8/8/08
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals Friday Program
Non-qualifiers
Heat one (started): 1. Brian Brown 21 (2) 2. Brian Paulus 28 (1) 3. Justin Zimmerman 7K (5) 4. Bob Weuve 19 (4) / 5. Scott Uttech 3 (6) 6. John VanDenBerg 1 (7) 7. Greg Nikitenko 6N (8) 8. Marlon Jones 9mx (9) 9. Scott Winters 23w (3) DNS - Troy Little 20AU
VanDenBerg got sideways in turn one and came to a stop in turn two. He restarted, but Winters retired for the night after a visit to the work area. Brown led the distance in the 8-lapper sending the top four to the A.
Heat two (started): 1. Blake Feese 14m (2) 2. Kaley Gharst 81 (1) 3. Calvin Landis 70 (5) 4. Lance Dewease 30c (4) / 5. Brian Leppo 71x (3) 6. Gregg Bakker 11x (7) 7. Billy Balog 17B (6) 8. Kerry Madsen 55 (10) 9. JJ Hickle 7A (8) 10. Corey Haigh 45NZ (9)
Feese led flag to flag and pulled away from the rest. Landis used the low side to perfection in moving by Leppo and then outdueling Dewease for third.
Heat three (started): 1. Seth Brahmer 13v (1) 2. Toni Lutar 4x (2) 3. Brock Mayes 11B (3) 4. Cody Darrah 89 (5) / 5. Brian Ellenberger 20E (4) 6. Caleb Griffith 12c (6) 7. Robert Bell 71 (7) 8. Tony Shilling 47T (8) DNS - Jeremy Campbell 0x, Garry Lee Maier 11xx
Brahmer led the duration. Shilling exited on lap seven. Darrah turned some solid laps to move by Ellenberger for the final transfer at the midway point.
Heat four (started): 1. Mark Dobmeier 13 (3) 2. Skip Jackson 2 (1) 3. Ricky Logan 10 (2) 4. Dion Hindi 11D (4) / 5. Tim Shaffer 83A (8) 6. Greg Wilson w20 (7) 7. Bill Rose 6R (5) 8. Matt Wasmund 4w (10) 9. Spud Gustin 80 (6) 10. Ty Bartz 46 (9)
Jackson led early, but had constant pressure from Dobmeier. The two exchanged the lead before Dobmeier took control using the cushion on lap five. Bartz exited smoking on lap four. Shaffer was into fifth early, but couldn't quite get around Hindi for the final transfer in the stoutest heat of the five.
Heat five (started): 1. Rob Chaney 24H (2) 2. Dean Jacobs 17G (5) 3. Natalie Sather 94s (1) 4. Josh Schneiderman 49 (3) / 5. Chad Hillier 5c (4) 6. John Lambertz 12L (7) 7. Steve Dyer 9A (8) 8. Bruce White 96au (6)
Chaney led the duration after getting by Sather on lap two. D. Jacobs made it a 1-2 punch for Wooster, OH when he completed a nice run into second. Action slowed on lap four for a spun Lambertz.
B main (started): 1. Shaffer (4) 2. Madsen (17) 3. Ellenberger (3) 4. Bakker (7) / 5. Wilson (9) 6. Balog (12) 7. Hillier (5) 8. Leppo (2) 9. Griffith (8) 10. VanDenBerg (6) 11. Rose (14) 12. Hickle (21) 13. Uttech (1) 14. Lambertz (8) 15. Jones (16) 16. Nikitenko (11) 17. Wasmund (19) 18. Bell (13) 19. Haigh (23) 20. Bartz (22) 21. Dyer (19) 22. Shilling (18) 23. Gustin (20) DNS - Winters, Little, White, Campbell, Maier
The first try at green saw Dyer get sideways and then upside down hard. The incident collected Shilling, who broke a front-end, and Gustin. No one was injured. Leppo led lap one, but Shaffer took the point on the second go-around in the 12-lapper. The race went non-stop and all eyes were on Madsen as he was surging through the pack. He circled Bakker and Leppo who were battling for the last transfer with four to go to move into third, athen passed Ellenberger on the last lap for fourth. Bakker held on for the last transfer.
A main (started): 1. Brown (1) 2. Madsen (22) 3. Dobmeier (4) 4. Brahmer (3) 5. Paulus (6) 6. D. Jacobs (10) 7. Gharst (7) 8. Mayes (13) 9. Feese (2) 10. Shaffer (21) 11. Chaney (5) 12. Hindi (19) 13. Dewease (17) 14. Schneiderman (20) 15. Logan (14) 16. Landis (12) 17. Bakker (24) 18. Weuve (16) 19. Ellenberger (23) 20. Darrah (18) 21. Jackson (9) 22. Sather (15) 23. Lutar (8) 24. Zimmerman (11)
Before a lap could be completed, Zimmerman spun in turn one, and was struck by Shaffer, breaking the front-end on the 7K. Brown led early in the 20-lapper. Madsen repeated his performance in the B in tearing towards the front. On lap 15, Brown had over a straightaway lead and several lapped cars between himself and Dobmeier. Darrah suffered bad luck when he had a left rear go flat on the white flag lap after surging into the top ten. The two lap dash to the checkers saw Brown leading Dobmeier, Brahmer, a charging Madsen and Paulus back to green flag racing. Madsen disposed of Brahmer on the restart and then Dobmeier before settling for second in a great run. The win was Brown's 12th of the 410 variety, paid him $5000 and was his first of 2008.
Scrambles
C Scramble (started): 1. Doug Esh 30 (1) 2. Danny Smith 18s (3) 3. Jesse Hockett 13J (5) 4. Rager Phillips 9 (4) 5. Lee Jacobs 59 (10) 6. Don Droud Jr. 47 (2) 7. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (9) 8. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (7) 9. Lee Sowell 51s (8) 10. Fred Rahmer 51x (6)
Esh did a nice job of running the cushion to the lead the distance in the 12-lapper and earning $3000. A spin by Wimmer on the white flag lap, set up a three-way battle for second. Droud Jr. and Phillips led D. Smith for the spot on the restart, but the veteran squeaked between them at the line to gain enough points for a starting spot inside row two on Saturday.
B Scramble (started): 1. Chad Kemenah 8K (4) 2. Greg Hodnett 22x (5) 3. Randy Hannagan 1x (1) 4. Gary Wright 9w (6) 5. Daryn Pittman 21T (9) 6. Tim Kaeding 83JR (3) 7. Terry McCarl 24 (7) 8. Jack Dover 53 (10) 9. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (2) 10. Stevie Smith 19s (8)
Hannagan led early with Kemenah in tow on the low side. S. Smith lost a motor with four laps complete, and McCarl's car came out of gear while running fifth. Hannagan led Kemenah, Kaeding, Hodnett and Pittman at the time. Two laps later, Kemenah would take the lead with a turn two slider. Wright moved up steadily past Kaeding and Pittman using the low side. Kemenah gained a row one starting position on Saturday for his run and $5000.
A Scramble (started): 1. Steve Kinser 11 (4) 2. Donny Schatz 15 (5) 3. Paul McMahan 6 (1) 4. Danny Lasoski 33 (9) 5. Sammy Swindell 5 (3) 6. Craig Dollansky 2x (7) 7. Jason Meyers 14 (10) 8. Dusty Zomer 5z (2) 9. Justin Henderson D1 (6) 10. Joey Saldana 9E (8)
Saldana spun before a lap could be completed, negating a good run for Zomer into the lead. McMahan took the point on the next try at green, and hold it until S. Kinser took over on lap four. The winner's run moved him from row four to row two. Lasoski's charge to fourth earned him the pole on Saturday.
World Challenge (started): 1. Madsen (1) 2. Dobmeier (3) 3. Dollansky (10) 4. Jason Johnson 19E (8) 5. Saldana (9) 6. Wilson (2) 7. Brooke Tatnell 11AU (7) 8. Little (4) 9. Jeffrey (12) 10. Logan (6) 11. Lutar (11) 12. Haigh (13) 13. Jackson (5) DNS - Carl Wilson 11NZ, White, Dyer
Putting Madsen on the front of the 16-lapper seemed unfair after the night he had. It was, as he pulled away from everyone, and Dobmeier settled for second, holding it from Dollansky and J. Johnson after a late restart for a stopped Jackson. Madsen earned $10,000 for the win.