6/13
Knoxville Raceway
360 Nationals Qualifying Night
75 cars
Group A
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Josh Higday 24 (1*) 2. John VanDenBerg V10 (2*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4*) 4. Don Droud Jr. 55 (5*) 5. Randi Miller 2D (3) 6. Wayne Johnson 12x (9) 7. Larry Neighbors 36 (10) 8. Jeff Johnson 11J (7) 9. Brandon Hainline 4J (8) 10. Chris Martinez 7m (6)
The cars were split into two groups. The top four in points for each heat made the A. Higday wrestled the lead from VanDenBerg after a brief battle in a heat that was stacked from front to back. Droud took fourth place and what turned out to be a transfer when he ducked under Miller on the white flag lap. Higday blistered George White's three year old eight lap record as he cruised in at 2:14.3.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Travis Rilat 29 (2*) 2. Erin Crocker 16 (5*) 3. Zach Chappell 50z (9*) 4. John Hall 7H (4*) 5. Stacey Alexander 126 (3) 6. Mike Chadd 4c (6) 7. Brett Golik 5G (7) 8. Ryan Jamison 51J (10) 9. Mitchell Alexander 6 (8) 10. Ricky Logan 1c (1)
Logan slowed and exited on lap two. Rilat led flag to flag, while Crocker appeared to have the fastest car on the track. She closed on Rilat at the finish, but couldn't quite get there. Chappell was a rocket from row five to finish third after a last corner passing of J. Hall.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Shane Stewart 4m (6*) 2. Tim St. Arnold 8s (1*) 3. Danny Jennings 61J (8*) 4. Cody Branchcomb 94 (9*) 5. John Schulz 2s (4) 6. Mike Woodring 19 (5) 7. Sean McClelland 1m (2) 8. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (7) 9. Dave Middleswart 40 (3)
St. Arnold took the early lead before Middleswart stopped to bring out a lap two caution. Ball also stopped under caution. Ball would follow Middleswart to the pits a lap later. S. Stewart took command from St. Arnold on lap three and checked out. Jennings made a great charge, and Branchcomb benefited when the fourth place machine of McClelland bowed out on the white flag lap.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brian Brown 20 (6*) 2. Doug Wilson 33w (1*) 3. Darren Stewart 91x (5*) 4. Johnny Anderson 7a (2*) 5. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (3) 6. Gary Wright 9 (7) 7. Michael Jones 12 (8) 8. Steve Wares 10T (9) DNS - William Eggimann 77w (4)
Brown and Wilson put on a great race until Brown cut off Wilson's line at the halfway point to lead for good.
B main (started): 1. W. Johnson (1) 2. Miller (2) 3. Neighbors (6) 4. Chadd (8) / 5. S. Alexander (3) 6. Wright (7) 7. Vanderploeg (5) 8. Ball (15) 9. Jamison (11) 10. Jones (13) 11. Woodring (9) 12. Hainline (17) 13. Eggimann (20) 14. M. Alexander (16) 15. Martinez (18) 16. Golik (10) 17. J. Johnson (12) 18. Schulz (4) 19. Logan (19) 20. Wares (14) DNS - McClelland
Neighbors and Schulz made contact on the initial green, sending the latter spinning in front of the field and onto the infield grass. He restarted at the tail, but dropped out on lap two. Logan got over the backside of M. Alexander and suffered enough front end damage to retire as well. Once the green fell it was nonstop action as W. Johnson and Miller swapped the lead twice and put on a great show. Chadd moved up well on the high side into a transfer after a heated exchange with both S. Alexander and Wright. W. Johnson finished the twelve laps in 3:32.9, breaking Curtis Thorson's two year old mark.
A main (started): 1. Higday (2) 2. S. Stewart (8) 3. Rilat (5) 4. Crocker (4) 5. Droud (14) 6. VanDenBerg (9) 7. Jennings (3) 8. D. Stewart (12) 9. Miller (18) 10. Chappell (6) 11. Giannetto (13) 12. Wilson (11) 13. W. Johnson (17) 14. St. Arnold (10) 15. Branchcomb (1) 16. J. Anderson (16) 17. Chadd (20) 18. Neighbors (19) 19. J. Hall (15) DQ - B. Brown (7)
Word in the pits had B. Brown, who crossed the line third after a fine run, being DQed for a nose wing violation. D. Stewart was black flagged to the back on the initial try at a start. He roared back in the non-stop event to finish eighth. Higday shot out to a lead in which no one could see him. Crocker followed in second for most of the contest, but a power steering malfunction cost her a few spots in the closing circuits. S. Stewart was on the move, but couldn't reel in Higday who broke Doran Doty's 20 lap mark with a time of 5:58.6 and took home $2000. Droud and Miller shared hard-charger honors.
Group B
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jesse Hockett 75 (2*) 2. Ryan Menninga 10 (1*) 3. Mike Houseman 83 (5*) 4. Shane Liebig 10L (6*) 5. Rodney Turner 69 (8) 6. Ed Ergenbright 11 (9) 7. Troy Meyer 11m (4) 8. Eric Mason B29 (7) 9. Adam West 00 (3) 10. Derek Drown 26 (10)
Hockett led flag to flag. The best battle was between Liebig and Houseman. Houseman managed to pass him with three to go.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Rick Ziehl 6L (4*) 2. Randy Martin 14 (7*) 3. Billy Alley 22 (9*) 4. Clint Garner 40x (6*) 5. Ryan Anderson 71R (1) 6. Bobby Mincer 15 (5) 7. Rod Foster 40F (8) 8. Danny Hutchins F4 (3) DNS - Dave Hall 51 (2)
Ziehl led wire to wire after D. Hall did not start. Martin was on his tail but couldn't catch him, and Alley also made an impressive run from the back. Hutchins elected to start scratch in his first sprint car outing.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jake Peters 57x (2*) 2. Garry Lee Maier 11x (1*) 3. Dennis Moore Jr. 75x (7*) 4. Toby Brown 61a (5) 5. Matt Moro 2 (9*) 6. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (4) 7. Terry Alexander 77 (6) 8. Allan Zoutte 33 (8) 9. Nate Mosher 45 (3)
Peters and Maier were nose to tail the duration of the heat. D. Moore was impressive in his maiden 2003 Knoxville run. Moro's jump from ninth to fifth was good enough for an A transfer.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Steve Breazeale 57 (1*) 2. Kenny Adams 4A (3*) 3. Terry McCarl 83x (6*) 4. Brett Mather 54 (2*) 5. Joey Beaver 53 (5) 6. Dave Hesmer 1 (8) 7. Ryan York 5R (7) 8. DJ Heskin 56 (9) 9. Curtis Thorson 91 (4)
Thorson stopped bringing out the only caution on lap two. He retired from the event. Breazeale continuously held off the charges of Adams, who had fended off McCarl earlier in the event. Another stacked heat.
B main (started): 1. Ergenbright (3) 2. Beaver (5) 3. Hesmer (6) 4. Turner (1) / 5. T. Brown (2) 6. York (12) 7. R. Anderson (4) 8. Mincer (7) 9. Meyer (9) 10. Heskin (13) 11. Drown (20) 12. Mason (14) 13. T. Alexander (11) 14. Heimbaugh (8) 15. Thorson (19) 16. West (17) 17. Zoutte (16) 18. Foster (10) 19. Mosher (18) 20. Hutchins (15)
Hutchins again elected to start at the rear, but was black-flagged for slow driving on lap five. Beaver charged up on the high side, while Ergenbright took the lead from Turner in traffic in the non-stop affair.
A main (started): 1. Adams (1) 2. Alley (4) 3. Martin (6) 4. Peters (5) 5. D. Moore (3) 6. Maier (12) 7. Houseman (11) 8. Hesmer (19) 9. Ergenbright (17) 10. Liebig (13) 11. Ziehl (7) 12. Turner (20) 13. Moro (14) 14. McCarl (9) 15. Hockett (8) 16. Menninga (10) 17. Garner (15) 18. Mather (16) 19. Beaver (18) DQ - Breazeale (2)
Breazeale came home a strong sixth, but lost a muffler on the way. Start one was going to be called back anyway, but Beaver flipped it in one, bringing out the red. The same thing happened on the next start when Mather dumped it in turn two. Alley smacked the rear end of Adams, dislodging his nosewing. Garner repaired a flat right rear and rejoined at the tail, before bowing out after smacking the wall on a lap two restart for Moro, who stopped on the track. D. Moore surrendered third at this time to replace a torsion arm and bar and rejoined at the back. Hockett replaced a right rear as well. Breazeale who was leading on the restart, was overtaken by Adams. Menninga broke on lap four, and Ergenbright spun to avoid him. Ergenbright would restart at the tail. Hockett took a hard ride after getting over a right rear on lap six. McCarl, now running third, came to a stop bringing out yet another yellow on lap seven. After severa; laps of lightning quick action, Alley overtook Adams for the lead on lap 14. Adams would take it back a pair of laps later and was never headed to claim the $2000 check in the first time he had ever seen Knoxville Raceway. Moro bowed out on lap 11, while Turner did the same on lap 17. D. Moore would surge back into the top five. Maier would claim what would be sixth place from Houseman in the last corner of the race. Hesmer claimed hard-charger honors for finishing eleven spots forward.