8/7/08
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals Night #2
56 cars
Jason Meyers (3rd car out to time) set quick time and was the only car under 15 seconds in time trials at 14.990. Sammy Swindell (1st car out) was second quick on a track that went away quickly, followed by Dusty Zomer (3rd), Jack Dover (11th), Sean Michael (8th), Sam Hafertepe Jr. (9th), Joey Saldana (22nd), Craig Dollansky (33rd), Jason Sides (5th) and Stevie Smith (14th).
Heat one (started): 1. Brooke Tatnell 11AU (6) 2. Meyers 14 (10) 3. Jesse Hockett 13J (2) 4. Lee Jacobs 59 (3) / 5. Lance Dewease 30c (4) 6. Roger Crockett 7N (8) 7. Justin Zimmerman 7K (5) 8. Hafertepe Jr. 15H (9) / 9. Bob Weuve 19 (7) 10. Eric Baldaccini B4 (1)
Hockett led early in the 10-lapper, and Meyers was in fourth with one lap down. The top four went to the A, the next four to the B, and the last two to the C. Baldaccini stopped on lap four with oil problems. Hockett led Tatnell, Meyers, L. Jacobs and Dewease back to green flag racing. Four laps later, Tatnell would take the point from Hockett, with Meyers also getting by with two to go for second. L. Jacobs did a nice job of hitting his spots to qualify for the A in his first Knoxville action.
Heat two (started): 1. Brian Brown 21 (2) 2. Gary Wright 9w (4) 3. Scott Winters 23w (1) 4. Saldana 9E (9) / 5. Swindell 5 (10) 6. Brock Mayes 11B (3) 7. Garry Lee Maier 11xx (6) 8. Brian Leppo 71x (8) / 9. Billy Balog 17B (5) 10. Toni Lutar 4x (7)
Brown led throughout on the cushion. Wright was strong in second, with Saldana the prime mover from the back row to the fourth and final transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Josh Schneiderman 49 (1) 2. Dollansky 2x (9) 3. Terry McCarl 24 (8) 4. Zomer 5z (10) / 5. Gregg Bakker 11x (2) 6. Jake Peters 57x (4) 7. Calvin Landis 70 (5) 8. Ricky Logan 10 (6) / 9. Jeremy Campbell 0x (7) 10. Greg Wilson w20 (3)
Schneiderman led flag to flag with one slowdown. On lap four, Landis spun on the frontstretch. Schneiderman led Bakker, Peters, Dollansky and McCarl back to green flag racing. Dollansky, McCarl and Zomer blasted into transfer spots in the last few laps, with Zomer's pass of Bakker for fourth coming on the last lap.
Heat four (started): 1. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (2) 2. Travis Whitney 1xx (4) 3. Tyler Walker 24T (7) 4. Sides 7s (9) / 5. Chad Meyer 4H (3) 6. Dover 53 (10) 7. Dean Jacobs 17G (5) 8. Mike Moore 69 (8) / 9. Bill Rose 6R (6) 10. Scott Uttech 3 (1)
Good racing up front with Jeffrey leading and Whitney in tow. Whitney took the lead with two to go, only to have Jeffrey steal it back on the last lap. Walker used a low entry into one, drifting high in two to move up well, and Sides primarily used the bottom to move into a transfer.
Heat five (started): 1. Rob Chaney 24H (2) 2. Tim Kaeding 83JR (6) 3. Kraig Kinser 20 (4) 4. Billy Alley 22 (7) / 5. Jeff Shepard 1z (8) 6. Brian Ellenberger 20E (3) 7. S. Smith 19s (9) 8. Michael 6x (10) / 9. Caleb Griffith 12c (1) 10. Marlon Jones 9mx (5)
Chaney led flag to flag. Shepard challenged Kaeding early for fifth, and TK took off from there, climbing all the wasy to second. Alley was hooked up on the bottom, and earned the final transfer.
C main (started): 1. Campbell (3) 2. Weuve (1) 3. Lutar (2) 4. Balog (5) / 5. Rose (4) 6. Wilson (7) 7. Uttech (9) 8. Greg Nikitenko 6N (8) 9. Jones (6) 10. Griffith (8) 11. Kim Mock 1m (11) 12. Mark Amenda 4L (12) DNS - Baldaccini, Ryan Anderson 71R, Ricky Montgomery 9m
Weuve led the 10-lapper early, until Campbell took over and dominated on lap seven. A lap six spin by Griffith was the only caution of the event. Balog and Rose exchanged fourth a number of times before Rose moved by on the low side late.
B main (started): 1. Swindell (1) 2. Dover (2) 3. Hafertepe Jr. (4) 4. S. Smith (5) / 5. Crockett (6) 6. Moore (8) 7. Mayes (17) 8. Dewease (15) 9. Campbell (21) 10. Logan (11) 11. Michael (3) 12. Maier (10) 13. Landis (13) 14. D. Jacobs (14) 15. Zimmerman (12) 16. Lutar (23) 17. Weuve (20) 18. Ellenberger (19) 19. Bakker (18) 20. Leppo (7) 21. Shepard (9) 22. Meyer (16) 23. Balog (22) 24. DNS - Peters
An ugly wreck marred things right away. Involved were Leppo, Balog, Meyer, D. Jacobs, Zimmerman, Ellenberger, Mayes and Bakker, with Shepard getting the worst of things. He was taken to the hospital. Swindell aced the field once the green flew for good in the 12-lapper.
A main (started): 1. Saldana (6) 2. Meyers (8) 3. Wright (11) 4. Alley (1) 5. Dollansky (5) 6. Sides (4) 7. Tatnell (9) 8. Walker (2) 9. Swindell (21) 10. Zomer (7) 11. K. Kinser (13) 12. Kaeding (10) 13. Jeffrey (17) 14. S. Smith (24) 15. Hockett (15) 16. L. Jacobs (14) 17. Winters (19) 18. Whitney (12) 19. Dover (22) 20. McCarl (3) 21. Schneiderman (20) 22. Chaney (18) 23. Hafertepe Jr. (23) 24. Brown (16)
Walker shot out to an early lead over Alley. Saldana charged into second and on lap four, took the lead from Walker, but it didn't count because Winters had stopped on the backstretch. One lap after a restart featuring Walker ahead of Saldana, Alley, Meyers and McCarl, Saldana would take the lead for good in the 20-lapper. Alley moved by Walker for second and Meyers into third, while McCarl and Wright battled for the fifth spot. On lap 17, McCarl suffered a blown right rear tire and would have to restart at the back. Saldana led Alley, Meyers, Walker and Wright back to green flag racing. Brown had surged to ninth on the white flag lap when the car burst into flames. In steering towards safety workers, Brown caught the turn one berm and tipped over. The workers were on the scene in a hurry, and disaster was avoided. A two lap shootout saw little change in the top four as Saldana won over high point man Meyers, Wright powered by an eight year old motor, Alley and Dollansky, who moved by Walker for fifth. Swindell was the hard-charger surging 12 spots, and guaranteeing himself and Guy Forbrook a spot in the A Scramble.