From Bill W
Tim Shaffer won a thrilling feature Saturday night on his way to the 50th Knoxville Nationals Championship. Here’s Bill’s story.
8/14/10
Knoxville Raceway
50th Anniversary Knoxville Nationals Final Night
92 cars
E main (started): 1. Greg Nikitenko 6N (1) 2. Phillip Mock 1m (3) / 3. Kim Mock 23 (2) 4. Kaley Gharst 44G (7) 5. Domain Ramsay 20AU (4) 6. Colin Entwisle 2T (6) 7. Chris Shirek 1K (8) 8. Ty Bartz 46 (9) 9. Bruce White 96AU (12) 10. Kevin Ingle (11) 11. Ron Krysl 20PK (5) 12. Jordan Goldesberry 65 (10) DNS – Jared Ridge 12x, Jack Dover 53, Chris Schmelzle 57c, Rob Kubli 19L, Brent Antill 81, Luke Hall 34, Bob Weuve 19, Lee Jacobs 24H
It was a typical, heavy narrow track for this 10-lapper. Nikitenko pulled away from everyone in the non-stop event. P. Mock was knocking on dad’s door the whole way, until he got by him for the final transfer in the last corner.
D main (started): 1. Jonathan Cornell 28 (2) 2. Trevor Green 4 (1) / 3. Fred Rahmer 51 (4) 4. Mitchell Dumesny 77AU (6) 5. Clint Garner 40 (5) 6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (8) 7. Mike Moore 69 (3) 8. Toni Lutar 4x (12) 9. Justin Henderson 35 (11) 10. Ben Gregg 2BG (7) 11. Greg Wilson w20 (14) 12. Mark Shirshekan 3x (9) 13. Bill Rose 6x (16) 14. Jim Moughan Jr. 1mx (18) 15. Paul Jeffrey 12AU (17) 16. Austen Wheatley 44w (15) 17. Matt Wasmund 4w (19) 18. Nikitenko (21) 19. Todd King 97 (20) 20. P. Mock (22) 21. Robby Wolfgang 7K (10) 22. Dustin Morgan 93 (13)
Green wrestled the early lead from Cornell in a good race early in the 12-lapper. After Green pulled away a bit, Cornell got a run and took the lead in lapped traffic on lap eight. He held off Green the rest of the wway.
C main (started): 1. Danny Lasoski 6 (2) 2. Tyler Walker 17 (4) / 3. Scott Winters 23w (8) 4. Tim Kaeding 83JR (10) 5. Bronson Maeschen 1 (1) 6. Jonathan Allard 0 (3) 7. Lucas Wolfe 5w (13) 8. Johnny Herrera 2w (14) 9. Jason Meyers 14 (12) 10. Don Droud Jr. 47 (18) 11. Mark Dobmeier 13 (9) 12. Seth Brahmer 13v (6) 13. Lee Sowell 51s (5) 14. Zach Zimmerly 94 (17) 15. Kraig Kinser 11K (11) 16. Cornell (21) 17. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (15) 18. Green (22) 19. Rager Phillips 10 (19) 20. Max Dumesny 5V (7) 21. Jamie Veal 35AU (20) 22. Brooke Tatnell 59 (16)
Tatnell flipped to start the 15-lapper. Lasoski dominated the non-stop affair. The battle for second was on. Walker held it most of the way, but with three to go, Winters passed him for it. Walker got a good run off of turn four, and took back the spot by inches at the line.
B main (started): 1. Stevie Smith 1z (2) 2. Paul McMahan 91x (1) 3. Josh Schneiderman 49 (5) 4. Craig Dollansky 7 (3) / 5. Jac Haudenschild R19 (4) 6. Brad Sweet 49s (19) 7. Austin McCarl 17A (8) 8. Ian Madsen 55 (6) 9. Chad Meyer 4H (9) 10. Cale Conley 3c (13) 11. David Gravel 89G (12) 12. Lance Dewease 30c (10) 13. Lasoski (21) 14. Ricky Logan 10a (15) 15. Dean Jacobs 97x (17) 16. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (16) 17. Keith Bloom Jr. 27 (18) 18. Mike Reinke 02 (11) 19. Randy Hannagan 1x (14) 20. Dave Blaney 55x (7) 21. Gary Wright 9x (20) 22. Walker (22)
Walker jumped the initial start. It was going to be called back, but he contacted the wall and broke his rear axle, ending his race. Smith led the 22-lapper early on, and it would roll without a caution. McMahan tucked into second, with Haudenschild and Schneiderman behind him. Schneiderman was cruising on the low side and passed Haudenschild for third. Dollansky came along late in the going to claim the fourth and final transfer. Dave Blaney ended his Nationals on lap seven. It was the first time in 16 tries that he has not made the Nationals A main. Sweet needed a caution, but setttled for a 19th to 6th run. Gravel was named Rookie of the Nationals as the highest finishing Rookie.
A main (started): 1. Tim Shaffer 83 (7) 2. Donny Schatz 15 (4) 3. Shane Stewart 57 (8) 4. Dollansky (24) 5. Kerry Madsen 3 (11) 6. Greg Hodnett 22 (3) 7. McMahan (22) 8. Davey Heskin 56 (16) 9. Jason Johnson 41 (9) 10. Smith (21) 11. Daryn Pittman 13x (6) 12. Jason Sides 7s (14) 13. Schneiderman (23) 14. Brian Brown 21 (1) 15. Chad Kemenah 63 (17) 16. Dusty Zomer 91 (15) 17. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (20) 18. Erin Crocker 98 (19) 19. Sammy Swindell 1s (2) 20. Dale Blaney 2B (10) 21. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (13) 22. Steve Kinser 11 (5) 23. Skip Jackson 2 (12) 24. Joey Saldana 9 (18)
Swindell wrestled the early lead from Brown in the 50-lapper. Brown snuck outside Sammy down the frontstretch but was shut down on lap four. Saldana’s motor went up in smoke on lap eight and brought a caution. The restart order was Swindell, Brown, Schatz, Shaffer and S. Kinser. The next 17 laps went green until the mandatory red on lap 25. Schatz took a slide at Swindell late for the lead but hit the break in second. Teams were given five minutes to change anything on the car. The restart saw Swindell ahead of Schatz, S. Kinser, Shaffer and Brown. Brown worked his way past Shaffer and S. Kinser retired with engine woes, but Brown blew a right rear tire on lap 34, and had to restart at the tail after making repairs. Schatz had taken a slider at Sammy, but was headed off. The lap 34 restart saw Swindell leading Schatz, Shaffer, Stewart and Dollansky, up from 24th. Once green again, Schatz and Sammy put on a clinic. Schatz took a couple of shots at the leader. He led lap 45, before Sammy came back in front to take 46. One lap later, Swindell’s left rear tire would give way and he got upside down. The restart with three laps to go saw Schatz leading Shaffer, Stewart, Dollansky and Madsen. On lap 48, Shaffer slid in front of Schatz in turn four, but Schatz recovered to lead the lap. The next time around, Shaffer would get the job done and lead the last two laps for $150,000. The win was Shaffer’s third career victory at Knoxville. Dollansky earned hard-charger honors and the clock, while Heskin was the highest finishing Knoxville regular.
Before the races, Jason Meyers’ crew was awarded “Best Appearing”. Jason Johnson’s group was second ahead of Daryn Pittman’s. Swindell was awarded with the “Jesse Hockett Mr. Sprintcar Title”.