Knoxville Results and Stories

Saturday, May 24, 2003
5/24

Knoxville Raceway

30 410s
38 360s

Tim St. Arnold flipped in hot laps. He was able to make repairs in time to start the B main at the tail. Kerry Madsen (17th car to time) again set quick time with a lap of 15.076 seconds. Calvin Landis (3rd car out) was second quick, followed by Shane Stewart (27th), Chris Walraven (12th), Travis Cram (22nd), Wayne Johnson (10th), Terry McCarl (5th), Skip Jackson (14th), Justin Henderson (21st) and Jaymie Moyle (6th).

Heat one (started): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (2) 2. Mike Moore 69 (1) 3. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (4) 4. McCarl 24 (6) 5. Madsen 82 (8) 6. Brent Antill 1 (3) / 7. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (5) 8. W. Johnson 12x (7) 9. Kurt Winker 12 (9) 10. Robert Bell 71 (10)

Logan left the rest behind. Madsen had a rough start, dropping back to eighth, but came back through to transfer. McCarl almost got Jeffrey at the stripe.

Heat two (started): 1. Don Droud Jr. 55 (3) 2. Jon Agan 4 (1) 3. Brian Brown 6 (5) 4. Jackson 21 (6) 5. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (4) 6. Cram 92 (7) / 7. Landis 70 (8) 8. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (2) 9. Clint Garner 47 (9) 10. Tyler Houseman 50 (10)

Droud jumped to the front with authority, and led the mostly single file affair.

Heat three (started): 1. Henderson R19 (6) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (2) 3. Derek Beckman 50D (4) 4. Moyle 10 (5) 5. Stewart 4m (8) 6. Walraven 56 (7) / 7. Colin Northway 60 (3) 8. Adam West 20 (9) 9. Jeff Johnson 11J (1) DNS - St. Arnold 7s

Mitrisin led from the beginning until a throttle linkage problem in the 11J of J. Johnson caused him to stop on the backstretch while in a transfer spot. Henderson and Mitrisin dueled on the restart, before Henderson took command after two laps of side by side action on the heavy surface.

B main (started): 1. Landis (1) 2. W. Johnson (2) 3. Vanderploeg (3) 4. J. Johnson (6) / 5. Leavitt (5) 6. Garner (8) 7. Winker (7) 8. West (9) 9. Bell (10) 10. St. Arnold (12) 11. Houseman (11) 12. Northway (4)

Landis led a mostly single file event. J. Johnson got a great jump into the first corner, getting around Northway into the fourth and final transfer. Northway would bow out on lap four. Leavitt earned $325 from the Lion's Club for finishing in the first spot out of a transfer position.

A main (started): 1. Brown (2) 2. McCarl (6) 3. Cram (7) 4. Stewart (9) 5. Moyle (3) 6. Madsen (10) 7. Henderson (4) 8. W. Johnson (20) 9. Mitrisin (16) 10. Logan (15) 11. Antill (14) 12. Landis (19) 13. Beckman (12) 14. Droud (13) 15. Jeffrey (1) 16. Moore (18) 17. Walraven (8) 18. Agan (17) 19. Ball (11) 20. Vanderploeg (21) 21. J. Johnson (22) 22. Jackson (5)

Brown jumped out to a good lead on the initial green before Jackson suffered a vibration which caused his mount to pop out of gear on lap five. The same problem on lap six, would send him pitside. The restart saw Jeffrey, who was running fourth, hit the cone. He restarted after being penalized to the tail, and would finish fifteenth. Brown got into lapped traffic and saw McCarl get his nose under him on a couple of occasions. Once he had to cut in front of McCarl's line to keep the point going into turn one. Cram was also applying pressure to McCarl when Ball spun on lap 16. Johnson retired, and Vanderploeg was black flagged at the same time. Ball would exit two laps later. The lap 16 restart saw Brown leading McCarl, Cram, Henderson and Stewart. Brown would hold off McCarl at the stripe for his first career 410 win, and Stewart and Moyle would work their way past Henderson. W. Johnson was the hard-charger

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Bobby Mincer 15 (1*) 2. Ryan Menninga 10 (4*) 3. Josh Higday 24 (6*) 4. Brett Golik 5G (5*) 5. Eric Mason B29 (9*) 6. DJ Heskin 56 (8) 7. Jerry Crabb 12x (3) 8. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (7) 9. Dan Thornburg 57T (10) DQ - Michael Jones 12 (2)

Mincer led the distance. Higday went around three cars to finish third. Thornburg flipped in turn two, on lap two. Jones was disqualified for running an illegal wheel width after crossing the line fourth.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Johnny Anderson 7a (1*) 2. Ryan Anderson 71R (2*) 3. Billy Alley 22A (4*) 4. Doug Wilson 33w (5*) 5. Rodney Turner 69 (9) 6. Dan Oswalt D1x (10) 7. Rod Foster 40F (6) 8. Rob Edwards 22 (7) 9. Mitchell Alexander 6 (8) DNS - Dave Hall 51 (3)

Great race for the top three positions, with the Anderson's battling and Alley challenging as well. Oswalt took sixth in the last corner after a heated duel with Foster.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Curtis Thorson 91 (1*) 2. Mike Houseman 83 (2*) 3. Matt Moro (9*) 4. Dave Hesmer 1 (7*) 5. Stacey Alexander 126 (4) 6. Dave Middleswart 40 (3) 7. Brandon Hainline 4J (6) 8. Nate Mosher 45 (5) 9. Ryan York 5R (8)

Contact on the first lap between Mosher, York and Hainline caused enough damage to retire the latter two. Hainline lost his front wing and bowed out a couple of laps after the restart. Moro's charge to third was an impressive one. Hesmer also visited the work area after the initial green, but came back to gain fourth.

Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brett Mather 54 (2*) 2. Ed Ergenbright 11 (4*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (7*) 4. Steve Breazeale 57 (5) 5. Joe Beaver 53 (6) 6. John Hall 7H (8) 7. Allan Zoutte 33 (3) 8. Chris Martinez 7m (9) DNS - Tom Lenz 8L (1)

Giannetto made a nice move on the first lap, making it possible to claim third. Mather led the otherwise single file event.

B main (started): 1. Breazeale (2) 2. Turner (1) 3. Beaver (4) 4. S. Alexander (6) / 5. Heskin (5) 6. Middleswart (8) 7. Crabb (9) 8. Jones (18) 9. Oswalt (3) 10. Hainline (11) 11. Heimbaugh (13) 12. J. Hall (7) 13. Edwards (14) 14. M. Alexander (17) 15. Martinez (16) 16. Zoutte (12) 17. Mosher (15) 18. Foster (10) DNS - D. Hall, Lenz, Thornburg, York

The top four dominated the event, despite a lap five caution for a stopped Foster. Jones passed ten cars after his heat race DQ put him at the tail, but it wasn't enough to transfer. Heskin earned an extra $325 from the Lion's Club for the first car finishing out of a transfer spot.

A main (started): 1. Higday (3) 2. Houseman (1) 3. Ergenbright (4) 4. Thorson (5) 5. Menninga (7) 6. Alley (12) 7. Moro (10) 8. Giannetto (11) 9. Mincer (8) 10. J. Anderson (6) 11. Mason (14) 12. Hesmer (13) 13. Breazeale (17) 14. Beaver (19) 15. Golik (15) 16. Turner (18) 17. Mather (9) 18. R. Anderson (2) 19. S. Alexander (20) DQ - Wilson (16)

Higday grabbed the early lead in the non-stop event. Houseman got by him briefly in traffic on lap eleven, but couldn't hold on. Ergenbright applied pressure to the duo as well. Alley was the hard-charger, moving up six spots. S. Alexander retired on lap ten. Wilson was DQed for losing a muffler.