Knoxville WoO Results and Stories

Friday, June 28, 2002
6/28
Knoxville Raceway
WoO

50 410s
40 360s

410s

James Chesson (2nd car out to time) set quick time over the field with a clocking of 15.188 seconds. He was followed by Steve Kinser (13th), Ricky Logan (3rd), Craig Dollansky (15th), Brad Furr (4th), Danny Lasoski (46th), Tyler Walker (5th), Johnny Herrera (6th), Joey Saldana (32nd), and Tim Shaffer (38th).

Heat one (started): 1. Saldana 17 (4) 2. Donny Schatz 15 (3) 3. Travis Cram 92 (2) 4. Dennis Moore Jr. 71 (10) 5. Chris Walraven 56 (1) / 6. Jaymie Moyle 10 (9) 7. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (8) 8. Herrera 2w (5) 9. Randy Martin 14 (11) 10. Shane Hunter 8s (12) 11. Jeff Johnson 11J (13) 12. Derek Beckman 50D (7) 13. J. Chesson 22 (6)

Saldana passed Walraven on lap three for the lead. A circuit later, J. Chesson's power steering malfunctioned and he ended up making contact with the wall. He was done. A lap later, caution came out for debris, and Herrera changed a top wing that was peeling. Hunter also made repairs in the work area. Beckman spun on lap five while running second, and exited two laps later.

Heat two (started): 1. Kerry Madsen 82 (1) 2. S. Kinser 11 (6) 3. Don Droud Jr. 55 (3) 4. Tony Norem 47 (2) 5. Tim Shaffer 83 (4) / 6. Chad Meyer 1w (8) 7. John Lambertz 12L (7) 8. Randy Hannagan 1x (10) 9. Colin Northway 12 (11) 10. Mike Moore 69 (12) 11. Tyler Houseman 50 (13) 12. Walker 35 (5) 13. Mike Reinke 17R (9)

Hannagan brought out a caution on lap three with a fuel injection problem. Northway stopped to fix his helmet restraint at the same time. Madsen led while Reinke tumbled on lap five. He was uninjured. Walker exited with motor woes on lap seven.

Heat three (started): 1. Calvin Landis 70 (2) 2. Danny Wood 6 (4) 3. Skip Jackson 21x (3) 4. Lasoski 20 (5) 5. Jac Haudenschild 5 (7) / 6. Jon Agan 4 (1) 7. Logan 3s (6) 8. Brooke Tatnell 66 (8) 9. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (11) 10. David Murcott 20m (10) 11. Tim Monson 1wm (9) 12. Greg Jones 35x (12)

Landis led flag to flag, while Wood and Jackson dueled it out for second.

Heat four (started): 1. Daryn Pittman 21 (2) 2. Terry McCarl 24 (1) 3. Stevie Smith 11h (4) 4. Dollansky 7 (6) 5. Furr 2 (5) / 6. PJ Chesson 76 (3) 7. Mark Kinser 5m (8) 8. Justin Henderson R19 (7) 9. Manny Rockhold (9) 10. Toni Lutar 4x (10) 11. Robert Bell (11) DNS - Matt Moro 2m

Pittman led the distance, in a mostly single file affair. McCarl did provide excitement with a last lap pass of Smith for second.

C feature (started): 1. Northway (2) 2. Murcott (1) / 3. Johnson (11) 4. M. Moore (6) 5. Hunter (7) 6. Rockhold (4) 7. Bell (8) 8. Jones (9) 9. T. Houseman (10) 10. Martin (3) 11. Ball (5) DNS - Lutar

Northway led the entirety in dominating fashion. Johnson made an impressive charge, moving ahead eight spots. Ball exited early and would take a Knoxville provisional for the A. Martin exited on lap six, while running third. Hunter spun and brought out a yellow flag on lap six. The restart saw Rockhold making contact with Martin, bringing out another caution.

Dash one (started): 1. Saldana (2) 2. S. Kinser (4) 3. Schatz (6) 4. Wood (1) 5. Furr (3) 6. Jackson (5) 7. Pittman (8) 8. Norem (7)

Saldana won in impressive fashion. Schatz and Wood had a heated exchange for third.

Dash two (started): 1. Smith (1) 2. Dollansky (4) 3. Lasoski (3) 4. Shaffer (2) 5. Droud (5) 6. Cram (6) 7. McCarl (8) 8. Landis (7) Smith led the entirety, while Dollansky made a nice move to secure second.

B feature (started): 1. Logan (2) 2. Herrera (3) 3. PJ Chesson (4) 4. Henderson (8) / 5. Tatnell (9) 6. Moyle (11) 7. Meyer (10) 8. Monson (14) 9. Lambertz (7) 10. Murcott (16) 11. Agan (5) 12. Hannagan (13) 13. Beckman (6) 14. J. Chesson (1) 15. Northway (15) 16. M. Kinser (12) DNS - Moro, Mitrisin, Reinke, Walker

M. Kinser pulled in after the green was dropped and took a provisional. The intial start saw Agan get into Beckman sending both sideways. Logan took to the point on the restart, and stayed there while Northway and then J. Chesson exited early. PJ Chesson lost his nose wing on the track on lap three, but held on to his third place running spot throughout. Beckman made repairs to a front end under the caution, but would exit after blowing a right rear on the white flag lap. Herrera was breathing down Logan's neck at the stripe, as was Tatnell who charged and almost grabbed the final transfer from Henderson. Hannagan was running a strong fifth before running out of fuel on lap eleven.

A feature (started): 1. Saldana (1) 2. Smith (2) 3. S. Kinser (3) 4. Dollansky (4) 5. Lasoski (6) 6. Shaffer (8) 7. Pittman (13) 8. McCarl (14) 9. Droud (10) 10. Jackson (11) 11. Logan (17) 12. Madsen (20) 13. M. Kinser (25) 14. Furr (9) 15. Herrera (18) 16. PJ Chesson (19) 17. Cram (12) 18. Henderson (23) 19. Landis (16) 20. D. Moore (24) 21. Schatz (5) 22. Walraven (21) 23. Ball (26) 24. Norem (15) 25. Haudenschild (22) 26. Wood (7)

Not much passing as a groove developed on the cushion, but not much on the bottom of the track. M. Kinser did finish twelve spots ahead of where he started, but much was due to attrition. Wood exited on lap ten with motor woes, as did Haudenschild who had rear end problems. Norem flipped on lap eleven. He was uninjured. Ball stopped on lap eight on the backstretch. He would later exit. Walraven went off smoking on lap 20. Schatz blew a motor while running sixth on lap 19. S. Kinser's nose wing was disabled about lap 10, but he held on to third.

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Clint Garner 40x (3*) 2. Tim St. Arnold 7s (5*) 3. Mike Houseman Y5 (8*) 4. Michael Jones 12 (6*) 5. Stacey Alexander 126 (2) 6. Tom Lenz 8L (9) 7. Jerry Crabb 12x (1) 8. Dave Hall 51 (10) 9. Ed Ergenbright 11 (4) 10. Jesse Giannetto D1 (7)

S. Alexander was sent to the tail for jumping the initial start. Giannetto got over someone's right rear and hit the wall hard. He was unhurt, but done for the night. Ergenbright exited on lap three while running fourth. Garner got out front and really ran strong. Houseman sneaked his way up five spots as well.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Joey Beaver 53 (2*) 2. Dave Hesmer 1 (3*) 3. Dave Middleswart 40 (1*) 4. Josh Higday 24 (8*) 5. Ryan Menninga 10 (4) 6. Curtis Thorson 91 (9) 7. Mark Detrick 12D (5) 8. Jamie Ferrell 7 (7) 9. Jim Cruise 77c (10) 10. Tim Deaver 34 (6)

Beaver led flag to flag, while Higday impressed the fans with his charge.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Doran Doty 99x (1*) 2. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (2*) 3. Ryan Anderson 71R (5*) 4. Johnny Anderson 7a (3*) 5. Mitchell Alexander 6 (8) 6. Brett Mather 54 (9) 7. Eric Jobe 23 (10) 8. Chris Martinez 7m (4) 9. Mike Waddell 2 (7) DNS - Terry Alexander 77 (6)

Jobe was visiting for the first time from Kansas City. Mather is now in the Burnham 54, formerly driven by Ferrell. Doty led the distance, while Heimbaugh and R. Anderson battled with Heimbaugh winning by a narrow margin. J. Anderson jumped the infield berm while leading, corrected himself and roared to get fourth with one lap to go.

Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brian Brown 3 (6*) 2. Eric Mason B29 (2*) 3. Rob Edwards 22 (1*) 4. Brett Golik 5G (4*) 5. Doug Wilson 33w (7) 6. Rod Richards 5 (3) 7. Virgil Brandt 2VK (10) 8. Rusty Potter 3P (9) 9. Billy Ray Olsen 92x (5) 10. Terry Thorson 9 (8)

Before a lap could complete, T. Thorson had stalled and went pitside. Missouri's Potter was making his first appearance at Knoxville in 2002. Brown roared around four cars in the first circuit, and disposed of Mason a lap later, pulling out to win by a straightaway.

B feature (started): 1. Wilson (1) 2. S. Alexander (6) 3. Lenz (2) 4. Menninga (5) / 5. Richards (7) 6. C. Thorson (3) 7. Potter (14) 8. M. Alexander (4) 9. Ferrell (13) 10. Detrick (11) 11. Crabb (9) 12. Deaver (18) 13. Hall (12) 14. Waddell (19) 15. Jobe (10) 16. Cruise (17) 17. Brandt (8) 18. Ergenbright (15) 19. Martinez (16) DNS - Mather, Olsen, Giannetto, T. Alexander, T. Thorson

Wilson won commandingly. S. Alexander used a lap nine restart to rocket by Lenz for second. Martinez flipped on lap two, while Waddell and Cruise were also involved. Only Martinez retired. Ergenbright came to a stop on lap nine, and went pitside. Brandt also exited at that time.

A feature (started): 1. Higday (1) 2. Brown (8) 3. St. Arnold (6) 4. Hesmer (2) 5. Garner (7) 6. Doty (3) 7. R. Anderson (9) 8. Beaver (4) 9. Houseman (5) 10. Wilson (17) 11. J. Anderson (15) 12. Mason (11) 13. Menninga (20) 14. Golik (16) 15. M. Jones (12) 16. S. Alexander (18) 17. Edwards (14) 18. Lenz (19) 19. Heimbaugh (10) 20. Middleswart (13)

Higday won in a race that went non-stop, green to checker. Higday built a big enough lead that Brown would not catch him. There still has not been a repeat winner in the 360 class. Wilson and Menninga both passed seven cars, the high-water mark tonight.