5/17/08
Knoxville Raceway
35 410s
29 360s
410s
Randy Hannagan (3rd car out to time) set the standard in time trials on a dry track at 16.005 seconds. Jake Peters (7th car out) was second quick, followed by Skip Jackson (1st), Ryan Anderson (2nd), Billy Alley (12th), Justin Henderson (19th), Brian Brown (13th), Dusty Zomer (17th), Josh Schneiderman (11th) and Randy Anderson (9th). Timing early was critical, because the track went away quickly, slicking off to halfway up to the wall by the end. Jack Dover had rear-end troubles in hot laps, but made repairs to get a lap in at the end. Unfortunately for him, he had drawn an early pill.
Heat one (started): 1. Mark Dobmeier 13 (2) 2. Danny Lasoski 5 (3) 3. Alley 22 (5) 4. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (7) 5. Hannagan 1x (6) / 6. Ricky Logan 10 (8) 7. Toni Lutar 4x (1) 8. Schneiderman 49 (4) 9. Rager Phillips 9 (9)
There was much action early on the dry and wide track. Lutar led lap one of the 8 lapper, before Dobmeier took over and took off on lap two. Logan got a healthy jump up to third, but slowly sifted back after good moves by Alley, Johnson and Hannagan.
Heat two (started): 1. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (2) 2. Ra. Anderson 81 (4) 3. Brooke Tatnell 11AU (3) 4. Peters 57x (6) 5. Henderson D1 (5) / 6. Jack Dover 53 (8) 7. Dion Hindi 11D (7) 8. Bronson Maeschen 96 (1) 9. Greg Nikitenko 6 (9)
Wimmer led flag to flag on his 22nd birthday. The best racing was back in the pack. Peters and Henderson tangled for fourth for several laps before the former took control. Dover dived under Henderson with two to go for the final transfer, but Henderson came back on the other end of the track to secure the transfer and a spot on the pole of the A.
Heat three (started): 1. Calvin Landis 70 (2) 2. Jackson 2 (6) 3. Seth Brahmer 13v (4) 4. Brown 21 (5) 5. Tony Shilling 47T (1) / 6. Clint Garner 40 (7) 7. Kaylene Verville 01 (9) 8. Mike Moore 69 (3) 9. Kaley Gharst 7K (8)
Landis led the duration. Gharst moved up nicely from eighth to grab fifth on the first lap. On lap two, he was making a move towards Brown in fourth, when he went over the thin cushion in turns three and four, hit the wall and flipped. He was unhurt and returned for the B. Landis led Jackson, Brahmer, Brown and Moore back to green flag racing. Moore went up in smoke and exited, handing the last transfer to Shilling who had to work back by Garner through the middle of the track, indicating the first hint of rubber.
Heat four (started): 1. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (2) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 47 (1) 3. Zomer 5z (5) 4. Travis Cram 17G (3) 5. Ry. Anderson 71R (6) / 6. Davey Heskin 56 (4) 7. Bob Weuve 19 (7) 8. Dan Oswalt 1 (8)
Mitrisin surrendered an early lead to Jeffrey on the second go-around. Zomer looked strong moving up from row three. Oswalt was getting laps in preparation for the upcoming Masters Classic.
B main (started): 1. Schneiderman (1) 2. Heskin (2) 3. Moore (3) 4. Hindi (6) / 5. Maeschen (5) 6. Dover (10) 7. Lutar (4) 8. Logan (9) 9. Gharst (11) 10. Garner (7) 11. Weuve (8) 12. Phillips (13) 13. Verville (14) 14. Oswalt (12) DNS - Nikitenko
Rubber down conditions were already in order, and Schneiderman was fully aware wiring the field in the 10 lapper. A Lutar trip above the rubber line allowed Maeschen into fourth and Hindi into fifth with about four to go. Lapped traffic got the best of Maeschen when Hindi found a small window to slip through for the final transfer late.
A main (started): 1. Henderson (1) 2. Alley (2) 3. Jackson (4) 4. Hannagan (6) 5. Ry. Anderson (3) 6. Brown (7) 7. Peters (5) 8. Tatnell (10) 9. Lasoski (11) 10. Wimmer (13) 11. Johnson (20) 12. Mitrisin (19) 13. Dobmeier (12) 14. Hindi (24) 15. Moore (22) 16. Brahmer (16) 17. Heskin (23) 18. Schneiderman (21) 19. Shilling (18) 20. Landis (14) 21. Cram (17) 22. Ra. Anderson (9) 23. Jeffrey (15) 24. DQ (Light) - Zomer (8, crossed 3rd)
With rubber-down conditions, it would be a race to turn one for the first row starters. Henderson won that battle and would hold down the spot over the course of the 20 laps, despite a handful of cautions. Brahmer came to a stop on lap three, bringing the first yellow. Henderson led Alley, Ry. Anderson, Jackson and Hannagan at the time. Zomer who restarted eighth, passed Peters and Brown as the only car to try high side of one and two at the drop of the green. The move paid off, and he moved to sixth. Four laps later, with the top five remaining the same, Jeffrey came to a stop and retired, and one lap later, Ra. Anderson spun with a flat in turn four. Zomer who restarted sixth tried his high move again, and it paid off as he circled Hannagan and Jackson to move into third. The lead trio went nose to tail the rest of the way, with no one daring to make a mistake. Zomer provided some needed entertainment throughout, but unfortunately, came up light at the scales. The win was Henderson's first ever at Knoxville and paid him $3000. Hindi nabbed an extra $300 for hard-charger honors after moving forward ten spots.
360s
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dave Hall 51 (1*) 2. Gregg Bakker 11x (4*) 3. Russ Hall 29 (9*) 4. Terry Alexander 77 (2*) 5. Pete Crall 1 (3*) 6. John Hall 7H (8*) 7. Dustin Selvage 7 (5) 8. Mike Houseman Jr. Y2 (10) 9. Rod Richards 12 (7) 10. Cody Petersen 16P (6)
D. Hall led the 7 lap distance. One caution slowed the event, a lap four stoppage for Houseman Jr. in turn four. R. Hall sliced through the pack and was the mover in this one that feature three Hall's and a Crall!
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Tyler Thompson 48 (2*) 2. Bryan Dobesh 2 (3*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (6*) 4. Josh Higday 24 (8*) 5. Alan Zoutte 33 (5*) 6. Nate Mosher 22N (1) 7. CJ Houseman Y5 (9) 8. Dan Thornburg 57T (7) 9. Nate Van Haaften 3 (10) 10. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (4)
Thompson rode the cushion as did everyone else in a mostly single-file event after things got sorted about lap two. Heimbaugh was running a solid second when his mount went up in smoke on lap five.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Ryan Roberts 18 (2*) 2. Matt Moro 2m (3*) 3. Natalie Sather 94s (1*) 4. Joe Beaver 53 (4*) 5. Tom Lenz 8L (6*) 6. Brett Mather 54 (5) 7. Eric Vanderploeg 10 (8) 8. RJ Johnson 71 (7) 9. Danny Heskin 6 (9)
Roberts led flag to flag in another mostly single-file affair.
B main (started): 1. Mather (3) 2. Mosher (1) 3. Selvage (5) 4. Johnson (8) / 5. Heskin (11) 6. Petersen (12) 7. Van Haaften (9) 8. Vanderploeg (4) 9. Houseman Jr. (6) 10. Richards (10) 11. Thornburg (7) 12. CJ Houseman (2) DNS - Heimbaugh
Mosher took the early lead, as he and Mather pulled away a bit from the rest of the pack in the 10 lapper. The race took a bit to get going. CJ Houseman tipped over before a lap could be completed, and his brother retired on the hook after contact with another car in getting lined up for the next start. By the time things got going, Richards and Thornburg had also went pitside. RJ Johnson held off Vanderploeg for the final transfer before Vanderploeg came to a stop on the white flag lap. On the restart, Mather got around Mosher to take the winning checkers.
A main (started): 1. Bakker (2) 2. Dobesh (1) 3. Roberts (4) 4. Giannetto (7) 5. D. Hall (3) 6. Lenz (13) 7. Moro (8) 8. R. Hall (6) 9. Sather (10) 10. Beaver (12) 11. Selvage (19) 12. Mather (17) 13. Crall (14) 14. Johnson (20) 15. Mosher (18) 16. Alexander (11) 17. Zoutte (16) 18. Thompson (5) 19. J. Hall (15) 20. Higday (9)
On a rubber-down track, Dobesh got the jump from the pole and led early in the 15 lapper. He had to get it done three times after Thompson spun in front of the field before a lap could be completed, and R. Hall imitated Thompson in turn three on the next try. Higday was an early mover using the high side of turns one and two. Most stayed to the low side rubber, but Higday was able to pick his way up to third from row five. On lap seven, Bakker was able to shoot under Dobesh for the point. A lap later, Higday came in a little hot in turn three while making a move on the leaders, got over the cushion and turned it over. He was uninjured, but done. The remaining seven laps went non-stop, with no real change in the top five, and Bakker recording his second win in as many races at Knoxville. Lenz was a mover, and Selvage claimed hard-charger honors.