Osky Front Row Challenge Results and Stories

Monday, August 8, 2005
8/8/05

Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA

Front Row Challenge

48 cars

Hometowner John VanDenBerg (3rd car out to time) set quick time over a stout field with a lap of 15.725 seconds in Lenard McCarl's 7x. Jeremy Campbell (22nd car out) was second quick, followed by Danny Lasoski (21st), Toni Lutar (18th), Don Droud Jr. (1st), Jason Sides (10th), Skip Jackson (28th), Roger Crockett (12th), Ricky Logan (13th) and Daryn Pittman (42nd). Jamie Zaputil failed to get a time in.

Heat one (started): 1. Blake Feese 55 (2) 2. Logan 10 (4) 3. Tim Kaeding 83 (3) 4. Kevin Huntley 70 (1) 5. Jesse Giannetto D1 (9) / 6. Zach Chappell 50z (11) 7. Danny Wood 14AJ (10) 8. Bob Weuve 19 (8) 9. Jason Meyers 14 (7) 10. Luke Cranston 20c (12) 11. Droud 17G (5) 12. VanDenBerg 7x (6)

Feese took the early lead in the 8 lapper, which took the top five to the A. On lap six, VanDenBerg lost control of his machine diving under Droud in turn three in a battle for the last transfer. The result was a wicked set of flips for both drivers. No one was injured. Giannetto inherited the transfer spot. Feese led the rest of the way and earned a Winters rear end.

Heat two (started): 1. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (1) 2. Pittman 21 (4) 3. Kerry Madsen 55x (3) 4. Sides 7s (5) 5. Campbell 10c (6) / 6. Stephen Allard 35 (8) 7. Kasey Kahne 9 (7) 8. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (9) 9. TJ Stutts 2K (11) 10. Natalie Sather 94s (10) 11. Fred Rahmer 88H (2) DNS - Danny Jennings 61J

Mitrisin bumped by Rahmer on the first lap, and took a flag to flag win and a Winters rear end in a mostly single-file affair. Rahmer retired immediately with serious damage to his machine, and was done for the night.

Heat three (started): 1. Lance Dewease 25 (2) 2. Greg Hodnett 77 (4) 3. Todd Hepfner 28 (1) 4. Jonathan Allard 0 (3) 5. Lasoski 20 (6) / 6. Skip Jackson 2J (5) 7. Geoff Dodge 44 (8) 8. Dean Jacobs 29 (7) 9. Jamie McDonald 3NZ (10) 10. Critter Malone 7 (12) 11. Stevie Walsh 20NZ (11) 12. Mike Erdley 11E (9)

Dewease led the distance with fellow PA Posse driver Hodnett in tow. A Weld wheel was Dewease's reward.

Heat four (started): 1. Joey Saldana 2 (3) 2. Johnny Herrera 45x (1) 3. Jesse Hockett 75 (2) 4. Erin Crocker 16 (4) 5. Lucas Wolfe 5w (7) / 6. Crockett 11 (5) 7. Lutar 4x (6) 8. Tim St. Arnold 7w (8) 9. Ryan Anderson 71R (11) 10. Ricky Fauver 5sp (9) 11. Jamie Zaputil 1z (12) 12. Danny Smith 4 (10)

In possibly the most exciting heat in the invert six, take five format, Herrera shot out to an early lead. Saldana was the first to work the low side, ducking under Hockett and then dusting Herrera on lap four to win going away. He also cashed in a Winters rear end.

C main (started): 1. Chappell (2) 2. Smith (1) / 3. Anderson (5) 4. Malone (4) 5. Stutts (3) 6. Zaputil (7) 7. Sather (6) DNS - Walsh, Cranston

Chappell led the distance in the 8 lapper with Smith in tow. The two cruised well ahead of the rest of the field.

King of the Hill Dash:

Round one: Campbell over Kaeding, Hodnett over Sides (Sides was sent behind Hodnett on a single file restart after jumping), Pittman over Logan, Lasoski over Crocker

Round two: Campbell over Hodnett, Pittman over Lasoski

Final: Campbell over Pittman (Pittman slides Campbell going into one. Campbell comes back on the backstretch but can't make it stick. Then he slides Pittman to lead the final lap and then takes the Front Row Challenge behind the crowd's approval.)

The dashes were one on one challenges based on the eight top qualifiers that got through the heats. They were two laps in length, and all received a new right rear tire.

B main (started): 1. Jackson (2) 2. Meyers (4) 3. Jacobs (6) 4. Crockett (3) / 5. Kahne (5) 6. St. Arnold (10) 7. Bruce (11) 8. Erdley (12) 9. S. Allard (8) 10. Wood (14) 11. Chappell (17) 12. Smith (18) 13. Lutar (1) 14. Weuve (7) 15. Jennings (15) 16. Fauver (13) 17. Dodge (9) 18. McDonald (16) DNS - VanDenBerg, Droud, Rahmer

Jackson shot out to the early advantage with Meyers in tow in the 12 lapper. Jacobs had a nice first lap and moved into a transfer. On lap five, Crockett gained the final transfer from Lutar after a good battle. He was able to keep that spot ahead of Kahne despite a lap 10 stop by Jennings. Jackson's win earned him a wheel. Kahne was given a promoter's provisional.

A main (started): 1. Lasoski (1) 2. Kaeding (8) 3. Pittman (2) 4. Hodnett (4) 5. Logan (6) 6. Sides (5) 7. Madsen (9) 8. Crockett (10) 9. Crocker (3) 10. Jackson (7) 11. J. Allard (12) 12. Saldana (11) 13. Hockett (16) 14. Dewease (13) 15. Campbell (24) 16. Kahne (25, pr.) 17. Mitrisin (18) 18. Huntley (15) 19. Giannetto (23) 20. Feese (14) 21. Herrera (20) 22. Wolfe (21) 23. Hepfner (17) 24. Meyers (19) 25. Jacobs (22)

Pittman took the early lead in the non-stop 25 lapper. Kaeding was on the move and made quick work of Logan and Hodnett to move into third. Pittman hit dense traffic by lap seven, and by lap nine Lasoski had pulled beside him, sneaking around in turn four. This was about the time that it was rubber down. The last half of the race proved follow the leader. Kaeding made a move around Pittman and appeared to have the fastest car on the track, but he could not run down Lasoski. The non-stop affair provided little opportunity for Campbell to accomplish the front row challenge, but he did share hard-charger honors with Kahne. 14 cars finished on the lead lap, and 19 finished the event.