8/9/06
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville Nationals Night #1
62 cars
Billy Alley (40th car out to time) set quick time on a heavy surface saturated with rain at 15.151 seconds. Jason Solwold (35th car out) was second quick, followed by Craig Dollansky (11th), Lucas Wolfe (15th), Donny Schatz (59th), Sammy Swindell (12th), Justin Henderson (26th), Shane Stewart (23rd), Lynton Jeffrey (3rd) and Skip Jackson (14th). The track remained in tacky condition throughout the night spurred by two days of rains. JD Johnson suffered rear end problems in hot laps and motor ills in time trials.
Last Chance Heat (started): 1. Natalie Sather 94s (1) 2. Dan Shetler 98 (2) 3. Mike Moore 69 (4) 4. Bobby Mincer 15m (6) 5. Danny Jennings 61J (7) 6. Chris Schmelzle 57c (5) 7. Ty Bartz 75 (9) 8. Tyler Houseman 50 (8) 9. Doug Day (10) 10. Gordy Vogelaar 1A (3) / DNS - JD Johnson 98x, Dave Saffell 03
Sather led a single-file 8 lapper the distance. Vogelaar received the black flag for excessive smoke. The top ten finishers filled in the back of the C main, while the top 50 qualifiers made up the five heat races.
Heat one (started): 1. Steve King 88 (2) 2. Mark Dobmeier 13 (1) 3. Lance Dewease 25 (4) 4. Daryn Pittman 21x (7) / 5. Jon Corbin 33c (6) 6. Jonathan Allard 0 (8) 7. S. Swindell 1s (9) 8. Alley 17G (10) / 9. Toni Lutar 4x (3) 10. Bob Bennett 3 (5)
The heavy track yielded a 10 lap record for King (2:39.0), and hard to pass conditions for the rest. Pittman did his job grabbing the final transfer from Corbin. 5th through eighth made the B, the last two went to the C.
Heat two (started): 1. Chad Layton 12c (2) 2. Steve Kinser 11 (6) 3. Fred Rahmer 22 (8) 4. Gary Wright 9w (4) / 5. Danny Lasoski 83 (7) 6. Chad Hillier 5c (1) 7. Solwold R19 (10) 8. Bronson Maeschen 96 (3) / 9. Henderson D1x (9) 10. Jake Peters 57x (5)
Layton improved with every lap on a track he'd never laid eyes on, leading flag to flag. S. Kinser moved up nicely, as did Rahmer, who had it working high and low.
Heat three (started): 1. PJ Chesson 55K (2) 2. Jan Howard 46 (1) 3. Dollansky 7 (10) 4. Luke Cranston 44x (3) / 5. Stewart 26 (9) 6. Jason Sides 7s (7) 7. Tim St. Arnold 7w (5) 8. James Mosher 12m (4) / 9. Jon Agan 4A (6) 10. Becca Anderson 19x (8)
On the start, a three-way party into turn one between Stewart, Agan and B. Anderson didn't fly. The result saw Agan jumping B. Anderson's left front and flipping. Both were done, and only B. Anderson would start the C. Chesson set sail in his first action since the Indy 500. Dollansky made his move into a transfer early, as Stewart worked on tracking down Cranston, but needed another lap.
Heat four (started): 1. Jeremy Campbell 10c (2) 2. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (3) 3. Chad Kemenah 15K (4) 4. Jerrod Hull 94 (1) / 5. Ryan Anderson 71R (5) 6. Jeffrey 12 (9) 7. Wolfe 5w (10) 8. Calvin Landis 70 (6) / 9. Randy Anderson 81 (7) 10. Kenny Jacobs 8J (8)
Another heat, another win from the front as everyone flat-footed around the big 1/2 mile. The best battle on teh speedway was between Kemenah and Hull for third. Landis grabbed 8th with two laps to go, earning a trip to the B. K. Jacobs looked like he struggled with the handling in the Barry Jackson entry.
Heat five (started): 1. Trevor Green 11AU (2) 2. Travis Rilat 29 (4) 3. Schatz 15 (10) 4. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (8) / 5. John Lambertz 12L (3) 6. Jackson 2 (9) 7. Matt Moro 47 (6) 8. Clint Garner 40 (7) / 9. Jerry Brey 17J (1) 10. Eric Vanderploeg 86 (5)
Schatz moved forward from the beginning, hitting his marks to cruise into transfer position. He was one of two of the top ten qualifiers to transfer to the A through his heat race. Lynch moved up as well.
C main (started): 1. B. Anderson (2) 2. K. Jacobs (3) / 3. Henderson (1) 4. Ra. Anderson (4) 5. Peters (5) 6. Lutar (7) 7. Vanderploeg (8) 8. Shetler (12) 9. Bennett (6) 10. Jennings (13) 11. Brey (10) 12. Sather (9) 13. Bartz (15) 14. Mincer (14) 15. M. Moore (11) 16. Schmelzle (16) 17. Day (17) 18. Houseman (18) DNS - Agan, Vogelaar
B. Anderson led flag to flag. Henderson trailed her as the duo, along with K. Jacobs separated themselves from the pack in the 10 lapper. Houseman exited on lap five. K. Jacobs continued to reel in the leaders using the high side of the track. He bested Henderson on the final circuit in dramatic fashion, shooting around him in turns three and four to take the final transfer to the B.
B main (started): 1. Alley (1) 2. S. Swindell (4) 3. Solwold (2) 4. Allard (8) / 5. Lasoski (9) 6. Landis (13) 7. Stewart (5) 8. Sides (10) 9. Jackson (7) 10. Garner (11) 11. Corbin (12) 12. Wolfe (3) 13. Moro (14) 14. Ry. Anderson (16) 15. Maeschen (18) 16. Hillier (20) 17. St. Arnold (15) 18. Lambertz (19) 19. B. Anderson (21) 20. K. Jacobs (22) 21. Mosher (17) 22. Jeffrey (6)
Alley would never be denied in the 12 lap star-studded eliminator. Jeffrey rolled into the fourth and final transfer by lap four, but came to a stop on the high side of turn three, bringing a caution. The slowdown saw Alley leading Solwold, S. Swindell, Allard and Stewart back to green. The top four would stay the same, other than a S. Swindell pass of Solwold. Allard and Solwold exchanged third several times, avoiding disaster and the wall a few more. Both ran a nice race and fended off Lasoski for the final transfers.
A main (started): 1. Rahmer (6) 2. Schatz (7) 3. Pittman (4) 4. Rilat (10) 5. Dollansky (8) 6. Wimmer (12) 7. S. Kinser (3) 8. Layton (14) 9. Lynch (5) 10. Kemenah (9) 11. Solwold (23) 12. Wright (1) 13. Alley (21) 14. Chesson (15) 15. Allard (24) 16. S. Swindell (22) 17. Green (17) 18. Dobmeier (18) 19. Campbell (16) 20. Cranston (11) 21. King (13) 22. Dewease (2) 23. J. Howard (19) 24. Hull (20)
Dewease jumped out to a commanding lead in the 25 lapper, with Wright in tow, followed by a battle between S. Kinser and Rahmer. Dewease cruised through traffic, as Rahmer finally assumed the runner-up traffic. Pittman found some speed and looked to be the fastest car on the track, challenging Rahmer for second, when Dewease had his left rear go. The result saw the leader flip hard into the turn one fence. He was shaken up, but uninjured. The result was a break for Rahmer, who assumed the lead ahead of Pittman, S. Kinser, Dollansky and a surging Schatz. With no lapped cars in between, Rahmer shot out from the pack, leaving a battle for second that Pittman would hold down another five laps. With the white flag out, King slammed hard into the turn three fence, destroying his mount. Information on his condition was not released at the track. Rahmer led a green, white, checker finish ahead of Pittman, Schatz, S. Kinser, Dollansky and Rilat. While Schatz circled Pittman for second, Rilat surged by Dollansky and S. Kinser to nail down fourth. Solwold earned hard-charger honors, moving up 12 spots from row 12. The win was Rahmer's second Knoxville tally.
Wednesday night points:
1. Schatz 484
2. Dollansky 482
3. Rahmer 472
4. Solwold 460
5. Pittman 457
6. Alley 455
7. Lynch 447
8. S. Kinser 443
9. S. Swindell 442
10. Allard 437
11. Rilat 423
12. Stewart 412
13. Wimmer 411
14. Kemenah 410
15. Wright 407
16. Wolfe 404
17. Layton 404
18. Jackson 401
19. Lasoski 398
20. Dewease 392
21. Chesson 388
22. Sides 387
23. King 380
24. Campbell 380
25. Green 380
26. Cranston 379
27. Corbin 378
28. Jeffrey 377
29. Garner 373
30. Landis 373
31. Dobmeier 373
32. B. Anderson 363
33. Henderson 360
34. Moro 360
35. K. Jacobs 359
36. J. Howard 359
37. Ry. Anderson 356
38. Hull 349
39. St. Arnold 346
40. Ra. Anderson 334
41. Maeschen 329
42. Lambertz 326
43. Mosher 325
44. Peters 313
45. Hillier 313
46. Bennett 307
47. Vanderploeg 303
48. Agan 296
49. Lutar 296
50. Brey 258
51. Shetler 231
52. Sather 228
53. M. Moore 210
54. Jennings 208
55. Mincer 205
56. Schmelzle 197
57. Bartz 192
58. Vogelaar 181
59. Houseman 181
60. Day 172
61. JD Johnson 102
62. Saffell 97