Lee Grosz won the first prelim for the 360 Nationals Friday
by Stacy Ervin
KNOXVILLE RACEWAY, Knoxville, IA, August 5, 2011 – Lee Grosz of Harwood, North Dakota, won the first qualifying main event for the 21st Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals and it was also his first career win at the Knoxville Raceway. In victory lane, he noted his goal for the weekend was just to put himself into the A-Main finale on Saturday night for the first time.
The opening night was originally scheduled for Thursday, however a steady rain that evening postponed the show. That meant all the cars entered in the Lucas Oil ASCS-sanctioned event ran on Friday, August 5, split into a “Thursday” group and a “Friday” group. Rain also threatened on Friday but moved out of the area before washing out the show.
Grosz started on the pole of the 20-lap main and led all the laps, holding off outside front-row starter Davey Heskin the entire distance. There was a red flag on the original start as Dave Hall got upside down in turns one and two. On the next complete restart, Chad Humston was a victim of bad luck when Jeff Swindell’s car stumbled and Humston jumped his wheel. The race stayed green but Humston fell all the way to the back.
The red flag came out on lap six, when Matt Covington got upside down in turn two. At this stoppage, Humston and Terry McCarl also pulled to the work area. After that, Grosz continued to hold off Heskin and third-place runner Jason Johnson. He hit lapped traffic at lap 15 and that allowed those behind him to close.
The yellow flag came out again on lap 18 when Zach Chappell got turned around in turn two. When the race went green again, the red flag returned for a vicious crash in turns one and two which involved Jon Agan, RJ Johnson and Kolt Walker.
From there, Grosz kept the lead while Heskin came home a close second. Jason Johnson was third and Jeff Swindell fourth. Billy Alley came from 23rd starting spot to finish fifth.
Zach Chappell set the Thursday group’s quickest time trial at 15.944. Heat races for the Thursday group were won by Zach Chappell, Calvin Landis, Jon Agan, Tasker Phillips and Kolt Walker. Brant O’Banion won the C-Main and Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the B-Main.
Swindell wins second qualifying main of 21st Annual 360 Knoxville Nationals!
Thursday Qualifiers Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 1 lap: 1. 0, Zach Chappell, Talala, OK (15) 15.944; 2. 71, RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL (19) 15.965; 3. 22, Billy Alley, Bennett, NE (21) 15.976; 4. 1m, Chad Humston, Giltner, NE (12) 16.042; 5. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (18) 16.045; 6. 94, Derek Hagar, Marion, AR (14) 16.057; 7. 4BX, Jordan Boston, Crete, NE (49) 16.103; 8. 28, Jeff Swindell, Bartlett, TN (36) 16.125; 9. 55, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (24) 16.132; 10. 41, Jason Johnson, Eunice, LA (22) 16.145; 11. 5M, Justyn Cox, Clarksburg, CA (2) 16.170; 12. 56, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (1) 16.192; 13. 29, Bud Kaeding, Campbell, CA (33) 16.205; 14. 4J, Lee Grosz, Harwood, ND (32) 16.209; 15. 4B, Eric Baldaccini, Keller, TX (38) 16.213; 16. 7x, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (42) 16.221; 17. 47, Brant O’Banion, Norfolk, NE (26) 16.275; 18. 2MX, Dustin Daggett, Portland, MI (5) 16.296; 19. 29T, Travis Rilat, Forney, TX (13) 16.296; 20. 45c, Russ Hall, Pleasant Hill, IA (47) 16.308; 21. 25, Dylan Peterson, Sioux Falls, SD (17) 16.312; 22. 79, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (23) 16.324; 23. 2m, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (43) 16.335; 24. 11c, Matt Covington, Glenpool, OK (3) 16.344; 25. 45K, Kolt Walker, Graham, TX (20) 16.373; 26. 51, David Hall, Des Moines, IA (11) 16.388; 27. 11, Roger Crockett, Medford, OR (34) 16.405; 28. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (29) 16.411; 29. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (44) 16.419; 30. 8, Jon Carney II, El Paso, TX (28) 16.446; 31. 54, Casey Friedrichsen, Arthur, IA (39) 16.451; 32. 28c, Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, MO (9) 16.456; 33. 10, Tyler Groenendyk, Oskaloosa, IA (25) 16.456; 34. 98, JD Johnson, Wichita, KS (16) 16.492; 35. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (35) 16.526; 36. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (31) 16.532; 37. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (41) 16.536; 38. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (6) 16.546; 39. 5JR, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (4) 16.586; 40. 00, Brad Foster, Melbourne, VIC, Aust. (10) 16.589; 41. 18, Tony Bruce Jr., Liberal, KS (45) 16.665; 42. 9m, Ricky Montgomery, Lakewood, CO (37) 16.765; 43. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (48) 16.776; 44. 04, Chad Heimbaugh, Pleasant Hill, IA (7) 16.863; 45. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (8) 16.931; 46. 92c, Cody Ambers, Knoxville, IA (30) 16.985; 47. 33A, Austin Alumbaugh, Higginsville, MO (40) 17.023; 48. 11cx, Dakota Carroll, LaMonte, MO (27) 17.128; 49. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (46) 17.206.
Heat one (started), 8 laps, NT: 1. Zach Chappell (6) 2. David Hall (1) 3. Dustin Selvage (3) 4. Derek Hagar (5) / 5. Joe Beaver (8) 6. Casey Friedrichsen (7) 7. Justyn Cox (4) 8. Tony Bruce Jr. (9) / 9. Dylan Peterson (2) 10. Cody Ambers (10)
Heat two (started), 8 laps, 2:15.3: 1. Calvin Landis (2) 2. Davey Heskin (4) 3. Roger Crockett (1) 4. RJ Johnson (6) / 5. Jonathan Cornell (7) 6. Randy Martin (8) 7. Jordan Boston (5) 8. Ricky Montgomery (9) / 9. Brant O’Banion (3) 10. Austin Alumbaugh (10)
Heat three (started), 8 laps, 2:12.6: 1. Jon Agan (1) 2. Matt Moro (2) 3. Jeff Swindell (5) 4. Dustin Daggett (3) / 5. Bud Kaeding (4) 6. Billy Alley (6) 7. Tyler Groenendyk (7) 8. Dakota Carroll (10) / 9. Alan Zoutte (8) 10. Brian Brown (9)
Heat four (started), 8 laps, NT: 1. Tasker Phillips (1) 2. Matt Covington (2) 3. Lee Grosz (4) 4. Chad Humston (6) / 5. Travis Rilat (3) 6. Terry McCarl (5) 7. Chad Heimbaugh (9) 8. JD Johnson (7) / 9. Kevin Ingle (10) 10. Jamie Ball (8)
Heat five (started), 8 laps, 2:15.0: 1. Kolt Walker (2) 2. Eric Baldaccini (4) 3. Jon Carney II (1) 4. Jason Johnson (5) / 5. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6) 6. Russ Hall (3) 7. Brady Bacon (7) 8. Aaron Reutzel (9) / 9. Brad Foster (8)
C main (started), 5 laps, 1:22.2 (NTR): 1. Brant O’Banion (1) 2. Dylan Peterson (2) / 3. Brad Foster (4) 4. Austin Alumbaugh (5) 5. Kevin Ingle (3) DNS – Jamie Ball, Cody Ambers, Alan Zoutte, Brian Brown
B main (started), 12 laps, 3:19.9 (NTR): 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2) 2. Terry McCarl (4) 3. Billy Alley (1) 4. Jordan Boston (3) / 5. Russ Hall (8) 6. Travis Rilat (7) 7. Justyn Cox (5) 8. Bud Kaeding (6) 9. Joe Beaver (14) 10. Brady Bacon (13) 11. Casey Friedrichsen (9) 12. Ricky Montgomery (17) 13. Tyler Groenendyk (11) 14. Dylan Peterson (20) 15. Tony Bruce Jr. (16) 16. JD Johnson (12) 17. Chad Heimbaugh (18) 18. Jonathan Cornell (10) 19. Dakota Carroll (19) 20. Randy Martin (15) DNS - 21. Aaron Reutzel 22. Brant O’Banion
A main (started), 20 laps, NT: 1. Lee Grosz (1) 2. Davey Heskin (2) 3. Jason Johnson (3) 4. Jeff Swindell (4) 5. Billy Alley (23) 6. Derek Hagar (5) 7. Dustin Selvage (10) 8. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (21) 9. Eric Baldaccini (9) 10. Roger Crockett (17) 11. Dustin Daggett (11) 12. Terry McCarl (22) 13. Jordan Boston (24) 14. Tasker Phillips (19) 15. Chad Humston (6) 16. Jon Carney II (20) 17. Calvin Landis (12) 18. RJ Johnson (7) 19. Jon Agan (18) 20. Kolt Walker (15) 21. Matt Moro (13) 22. Zach Chappell (8) 23. Matt Covington (14) 24. David Hall (16). Lap Leader: Grosz 1-20.