6/7/08
Knoxville Raceway
WoO
55 410s
28 360s
410s
Craig Dollansky (18th car out to time) set fast time of the night on a quickly drying track at 15.525. Joey Saldana (38th car out) was second quick, followed by Steve Kinser (1st), Shane Stewart (46th), Donny Schatz (21st), Jason Meyers (17th), Daryn Pittman (3rd), Danny Lasoski (48th), Chad Kemenah (31st) and Jac Haudenschild (41st). Kaylene Verville, Stevie Smith and Paul Jeffrey failed to get times in. Stevie Smith broke a U-joint in hotlaps and scratched for the night. Lynton Jeffrey took over brother Paul's ride after something broke in the front suspension, sending him into the turn four wall in his primary sprinter. Brian Brown changed a rear-end after his failed in hotlaps.
Heat one (started): 1. Schatz 15 (3) 2. Kemenah 8K (2) 3. Dollansky 2 (4) 4. Brian Brown 21x (5) 5. Kraig Kinser 20 (1) / 6. Skip Jackson 2x (10) 7. Calvin Landis 70 (6) 8. Jason Johnson 19E (7) 9. Kaley Gharst 7K (11) 10. Ryan Anderson 71R (8) 11. Randy Anderson 81 (9) 12. Mike Moore 69 (13) 13. Bob Weuve 19w (12) DNS - Stevie Smith 19
Schatz ducked under the front row starters in turn one and never looked back in dusting the field in the 8-lapper. Kemenah won an early battle with K. Kinser to win second and a trip to the dash. K. Kinser continued, losing battles to Dollansky and Brown, but was able to stave off Jackson for the final transfer.
Heat two (started): 1. Terry McCarl 24 (1) 2. Saldana 9 (4) 3. Meyers 14 (3) 4. Haudenschild R19 (2) 5. Ricky Logan 10 (5) / 6. Tim Shaffer 6 (6) 7. Jake Peters 57x (7) 8. Dusty Zomer 5z (9) 9. Seth Brahmer 13v (11) 10. Dion Hindi 11D (8) 11. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (10) 12. Billy Alley 22 (12) 13. Brian Paulus 28 (13) DNS - Paul Jeffrey 12PJ
McCarl led flag to flag, while Saldana and Meyers put on a great show for second. The two exchanged sliders on several occasions in a battle for a dash transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Lucas Wolfe 5w (1) 2. Randy Hannagan 1x (2) 3. S. Kinser 11 (4) 4. Pittman 21 (3) 5. Kerry Madsen 55 (10) / 6. Jeff Mitrisin 47 (6) 7. Jason Sides 7s (5) 8. Justin Henderson D1 (7) 9. Chad Hillier 5c (9) 10. Josh Schneiderman 49 (8) 11. Tony Shilling 47T (11) 12. Greg Nikitenko 6N (13) 13. Jon Agan 4 (12) DNS - Kaylene Verville 01
On the initial try at green, Schneiderman was black-flagged a row for jumping. The beneficiary was Madsen who was able to move up to a fourth row start. It ended up paying off, as he battled past Mitrisin for the final transfer. Wolfe led the distance.
Heat four (started): 1. Lasoski 5 (3) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (2) 3. Stewart 83 (4) 4. Mark Dobmeier 13 (6) 5. Jack Dover 53 (5) / 6. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (8) 7. Rager Phillips 9P (7) 8. Davey Heskin 56 (10) 9. Toni Lutar 4x (9) 10. Derek Ingalls 91 (11) 11. Bronson Maeschen 96 (1) DNS - Lynton Jeffrey 12, Travis Cram 17G
Maeschen led briefly to complete lap one, before Lasoski took over and pulled away. On lap three, Maeschen would slow to a stop with rear-end troubles on lap three while running second. By that time, Lasoski led Hafertepe Jr., Dobmeier, Dover and Stewart, who was running third when Maeschen slowed directly in front of him. Unfortunately, for him a lap was completed after that. He stormed back to third, but couldn't run down Hafertepe.
C main (started): 1. Jackson (2) 2. Gharst (4) / 3. Brahmer (3) 4. Moore (10) 5. Paulus (11) 6. Lutar (1) 7. Weuve (8) 8. Nikitenko (12) 9. Heskin (9) 10. Ingalls (5) 11. Alley (7) 12. Shilling (6) DNS - Wimmer, Agan, Cram, S. Smith, P. Jeffrey, Verville, L. Jeffrey
Jackson and Gharst checked out on the rest from the outset of the 10-lapper. Shilling and Alley retired early.
Dash (started): 1. McCarl (2) 2. Saldana (4) 3. Schatz (6) 4. Lasoski (1) 5. Hafertepe Jr. (8) 6. S. Kinser (10) 7. Dollansky (9) 8. Kemenah (5) 9. Hannagan (3) 10. Wolfe (7)
McCarl got the jump on Lasoski and led flag to flag in the 6-lapper. Early moves got Schatz into third and moved S. Kinser up two rows for the A.
B main (started): 1. Landis (3) 2. Sides (2) 3. Shaffer (4) 4. Peters (7) / 5. Mitrisin (5) 6. Bruce Jr. (13) 7. Henderson (8) 8. Ry. Anderson (10) 9. Hindi (11) 10. Zomer (15) 11. Jackson (17) 12. Hillier (16) 13. Schneiderman (12) 14. Phillips (9) 15. J. Johnson (6) 16. Ra. Anderson (10) 17. Gharst (18) 18. Maeschen (1)
Maeschen was late to staging after repairs following the heat, started in back and retired quickly. Landis led the mostly single-file 12-lapper the whole way. Peters used an early move around Mitrisin to grab the final transfer.
A main (started): 1. Schatz (3) 2. Saldana (2) 3. McCarl (1) 4. Meyers (12) 5. Dollansky (7) 6. Lasoski (4) 7. Kemenah (8) 8. S. Kinser (6) 9. Haudenschild (14) 10. Wolfe (10) 11. K. Kinser (15) 12. Hafertepe Jr. (5) 13. Brown (16) 14. Pittman (13) 15. Madsen (24) 16. Stewart (11) 17. Dobmeier (22) 18. Shaffer (21) 19. Hillier (26, pr.) 20. Hannagan (9) 21. Sides (18) 22. Bruce Jr. (25, pr.) 23. Landis (20) 24. Dover (19) 25. Peters (23) 26. Logan (17)
The initial start of the 25-lapper was brought back after a three-wide battle for the point when Pittman spun in turn two. The next try stayed green and went non-stop the rest of the way. Saldana got the jump to take the lead from outside row one. He began to pull away from McCarl. Schatz passed McCarl for second on lap seven and set his sights on the leader in traffic on the dry-slick surface. On lap 13, Donny poked his nose in front of Saldana, was passed back and then took the lead at the stripe. On lap 14, it was Saldana's slidejob that put him back in front. He began to pull away again, before Schatz caught him in heavy traffic on lap 23. As the two went side by side down the front straight, it was a high speed game of chicken. Schatz had the low line and was crowded by Saldana. Both kept their lines, and Saldana was left to spin his tires through the middle, handing the lead and the eventual win to Schatz. It was his ninth career victory at Knoxville and 4th in his last five starts here. It was worth $10,000. Meyers came on late, and passed Dollansky on the last lap for fourth behind a steady McCarl. Madsen was the hard-charger, moving forward nine spots.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Natalie Sather 94s (1*) 2. Wayne Johnson 94 (4*) 3. Gregg Bakker 11x (8*) 4. John Kearney 86 (10*) 5. Mike Houseman Jr. Y2 (3*) 6. Dustin Selvage 7 (6*) 7. Tyler Thompson 48 (9) 8. Joe Beaver 53 (7) 9. Rick Ideus 5 (2) 10. Danny Heskin 6 (5)
Thompson spun on the first try at green. Heskin spun on the second and retired after collecting Kearney, who restarted at the tail. Sather led the distance in the 7-lapper. Ideus went pitside on lap three with a broken oil line, and Beaver exited on lap six.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Eric Vanderploeg 10 (2*) 2. Russ Hall 29 (1*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4*) 4. Josh Higday 24 (9*) 5. Ricky Montgomery 9m (7*) 6. Nate Van Haaften 3 (5) 7. Cody Petersen 16P (3) 8. Pete Crall 1 (8) DQ (illegal tire) - Dave Hall 51 (6, crossed 5th)
Vanderploeg led the distance. Crall took a nasty spill for the second week in a row on lap two. The restart saw Vanderploeg leading R. Hall, Giannetto, D. Hall and Higday back to green. That's pretty much how they finished.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brett Mather 54 (2*) 2. Matt Moro 2m (5*) 3. Nate Mosher 22N (6*) 4. John Hall 7H (8*) 5. Tom Lenz 8L (9*) 6. Bill Boles 05 (4) 7. RJ Johnson 71 (7) 8. Ryan Roberts 18 (3) 9. Rod Richards 12 (1)
The current points leader led flag to flag. Richards was running second on lap four, when he went up in smoke and stopped. On the restart, Mather led Roberts, Moro, Mosher and J. Hall. Roberts would slow to a stop on the white flag lap while running second, sending him to the B.
B main (started): 1. D. Hall (8) 2. Roberts (6) 3. RJ Johnson (5) 4. Van Haaften (2) / 5. Boles (3) 6. Petersen (4) 7. Heskin (9) 8. Thompson (1) 9. Ideus (7) DNS - Beaver, Cram, Richards
The 10-lapper took awhile to complete. Thompson grabbed an early lead on the dry-slicky. Ideus bowed out on lap three. The leader slowed to a stop on lap four, handing the lead to Boles, ahead of D. Hall up from the tail, Roberts, RJ Johnson and Van Haaften. D. Hall grabbed the lead for good on the restart, and on lap six, Petersen spun bringing another caution. The lead four was set for good by then, despite one more slowdown for a spun Van Haaften, who was battling with RJ Johnson for fourth. Both got by Boles the final three laps to secure transfers.
A main (started): 1. W. Johnson (1) 2. Moro (3) 3. Sather (2) 4. Mather (4) 5. Bakker (6) 6. Giannetto (12) 7. Higday (8) 8. Vanderploeg (5) 9. Kearney (7) 10. R. Hall (10) 11. Mosher (9) 12. Selvage (16) 13. D. Hall (17) 14. Lenz (13) 15. Montgomery (14) 16. Van Haaften (20) 17. J. Hall (11) 18. RJ Johnson (19) 19. Houseman Jr. (15) 20. Roberts (18)
The race was over as soon as it started. The non-stop 15-lapper was all W. Johnson from the get-go. His win was a full 1/2 lap ahead of Moro, and that was after he had some trouble in traffic on a few occasions. Moro and Sather ran strong races. Giannetto was the hard-charger, moving up six spots. The win was Wayne's fifth 360 tally and 10th overall at Knoxville.