Knoxville WoO Results and Stories

Saturday, June 16, 2007
6/16/07

Knoxville Raceway

WoO

50 410s
37 360s

410s

Stevie Smith (10th car out to time) made his first start away from Pennsylvania and set quick time as the only man below 16 seconds at 15.859.  The one lap qualifying procedure was used.  A slow track with dust in hot laps saw Jason Meyers (15th car out) second quick, followed by Danny Lasoski (6th), Donny Schatz (36th), Paul McMahan (18th), Tim Shaffer (35th), Sam Hafertepe Jr. (19th), Brooke Tatnell (12th), Kerry Madsen (1st) and Justin Henderson (22nd).  The night came to an end before it started for four drivers.  When Zach Chappell slowed after having a motor let go in hot laps, Greg Jones got over his right rear and flipped wildly in turn two.  He was done for the night, as was Robert Bell who shelled a motor in practice.  Chad Kemenah struck the turn four fence and scratched for the night.  Tony Shilling also scratched before time trials.

Heat one (started): 1. Madsen 11H (2) 2. Randy Hannagan 1x (1) 3. Smith 19 (4) 4. McMahan 20 (3) 5. Brian Brown 21x (7) / 6. Davey Heskin 56 (5) 7. Jac Haudenschild 35 (6) 8. Dion Hindi 11D (8) 9. Jack Potter 47 (9) 10. Dave Saffell 03 (11) 11. Tony Bruce Jr. 18T (10) DNS - Randy Anderson 81, Chad Kemenah 3x

Madsen led the duration of the 8 lapper.  The only real racing was for the final transfer.  Heskin held off Brown until three laps to go, when he took advantage of a bobble.

Heat two (started): 1. Henderson D1 (2) 2. Calvin Landis 70 (1) 3. Meyers 14 (4) 4. Shaffer 6 (3) 5. Jason Solwold R19 (5) / 6. Jason Sides 7s (8) 7. Bronson Maeschen 96 (6) 8. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (7) 9. Skip Jackson 2x (9) 10. Rager Phillips 9P (10) 11. Bob Weuve 19x (11) DNS - Ricky Logan 10, Robert Bell 71

Henderson led the parade flag to flag.  With nothing to grasp down low on the parched surface, it was single file around the top.

Heat three (started): 1. Craig Dollansky 7 (1) 2. Terry McCarl 24 (2) 3. Lasoski 83 (4) 4. Dennis Moore Jr. 17G (6) 5. Billy Alley 55 (9) / 6. Mark Dobmeier 13L (10) 7. Dusty Zomer 1z (5) 8. Hafertepe Jr. 15H (3) 9. Mike Deavers 72 (11) 10. Kaley Gharst 3 (7) DNS - Brent Antill 1, Greg Jones 3J

Dollansky held off McCarl for the win, as the two qualified for the dash.  Moore Jr. did well to move into a transfer early, and Alley went by Hafertepe and Zomer for the final transfer to the A.

Heat four (started): 1. Steve Kinser 11 (2) 2. Schatz 15 (4) 3. Joey Saldana 9 (8) 4. Tatnell 2 (3) 5. Daryn Pittman 21 (5) / 6. Chad Hillier 5c (1) 7. Jeremy Campbell 10c (6) 8. Jason Martin 36 (7) 9. Zach Chappell 8K (9) 10. Jack Dover 53 (11) 11. Mike Moore (10) DNS - Tony Shilling 47T

Kinser led throughout, but the fastest cars may have been Schatz and Saldana.  They found rubber developing on the bottom of turn two, and utilized it to move up.  Pittman found it late and shot by Hillier for the final transfer with two to go.  Saldana had to overcome a dreadful qualifying lap.

C main (started): 1. Bruce (1) 2. Dobmeier (3) / 3. Dover (5) 4. M. Moore (4) 5. Deavers (6) 6. Phillips (2) 7. Weuve (7) 8. Saffell (8) DNS - Logan, Bell, Kemenah, Shilling, Jones, Anderson

Dobmeier (Grand Forks 410) and Phillips (Knoxville 305) were both victors on Friday night, but found themselves in a rubber-down C main event on Saturday.

Dash (started): 1. Hannagan (2) 2. Madsen (1) 3. McCarl (3) 4. Henderson (4) 5. Kinser (5) 6. Dollansky (8) 7. Landis (7) 8. Schatz (6) 9. Smith (9) 10. Meyers (10)

Any moves were made early.  A three-wide bid for the rubber in turn one went to Hannagan, and he pulled away to win with authority.

B main (started): 1. Hafertepe (1) 2. Hillier (2) 3. Zomer (4) 4. Haudenschild (5) / 5. Martin (8) 6. Heskin (3) 7. Maeschen (6) 8. Hindi (11) 9. Campbell (7) 10. Sides (10) 11. Jackson (13) 12. Potter (12) 13. Bruce (15) 14. Dobmeier (16) 15. Chappell (14) 16. Gharst (9) DNS - Jeffrey, Antill

I was looking for a high school marching band, homecoming queen or those Shriners with the funny looking cars in this 12 lap parade.  It slowed down on lap three when Gharst stopped and exited.  Martin did hold down the final transfer until the "Wild Child" found something remote in the middle of turns three and four on the fifth go-around.  Something had to be done with the embarassing situation developing with the track, and in unprecedented fashion the Dunkins were called on to grade out the rubber for the 25-lap main event to be televised on ESPN2.  It was a wise decision to be applauded.

A main (started): 1. McCarl (3) 2. Hannagan (1) 3. Dollansky (6) 4. Lasoski (11) 5. Schatz (8) 6. Saldana (23) 7. Smith (9) 8. Shaffer (13) 9. Meyers (10) 10. Henderson (4) 11. Tatnell (15) 12. McMahan (12) 13. Solwold (17) 14. Pittman (19) 15. Zomer (18) 16. Haudenschild (20) 17. Madsen (2) 18. Brown (22) 19. Landis (7) 20. Hafertepe (14) 21. Alley (24) 22. Chappell (25, pr.) 23. Hillier (16) 24. Moore Jr. (21) 25. Kinser (5)

Hannagan led the 25-lapper early on a reworked track.  Most followed the low groove that had been reworked early.  By lap seven, Hannagan had built an insane lead when Hillier spun in turn four.  The restart saw Hannagan leading Madsen, McCarl, Dollansky, Smith and Kinser.  Two laps later, Kinser's night would come to an end when his powerplant detonated in flames.  Madsen's second place run ceased a lap later when his left rear tire exploded, sending him to the tail after a change.  Now Hannagan had McCarl on his nerf bar, with Dollansky, Smith, Henderson and Shaffer in tow.  The last slowdown came on lap eleven, when Pittman and Landis tangled, resulting in the former spinning out of a top ten run.  Hannagan continued to run well on the bottom while the runner-up McCarl, tested the high side of turns one and two, keeping an equal pace on the leader.  Dollansky remained in third on the low side.  On lap 19, Hannagan tried to duck under the lapped machine of Moore Jr. on the low side of turn two.  He had to get on the binders, giving McCarl the break he needed on the high side.  He pulled away from Hannagan and Dollansky the remaining six laps, working lapped traffic to perfection, and grabbing his first WoO win of the season.  The win was redemption for the bad luck that has followed the Iowa driver for a month and it paid him $10,000.

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jake Peters 57x (1*) 2. Josh Higday 2x (6*) 3. Jeff Mitrisin 10 (2*) 4. Dave Hall 51 (5*) 5. John Hall 7H (3) 6. Dave Glennon 5x (8) 7. Ryan Roberts 18R (9) 8. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (7) 9. Travis Porter 31P (10) 10. Don Dawson II 6D (4)

Peters led flag to flag in the 7 lapper.  Dawson stopped before a lap could be completed and exited, as did Porter on lap three.  The track was one lane around the top, so a good start early on was critical for drivers like Higday, who moved up five spots.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Matt Moro 2m (1*) 2. John Kearney 86 (4*) 3. Rick Ideus 5 (2*) 4. Mike Houseman Jr. Y2 (6*) 5. Dustin Selvage 7 (8*) 6. Eric Baldaccini B4 (9) 7. Nate Mosher 22N (7) 8. CJ Houseman Y5 (5) 9. Danny Heskin 65 (3)
Moro led the single-file affair for the duration.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Joe Beaver 53 (1*) 2. Bryan Dobesh 2D (4*) 3. Brett Mather 54 (7*) 4. Alan Zoutte 33 (3*) 5. Russ Hall 29 (5) 6. Tyler Thompson 48 (8) 7. Tyler Houseman 50 (6) 8. Dustin Barks 22 (9) 9. Brent Vonk 21V (2)

Beaver used a gutsy-keep-your-line-on-the-cushion move to fly by Dobesh on the first try at turn two.  He stayed out front until a lap seven slowdown by Vonk.  When Vonk tried to take evasive action down the frontstretch, he moved in front of Mather, who caught his right front tire.  Luckily, it only resulted in a broken front end for Vonk.  It could have been worse.  Mather continued on to finish third.

Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. John Schulz 2 (1*) 2. Josh Scheiderman 49 (3*) 3. Johnny Anderson 7a (5*) 4. Tom Lenz 8L (4) 5. Larry Pinegar II 00 (6) 6. Alan Gilbertson 97 (9) 7. Nate Van Haaften 2TX (8) 8. Jordan St. Arnold 7s (7) 9. Brett Golik 5G (2)

Golik retired on lap two.  Schulz led the duration.  Van Haaften took his first spin in the Shaw 2TX.

B main (started): 1. Pinegar (3) 2. Baldaccini (2) 3. R. Hall (7) 4. Lenz (1) / 5. Mosher (11) 6. J. Hall (5) 7. Gilbertson (4) 8. Heimbaugh (12) 9. Thompson (8) 10. Roberts (9) 11. Barks (13) 12. St. Arnold (14) 13. Porter (17) 14. Vonk (19) 15. CJ Houseman (15) 16. Heskin (16) 17. Glennon (6) 18. Dawson (18) 19. T. Houseman (10) DNS - Van Haaften, Golik

Roberts spun before a lap could be completed and restarted at the rear.  ASCS-Sooner regular Baldaccini took the early advantage in the 10 lapper.  T. Houseman came to a stop on lap three.  Baldacinni led Lenz, Pinegar, R. Hall and J. Hall back to green flag racing.  Pinegar got around Lenz and set his sights on the leader.  He made his winning move coming the white flag, finding rubber in three and four.  Mosher moved up nicely from row six, but fell one spot short of a transfer.

A main (started): 1. Schulz (1) 2. Moro (6) 3. Higday (8) 4. Mitrisin (11) 5. Peters (7) 6. Beaver (4) 7. D. Hall (14) 8. Kearney (5) 9. Schneiderman (9) 10. Ideus (12) 11. Dobesh (3) 12. Anderson (10) 13. Baldaccini (18) 14. R. Hall (19) 15. Pinegar (17) 16. Lenz (20) 17. Zoutte (16) 18. Selvage (15) 19. Houseman Jr. (13) 20. Mather (2)

Run after the WoO feature, it didn't take long for the trail of rubber on the low side to return.  Schulz took advantage by running huggy pole in the 15 lapper.  On lap three, Anderson came to a stop, while Mather lost a right front tire in turn four.  Mather was done and Anderson rejoined the field at the tail.  Schulz led a high flying Beaver, Higday, Moro and Peters back to green.  Moro asserted himself and bested Higday and Beaver to claim the runner-up spot.  Though he pulled up to the rear bumper of Schulz several times, he couldn't seriously challenge.  A final stoppage came on lap 13, when Selvage got upside down in turn four.  He was uninjured, but done.  Schulz held on the last two laps to claim his second career Knoxville tally.