7/27/02
Knoxville Raceway 1200 pound Nationals
87 410s 34 360s
410s
A feature one from Friday night (started): 1. Calvin Landis 70 (1) 2. Kenny Jacobs 6 (3) 3. Paul McMahan U2 (8) 4. Jeff Shepard 92J (11) 5. Brent Antill 1 (2) 6. Kelly Kinser 4KK (5) 7. Kerry Madsen 82 (9) 8. Dean Jacobs 34 (15) 9. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (14) 10. Skip Jackson 21 (17) 11. Ricky Logan 3s (19) 12. Travis Whitney 9T (16) 13. Leonard Lee 16L (20) 14. Brian Ellenberger 20E (13) 15. John Haeni 21J (23) 16. Travis Rilat 1A (6) 17. Mike Wagner 55w (24) 18. Tony Norem 47 (21) 19. John Sernett 91 (10) 20. Doug Wilson 33w (4) 21. Lynton Jeffery 4k (22) 22. John VanDenBerg V10 (12) 23. Justin Henderson R19 (7) 24. John Schulz 45 (18)
On the second attempt at a start, the field bunched up. Henderson flipped hard down the front chute. He was joined by Schulz. Both drivers would go pitside, but return later. The restart saw VanDenBerg take a series of vicious flips in turn one. He also was unhurt, but done for the night. Landis rocketed out to a lead and built a cushion over K. Jacobs until a caution for Rilat who suffered a flat while running fourth on lap 14. The restart saw an exit by Jeffery. Landis held on to victory, his first ever at Knoxville. Logan and Haeni took hard-charger honors by finishing eight spots ahead of their starting spot. Shepard passed Antill, who was impressive on the final circuit for fourth.
A feature two from Friday night (started): 1. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (4) 2. Blake Feese 1F (9) 3. Jason Johnson 41 (8) 4. Chad Kemenah 15K (21) 5. Don Droud Jr. 55 (5) 6. Brooke Tatnell 66 (15) 7. Terry McCarl 24 (14) 8. Byron Reed 5 (13) 9. Dennis Moore Jr. 71 (20) 10. Joey Beaver 53 (16) 11. Kim Mock 1m (3) 12. Greg Wilson 63 (6) 13. Clint Garner 40 (7) 14. Danny Smith 51 (12) 15. Jaymie Moyle 10 (17) 16. Randy Martin 14 (22) 17. Chris Walraven 56 (1) 18. Toni Lutar 4x (19) 19. Travys Mize 29m (2) 20. Jac Haudenschild 5x (10) 21. Darren Stewart 9s (11) 22. Tim Monson 1wm (23) 23. Darrell Dodd 11 (18) DNS - Chad Meyer 1w
Mock set the pace early, until he blew a right rear on lap five. Walraven was the leader after Mock's misfortune. Mitrisin had good battles with Haudenschild for third and fourth. Mitrisin ended up passing Haudenschild twice before taking command. He then stalked Walraven and took control. Dodd and Monson both exited by the midway point. Stewart was running sixth on lap 15 when he stopped with a smoking power plant. Haudenschild also exited while smoking. Both scratched for the night. Kemenah was extremely impressive in his charge from 21st to 4th.
E feature (started): 1. Todd Hepfner 28 (6) 2. Scotty Neitzel 2w (11) 3. Jerrod Wilson 88J (7) 4. John Lambertz 12L (10) / 5. Scott Biertzer 4B (8) 6. Charley Osborne 53x (6) 7. Todd King 97 (3) 8. Dave Uttech 68 (1) 9. Billy Warren 95 (5) 10. Ty Bartz 75 (9) 11. Adam Constable 11JR (12) 12. Ryan Irwin 49 (2) DNS - Gary Wright 9
Hot lap problems sidelined Wright. Irwin elected to run shotgun and dropped out. Lambertz spun on lap two, but returned for a transfer. Hepfner led the distance, and Neitzel took advantage of a lap six Bartz spin to take over second. Bartz's first spin on lap two resulted in a collection of Constable, who got in the wall and went pitside.
D feature (started): 1. Travis Cram 92 (8) 2. Rob Chaney 29 (2) 3. Mike Reinke 17 (6) / 4. Jerrod Hull 12H (16) 5. Rich Bubak 9x (5) 6. Jan Howard 11JJ (12) 7. Steve Meyer 85m (10) 8. Hepfner (20) 9. Jon Agan 4 (17) 10. Bruce Robenalt 98 (18) 11. Neitzel (19) 12. Jim Melis 51m (1) 13. Jeff Johnson 11J (9) 14. J. Wilson (22) 15. Joe Symoens 96 (7) 16. Lambertz (21) 17. Ryan Jamison 51J (4) 18. Scott Uttech 7 (15) 19. Curt Grant 36 (13) 20. Mike Moore 69 (3) 21. Wayne Modjeski 77 (14) 22. Barry Ruble 63R (11) DNS - Robert Bell 71x
S. Uttech and M. Moore stopped the action with spins on laps two and seven respectively. M. Moore brought out another yellow when he stopped on lap eight. Modjeski retired at that point. Cram rode the cushion to victory very impressively. Hull got by twelve competitors, but it was one too few. Melis was the early leader until his front wing went haywire on lap six, sending him backwards.
C feature (started): 1. Leonard Lee 16L (2) 2. Wagner (9) 3. C. Meyer (12) 4. Cram (20) / 5. Schulz (5) 6. Johnny Anderson 7a (14) 7. Lutar (3) 8. Haeni (4) 9. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (19) 10. Derek Beckman 50D (17) 11. Matt Wasmund 4w (15) 12. Bill Rose 6B (11) 13. Dodd (8) 14. Monson (5) 15. Norem (6) 16. Martin (1) 17. Randy Anderson 02 (11) 18. Howie Gleason 21G (16) 19. Reinke (22) 20. Shane Hunter 8s (18) 21. Chaney (21) 22. Jeffery (10) DNS - VanDenBerg
Cram had the folks out of there seats throughout this caution filled event despite having to go to the rear after he spun on lap four. The first turn saw disaster as Martin got sideways. Trying to avoid Anderson veered. Gleason caught his front tire and flipped a few times. Reinke and Hunter also went on their tops. No one was injured, but none returned. Norem and Monson got together on lap three in a third place battle. Norem ended up flipping hard and was unhurt. Rose suffered a flat right rear on lap six. Lee led the distance, while Wagner and C. Meyer were both impressive.
B feature (started): 1. Tatnell (1) 2. Jackson (6) 3. Kemenah (7) 4. Whitney (4) 5. Rilat (5) 6. D. Smith (11) 7. Logan (12) 8. D. Moore (13) 9. Ellenberger (16) / 10. Sernett (18) 11. Moyle (15) 12. C. Meyer (21) 13. Lee (19) 14. Wagner (20) 15. D. Wilson (14) 16. Henderson (17) 17. Mize (10) 18. Walraven (3) 19. Lynch (2) 20. Beaver (9) 21. Garner (8) 22. Cram (22) DNS - Haudenschild, D. Stewart
Cram was doing his entertaining passing exhibition when he flipped on lap two. Garner also exited on lap two. While Beaver was flipping, Lynch tipped on the frontstretch after something broke. Both were done. Tatnell left everyone in the dust, despite the reds. Mize had to replace a top wing after Garner flipped on the second lap.
A feature (started): 1. Shepard (1) 2. D. Jacobs (2) 3. Madsen (4) 4. McMahan (5) 5. Jason Johnson (3) 6. Droud (8) 7. Kinser (12) 8. Rilat (19) 9. Feese (10) 10. Tatnell (17) 11. Reed (13) 12. Logan (21) 13. McCarl (9) 14. Mock (7) 15. Antill (11) 16. Kemenah (17) 17. Mitrisin (14) 18. Ellenberger (23) 19. D. Moore (20) 20. G. Wilson (16) 21. Jackson (18) 22. K. Jacobs (6) DNS - Whitney, D. Smith, Landis
What would this race be without contreversy? Apparently, Whitney and D. Smith did not have their car ready to push onto the track and both were DQed. Landis lost a brake caliper and did not start either. These cars were still not allowed to run the next lap when K. Jacobs hit the wall hard, breaking his driveline and Mock overturned at the same moment. Mock was able to return. Jackson spun on lap eight and went pitside. Wilson bailed on lap seven. Contact with Logan took D. Moore out on lap 18 of 30. For the fourth time this year, rubber was laid on the track, creating a mostly single file race. Rilat found his way around 11 cars to finish in the top ten. Shepard led the distance and was very enthused about the win.