt Moro 2 (1*) 2. Ed Ergenbright 11 (3*) 3. Billy Alley 22A (8*) 4. Bobby Mincer 15 (9*) 5. Ryan Anderson 71R (6) 6. Ryan Menninga 10 (2) 7. John VanDenBerg V10 (10) 8. Mike Houseman 83 (4) 9. DJ Heskin 56 (5) 10. Jerry Crabb 12x (7)
Crabb exited on the first lap. Moro held a comfortable lead throughout in a very stout field. Alley and Mincer traded spots and put on a great show up through the field, before Alley took the third spot from Mincer on the last lap.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Joe Beaver 53 (3*) 2. Michael Jones 12 (4*) 3. Dave Hall 51 (6*) 4. Bruce Williams 8s (10*) 5. Brett Golik 5G (9*) 6. Dave Middleswart 40 (5) 7. Alan Zoutte 33 (2) 8. Terry Alexander 77 (7) 9. Nate Mosher 45 (8) 10. Brett Mather 54 (1)
A good battle for the top three positions was taking place when Mather bowed out on lap two. Mosher brought out a yellow with a lap three spin. Williams was impressive after a long layoff getting by six competitors to earn a transfer.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Josh Higday 24 (1*) 2. Steve Breazeale 57 (2*) 3. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (10*) 4. Curtis Thorson 91 (3) 5. Stacey Alexander 126 (7) 6. Tom Lenz 8L (5) 7. Johnny Anderson 7a (8) 8. John Hall 7H (4) 9. Mitchell Alexander 6 (9) 10. Doug Wilson 33w (6)
Wilson came to a stop on lap three with a broken driveline. His bad luck continues. On the restart, Higday and Breazeale went back and forth for the lead before Higday took command. Ball was a rocket from tenth to third, completing his run with a white flag pass of Thorson.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dave Hesmer 1 (3*) 2. Rodney Turner 69 (4*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (8*) 4. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (6*) 5. Chris Martinez 7m (1) 6. Rod Edwards 22 (7) 7. Rod Foster 40F (9) 8. Brandon Hainline 4J (2) 9. Eric Mason B29 (5) 10. Danny Hutchins F4 (10)
Hutchins flipped it on lap one. During the caution, Mason dropped out with front end damage, and Hainline came in with a flat. Hesmer and Turner put on a great battle before Turner, who was leading, got caught up in lapped traffic on the final circuit. Hesmer pounced on the opportunity. Giannetto looked strong coming through the pack as well.
B main (started): 1. S. Alexander (1) 2. Thorson (2) 3. VanDenBerg (5) 4. R. Anderson (3) / 5. J. Anderson (11) 6. Menninga (7) 7. Lenz (9) 8. Mason (18) 9. T. Alexander (12) 10. Houseman (13) 11. Martinez (4) 12. M. Alexander (19) 13. Hainline (14) 14. Edwards (6) 15. Heskin (17) 16. Crabb (21) 17. Foster (8) 18. Zoutte (10) 19. Hutchins (20) 20. Mosher (16) 21. J. Hall (15) DNS - Wilson, Middleswart
S. Alexander took the early lead but stumbled over the cushion on lap seven and Thorson took the point. Mosher brought out cautions with spins on lap two and nine. The lap nine restart saw S. Alexander get back around Thorson, with VanDenBerg and R. Anderson racing side by side as well. J. Anderson just fell short and Mason also had a great run through the pack, to no avail.
A main (started): 1. Alley (5) 2. Moro (3) 3. Ball (8) 4. Giannetto (4) 5. Beaver (7) 6. Ergenbright (11) 7. Jones (2) 8. Hesmer (6) 9. VanDenBerg (19) 10. Mincer (12) 11. Breazeale (14) 12. S. Alexander (17) 13. Golik (19) 14. Williams (1) 15. Thorson (18) 16. Heimbaugh (16) 17. R. Anderson (20) 18. D. Hall (13) 19. Turner (10) 20. Higday (9)
Jones streaked out to the early lead with Moro and Alley in pursuit. Alley looked strong on the bottom side, and took the lead on lap four. Higday and Beaver were dicing it out on lap ten. After Higday chopped Beaver's nose with a slider in turn three, Beaver returned the favor in turn four by knocking Higday's nerf bar into the steering apparatus. Higday stopped bringing out caution. Alley was leading Moro, a charging Ball, Jones and Giannetto at the time. Moro tried a slide job but it was answered by Alley who got back by and cruised for his first career win at Knoxville. VanDenBerg earned hard charger honors going from 19th to 9th.