6/21/08
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Midget Nationals & 410s
43 Midgets
29 410s
Midgets
Another night, another rain delay...Six drivers were locked into Saturday's 25-lap Midget Nationals event based on their Friday finishes: Brad Sweet, Cole Whitt, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jerry Coons Jr., Bobby East, Michael Pickens
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Darren Hagen 67 (2*) 2. Chris Windom 17 (3*) 3. Tracy Hines 21 (4*) 4. Brent Beauchamp 112 (1) 5. Levi Jones 20 (8) 6. Brad Kuhn o7 (7) 7. Bubba Altig 67x (5) 8. Don Droud Jr. 1H (6) 9. Matt Smith 14A (9) 10. Scott Hatton 15 (10)
Jones surged from 8th to 4th before a lap could be completed, but biked it in three and came to a stop. He came from the back to surge to fifth at the end. Hagen led flag to flag in the 8-lapper.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Danny Stratton F5 (4*) 2. Brad Loyet o5 (8*) 3. Russ Harper 09 (2*) 4. Mike Hess 4x (6*) 5. AJ Fike 69 (7) 6. Kody Swanson 19 (3) 7. Brad Galedrige 29 (5) 8. David Gough 14 (1) 9. Ryan Criswell 11c (9)
Harper snagged the early lead. Stratton was on a rail and took the point with two to go. Loyet completed a good run following Startton into second.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Gary Taylor 5* (2*) 2. Dave Darland 9 (9*) 3. Dustin Morgan 93 (6*) 4. Tim Noble 71N (3) 5. Kevin Swindell 75 (4) 6. Austin Brown 7B (7) 7. Chad McDaniel 1c (8) 8. Daniel Robinson 24D (5) 9. Don O'Keefe Jr. 0K (1)
O'Keefe elected to start at the rear and retired on lap five. Taylor took the early lead. Swindell was in pursuit, and took the lead briefly on the last lap before teh two made contact in turn two, sending Swindell into a spin and to the rear for the restart. Darland's move from 9th to 2nd earned him high point man honors for the heat, and his late bid for the lead fell just short.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Chad Boat 30 (3*) 2. Brady Bacon 99 (8*) 3. Donnie Ray Crawford 55 (2) 4. Brett Anderson 11A (5) 5. Alfred Galedrige Jr. 26 (9) 6. Aaron Fiscus 7x (1) 7. Jason Holt 8J (7) 8. Will Pierce 10 (6) 9. Robby Ross 4R (4)
Crawford led early before Boat took control on lap four. Bacon used the low groove to nab second late and complete a nice run through the pack.
B main one (started): 1. Kuhn (5) 2. Jones (2) 3. Beauchamp (3) / 4. B. Galedrige (8) 5. Droud Jr. (7) 6. Crawford (1) 7. Hatton (11) 8. O'Keefe (10) 9. Noble (4) 10. Swindell (6) 11. M. Smith (9) DNS - McDaniel, Robinson
M. Smith turned over on the first try at green, and on the next, something broke with Swindell's steering and the car shot directly into the turn one wall. He was able to brake, but the car was substantially damaged ending a tough weekend. Crawford was sent back a row for jumping that start. Kuhn shot into the lead from row three, after a brief battle with new pole-sitter Beauchamp. The 10-lapper went non-stop until Hatton brought a caution on lap eight. The top three at the time (Kuhn, Jones, Beauchamp) stayed the same the final two laps.
B main two (started): 1. Altig (7) 2. Anderson (2) 3. Fike (3) / 4. Swanson (5) 5. Fiscus (4) 6. Criswell (11) 7. Gough (9) 8. Holt (6) 9. Ross (10) 10. Pierce (8) 11. A. Galedrige (1) DNS - Brown
Anderson and A. Galedrige swapped the lead twice on the first three laps before Anderson took control. A. Galedrige bowed out with a flat on lap four. Altig entered the fray and passed for the lead on lap seven, pulling away to win. Fike came late to grab the final transfer after a battle with Swanson.
A main (started): 1. Brad Sweet 49 (1) 2. Jerry Coons Jr. 11 (5) 3. Bacon (9) 4. Michael Pickens 2 (2) 5. Hagen (10) 6. Cole Whitt 71 (3) 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 32 (6) 8. Hines (14) 9. Darland (7) 10. Hess (16) 11. Loyet (8) 12. Bobby East 4 (4) 13. Windom (12) 14. Fike (22) 15. Jones (21) 16. Hatton (24, pr.) 17. Fiscus (26, pr.) 18. Swanson (25, pr.) 19. Altig (18) 20. Anderson (20) 21. Harper (17) 22. Beauchamp (23) 23. Taylor (13) 24. Boat (11) 25. Kuhn (19) 26. Morgan (15) DNS - Stratton
Sweet jumped out to an early lead on the high side in the 25-lapper. Whitt was in tow, until Coons Jr. started making a move and passed him on lap 12. Two laps later, Harper tagged the wall and came to a stop bringing a caution. Sweet, led Coons Jr., Whitt, Bacon who had a pass for third negated by the yellow, and Darland back to green flag racing. Boat had been in the top ten when he slowed to a stop on lap 18. Now Sweet led Coons Jr., a resurging Pickens, Darland and Whitt. Coons Jr. slid up in front of the leader to take the point. His use of the low side was working until a caution for debris on lap 20. Coons Jr. led Sweet, Pickens, a surging Bacon and Whitt back to the green. Sweet followed the leader through one and two and performed a slidejob for the winning pass in turn four. Sweet joined Coons Jr. as the only two drivers to sweep the King Doodlebug and Midget Nationals races. Fiscus was the hard-charger, moving up nine spots.
410s
Danny Lasoski (11th car out to time) set quick time at 15.244 seconds. Justin Henderson (16th car out) was second quick, followed by Mark Dobmeier (8th), Dusty Zomer (27th), Calvin Landis (5th), Dion Hindi (6th), Lynton Jeffrey (29th), Billy Alley (12th), Bronson Maeschen (23rd) and Travis Cram (24th). Davey Heskin failed to get a time in.
Heat one (started): 1. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (2) 2. Rager Phillips 9 (1) 3. Jeffrey 12 (4) 4. Lasoski 5 (6) 5. Cram 17G (3) 6. Zomer 5z (5) / 7. Jake Peters 57x (7) 8. Tony Shilling 47T (8) DNS - Kaley Gharst 7K, Kaylene Verville 01
Wimmer shot out in the 8-lapper on the cushion and led until a caution at the halfway point for a bar on the track. Zomer had been passed by Peters for the final transfer, but battled back on the bottom to grab it on the final go-around.
Heat two (started): 1. Skip Jackson 2 (2) 2. Ryan Anderson 71R (1) 3. Alley 22 (4) 4. Landis 70 (5) 5. Henderson D1 (6) 6. Derek Ingalls 91 (3) / 7. Davey Heskin 56 (10) 8. Mike Moore 69 (9) 9. Josh Schneiderman 49 (7) 10. Natalie Sather 94s (8)
Sather stopped before a lap could be completed. Jackson was the class of the field. The battle for the final transfer was heated, with Heskin grabbing it momentarily with two to go. Ingalls came back to grab it at the end.
Heat three (started): 1. Hindi 11D (5) 2. Ricky Logan 10 (1) 3. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (3) 4. Brian Brown 21 (7) 5. Dobmeier 13 (6) 6. Seth Brahmer 13v (2) / 7. Jeff Mitrisin 47 (8) 8. Dustin Morgan 93 (9) 9. Maeschen 96 (4)
Maeschen spun his tires at the start. Dobmeier clipped his left front trying to get by and sent the 96 upside down. Dobmeier would need work area repairs to continue, and Mitrisin would need to change a left front tire as well. Once underway, Hindi exploded from row three to wrestle the lead from Logan and pull away. Mitrisin threatened for the final transfer to no avail. W. Johnson grabbed third on the last lap from Brown.
B main (started): 1. Sather (3) 2. Peters (2) 3. Schneiderman (1) 4. Heskin (5) 5. Russ Hall 69 (9) 6. Mitrisin (6) / 7. Shilling (4) 8. Mike Moore 7K (8) 9. Verville (7) DNS - Maeschen, Morgan
Russ Hall jumped in the Moore 69, while Moore hopped into the 7K. Schneiderman led early. Meanwhile, Sather passed Peters using the low groove in one and two and set her sights on the leader. She made her winning pass on lap six. Things slowed when Verville spun on lap seven. R. Hall looked good surging into a transfer spot on the low side. R. Hall and Moore received no points after switching cars.
A main (started): 1. Lasoski (10) 2. Hindi (5) 3. Alley (3) 4. Dobmeier (8) 5. Jackson (13) 6. Henderson (9) 7. Wimmer (12) 8. Brown (18) 9. Jeffrey (4) 10. Logan (17) 11. W. Johnson (11) 12. Zomer (7) 13. Heskin (22) 14. Landis (6) 15. Ry. Anderson (16) 16. Peters (20) 17. Schneiderman (21) 18. Mitrisin (24) 19. Brahmer (14) 20. Sather (19) 21. Ingalls (1) 22. R. Hall (23) 23. Cram (2) 24. Phillips (15)
Cram shot off like a cannon at the outset of the 20-lapper. He had opened up a straightaway lead on Jeffrey on lap eight and appeared headed to victory. On lap eight, Phillips spun in turn one. Cram hit him solidly ending the night for both. Neither was injured. Jeffrey inherited the lead on the restart ahead of Alley, Hindi, Dobmeier, Henderson and Lasoski. Alley stuck to the bottom of turns one and two and used his momentum to take the lead in three and four. On lap 11, Ry. Anderson slowed to a stop bringing the final slowdown of the night. Alley led Hindi, Jeffrey, Dobmeier and Lasoski back to green flag racing for the final nine laps. Alley led Hindi through the final laps, while Lasoski moved into third. Coming towards the white flag, Alley was held up by the lapped car of Brahmer. Lasoski pounced on the opportunity to pass Hindi and Alley for his 90th career win. Brown was the hard-charger, moving up ten spots.