5/17
Knoxville Raceway
IRA
59 410s
40 360s
410s
Kerry Madsen (58th car to time) set quick time with a circuit of 15.235 seconds on the heavy surface. Calvin Landis (31st car out) was second quick, followed by John Sernett (23rd), Chris Walraven (1st), Randy Hannagan (6th), Travis Cram (3rd), Colin Northway (5th), John Haeni (37th), Kim Mock (8th) and Jaymie Moyle (46th). Scott Biertzer timed in 20th quick, but scratched after time trials. Ryan Irwin was also a scratch, as he only got one lap recorded at the end of qualifications.
Last Chance Heat (started): 1. Mike Stefka 35s (2) 2. Todd King 97 (1) 3. Robert Bell 71 (5) 4. Brian Kristan 5 (3) 5. Rusty Egan 50x (7) 6. Mark Hurd 44m (6) 7. Tyler Houseman 50 (4) DNS - Greg Jones 35, Irwin 49
Coloradan, Hurd, elected to start at the tail in his first competitive sprint start. Stefka led the distance, and held off King, who tried to drive through Houseman on the last lap, sending him over the berm.
Heat one (started): 1. Madsen 82 (6) 2. Brent Antill 1 (2) 3. Brian Brown (5) 4. Tim St. Arnold 7s (8) / 5. Clint Garner 47 (1) 6. Kurt Davis 6K (7) 7. Adam West 20 (9) 8. Blake Feese 3 (4) 9. Moyle 10 (3) DNS - Biertzer 4B
Heats had an invert of six, and took four to the A. Antill led Feese through lap five when Moyle came to a halt bringing out caution. Feese went pitside with motor problems, surrendering second to Madsen, who passed Antill after the restart. St. Arnold wrestled the last transfer spot from Garner on the restart, as well.
Heat two (started): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (1) 2. Don Droud Jr. 55 (4) 3. Skip Jackson 21 (3) 4. Mock 1m (5) / 5. Landis 70 (6) 6. Mike Reinke 02 (2) 7. Mike Kertscher 80K (8) 8. Mike Moore 69 (7) 9. Ty Bartz 75 (9) 10. Dave Enders 51e (10)
Logan led the distance though he had to hold off a determined Droud at the line. Landis also made a late bid on Mock and the final transfer, but fell short.
Heat three (started): 1. Travis Whitney 9 (1) 2. Justin Henderson R19 (3) 3. Sernett 91 (6) 4. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (7) / 5. Jeff Johnson 11J (8) 6. Haeni 21J (5) 7. Jason Johnson 44 (2) 8. Jon Agan 4 (4) 9. Darrell Dodd 11 (10) 10. Wayne Modjeski 77 (9)
Modjeski and Dodd exited early. Whitney led a mostly single file affair. Sernett made a charge from sixth. After losing third to Sernett as he took the white flag, Agan took a hard ride against the frontstretch fence, with his car erupting in flame upside down. Agan was quick to exit his ride and walk to the pits. Jeffrey made a pass of Jeff Johnson on the last lap to claim the final transfer spot.
Heat four (started): 1. Jeremy Campbell 10c (1) 2. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (4) 3. Terry McCarl 24 (3) 4. Derek Beckman 50D (2) / 5. Northway 60 (5) 6. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (7) 7. Joe Roe 61 (9) 8. Walraven 56 (6) 9. Scott Uttech 7 (8) 10. Billy Warren 95 (10)
Campbell was impressive in his first Knoxville start. Ball passed McCarl on the white flag lap after a great battle between the two for second.
Heat five (started): 1. Wayne Johnson 12x (4) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (3) 3. Hannagan 1x (6) 4. Todd Hepfner 28 (1) / 5. Scotty Neitzel 2w (7) 6. Matt Wasmund 4w (10) 7. Jamie Zaputil 12 (2) 8. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (8) 9. Cram 92 (5) 10. Fred Ebler 64 (9)
Ebler exited on lap two. W. Johnson made a pass of Hepfner on lap three and was never headed. Mitrisin and Hepfner battled for second throughout until Mitrisin and Hannagan moved past on the final circuit. The heat was halted on lap five when Cram came to a stop. He would be done for the night.
C main (started): 1. Moyle (2) 2. Bartz (1) / 3. Ebler (3) 4. Uttech (4) 5. Enders (6) 6. Bell (11) 7. Kristan (9) 8. Warren (8) 9. Dodd (5) 10. Stefka (12) 11. Hurd (10) 12. King (7) DNS - Cram, Modjeski, Egan, Houseman, Biertzer, Jones
Moyle and Bartz were the class of the field and quickly opened up a half a lap lead on the rest. Ebler and Uttech put on a great battle for third, with Ebler just edging out his counterpart at the line.
B main (started): 1. Landis (1) 2. Reinke (5) 3. Walraven (2) 4. Haeni (4) / 5. Northway (3) 6. Vanderploeg (8) 7. Jeff Johnson (13) 8. Neitzel (11) 9. Kertscher (10) 10. Roe (14) 11. Leavitt (12) 12. Wasmund (16)..........19. Moore (9) DNS - Garner, Feese, Agan
Landis took the initial lead from Walraven. Reinke got by Walraven with two to go to nail down second. Northway came very close to getting back by Haeni for the final spot in the A. Zaputil tipped over after the intial green was dropped. With repairs, he was able to restart. Moore also got upside down on lap two. After that it was clear sailing. Rookie, Vanderploeg, continues to improve on a weekly basis.
A main (started): 1. Mitrisin (1) 2. Hannagan (6) 3. Madsen (8) 4. Droud (4) 5. McCarl (9) 6. Jackson (11) 7. Whitney (16) 8. Logan (17) 9. Antill (12) 10. Mock (5) 11. Ball (3) 12. Reinke (23) 13. Jeffrey (19) 14. Campbell (15) 15. Landis (21) 16. Henderson (10) 17. Beckman (13) 18. Hepfner (14) 19. St. Arnold (18) 20. Sernett (7) 21. W. Johnson (2) 22. Walraven (20) 23. Haeni (22) 24. DQ - Brown
Brown was DQed for not being out of his pit stall before the pace truck had run its allotted laps. He protested by stopping on the frontstretch delaying the start of the race. Mitrisin jumped out to a lead over Droud and W. Johnson. Lap eight saw trouble for Walraven, who flipped in turn one. Haeni was collected and suffered enough left rear damage to retire. Ball spun at the same time but was given his spot back for not bringing out the red. W. Johnson suffered a flat right rear during the red flag period, restarted at the tail, but stopped a lap later and retired. The restart saw Mitrisin leading Droud, Hannagan, Madsen and Ball. The next incident came on lap 15 when Landis who had charged halfway through the pack, spun on the backstretch. Mitrisin still led, followed by Droud, Madsen (who had passed Hannagan), Hannagan and McCarl. The last ten laps saw Mitrisin hold off a pesky Hannagan (who got back by Madsen), Madsen, Droud (who has looked strong the last few weeks) and McCarl. Sernett exited on lap 14. The hard-charger for the event was Reinke who moved up eleven spots. The track stayed racey and fast all night long.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Mike Houseman 83 (3*) 2. Josh Higday 24 (7*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (6*) 4. John VanDenBerg V10 (2*) 5. Brett Mather 54 (5) 6. Tom Lenz (10*) 7. Chris Martinez 7m (1) 8. Rod Richards 5 (4) 9. Ryan York 5R (8) 10. Jerry Crabb 12x (9)
Houseman thundered under a stumbling Martinez at the outset in this stacked heat. Lap two saw the annihilation of both Richard's and Crabb's mounts. York and Richards came together to start the mayhem. Richards and Crabb were both taken in for a checkup. Higday and Giannetto were flying, but so was Houseman.
Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Michael Jones 12 (2*) 2. Dave Hesmer 1 (4*) 3. Curtis Thorson 91 (1*) 4. Rodney Turner 69 (3*) 5. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (5) 6. Ed Ergenbright 11 (9) 7. DJ Heskin 56 (6) 8. Rob Edwards 22 (7) 9. Allan Zoutte 33 (10) 10. Doug Wilson 33w (8)
Wilson limped in on lap three. Jones looked impressive in leading the distance. Hesmer got by Thorson on the last lap, after trying to do so for four circuits.
Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Billy Alley 22A (3*) 2. Eric Mason B29 (2*) 3. Matt Moro 2 (5*) 4. Ryan Anderson 71R (1*) 5. Johnny Anderson 7a (7) 6. Steve Breazeale 57 (8) 7. Bobby Mincer 15 (9) 8. Dave Hall 51 (6) 9. Dave Heskin 84 (4) DNS - Jim Cruise Jr. 77c
Alley dove around race-long leader Mason on the white flag lap after a good battle.
Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Stacey Alexander 126 (1*) 2. Brett Golik 5G (4*) 3. Joey Beaver 53 (7*) 4. Brandon Hainline 4J (3) 5. Mitchell Alexander 6 (5) 6. Dave Middleswart 40 (9) 7. John Hall 7H (8) 8. Ryan Menninga 10 (6) 9. Rod Foster 40F (2) 10. Nate Mosher 45 (10)
S. Alexander led flag to flag, despite a caution on lap four for debris from Menninga's machine. He would restart at the tail after a visit to the work area. Great racing through the field in this one.
B main (started): 1. Ergenbright (3) 2. J. Anderson (1) 3. Heimbaugh (6) 4. Mincer (9) / 5. Hainline (2) 6. Breazeale (8) 7. Mather (5) 8. York (17) 9. Middleswart (4) 10. DJ Heskin (12) 11. Wilson (20) 12. Menninga (15) 13. D. Hall (14) 14. Martinez (11) 15. Edwards (13) 16. M. Alexander (7) 17. Dave Heskin (18) 18. J. Hall (10) 19. Mosher (21) 20. Foster (19) 21. Zoutte (16) DNS - Cruise, Richards, Crabb
Ergenbright dominated this non-stop affair. Mincer stalked Hainline for much of the race, before completing a good charge by capturing the final transfer to the A. York and Wilson moved up nine spots to no avail.
A main (started): 1. Beaver (1) 2. Hesmer (4) 3. Alley (6) 4. Giannetto (9) 5. Higday (8) 6. Golik (2) 7. S. Alexander (3) 8. Houseman (7) 9. Mason (10) 10. Ergenbright (17) 11. Moro (11) 12. Lenz (14) 13. Thorson (12) 14. VanDenBerg (13) 15. Jones (5) 16. Mincer (20) 17. R. Anderson (16) 18. Turner (15) 19. J. Anderson (18) 20. Heimbaugh (19)
This one went non-stop as well. Beaver led the distance, but slowed a couple of times in lapped traffic, letting Hesmer and Alley close the gap. Giannetto moved up five places in a hurry. Ergenbright earned hard-charger honors by passing seven cars to get into the top ten.