From Bill W
Don Droud Jr won the opening night feature at Knoxville Raceway Saturday while Josh Higday grabbed the 360 victory and Steve Breazeale took 305 honors.
5/1/10
Knoxville Raceway
22 410s
33 360s
19 305s
410s
Brian Brown (3rd car out to time) set quick time over the field at 15.405 seconds. Mark Dobmeier (11th car out) was second quick, followed by Don Droud Jr. (2nd), Tony Bruce Jr. (10th), Ian Madsen (6th), Austin McCarl (18th), Josh Schneiderman (4th), Lynton Jeffrey (20th), Skip Jackson (22nd) and Mike Moore (1st). California’s Kyle Hirst was a scratch before time trials began. Rager Phillips tumbled in turn two during hot laps but returned for time trials. Kaley Gharst (driveshaft) and Ryan Bunton (motor) did not get times in. Dusty Zomer struggled in his first night in Derek Ingalls’ 91.
Heat one (started): 1. Brown 21 (6) 2. Bob Weuve 19 (1) 3. Moore 69 (3) 4. Schneiderman 49 (4) 5. Bruce Jr. 18 (5) 6. Jake Ossenfort 99J (7) 7. Rager Phillips 10 (2) DNS – Kyle Hirst 6
Phillips led the first two laps before Brown took over and won going away. Phillips spun out of second on lap three, but restarted.
Heat two (started): 1. Davey Heskin 56 (3) 2. Jeffrey 12 (4) 3. Dobmeier 13 (6) 4. Madsen 55 (5) 5. Kaley Gharst 14P (7) 6. Robby Wolfgang 7K (2) 7. Dusty Zomer 91 (1)
Heskin led the duration and put a 1/4 of a lap between himself and Jeffrey. Zomer exited right after the green fell.
Heat three (started): 1. Jackson 2 (4) 2. Droud Jr. 47 (6) 3. Bronson Maeschen 1 (3) 4. Mike Deavers 72 (2) 5. McCarl 17A (5) 6. Ryan Bunton 6R (7) 7. Rob Kubli 23K (1)
Jackson worked around the front row and led flag to flag. Droud did a nice job moving up early. Kubli exited on the white flag lap.
A main (started): 1. Droud (4) 2. Jackson (9) 3. Heskin (11) 4. Maeschen (12) 5. Bruce Jr. (3) 6. Jeffrey (8) 7. Moore (10) 8. Gharst (15) 9. McCarl (1) 10. Weuve (14) 11. Bunton (21) 12. Ossenfort (20) 13. Deavers (13) 14. Madsen (2) 15. Dobmeier (5) 16. Schneiderman (7) 17. Phillips (16) 18. Wolfgang (17) 19. Brown (6) 20. Kubli (19) 21. Zomer (18) DNS – Hirst
Droud shot around the front row to lead early on. Three laps were in the books when Weuve spun in turn two. At the same time, Brown, who had moved up to second, slowed to a stop with his motor suffering from a miss. The restart saw Droud ahead of McCarl, Bruce, Madsen and Schneiderman. Droud and McCarl were running well up front five laps later, when Jeffrey and Phillips contacted with Phillips tipping over, ending his night. Droud and McCarl led Bruce Jr., Schneiderman and a surging Heskin back to green. At the halfway point in the 20 lapper, McCarl, who was still running second, blew his left rear, and Schneiderman, who was running fifth, blew his right rear. Only McCarl would return. Droud led Bruce, Heskin, Dobmeier and Jackson back to green on the restart. Lap 14 was Dobmeier’s turn to blow a left rear, after he had advanced to second. Droud led Heskin, Jackson, Bruce and Maeschen back to that restart. The final slowdown came with two laps to go. The red came out for a flipping Madsen down the frontstretch. He had had contact with Moore. The two lap restart saw Droud over Heskin, Jackson, Maeschen and Bruce. Jackson made a great move in the last corner to steal second from Heskin, while Droud won his 12th 410 feature at Knoxville. Rookie Bunton was the hard-charger.
360s
The class will time with hot laps this year. Ryan Roberts was just a tick off the track record (15.973) by recording a qucik time of 16.019 seconds. Clint Garner was second quick, followed by Dustin Selvage, Matt Covington, Gregg Bakker, Matt Moro, Tasker Phillips, Lee Grosz, Johnny Anderson and Dave Hall.
Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Jay Russell 76 (1*) 2. Anderson 7a (4*) 3. Nate Van Haaften 3 (2*) 4. Bakker 11x (5*) 5. Jon Agan 4 (3) 6. Roberts 18 (6) 7. Ryan Bickett 17B (7) 8. Alan Zoutte 33 (8) 9. Tyler Trainor 4L (9)
Russell led the distance, then had to scratch for the night after going up in smoke after the checkers. Trainor flipped in turn two on lap two. He was unhurt.
Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brett Mather 17G (1*) 2. Josh Higday 10 (3*) 3. Clint Garner 40 (6*) 4. Bryan Dobesh 54 (2*) 5. Matt Moro 2m (5) 6. Dave Hall 51 (4) 7. Danny Heskin 6 (7) 8. Mike Houseman Jr. 68 (8)
Houseman Jr. pulled off early. Mather led flag to flag. Garner looked strong, moving up three spots.
Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Chad Humston 1m (2*) 2. Dennis Moore Jr. 2 (4*) 3. Jonathan Cornell 28 (3*) 4. Tom Lenz 8L (1*) 5. Dustin Selvage 7 (6*) 6. Tasker Phillips 7TAZ (5) 7. Ricky Montgomery 9m (8) 8. Rod Richards 12 (7)
Humston and Moore Jr. exchanged the lead on lap one. Humston went low in turn one to start lap two and took some momentum away from his pursuer. The race settled into a mostly single-file show after that.
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Dustin Morgan 93 (3*) 2. Joe Beaver 53 (7*) 3. Bobby Mincer 14s (4*) 4. Matt Covington 95 (6*) 5. Lee Grosz 4J (5) 6. Jamie Ball 5J (1) 7. Dakota Carroll 11c (8) 8. Chad Heimbaugh 04 (2)
Ball spun on the initial start, handing Morgan, who led throughout, the pole. Beaver restarted in fifth, and used the high groove twice to go three-wide and gain position to second. He went back and forth twice with Mincer for the spot in some good racing. Heimbaugh turned over with two laps to go, losing his left rear. He would be back for the B.
B main (started): 1. Agan (1) 2. Roberts (4) 3. Moro (2) 4. Phillips (6) / 5. Grosz (3) 6. D. Hall (5) 7. Montgomery (8) 8. Bickett (10) 9. Zoutte (12) 10. Heskin (11) 11. Richards (14) 12. Heimbaugh (15) 13. Carroll (9) 14. Ball (7) DNS – Houseman Jr., Trainor
Agan led flag to flag in the non-stop 10-lapper. Phillips grabbed the fourth and final transfer early from D. Hall and Grosz.
A main (started): 1. Higday (1) 2. Moore Jr. (2) 3. Cornell (10) 4. Garner (7) 5. Anderson (4) 6. Humston (5) 7. Bakker (12) 8. Selvage (16) 9. Morgan (6) 10. Agan (17) 11. Moro (19) 12. Roberts (18) 13. Mather (3) 14. Dobesh (14) 15. Beaver (13) 16. Van Haaften (9) 17. Lenz (15) 18. Phillips (20) 19. Mincer (8) 20. Covington (11) DNS – Russell
Moore Jr. took the early lead and looked strong before a lap four red for Covington, who dumped it in turn three. He was uninjured, but done. Moore Jr. led Higday, Anderson, Morgan and Cornell back to the green flag restart. Higday slid in front of Moore Jr. on the restart, only to see a counter-maneuver. Higday made it stick in the next corner and led the rest of the 15-lap distance. Cornell and Garner moved forward to gether, besting Morgan and Anderson to get in the top four. Higday’s win was the 16th in his career. He is fifth on the all-time 360 wins list. Selvage was the hard-charger.
305s
Heat one (started): 1. Steve Palmer 2 (1) 2. Austin Johnson 81 (4) 3. Mark Widmar 7w (9) 4. Nick Ross R99 (7) 5. Casie Shilling 16c (6) 6. Matt Hasara 87 (10) 7. Matthew Stelzer 99 (5) 8. Earl Tice 2T (2) 9. Mitchell Alexander 6 (3) DQ (tire) – Alan Ambers 93A (8, crossed 4th)
Heat two (started): 1. Steve Breazeale 57 (5) 2. Tim St. Arnold 36s (4) 3. Chad Huston 7c (8) 4. Matt Stephenson 55 (3) 5. Jamie Ball 5J (1) 6. Marty Stephenson 36 (7) 7. Chris Maurer 55x (2) 8. Mike Van Haaften 33 (9) 9. Chris Coleman 10 (6)
A main (started): 1. Breazeale (2) 2. St. Arnold (4) 3. Johnson (3) 4. Huston (6) 5. Palmer (1) 6. Mar. Stephenson (12) 7. Ross (7) 8. Widmar (5) 9. Maurer (14) 10. Ambers (15) 11. Shilling (9) 12. Van Haaften (16) 13. Ball (10) 14. Matt Stephenson (8) 15. Stelzer (13) 16. Havara (11) DNS – Tice, Alexander, Coleman
Breazeale led flag to flag, and was never seriously challenged in the 12-lapper. A single slowdown came on lap five when Havara flipped in turn two. He was unhurt. A midrace collision between Widmar and Matt Stephenson sent the latter pitside with damage to the left side of the car.