By Bill W
Sammy Swindell won the “Masters Classic at Knoxville Friday night while Jac Haudenschild took the WoO win. Here’s Bill Wright’s story.
6/4/10
Knoxville Raceway
WoO Inverted Feature
18th Annual Masters Classic
38 410s
15 Masters
410s
B main one (started): 1. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (2) 2. Daryn Pittman 13 (4) / 3. Toni Lutar 4x (3) 4. Bronson Maeschen 1J (7) 5. Robby Wolfgang 7K (5) 6. Josh Schneiderman 49J (1) 7. Mike Moore 69 (9) 8. Ryan Bunton 6R (6) 9. Johnny Herrera 2w (8)
Lynch led the 12-lap non-stop race. The top two transferred to the back of the feature. Herrera was quickly up to third by lap four, but something let go and he pulled in the pits. Lynch and Pittman separated themselves from the rest of the field. Schneiderman utilized his brother’s 360 car.
B main two (started): 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (1) 2. Don Droud Jr. 47 (5) / 3. Adam Wilt 15x (2) 4. Brian Ellenberger 22 (4) 5. Davey Heskin 56 (9) 6. Randy Hannagan 1x (6) 7. Ben Gregg 2B (8) 8. Cale Conley 3c (7) 9. Dusty Zomer 91x (3)
Hafertepe led flag to flag despite a caution for Zomer, who challenged for a transfer early, then went up in smoke on lap eight. Wilt restarted second, outside row one on the restart, but Droud had a good start on the inside, and cruised by him for the final transfer. Conley exited on lap ten.
A main (started): 1. Jac Haudenschild R19 (1) 2. Brian Brown 21 (2) 3. Tyle Walker 17 (5) 4. Lucas Wolfe 5w (6) 5. Kerry Madsen 3 (12) 6. Jason Sides 7s (17) 7. Kraig Kinser 11K (4) 8. Mark Dobmeier 13L (3) 9. Brad Sweet 49 (9) 10. Sammy Swindell 1 (16) 11. Chad Kemenah 63 (7) 12. Paul McMahan 91 (10) 13. Craig Dollansky 7 (11) 14. Donny Schatz 15 (8) 15. Lance Dewease 30c (13) 16. Joey Saldana 9 (24) 17. Jason Meyers 14 (19) 18. Droud Jr. (22) 19. Pittman (23) 20. Steve Kinser 11 (15) 21. Lynch Jr. (21) 22. Hafertepe Jr. (20) 23. Brooke Tatnell 59 (18) 24. Danny Lasoski 6 (14)
Saldana was forced to the rear of the field with a fuel line issue and repairs in the work area. Haudenschild set sail early in the 25-lapper with locals Brown and Dobmeier in tow. The slidejobs were frequent on the dry-slick surface back through the field and one needed about eight eyes to see everything. The lead trio stayed nose to tail until reaching traffic, and it appeared the event may go non-stop. K. Kinser followed in fourth, with Walker and Madsen battling behind him for position. Schatz was up to sixth with 23 laps in the books when his right rear exploded, bringing the only caution of the race out. The two-wide start saw Haudenschild pick the low groove to start out with Brown outside. On the first attempt, Madsen was ruled to have jumped off outside of row three. He slid in front of the leader exiting two, but it was called back and he was moved back a row. Brown got a decent start when the green fell again, but he could not get by Haudenschild. Dobmeier who stayed with Haud and Brown in heavy lapped traffic before the caution, was passed by several cars before the checkers, as was K. Kinser. Madsen and Sides were the movers in the event, with the latter earning hard-charger honors. The win was Haudenschild’s 18th tying him with Ray Lee Goodwin on the all-time Knoxville list. It was worth $10,000 and was his first since a non-wing SCRA win in 1999.
Masters
Sammy Swindell (8th car out to time) broke the 360 one-lap track record in time trials with a lap of 15.819 seconds. Danny Lasoski (7th car out) was second quick, followed by Dwight Snodgrass (1st), Randy Smith (5th), Mike Peters (11th), Randy Combs (9th), Steve Wares (15th), Roland Johnson (3rd), Chris Maurer (13th), Mackie Heimbaugh (4th), David Brown (2nd), Keith Prutzman (10th), Bill Smith (12th), Earnest Jennings (14th) and Don Stoutner (6th).
Heat one (started): 1. Swindell (4) 2. Peters (2) 3. Wares (1) 4. Snodgrass (3) 5. Maurer (5) 6. Brown (6) 7. B. Smith (7) 8. Stoutner (8)
Wares led the first lap, but Swindell took over and won going away.
Heat two (started): 1. Lasoski (4) 2. R. Smith (3) 3. Combs (2) 4. Johnson (1) 5. Heimbaugh (5) 6. Jennings (7) 7. Prutzman (6)
Lasoski took the lead with authority in one and two and never looked back. R. Smith moved by Combs on the bottom to gain second. Lasoski and R. Smith have 14 Knoxville titles between them.
A main (started): 1. Swindell (6) 2. Lasoski (5) 3. Peters (2) 4. Johnson (8) 5. Heimbaugh (10) 6. Wares (7) 7. Snodgrass (4) 8. Maurer (9) 9. Combs (1) 10. Brown (11) 11. B. Smith (13) 12. Jennings (14) 13. R. Smith (3) 14. Prutzman (12) 15. Stoutner (15)
Peters shot out to an early lead and looked good on the cushion. Combs spun sideways and gently tipped over on lap two. He would continue after being righted. Peters led R. Smith, Swindell, Lasoski and Johnson back to green flag racing. Swindell disposed of R. Smith and used the low groove to challenge Peters. He took the point on lap five and one lap later, Stoutner spun in turn one. Swindell led Peters, Lasoski, R. Smith and Heimbaugh back to green. Lasoski worked by Peters, but the last 17 laps belonged to Swindell as he pulled away, lapping up to third place. R. Smith was running fourth with a handful of laps to go when the Ball 5J shut down. The win was worth $3,000 and was Sammy’s second in a 360 sprint…his first was last year’s Masters Classic.