Knoxville Midget Nationals and 410s

 20 Midgets

30 410s

 Midgets 

In group qualifying, Brad Kuhn set a new one lap track record for the midgets at 20.046 seconds on the half-mile.  Ricky Ehrgott was second quick, followed by Brad Loyet, Jerry Coons Jr., Brad Sweet, Darren Hagen, Kevin Swindell, Cole Whitt, Bobby East and Levi Jones.  Zach Daum failed to get a time in. 

Heat one (started): 1. Swindell 67 (1) 2. Sweet 49 (2) 3. Kuhn 17B (4) 4. Loyet o5 (3) 5. East 4 (5) / 6. Chad Boat 30 (6) 7. Matt Smith 13 (7) 8. AJ Fike 69 (8) 9. Don Droud Jr. 44 (9) 10. Caleb Armstrong 7c (10) 

Swindell led the 8-lap distance.  The top five advanced directly to the A main.  The best battle was for the final transfer, which East grabbed in the last corner from Boat.   The track yielded two good grooves in the heats. 

Heat two (started): 1. Hagen 3 (2) 2. Coons Jr. 11 (3) 3. Whitt 1 (1) 4. Ehrgott 8 (4) 5. Jones 20 (5) / 6. Brady Bacon 99 (7) 7. Tracy Hines 21 (8) 8. Mark Brown 1x (9) 9. Henry Clarke 97 (6) 10. Zach Daum 5D (10) 

Hagen took the early advantage while Coons and Whitt battled for second.  Bacon had moved into the final transfer spot on lap five, when he spun after hitting the turn two infield berm and spinning.  The restart saw Hagen ahead of Whitt, Coons, Hines, Jones and Ehrgott.  A late charge by Ehrgott netted passes of Jones and HInes on the low side as he grabbed fourth.  Jones moved by his TSR teammate for the final transfer, while Bacon cruised into sixth on the last lap after restarting at the tail. 

B main (started): 1. Bacon (4) 2. Smith (3) 3. Boat (1) 4. Hines (6) 5. Clarke (2) 6. Armstrong (9) 7. Brown (8) 8. Droud Jr. (7) 9. Fike (5) DNS - Daum 

Bacon circled the front row to lead lap one and the rest of the 8 laps.  Smith was quickly in tow as the pair moved by Boat.  Boat battled back into second on the high side before a lap 6 caution for a stopped Droud Jr.  Bacon now led Boat, Smith, Clarke and Hines back to green flag racing.  Smith and Boat battled side by side over the last three laps, with the former grabbing second using the low side.  Hines moved up into fourth as well.  The finish determined how the ten cars would fill the back of the main event. 

8th Annual Midget Nationals (started): 1. Swindell (7) 2. Coons Jr. (3) 3. Sweet (2) 4. Hagen (1) 5. Whitt (8) 6. Boat (13) 7. Loyet (4) 8. Kuhn (6) 9. Hines (14) 10. Smith (12) 11. Brown (17) 12. Jones (10) 13. East (9) 14. Ehrgott (5) 15. Armstrong (16) 16. Clarke (15) 17. Bacon (11) 18. Fike (18) DNS - Droud Jr., Daum 

Sweet led the first lap using a middle groove to gain it over Hagen.  The two battled side by side, until Coons Jr. entered the fray.  He took the point on lap three and began to build a lead.  Behind him, Sweet, Hagen, Loyet and Swindell battled for second through fifth.  Positions were swapped in the non-stop 25-lapper several times, but Coons continued to build his lead.  In the middle stages, Swindell went to the cushion with the bottom going away a bit and picked off spots until he was in second.   With three laps to go, Coons Jr.'s lead was over two seconds.  But that evaporated on lap 24, when it appeared he miscalculated on a couple of spots on the track.   Swindell pounced on the opportunity and shot under for the lead on that lap.   The win was Kevin's first at the Knoxville Raceway. 

410s 

Hot laps were adventurous.  Austin McCarl went up in smoke and was a scratch for the night, as was Rager Phillips.  Kerry Madsen got upside down after tangling with another car and had to bring out a back-up for the heats.  Johnny Herrera changed a motor after hot laps, and Brian Brown had a left front wheel come off, but he did a nice job in saving it from an accident.  The team replaced a front axle before qualifying.  Others who appeared to have practice trouble were Travis Rilat and Chris Morgan. 

Dusty Zomer (4th car out to time) set quick time at 15.489 seconds in one lap qualifying.   Billy Alley (11th car out) was second quick, followed by Brian Brown (14th), Sammy Swindell (7th), Bronson Maeschen (19th), Johnny Herrera (16th), Skip Jackson (10th), Lynton Jeffrey (30th), Bob Weuve (25th) and Terry McCarl (18th).  Rager Phillips, Austin McCarl and Kerry Madsen failed to get a time in after their practice troubles. 

Heat one (started): 1. McCarl 24 (3) 2. Mike Moore 69 (1) 3. Swindell 10a (5) 4. Zomer 17G (6) 5. Jackson 2 (4) / 6. Fred Rahmer 51 (8) 7. Dennis Moore Jr. 20 (7) 8. Josh Schneiderman 49 (2) 9. Ricky Montgomery 33 (9) DNS - Rager Phillips 10 

Moore led the first lap, but McCarl over took him on the second of eight laps.  Swindell cruised under Jackson and Schneiderman into third.  Zomer used a last lap pass of Jackson for fourth.  Rahmer, who was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame during the day finished one spot out of a transfer.  Montgomery dropped out early in Bill Smith's 33. 

Heat two (started): 1. Jeffrey 12 (4) 2. Davey Heskin 56 (1) 3. Calvin Landis 70 (7) 4. Maeschen 1 (5) 5. Chris Morgan 7K (2) / 6. Travis Rilat 29 (8) 7. Alley 22 (6) 8. Pete Crall 1PC (9) 9. Wayne Johnson 81 (3) DNS - Austin McCarl 17A 

Before a lap could be completed, something in the left rear axle area of Johnson's car broke, sending him sideways and then upside down.  He was unhurt.  Heskin, who won with the IRA in Shawano last weekend, led early before Jeffrey took control on lap four.   The battles were for the last transfer, with Rilat getting into fifth ahead of Morgan and Alley.  Morgan rode the cushion well and got around Alley and Rilat into the final transfer, before passing Maeschen for fourth.  Maeschen would get him in the last corner for the spot, but Rilat and Alley were on the outside and headed to the B.   Landis used a strong start to advance. 

Heat three (started): 1. Joey Moughan 55B (1) 2. Don Droud Jr. 47 (2) 3. Mark Dobmeier 13 (3) 4. Herrera 2w (5) 5. Brown 21 (6) / 6. Weuve 19 (4) 7. Kerry Madsen 55 (10) 8. Ryan   Anderson 71R (7) 9. Ed Neumeister 11n (8) 10. Casie Shilling 16c (9) 

Moughan led every lap in impressive fashion.  Behind him there was again action for the final transfer.  Weuve spun on lap three when the running order was Moughan, Droud, Dobmeier, Herrera and Brown.  Brown and Madsen exchanged the final transfer spot twice.  Little changed after the restart, though Weuve came back from the rear to challenge Brown at the line for the final transfer. 

B main (started): 1. Alley (1) 2. Johnson (3) 3. Rilat (8) 4. Anderson (6) 5. Schneiderman (4) / 6. Rahmer (7) 7. Weuve (2) 8. Moore Jr. (5) 9. Crall (11) 10. Shilling (12) 11. Neumeister (9) 12. Montgomery (10) DNS - Madsen, Phillips, A. McCarl 

Alley dominated the non-stop 12-lapper.  Anderson fell back behind Rahmer and Weuve early, but stormed back on the high side to get himself in a transfer.  Schneiderman faded a bit, but Rahmer couldn't run him down for the final transfer.  Rilat was impressive in moving up five spots. 

A main (started): 1. Herrera (2) 2. Swindell (4) 3. Mccarl (8) 4. Zomer (6) 5. Jackson (1) 6. Dobmeier (9) 7. Jeffrey (7) 8. Droud Jr. (11) 9. Johnson (17) 10. Alley (16) 11. Rilat (18) 12. Brown (5) 13. Anderson (19) 14. Landis (15) 15. M. Moore (12) 16. Maeschen (3) 17. Schneiderman (20) 18. Heskin (13) 19. Morgan (10) 20. Moughan (14) 

Herrera wrestled the early lead from Jackson in the early going of the 20-lapper.  McCarl worked by Swindell into second before a lap seven caution for a stopped Moughan.   Herrera led McCarl, Swindell, Zomer and Jackson back to green flag racing.   The top five was unchanged when seventh running Maeschen spun out two laps later.   That would prove to be the last stoppage.  With eight laps remaining rubber reared its ugly head, and passing was at a minimu,.  When McCarl tried to try a different line to get around Herrera with about five to go, Swindell roared by him in turn three.  A last lap stumble by Herrera behind some lapped cars in turn two opened the door for Swindell to attempt a pass, but Herrera shut the door on him in turn three to capture his third feature win of the year at Knoxville, extend his point lead, and collect $3,000.  Johnson was the hard-charger moving up eight positions.