8/9/07
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals Night one
50 cars
Paul McMahan (30th car out to time) set quick time on a fast track at 14.817 seconds. Stevie Smith (1st car out) was second quick, followed by Travis Cram (10th), Bronson Maeschen (42nd), Dion Hindi (8th), Kenny Jacobs (22nd), Jason Meyers (48th), Terry McCarl (4th), Rob Chaney (5th) and Steve Kinser (13th). Kim Mock failed to get a time in and scratched.
Heat one (started): 1. Brooke Tatnell 2w (6) 2. Joey Saldana 9E (8) 3. Seth Brahmer 13 (4) 4. McMahan 20 (10) / 5. Clint Garner 40 (3) 6. Justin Henderson D1 (7) 7. Brock Mayes 11B (5) 8. Garrett Ishii 71G (1) / 9. Jacobs 29 (9) 10. Mike Moore 69 (2)
For sprint car fans, the heats on the qualifying night of the Nationals can be the most exciting races of the season, and tonight didn't disappoint. Tatnell got an outstanding jump and circled the two rows in front of him to take the lead on lap one of the 10 lapper. Saldana made a surge using the bottom of the track, chasing the leader who used the high side. McMahan improved his stock by gaining the final transfer from Garner with three to go. Jacobs spent the last two laps trying in vain to catch Ishii for at least a spot in the B.
Heat two (started): 1. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (3) 2. Jeff Shepard z1 (6) 3. JD Johnson 98 (2) 4. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) / 5. S. Smith 19s (10) 6. Kerry Madsen 11H (5) 7. Meyers 14 (9) 8. Jason Johnson 41 (8) / 9. Chad Hillier 5c (7) 10. Ray Allen Kulhanek 41K (1)
Kulhanek led lap one, but Jeffrey quickly took command on the second circuit. Shepard was the man on the move, utilizing the low groove. S. Smith ran out of time in his quest for fourth, in a heat that sent four stout drivers to the B.
Heat three (started): 1. Randy Martin 14m (4) 2. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (7) 3. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (8) 4. Tony Bruce Jr. 18T (6) / 5. McCarl 24 (9) 6. Jesse Hockett 75J (2) 7. Cram 17G (10) 8. Robert Ballou 81x (1) / 9. Neil Shepherd 4N (5) 10. Josh Higday 2x (3)
Martin led flag to flag circling the front row made up of two USAC regulars. On lap two, Shepherd came to a stop, bringing out the yellow. Martin led Hockett, Higday, Ballou and W. Johnson back to green flag racing. Higday's left side panel on the top wing blew off and lodged on Cram's hood. Higday was done, but Cram wen to the work area to have the piece removed, and restarted. W. Johnson stuck to the low side in picking off all but the leader. Lynch followed on the high side in strong fashion, while Bruce held off McCarl for the last transfer.
Heat four (started): 1. Ben Gregg 22B (1) 2. Natalie Sather 94s (2) 3. Tim Kaeding 10K (4) 4. Don Droud Jr. 81 (5) / 5. Chaney 24H (7) 6. Maeschen 96 (9) 7. Tayler Malsam 26 (8) 8. Jack Dover 53 (6) / 9. Kaley Gharst 3 (3) DNS - Kim Mock 1m
Sather jumped out to an early lead. On lap five, Gregg had a good run on the cushion to take over the point. A lap later, Gharst went up in smoke, ending his night. Gregg led Sather, Droud, Kaeding and Maeschen back to green flag racing. Kaeding was able to get by Droud for third after the restart.
Heat five (started): 1. Greg Wilson w20 (2) 2. Brian Brown 21 (5) 3. Todd King 97 (1) 4. Kinser 11 (8) / 5. Jac Haudenschild 35 (4) 6. Calvin Landis 70 (6) 7. Nick Smith 15s (3) 8. Hindi 11D (9) / 9. Ricky Logan 10 (7) DNS - Eric Baldaccini B4
On the first try at green, N. Smith thought he had an angle to cut low into turn one, but caught the front nerf bar of Brown. Brown was spun slightly from the contact, and collected Logan who flipped and was done, and Kinser, who tipped over. Logan was done for the night, but Kinser returned. Wilson led the duration of the heat, but the action was further back, where Kinser and Haudenschild were fighting tooth and nail for the final transfer. At one point, it looked like Kinser would be stuffed into the backstretch wall, but with two to go he ducked under Haud coming out of two to take the final transfer spot for good.
C main (started): 1. Jacobs (1) 2. Hillier (3) / 3. Higday (4) 4. Shepherd (2) 5. Moore (5) 6. Kulhanek (6) DNS - Logan, Gharst, Baldaccini, Mock
Jacobs led flag to flag in the 8 lapper, pulling away by about 5 seconds. Hillier had plenty of room between himself and Higday, who passed Shepherd for third on the last lap.
B main (started): 1. Cram (2) 2. S. Smith (1) 3. McCarl (6) 4. Hindi (4) / 5. J. Johnson (8) 6. Madsen (14) 7. Henderson (10) 8. Chaney (7) 9. Landis (11) 10. Maeschen (3) 11. Haudenschild (15) 12. Malsam (9) 13. Garner (17) 14. Dover (12) 15. Hillier (22) 16. Hockett (18) 17. K. Jacobs (21) 18. Ballou (20) 19. Ishii (19) 20. Mayes (13) 21. Meyers (5) 22. N. Smith (16)
Cram sailed in the star-studded 12-lap B. McCarl was able to move into fourth on lap one, and won a steady battle with Hindi for third. J. Johnson made a late charge but fell short of the final transfer. Smith exited on lap five, and Meyers fell out on lap ten.
A main (started): 1. Shepard (1) 2. Tatnell (2) 3. W. Johnson (4) 4. Saldana (6) 5. McMahan (8) 6. Kinser (7) 7. Droud Jr. (3) 8. Kaeding (14) 9. Bruce Jr. (9) 10. McCarl (23) 11. Hafertepe Jr. (12) 12. S. Smith (22) 13. Lynch Jr. (5) 14. Brown (10) 15. Hindi (24) 16. Martin (13) 17. Cram (21) 18. Wilson (17) 19. Brahmer (11) 20. Sather (19) 21. JD Johnson (18) 22. King (20) 23. Jeffrey (15) 24. Gregg (16)
Tatnell jumped out to the early lead in the 25 lapper, followed by W. Johnson and Shepard. S. Smith survived a jumbled start at the rear of the field to emerge sixteenth after lap one. Shepard slowly gained on W. Johnson and gained the runner-up spot back at the halfway point. Meanwhile, Droud was running well in fourth. Saldana tried to track down Droud for 12 laps, but was denied until lap 16 or so, when he used the low side to fly by. Tatnell received some pressure from Shepard in heavy lapped traffic, but on lap 23 was able to put three lapped cars between himself and second place. Those cars were eliminated on lap 24, when Jeffrey came to a stop. Tatnell led Shepard, W. Johnson, Saldana, Droud and McMahan back to the green, white, checker finish. Shepard worked the bottom side of turns one and two to perfection on the restart, grabbing the lead and his second career Knoxville win. W. Johnson held off the charges of Saldana for a podium finish, while McMahan shot by Droud for a top five. McCarl was the hard-charger, moving forward 13 spots.