5/4/02
Knoxville Raceway
37 410s
45 360s
410s
James Chesson (8th car to time), visiting from New Jersey via the Cedar Rapids USAC midget show set quick time over the field with a clocking of 15.239 seconds. Ricky Logan (1st) was second quick, followed by Don Droud Jr. (17th), Dennis Moore Jr. (6th), Kerry Madsen (16th), Terry McCarl (24th), Skip Jackson (9th), Calvin Landis (11th), Jeff Mitrisin (3rd), and Larry Ball Jr. (7th). Jackson suffered motor problems and had to undergo an engine change after qualifications. Jerrel Slinkard and Charlie Rose, driving the 1F usually piloted by Scott Fokken both scratched after time trials.
Heat one (started): 1. Brent Antill 1 (1) 2. Madsen 82 (5) 3. Colin Northway 12 (2) 4. Randy Anderson 86 (3) / 5. Chesson 22 (6) 6. Mitrisin 5J (4) 7. Shane Hunter 8s (7) 8. Robert Bell 71x (9) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (8) DNS - Jeff Johnson 11J
Antill led flag to flag and held off the charges of a strong running Madsen at the checkered flag.
Heat two (started): 1. Mike Reinke 17 (1) 2. McCarl 24 (3) 3. Ball (4) 4. Travis Cram 92 (2) / 5. Logan 3s (6) 6. Jon Agan 4 (5) 7. Mike Moore 69 (8) 8. Brad Martin 21s (7) DNS - John VanDenBerg 47
VanDenBerg suffered a flat in the pace laps and couldn't get in changed in time to start inside row two. Reinke left the rest of the field in the dust.
Heat three (started): 1. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1) 2. Justin Henderson R19 (4) 3. Matt Moro 2m (3) 4. Droud 55 (6) / 5. Chris Walraven 56 (2) 6. Jackson 21 (5) 7. Randy Martin 14 (7) DNS - Slinkard 15, Rose 1F
Moyle became the third pole sitter to lead the distance for the win. Martin dropeed out on lap two.
Heat four (started): 1. Manny Rockhold 02 (4) 2. David Murcott 20 (1) 3. D. Moore 71 (6) 4. Landis 70 (5) / 5. John Lambertz 12L (2) 6. Larry Pinegar II 11L (7) 7. Derek Beckman 50D (3) 8. Tim St. Arnold 7s (8) 9. Greg Jones 35 (9)
Rockhold finished a strong race with a white flag lap pass of Murcott for the win. D. Moore made a pass of Landis in the final corner for third. Jones dropped out early.
B feature (started): 1. Mitrisin (4) 2. Chesson (1) 3. Logan (2) 4. Jackson (3) / 5. Agan (10) 6. Hunter (9) 7. Pinegar (12) 8. St. Arnold (16) 9. Walraven (7) 10. Beckman (6) 11. Bell (11) 12. Lambertz (8) 13. VanDenBerg (5) 14. M. Moore (14) 15. T. Houseman (13) 16. Martin (15) DNS - Martin, Slinkard, Jones, Rose, Johnson
Mitrisin made a pass on the high side of both Logan and Chesson in heavy lapped traffic with two laps to go to take an impressive win.
A feature (started): 1. Madsen (4) 2. McCarl (3) 3. Droud (6) 4. D. Moore (5) 5. Landis (2) 6. Cram (12) 7. Ball (1) 8. Moyle (15) 9. Moro (10) 10. Jackson (20) 11. Henderson (7) 12. Logan (19) 13. Chesson (18) 14. Rockhold (8) 15. Reinke (14) 16. Antill (13) 17. Northway (11) 18. Mitrisin (17) 19. Anderson (9) 20. Murcott (16)
Murcott was a victim of the two spin rule after spins on the first lap and lap twelve. Landis surged to the lead until being passed before the midway point by McCarl. Madsen was running down McCarl on lap twelve, when Murcott brought out the yellow. After the restart, Mitrisin and Anderson came together on the backstretch and both took wild rides. Neither was injured, but their equipment was junk. Madsen trailed McCarl ahead of a surging Droud, D. Moore and Landis. McCarl slowed in one and two after the white flag, and Madsen roared by taking the checkered and the $3000 payday.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Ryan Anderson 71R (1*) 2. Dave Hesmer 1 (10*) 3. Curtis Thorson 91 (9*) 4. Jamie Ferrell 54 (5*) 5. Ryan Menninga 10 (6) 6. Tom Lenz 8L (7) 7. Terry Alexander 77 (8) 8. Dave Hall 51 (12) 9. Billy Ray Olsen 92x (11) 10. Josh Higday 24 (3) 11. Chris Martinez 7m (2) 12. Eric Mason B29 (4)
Mason got loose while running fifth on lap four, tangling with Martinez and went upside down. Neither would continue. R. Anderson led the distance, while Hesmer had a nice run from tenth. Higday was making the pass for the lead on lap five, when he had a spark plug wire come loose. He retired to the pits.
Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (2*) 2. Steve Breazeale 57 (4*) 3. Mike Houseman Y5 (8*) 4. Ed Ergenbright 11 (3*) 5. Joey Beaver 53 (10*) 6. Tim Deaver 34 (6) 7. Doran Doty 99x (7) 8. Virgil Brandt 2VK (9) 9. Rob Edwards 22 (5) 10. Mike Waddell 2 (1) 11. Doug Larsen 4 (11)
Heimbaugh led the entire way. Houseman was impressive passing five cars to take third. Waddell brought out a caution on lap two for a spin. Larsen retired with a fuel leak on lap four. Ergenbright's pass of Beaver in the last corner put him into the A.
Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Terry Thorson 9 (3*) 2. John Kearney 86 (11*) 3. Ryan York 5R (5*) 4. Jerry Crabb 12x (7*) 5. Jim Alexander Jr. 14A (2) 6. David Pyatt TV29 (10) 7. Mark Detrick 12D (9) 8. Russ Prather 92 (1) 9. Dan Thornburg 57T (4) 10. Stacey Alexander 126 (6) 11. Rod Richards 5 (8)
On the initial start, S. Alexander got sideways in front of Thornburg and Richards, sending all into ground pounding flips. No one was injured. On the ensuing restart, Thorson set sail, with Kearney surging through the pack, moving forward nine posiitions to finish second.
Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (2*) 2. Brian Brown 3 (4*) 3. Clint Garner 40 (8*) 4. Brett Golik 5G (1) 5. Don Cooper 11x (6) 6. John Anderson 7A (7) 7. Rodney Turner 69 (5) 8. Doug Wilson 33w (10) 9. Allan Zoutte 33 (9) 10. John Hall 7H (11) 11. Tony Becker 21 (3)
Becker exited on lap one. Giannetto checked out on the competition, while Cooper had a good run at Golik for fourth, but couldn't quite get by him.
C feature (started): 1. Higday (6) 2. Edwards (2) 3. Zoutte (4) / 4. Larsen (8) 5. Hall (1) 6. Waddell (3) 7. Becker (5) 8. Prather (7) DNS - Thornburg, S. Alexander, Martinez, Richards, Mason
Higday surged forward and pulled away from the field. Cautions came out for Prather and Hall spins. Becker and Waddell got together, sending Becker hard into the wall. No one was injured.
B feature (started): 1. Higday (17) 2. Cooper (4) 3. Golik (2) 4. J. Anderson (7) / 5. Menninga (3) 6. Pyatt (1) 7. Lenz (6) 8. Turner (13) 9. Deaver (9) 10. J. Alexander (5) 11. Brandt (15) 12. T. Alexander (11) 13. Detrick (10) 14. Wilson (14) 15. Zoutte (18) 16. Hall (8) 17. Doty (12) 18. Edwards (18) DNS - Olsen
Lap six saw an incident between Edwards, Doty and Wilson end with all but Wilson heading for the pits. Hall suffered a fuel leak and was done by lap six. All eyes were on Higday, who disposed of sixteen competitors on his way to victory out of the C main.
A feature (started): 1. Giannetto (7) 2. Brown (11) 3. Hesmer (5) 4. Garner (8) 5. Cooper (18) 6. R. Anderson (9) 7. C. Thorson (4) 8. Golik (20) 9. T. Thorson (3) 10. Beaver (13) 11. Higday (17) 12. J. Anderson (19) 13. Breazeale (10) 14. Ergenbright (16) 15. Farrell (15) 16. York (12) 17. Heimbaugh (2) 18. Houseman (1) 19. Kearney (6) 20. Crabb (14)
Crabb exited immediately. Before a lap could be complete, Houseman got a little loose getting into T. Thorson and was struck by Kearney. Both drivers were done. T. Thorson had to replace a right rear and surrender his third place run on lap two. Heimbaugh suffered a flat, mid-race while running fourth. Beaver tipped his machine over on lap two, but continued on. Up front, Giannetto was working his way methodically forward, as was Brown. Higday had gotten into the top five with two to go, but spun bringing out a caution. This ended his great run through the C, B and A, though he did recover for eleventh. Cooper was the hard-charger for the event. Giannetto won in convincing fashion, for his second career Knoxville win.