8/5/07

Knoxville Raceway

360 Tournament of Champions

49 cars

JD Johnson set a new 360 one-lap track record in group qualifying at 15.984 seconds.  Justin Barger was second quick, followed by Darren Long, Eric Baldaccini, Kaley Gharst, Chuck Swenson, Jason Johnson, Gary Wright, Josh Higday and Don Droud Jr.  Dave Hall failed to get a time in and scratched for the night.

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature, organization): 1. Gabe Maycock 98m (1*, WOW) 2. Randy Martin 14 (2*, WOW) 3. Wayne Johnson 94 (4*, ASCoT) 4. Bryan Dobesh 2D (3, KNOX) 5. Jason Johnson 41 (5, ASCoT) 6. JD Johnson 98 (6, NCRA) 7. Chris Schmelzle 57c (8, ASCoT) DNS - Ryan Jamison 51J (7, SIA), Dave Hall 51 (9, KNOX)

Heats had an invert of six by time, and the top 18 in passing points in the heats qualified for the feature.  Maycock led the distance in the 10 lapper on a heavy track not lending to much passing.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature, organization): 1. Rager Phillips 14P (2*, SIA) 2. Gary Wright 9 (5*, ASCoT) 3. Brett Mather 54 (1*, KNOX) 4. Seth Bergman 23 (4, NSCS) 5. Justin Barger 32 (6, ESS) 6. Foster Landon 11F (8, ASCoT) 7. Chuck Hebing 45 (3, ASCS-PSG) 8. TJ Winegardner Jr. 11T (7, ASCS-R)

Phillips led wire to wire, but the story was Wright, who moved his way nicely from the third row to second.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature, organization): 1. Joe Beaver 53 (2*, KNOX) 2. Jeff Mitrisin 10 (4*, KNOX) 3. Josh Higday 2x (5*, KNOX) 4. Rick Ideus 5 (1, KNOX) 5. Darren Long 7 (6, EFI/NRA) 6. Stu Snyder 57 (8, NCRA) 7. Brian Thomas 67 (7, ASCS-R) 8. Kathryne Minter 13m (3, ASCS-GS)

Beaver shot out to an immediate lead followed by Mitrisin.  Higday worked by Ideus for third, good enough for a transfer.  Minter went up in smoke on the final lap.

Heat four (started, *qualified for feature, organization): 1. Nick Smith 15s (1*, ASCoT) 2. Matt Moro 2m (4*, KNOX) 3. Joe Ramaker 98R (8*, AST) 4. Luke Hall 34 (3, EFI/NRA) 5. Robby Vaughn 4R (2, NSCS) 6. Don Droud Jr. 27 (5, NCRA) 7. Eric Baldaccini B4 (6, ASCoT) 8. Matt Harms 53H (7, SIA)

N. Smith led flag to flag.  Ramaker was the hard-charger, gaining fifth by lap two and shooting by Vaughn and L. Hall into third.

Heat five (started, *qualified for feature, organization): 1. Kaley Gharst 3 (6*, SIA) 2. Lee Grosz 4J (1*, ASCS-NP) 3. Ron Blair 35R (2*, EFI/NRA) 4. Travis Rilat 29 (5, ASCoT) 5. Johnny Anderson 7A (4, KNOX) 6. Natalie Sather 94s (3, ASCS-M) 7. Tyler Spath KR14 (7, NSCS) 8. Dave Glennon 5x (8, ASCS-NP)

Grosz jumped out to an early lead, but clearly Gharst was the fastest car on the track, shooting under Blair on lap two and then sliding into the lead on lap four.

Heat six (started, *qualified for feature, organization): 1. Chuck Swenson X (6*, ASCS-NP) 2. Garry Lee Maier 11x (5*, NCRA) 3. Toby Chapman 84 (1*, ASCS-M) 4. Eric Lutz 5L (2, ASCS-NP) 5. Derek Ingalls 91D (3, NSCS) 6. Lauren Densley 00 (7, SCCA) 7. Mallory Armfield 5MA (8, WOW) 8. Josh Fisher 86x (4, WOW)

Chapman jumped the lead from the pole.  Swenson used his customary low side to shoot up to second by lap six, when Fisher stopped with a blown powerplant that ended his night.  The restart saw Chapman leading Swenson, Lutz, Maier and Ingalls.  Swenson shot under the leader on the restart and never looked back.  Maier followed him, besting Lutz and Chapman.

B main one (started): 1. Rilat (3) 2. Baldaccini (2) / 3. Ingalls (4) 4. Ideus (7) 5. Minter (5) 6. Densley (9) 7. Thomas (6) 8. JD Johnson (1) 9. Snyder (8) DNS - Fisher

JD Johnson led lap one, but Rilat bested him on the second go-around in the 12 lapper that transferred two to the A.  On lap six, JD Johnson looked to have something break and slammed into the turn three wall surrendering the second and final transfer.  He was uninjured, but done.  The restart saw Rilat ahead of Baldaccini, Thomas, Ingalls and Ideus.  Thomas made a brief bid for second before slowing on the last lap.

B main two (started): 1. Dobesh (4) 2. Ja. Johnson (2) / 3. Barger (1) 4. L. Hall (5) 5. Bergman (3) 6. Vaughn (6) 7. Jamison (7) 8. Harms (8) 9. Schmelzle (9) DNS - Glennon

Dobesh split Ja. Johnson and Barger to lead lap one.  He never looked back.  Barger held off Ja. Johnson until about the halfway point as the pair staged a good battle for the final transfer.

B main three (started): 1. Droud (2) 2. Long (1) / 3. Anderson (3) 4. Sather (5) 5. Lutz (6) 6. Landon (9) 7. Winegardner (7) 8. Hebing (4) 9. Armfield (8) DNS - Spath

Droud led the distance in the mostly single-file event.

A main (started): 1. Gharst (6) 2. Mitrisin (9) 3. Swenson (5) 4. W. Johnson (15) 5. Maier (7) 6. Martin (12) 7. Ja. Johnson (23) 8. Beaver (2) 9. Rilat (19) 10. Dobesh (20) 11. N. Smith (10) 12. Grosz (14) 13. Long (24) 14. Moro (11) 15. Baldaccini (22) 16. Winegardner (30, pr.) 17. Hebing (26, pr.) 18. Maycock (8) 19. Blair (17) 20. Vaughn (29, pr.) 21. Mather (16) 22. Densley (27, pr.) 23. Minter (25, pr.) 24. Barger (28, pr.) 25. Wright (3) 26. Phillips (4) 27. Droud (21) 28. Chapman (18) 29. Higday (13) DNS - Ramaker (1)

Ramaker suffered problems pitside and couldn't make it out for the 30 lapper.  Wright inherited the pole and set sail when the green fell.  Beaver settled into second, while Swenson made quick work of Phillips to move into third.  Higday came to a stop while battling for tenth on lap seven bringing a caution.  Under caution, Droud pulled in after losing the muffler.  Wright led Beaver, Swenson, Gharst and Maier back to green flag racing.  Swenson hit one and two with a perfect bottom groove line to pass both Beaver and the leader to take the point.  One lap later, Chapman found himself upside down after not being able to avoid a slowing Phillips.  Both were done.  Under caution, Wright pulled in, surrendering second.  Now Swenson led Gharst, Beaver and Maier.  The rest of the race went non-stop.  Swenson pulled away again as Gharst chased him.  In heavy lapped traffic on lap 18, Swenson was held up behind a car on the low side.  Gharst pounced on the opportunity and shot around the high side for the winning pass.  He pulled away for the rest of the race, capturing his third feature win in four nights!  W. Johnson drove a steady race from 15th to 4th.  Martin returned from his crash on Thursday with a solid effort.  Ja. Johnson took hard-charger honors moving up 16 spots.

Team points went to ASCoT (unofficial):

1. ASCoT: 115

2. Knoxville: 102

3. ASCS-NP: 47

4. WOW: 38

5. SIA: 35

6. NCRA: 30

   EFI/NRA: 30

8. ASCS-R: 15

9. ASCS-PSG: 14

10. NSCS: 11

11. SCCA: 9

12. ASCS-GS: 8

13. ESS: 7

14. ASCS-M: 3

15. AST: 1