8/31/02
Knoxville Raceway
36 410s
41 360s
410s
Kerry Madsen (1st car to time) set quick time over the field on the heavy surface. Jeff Mitrisin (9th) was second quick followed by Calvin Landis (18th), Travis Cram (17th), Terry McCarl (29th), Blake Feese (24th), Larry Pinegar II (33rd), Manny Rockhold (3rd), Colin Northway (11th) and Dennis Moore Jr. (14th). Lynton Jeffrey timed in fourth quick, but came in light at the scales, relegating him to the back of the events. John Lambertz scratched after pulling in during his hot lap session. Leonard Lee had a flat left rear, and was forced to take one lap on the clock at the end of qualifications.
Heat one (started): 1. Randy Martin 14 (2) 2. Northway 12 (4) 3. Mike Reinke 17 (3) 4. Rick Ideus 5B (1) 5. Madsen 82 (6) / 6. Rockhold 02 (5) 7. Tony Norem 47 (7) 8. Bobby Mincer 15 (8) 9. Tyler Houseman 50 (9)
Martin led strongly from green to checkered. Reinke impressed by passing Madsen and Ideus on the high side, despite a narrow racetrack. Ideus, from Lincoln, NE was making a rare 410 appearance.
Heat two (started): 1. Don Droud Jr. 55 (1) 2. Larry Ball Jr. 1s (2) 3. Ricky Logan 3s (3) 4. Mitrisin 5J (6) 5. D. Moore 71 (4) / 6. Mike Moore 69 (8) 7. Jeff Johnson (7) 8. Bruce Williams 8s (9) 9. Pinegar 11L (5)
Pinegar dropped out on lap two. Droud led the distance in a mostly single file heat race. A ledge was developing on the cushion, which was about halfway up the track. Williams was subbing for Shane Hunter, who was with his expecting wife.
Heat three (started): 1. Justin Henderson R19 (4) 2. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1) 3. Feese 12x (5) 4. Derek Beckman 50D (3) 5. Jon Agan 4 (7) / 6. Robert Bell 71x (8) 7. Landis 70 (6) 8. Chris Walraven 56 (2) 9. Jeffrey 4k (9)
Jeffrey was black-flagged after jumping the start twice. The race of attrition continued as Walraven's hood popped up on lap four while he was leading. Knoxville's policy of not allowing work on the car sent him pitside immediately. On the restart, Landis, who was riding in third shut down and exited as well. Six cars finished the event as Beckman and Agan gobbled up the available transfer spots.
Heat four (started): 1. Skip Jackson 21 (2) 2. McCarl 24 (5) 3. Brent Antill 1 (4) 4. Jeff Hodgson V8 (1) 5. Cram 92 (6) / 6. Lee 16L (3) 7. David Murcott 20 (7) 8. Greg Jones 35 (8) DNS - John Lambertz 12L
Hodgson, visiting from Alberta, Canada, held the lead early. He held off Jackson for several laps on the narrow track before dropping back. He still held on to a transfer spot. McCarl did a nice job of maneuvering around Lee, Antill and Hodgson to move up into second. Lee came just shy of Cram for the final transfer. This was by far the most entertaining heat of the night.
B main (started): 1. Rockhold (1) 2. Lee (4) / 3. Murcott (8) 4. Jeffrey (13) 5. Johnson (5) 6. Mincer (7) 7. M. Moore (10) 8. Walraven (3) 9. Bell (9) 10. Williams (14) 11. Jones (12) 12. T. Houseman (11) 13. Norem (6) 14. Pinegar (2) DNS - Landis, Lambertz
Pinegar took the early lead before coming to a stop on lap two with mechanical ills. Rockhold assumed the lead and led the rest of the way. Walraven put an ill-fated slide job on Norem on lap six and both drivers were taken out. Norem got the worst end of the deal by heading straight into the wall. He was uninjured. Walraven restarted at the tail after spinning. Jeffrey worked his way forward, but came up two spots short.
A main (started): 1. Feese (2) 2. Antill (9) 3. Logan (11) 4. Jackson (15) 5. Reinke (12) 6. Droud (18) 7. Henderson (8) 8. Martin (13) 9. McCarl (3) 10. D. Moore (7) 11. Moyle (17) 12. Ball (14) 13. Rockhold (21) 14. Beckman (10) 15. Lee (22) 16. Hodgson (16) 17. Cram (4) 18. Agan (20) 19. Ideus (19) 20. Mitrisin (5) 21. Madsen (6) 22. Northway (1)
Northway was running in front of McCarl on the initial lap when he suffered driveline problems and slowed. McCarl slammed him, suffering front end damage. After brief repairs, he rejoined the total restart. Madsen suffered the same fate as Northway on the retry and was done for the night. Mitrisin restarted on the pole alongside Feese. He tucked in behind Feese and was running second until he smoked to a stop on lap two. He retired as well. Feese kept his lead and won going away despite two more cautions. One was for Cram, who spun and then went pitside on lap fifteen. Lee suffered another left rear flat on lap 23, but was able to get it changed. Feese roared to his third Knoxville win in three different cars. Several hard chargers made up the top ten. A great three way battle occured most of the race between Henderson, Reinke and Jackson. Droud earned hard-charger honors, moving up 12 spots. McCarl came from the tail to regain a top ten finish. He already had the championship clinched. Martin's strong top ten was his best 410 showing of the season.
Dash for cash (started): 1. Moyle $1000 (2) 2. D. Moore (1) 3. McCarl (6) 4. Jackson (4) 5. Henderson (3) 6. Logan (5)
The dash for cash was determined by draw and ran eight laps. McCarl was the big mover, but Moyle left the field behind for a cool grand.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dave Hesmer 1 (4*) 2. Brett Golik 5G (2*) 3. Josh Higday 24 (6*) 4. Johnny Anderson 7a (3*) 5. Joey Beaver 53 (7*) 6. Matt Moro 2m (9) 7. Stacey Alexander 126 (8) 8. Rod Richards 5 (5) 9. Jerry Crabb 12x (1) 10. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (10) 11. Jim Alexander Jr. 14A (11)
Hesmer took the lead from Golik early and dusted the field. The narrow track provided little opportunity for the faster machines of Higday and Beaver to get around the cars in front of them. Vanderploeg, from Runnells and in former Giannetto equipment, was in a sprinter for the first time.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Hall 7H (2*) 2. Ryan Menninga 10 (1*) 3. Virgil Brandt 2VK (4*) 4. Dave Hall 51 (3*) 5. Doug Wilson 33w (7) 6. Ryan Anderson 71R (8) 7. Chris Morgan 28 (10) 8. Chris Martinez 7m (6) 9. Allan Zoutte 33 (5) 10. Ed Ergenbright 11 (9)
Ergenbright tangled with another machine at the drop of the green and ended up smacking the fence, and riding the tow rig to the pits. Hall and Menninga battled tooth and nail for the win. Wilson used a last lap pass of Anderson for a front row starting spot in the B. Morgan, from Topeka, KS, was making his first Knoxville appearance in former John Kearney equipment.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brian Brown 3 (3*) 2. Steve Breazeale 66 (4*) 3. Tim St. Arnold 7s (1*) 4. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (8*) 5. Mike Houseman Y5 (7) 6. Terry Alexander 77 (6) 7. Dave Middleswart 40 (9) 8. Mark Detrick 12D (5) 9. Aaron Hubler B29 (10) 10. Doran Doty 99x (2)
Doty dropped from the lead on lap three and headed pitside. Brown assumed the lead and cruised to the victory. Heimbaugh moved up nicely, finishing four spots forward. Hubler was making his first Knoxville start in the Mason machine.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Curtis Thorson 91 (1*) 2. Clint Garner 40x (8*) 3. Tim Deaver 34 (2*) 4. Brett Mather 54 (3) 5. Rob Edwards 22 (4) 6. Jamie Ferrell 7 (7) 7. Tom Lenz 8L (5) 8. Jim Cruise 77c (9) 9. Doug Larsen 4 (10) DNS - Mitchell Alexander 6 (6)
Garner cruised around four cars on the first lap, using the high side above the cushion. Thorson led flag to flag. Deaver and Mather had a nice race for what turned out to be a transfer spot.
B main (started): 1. Moro (4) 2. Houseman (2) 3. Wilson (1) 4. R. Anderson (5) / 5. Ferrell (8) 6. Mather (3) 7. S. Alexander (11) 8. Morgan (7) 9. Edwards (6) 10. T. Alexander (9) 11. Lenz (12) 12. Middleswart (10) 13. Ergenbright (21) 14. Crabb (17) 15. Richards (14) 16. Vanderploeg (20) 17. Zoutte (18) 18. Martinez (15) 19. J. Alexander (22) 20. Larsen (19) 21. Hubler (23) 22. Cruise (13) 23. Detrick (16) DNS - Doty, M. Alexander
Cruise spun after making contact with Martinez, who suffered a flat on lap four. This proved to be the only caution in the event. Moro was impressive and made a harrowing move through traffic after the restart.
A main (started): 1. Brown (5) 2. Garner (4) 3. Hesmer (6) 4. Moro (17) 5. St. Arnold (12) 6. Breazeale (2) 7. Golik (8) 8. Higday (7) 9. Wilson (19) 10. J. Anderson (14) 11. Menninga (9) 12. R. Anderson (20) 13. Heimbaugh (10) 14. C. Thorson (1) 15. D. Hall (16) 16. Deaver (13) 17. J. Hall (3) 18. Beaver (15) 19. Brandt (11) 20. Houseman (18)
Breazeale led until Garner overtook him on the high side on lap four. Garner built a comfortable margin over Brown and was working through lapped traffic when Houseman came to a smoking finish on lap 11. Brandt stopped on the frontstretch on lap 15. Beaver also exited at this time. The lap 11 restart saw Brown take the lead briefly, only to be thwarted by Garner who stretched out his margin. The lap 15 restart was different, and the result was a five lap shootout with Brown taking the lead with a couple of laps to go, as the two raced side by side. In the last corner, Brown pinched Garner's high groove off and claimed the win to cap off his championship season. Moro was the hard-charger, advancing 13 spots.
Dash for cash (started): 1. J. Anderson $500 (1) 2. Wilson (2) 3. Higday (3) 4. Brown (4) 5. R. Anderson (6) 6. Menninga (5)
J. Anderson was faithful to the low groove and it paid off. Wilson couldn't quite catch him using the cushion, in a dash without much passing.