8/13/09
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals Night #2
57 cars
Dale Blaney (2nd car out to time) set the standard in qualifying at 15.056 seconds. Joey Saldana (3rd car out) was second quick, followed by Tyler Walker (4th), Stevie Smith (23rd), Kraig Kinser (36th), Josh Higday (7th), Steve Kinser (13th), Greg Hodnett (34th), Tim Kaeding (25th) and Jac Haudenschild (48th). It was advantageous to go out early as the middle of the track slicked off quite a bit, while the bottom remained greasy. Brant O'Banion failed to get a time in, and defending USAC sprint champion, Levi Jones, had to take one lap at the end in Wade Nygaard's #9N
Heat one (started): 1. Brian Brown 21 (4) 2. Jason Solwold 6NX (6) 3. Blaney 2B (8) 4. Garry Lee Maier 11xx (2) / 5. Lance Dewease 30c (3) 6. Jordan Goldesberry 65 (1) 7. Jesse Hockett 13J (5) 8. Higday 81 (7) / 9. Kenny Jacobs 25 (9) 10. Greg Nikitenko 6N (10)
Brown circled the front row right away and led flag to flag in the 10-lapper. Solwold and Blaney charged under Maier to charge into second and third.
Heat two (started): 1. Ricky Logan 10a (2) 2. Terry McCarl 24 (4) 3. Fred Rahmer 51 (3) 4. Saldana 9 (8) / 5. Rager Phillips 10 (6) 6. Kerry Madsen 55 (5) 7. Ricky Montgomery 33 (1) 8. S. Kinser 11 (7) / 9. Dennis Moore Jr. 20 (9) 10. Eric Baldaccini B4 (10)
Logan led the duration, with McCarl nipping at his heels at the line. Saldana progressed slowly until grabbing the final transfer from Phillips on the last lap.
Heat three (started): 1. Chad Meyer 4H (1) 2. Dusty Zomer 17G (6) 3. Walker 24T (8) 4. Ryan Anderson 71R (2) / 5. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4) 6. Bob Weuve 19 (3) 7. Hodnett 22H (7) 8. Travis Rilat 2m (9) / 9. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (5) 10. Pete Crall 1PC (10)
Meyer took off, while Zomer impressed by moving into second. Walker used good moves under Giannetto and Anderson to surge to third.
Heat four (started): 1. S. Smith 1z (8) 2. Toni Lutar 4x (1) 3. Kaeding 83 (7) 4. Billy Alley 22 (4) / 5. Clint Garner 40 (10) 6. Caleb Griffith 12c (2) 7. Joey Moughan 55B (6) 8. Ben Gregg 22B (5) / 9. Mike Benson 77 (9) 10. Kaley Gharst 7K (3)
Gharst exited on lap two. Lutar was the early leader before S. Smith stormed to the front on lap five, and never looked back. Kaeding passed Alley on the last lap for third.
Heat five (started): 1. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (1) 2. Dean Jacobs 97 (4) 3. Bronson Maeschen 1 (5) 4. K. Kinser 20K (8) / 5. Haudenschild R19 (7) 6. Mike Moore 69 (2) 7. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (6) 8. Scott Winters 23w (9) / 9. Geoff Dodge 7m (10) 10. Bill Rose 6R (3)
Jeffrey wired the field, while Maeschen and K. Kinser put on entertaining charges getting by M. Moore.
C main (started): 1. Bruce Jr. (1) 2. Gharst (2) / 3. K. Jacobs (4) 4. Moore Jr. (3) 5. Nikitenko (5) 6. Crall (8) 7. Dodge (7) 8. Scott Uttech 3K (10) 9. Matt Wasmund 4w (11) 10. Patrick Bourke 27 (12) 11. Ryan Bickett 17RB (9) 12. Benson (6) DNS - Rose, Levi Jones 9N, Robert Bell 71, Baldaccini, Brant O'Banion 30
Bruce Jr. and Gharst led the distance in the 10-lapper, ahead of K. Jacobs who ended up eight car lengths behind in the non-stop event.
B main (started): 1. S. Kinser (2) 2. Hodnett (3) 3. Haudenschild (4) 4. Giannetto (11) / 5. W. Johnson (7) 6. Dewease (12) 7. Madsen (9) 8. Hockett (8) 9. Rilat (18) 10. Phillips (5) 11. Weuve (13) 12. Winters (19) 13. Garner (20) 14. Bruce Jr. (21) 15. Gharst (22) 16. Montgomery (17) 17. M. Moore (15) 18. Goldesberry (16) 19. Moughan (6) 20. Higday (1) 21. Gregg (10) 22. Griffith (14)
Before a lap could be completed in teh 12-lapper, Gregg spun high in turn three, and collected Griffith, who had to retire. On the second try, Higday edged S. Kinser on lap one, but it was for only one lap. First Hodnett, and then Haudenschild moved by Higday, before something went awry in the valve train on lap seven, while running fourth. W. Johnson had just passed Moughan, who stopped on the track a lap later, for the final transfer. Giannetto was persistent on the bottom, and when W. Johnson slid across turns one a two a couple times in a row, he stuck the bottom and passed him for the final transfer with two to go.
A main (started): 1. Kaeding (3) 2. K. Kinser (4) 3. Saldana (7) 4. S. Smith (5) 5. Walker (6) 6. T. McCarl (11) 7. Zomer (1) 8. Solwold (2) 9. Blaney (8) 10. Brown (10) 11. Maeschen (9) 12. D. Jacobs (13) 13. Hodnett (22) 14. Logan (16) 15. S. Kinser (21) 16. Rahmer (14) 17. Haudenschild (23) 18. Jeffrey (20) 19. Ry. Anderson (17) 20. Lutar (19) 21. Maier (15) 22. Giannetto (24) 23. Meyer (18) 24. Alley (12)
Alley chose to start in the rear with some motor woes, and pulled in shortly after the finish. Haudenschild spun before a lap could be completed, but once underway, the 25-lappe went non-stop. Zomer jumped out to an early lead, but couldn't shake Kaeding. In heavy lapped traffic on lap 11, Kaeding snuck under Zomer for the point, and started mastering lapped cars. His lead was over a straightaway, when K. Kinser and Saldana began to close after battles with S. Smith and Walker. Kaeding ended up winning by several car lengths to claimed $12,000 and his fourth career Knoxville victory. T. McCarl's late surge salvaged sixth, while Hodnett was the hard-charger.