Knoxville Results and Stories

Saturday, May 25, 2002
5/25/02

Knoxville Raceway

38 410s 46 360s

410s

Dennis Moore Jr. (12th car to time)set quick time on a pretty dry track with a lap of 15.415 seconds. Terry McCarl (35th) was second quick, followed by Don Droud Jr. (9th), Skip Jackson (32nd), Brooke Tatnell (15th), Kerry Madsen (33rd), Blake Feese (38th), Justin Henderson (3rd), Larry Ball Jr. (11th) and Jeff Mitrisin (26th). Manny Rockhold struggled with his motor in qualifying, but managed to get a slow lap in.

Heat one (started): 1. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1) 2. Ball 1s (4) 3. Tatnell 66 (5) 4. D. Moore (6) / 5. Mike Reinke 17 (3) 6. Dan Oswalt D1 (7) 7. Chris Walraven 56 (8) 8. Mike Moore 69 (9) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (10) 10. Colin Northway 12 (2)

Northway slowed and exited while in a transfer spot, with Reinke narrowly avoiding him. Moyle led flag to flag, while D. Moore got by Reinke on the low side for the final transfer in the single file affair.

Heat two (started): 1. Ricky Logan 3s (3) 2. McCarl 24 (6) 3. Mitrisin 5J (4) 4. Randy Martin 14 (1) / 5. John Lambertz 12L (7) 6. David Murcott 20 (8) 7. Rockhold 02 (10) 8. Randy Anderson 86 (2) 9. Brad Martin 21s (9) 10. Madsen 82 (5)

Logan impressed by moving forward. Madsen launched himself over Mitrisin's right rear on lap two and took a nasty tumble. He was uninjured, but done for the night. Mitrisin and McCarl battled for several laps before McCarl took second on the final circuit.

Heat three (started): 1. Jon Agan 4 (2) 2. Feese 1B (5) 3. Travis Cram 92 (3) 4. Droud 55 (6) / 5. John VanDenBerg 47 (1) 6. Matt Moro 2m (4) 7. Shane Hunter 8s (8) 8. Jerrel Slinkard 15 (7) 9. Greg Jones 35 (9)

Agan led the distance, while Droud needed a last lap pass of VanDenBerg for the final transfer.

Heat four (started): 1. Larry Pinegar 11L (2) 2. Calvin Landis 70 (4) 3. Jackson 21 (6) 4. Derek Beckman 50D (1) / 5. Henderson R19 (5) 6. Brent Antill 1 (3) 7. Jeff Johnson 11J (8) 8. Scott Fokken 1F (7) 9. Robert Bell 71x (9)

Great racing in the first through fourth positions. Jackson was very impressive. Henderson couldn't quite get by Beckman at the stripe for the final transfer.

B feature (started): 1. Moro (1) 2. Henderson (2) 3. Northway (6) 4. Walraven (9) / 5. Reinke (4) 6. VanDenBerg (8) 7. R. Anderson (5) 8. Murcott (14) 9. Lambertz (10) 10. Hunter (11) 11. J. Johnson (16) 12. Rockhold (19) 13. M. Moore (13) 14. B. Martin (18) 15. Fokken (12) 16. Bell (20) 17. Jones (15) 18. T. Houseman (17) 19. Slinkard (7) 20. Antill (3) DNS - Oswalt, Madsen

Antill lost his driveline on lap two and went pitside. Slinkard exited on lap six. Walraven had a nice charge coming from ninth to the final transfer, sliding below Reinke late in the race.

A feature (started): 1. Feese (7) 2. Jackson (9) 3. Cram (2) 4. Tatnell (8) 5. McCarl (11) 6. Landis (4) 7. Ball (6) 8. Logan (3) 9. Henderson (18) 10. Pinegar (13) 11. Mitrisin (5) 12. Moyle (14) 13. Agan (1) 14. Droud (10) 15. R. Martin (15) 16. Northway (19) 17. D. Moore (12) 18. Beckman (16) 19. Moro (17) 20. Walraven (20)

This was the race of the year so far on a racey surface. Feese slowly picked his way forward, while Cram took a commanding lead. Beckman spun on lap three, bringing out a caution flag. D. Moore made brake repairs in the work area before the restart resulted in a flip by Walraven. The rest of the race went non-stop with Feese tracking down Cram in lapped traffic on the 15th circuit. Jackson was running well too, and may have been gaining on Feese towards the end. Henderson passed the most cars finishing nine positions ahead of his starting spot. The win was Feese's second career Knoxville checkered.

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brian Brown 3 (6*) 2. Jamie Ferrell 54 (3*) 3. Steve Breazeale 57 (2*) 4. Dave Hesmer 1 (7*) 5. Joe Beaver 53 (5) 6. Tim St. Arnold 7s (12) 7. Tom Lenz 8L (4) 8. Josh Higday 24 (9) 9. Mark Detrick 12D (8) 10. Allan Zoutte 33 (1) 11. Rob Edwards 22 (11) 12. Jim Alexander Jr. 14A (10)

J. Alexander saw his right rear fly off on the initial green. He was finished. Edwards exited on lap two. Zoutte had just been passed by Brown for second when something broke in the steering, sending him flipping end over end in turn one. He was talking to safety personnel while heading for the hospital. Brown passed race-long leader Ferrell on the white flag lap for the popular win. Hesmer was breathing down Breazeale's back at the finish as well.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jesse Giannetto D1 (1*) 2. Eric Mason B29 (4*) 3. Ryan Menninga 10 (5*) 4. Virgil Brandt 2VK (8*) 5. Matt Folstad 8F (12*) 6. Johnny Anderson 7a (10) 7. Jerry Crabb 12x (2) 8. Ryan York 5R (9) 9. Dave Hall 51 (6) 10. Michael Jones 12 (3) 11. Billy Ray Olsen 92x (7) 12. Dave Larsen 4 (11)

Giannetto checked out on the field from his pole position. Folstad, from Harwood, ND was making his first appearance of the year a good one. His move from 12th to fifth gained him an A main transfer with his passing points.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Kearney 86 (7*) 2. Terry Thorson 9 (3*) 3. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (4*) 4. Mitchell Alexander 6 (1) 5. Chris Martinez 7m (2) 6. Mike Houseman Y5 (10) 7. Doran Doty 99x (5) 8. Jake Peters 57x (11) 9. Tim Deaver 34 (6) 10. Ryan Anderson 71R (8) 11. Dave Middleswart 40 (9)

Kearney blazed to the front and pulled away. T. Thorson made a last lap pass of Heimbaugh for second. Peters from Wagner, SD was making his first appearance fo the year.

Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Clint Garner 40x (3*) 2. Rodney Turner 69 (2*) 3. Doug Wilson 33w (5*) 4. Curtis Thorson 91 (8*) 5. Stacey Alexander 126 (1) 6. Brett Golik 5G (6) 7. Ed Ergenbright 11 (7) 8. David Pyatt TV29 (9) 9. Rod Richards 5 (11) 10. Mike Waddell 2 (4) 11. Terry Alexander 77 (10)

T. Alexander exited while smoking on lap three. Garner took to the front and checked out. C. Thorson gained four spots on the high side, while most stuck to the bottom.

C feature (started): 1. Ryan Anderson (3) 2. Deaver (4) / 3. Edwards (5) 4. Middleswart (7) 5. Detrick (2) 6. Jones (6) 7. Olsen (10) 8. Richards (1) 9. Waddell (8) 10. Larsen (11) 11. J. Alexander (9) DNS - Hall, T. Alexander, Zoutte

Anderson won easily. Edwards put plenty of pressure on Deaver, but couldn't get by. The lone caution came out for a lap three J. Alexander spin.

B feature (started): 1. St. Arnold (1) 2. J. Anderson (2) 3. Houseman (4) 4. Beaver (5) / 5. Golik (8) 6. Peters (9) 7. Higday (14) 8. Doty (12) 9. Lenz (10) 10. Martinez (6) 11. S. Alexander (7) 12. Ergenbright (13) 13. Pyatt (16) 14. Deaver (18) 15. Ry. Anderson (17) 16. York (15) 17. Crabb (11) 18. M. Alexander (3)

M. Alexander exited on lap five. Good racing between St. Arnold and J. Anderson for the lead.

A feature (started): 1. Brown (11) 2. Wilson (1) 3. Folstad (6) 4. Hesmer (14) 5. St. Arnold (17) 6. Garner (10) 7. Brandt (3) 8. Menninga (4) 9. T. Thorson (5) 10. C. Thorson (13) 11. Beaver (20) 12. Ferrell (7) 13. Heimbaugh (15) 14. Breazeale (16) 15. Houseman (19) 16. Mason (8) 17. J. Anderson (18) 18. Turner (2) 19. Giannetto (9) 20. Kearney (12)

As Wilson jumped out to a lead, Giannetto was rocketing forward, as was Brown. On lap seven, Turner who was running second got out of shape. Giannetto tagged him and flipped. Kearney was unable to avoid and slammed the fence hard, destroying his sprinter. No one was injured. J. Anderson flipped on the final circuit. Brown chased Wilson who was impressive on the low side. Coming for turn four on the last lap, the cars appeared to finish in a dead heat. Thanks to the transponders, Brown was awarded first by .024 seconds. A strong performance was put in by the top two drivers, as well as Folstad who came home third. St. Arnold finished twelve positions ahead of where he started.
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