8/1/03 Pella Classic

90 cars

Group one

Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Marty Perovich 17 (1*) 2. Jeff Johnson 11J (2*) 3. Dean Jacobs 29 (6*) 4. Tim Shaffer 83 (10*) 5. Marty Wilcox 3 (4) 6. Joe Roe 61 (8) 7. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (11) 8. Kurt Davis 6K (9) 9. Joe Bustillos 37 (3) 10. Brian Kristan 5 (5) 11. Darrell Dodd 11 (7) 12. Ryan Irwin 49 (12)

After a three hour rain delay, the heats started around 10:30 pm. Heats were by draw. The top four points getters using passing points in each heat got A main spots. A heavy and narrow surface awaited. Perovich led the distance in his former Joey Saldana mount. Shaffer made a run to third early, getting by D. Jacobs. D. Jacobs came back and got him on the low side later. Shaffer got by Wilcox coming for the checkered to nail down fourth.

Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Brian Brown 6 (3*) 2. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (6*) 3. Shane Stewart 4m (9*) 4. Jason Johnson (WI) 44 (1*) 5. Matt Wasmund 4w (2) 6. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (11) 7. Dave Uttech 68 (7) 8. Travis Cram 92 (8) 9. Scott Biertzer 4B (10) 10. Ty Bartz 75 (5) DNS - Adam West 20 (4)

Once Brown, who made a motor change after hot laps, got by Ja. Johnson on lap two he checked out on the field. Stewart moved up nicely from the fifth row to third. Bartz dropped out on lap nine. Cram was moving up well when he got too high in turn four and almost spun out in the slick stuff. He recovered, but not before the entire field got by him.

Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Wayne Johnson 12x (2*) 2. Jaymie Moyle 10 (1*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4*) 4. Randy Hannagan 1x (8*) 5. Jesse Hockett 75J (6) 6. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (11) 7. John Sernett 91 (7) 8. Travis Whitney 9 (3) 9. John Schulz 45 (10) 10. Scott Neitzel 2w (9) 11. Doug Strong 43 (5)

W. Johnson led flag to flag, covering ten laps in a track record 2:39.6. It broke the mark set by Calvin Landis and tied by Brown in the previous heat. Good racing back in the field between Jeffrey, Sernett and Whitney. Jeffrey moved up five spots, his last one coming on the final lap.

Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Johnny Herrera 5H (1*) 2. Jeff Shepard 92A (4*) 3. Kenny Jacobs 70 (8*) 4. Colin Northway 60 (3) 5. Terry McCarl 24 (9*) 6. Fred Ebler 64 (7) 7. Kerry Madsen 82 (5) 8. John VanDenBerg V10 (10) 9. Barry Ruble 63R (2) 10. Randy Anderson 1s (11) 11. Justin Henderson R19 (6)

Henderson checked up behind Ruble on the initial start in this stacked heat, and went sideways into a top-like spin on his nose and flip. He was done for the night. The next start saw Ra. Anderson flip violently after contact with Ruble. Ruble also ended up upside down. Neither was injured, but both were done. VanDenBerg suffered both front and top wing damage and had to make repairs to continue. His front wing would collapse on lap three as he came to rest on the backstretch. He retired and was followed by Madsen who also exited at the time. Herrera led a single file pack from that point on to take the win.

B main (started): 1. Northway (3) 2. Wimmer (2) 3. Jeffrey (1) 4. Madsen (12) 5. Hockett (4) 6. Mitrisin (7) / 7. Roe (6) 8. Cram (15) 9. VanDenBerg (13) 10. Sernett (11) 11. Davis (14) 12. Schulz (17) 13. Biertzer (19) 14. D. Uttech (10) 15. Wasmund (8) 16. Bustillos (18) 17. Ebler (9) 18. Whitney (16) 19. Wilcox (5) DNS - Ruble

A widening track lent to some good racing. Jeffrey shot out to an early led from the pole in the non-stop event. On lap six, Wimmer worked around Jeffrey for the lead. He held it for three laps before Northway assumed command. Madsen moved up eight spots to gain a transfer. Wilcox and Whitney exited early. Whitney was smoking as he went pitside.

A main (started): 1. Shaffer (2) 2. W. Johnson (6) 3. Stewart (7) 4. K. Jacobs (5) 5. Madsen (20) 6. Shepard (9) 7. D. Jacobs (10) 8. McCarl (15) 9. Hannagan (13) 10. Northway (17) 11. Mitrisin (22) 12. Vanderploeg (3) 13. Moyle (12) 14. Wimmer (18) 15. Hockett (21) 16. Jeffrey (19) 17. Je. Johnson (11) 18. Perovich (4) 19. Ja. Johnson (WI) (16) 20. Herrera (1) 21. Brown (8) 22. Giannetto (14)

After the green, a turn one spin by Brown collected Giannetto, who had nowhere to go and flipped after ramming Brown. Both were done. The restart saw Herrera get a jump on Shaffer and set sail until Perovich brought his car to a stop on lap five. At the time, Herrera led Shaffer, W. Johnson, K. Jacobs and Stewart. Herrera dominated again until coming to a stop on the backstretch with a broken rear end on lap nine. Shaffer assumed the lead in front of W. Johnson, Stewart, K. Jacobs and D. Jacobs. Shaffer held the lead and was never seriously challenged. Madsen worked his way through the pack by passing fifteen cars and grabbing hard-charger honors. Leonard Lee had Northway dialed in as he was as high as eighth place at one point from his ninth row starting spot. McCarl grabbed the all important eighth spot with two to go.

Group Two

Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (3*) 2. Tim Kaeding 7T (6*) 3. Jonathan Allard 35w (5*) 4. Jan Howard 51 (4) 5. Don Droud Jr. 7x (9*) 6. Kim Mock 1m (7) 7. Mike Stefka 35s (2) 8. Daron Clayton 92D (10) 9. Dave Enders 51E (11) 10. Wayne Modjeski 77 (8) 11. Tyler Houseman 50 (12) 12. Chris Walraven 56 (1)

Walraven took the early advantage, but ignited his engine on lap two bringing caution. Logan assumed the lead and held off the California challenges of Kaeding and Allard. Droud worked hard on Howard but couldn't get by. He did earn enough points to make the feature, though. Houseman exited on lap six.

Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Chad Kemenah 15K (4*) 2. Skip Jackson 21 (2*) 3. Jon Agan 4 (6*) 4. Mike Kertscher 80K (9*) 5. Todd Hepfner 28 (3) 6. Bill Rose 6R (10) 7. Manny Rockhold 02x (8) 8. Todd King 97 (1) 9. Mark Toews 5T (11) 10. Mike Moore 69 (5) 11. Brent Antill 12 (7)

8/2/03 Pella Corporation Classic

81 410s
41 360s

410s

E feature (started): 1. Scotty Neitzel 2w (2) 2. Justin Henderson R19 (8) 3. Ryan Coniam 6c (9) 4. Mike Moore 69 (4) 5. Wayne Modjeski 77 (3) 6. Ryan Irwin 49 (12) / 7. Robert Bell 71 (10) 8. Doug Strong 43 (7) 9. Ty Bartz 75 (1) 10. Tyler Houseman 50 (5) 11. Darrell Dodd 11 (6) 12. Chris Walraven 56 (11) DNS - Brent Antill 12, Adam West 20

Neitzel and Bartz battled or the first six laps of the eight lapper. Henderson and Coniam moved up nicely as expected. Walraven exited on lap two with an ailing powerplant. Irwin spun on lap four bringing caution. Dodd ducked out at the time. Bartz was running third on the white flag lap when his left rear blew ending his night. Irwin reaped the benefits by getting by Bell for the final transfer to the D.

D feature (started): 1. Jan Howard 51 (14) 2. Manny Rockhold 02x (2) 3. Scott Biertzer 4B (1) 4. Travis Whitney 9 (11) 5. Henderson (18) / 6. Ryan Anderson 71R (10) 7. Coniam (19) 8. Neitzel (17) 9. Bill Warren 95 (4) 10. Todd King 97 (6) 11. John Haeni 21J (12) 12. Mark Hurd (13) 13. Matt Wasmund 4w (5) 14. M. Moore (20) 15. Dave Uttech 68 (3) 16. Joe Bustillos 37 (7) 17. Modjeski (21) 18. Scott Uttech 7 (8) 19. Greg Jones 35 (16) 20. Brian Kristan 5 (15) 21. Fred Ebler 64 (9) 22. Irwin (22) DNS - Kelly Kinser 4KK, Marty Wilcox 3, Barry Ruble 63R, Randy Anderson 1s

This was one of the best D Mains you'll see anywhere. Howard cruised through the field in amazing fashion. Henderson sliced through as well, but was passed back by Whitney in lapped traffic in turn four of the last lap. Howard passed race long leader Rockhold with two to go. Coniam passed 12 cars and Neitzel nine, but it was not enough in the non-stop ten lapper.

C feature (started): 1. Brooke Tatnell 66 (6) 2. Johnny Herrera 5H (3) 3. Brian Brown 6 (5) / 4. Travis Cram 92 (9) 5. John VanDenBerg V10 (11) 6. Bill Rose 6R (2) 7. Joe Roe 61 (7) 8. Mark Toews 5T (10) 9. Jason Johnson (WI) 44 (1) 10. Derek Beckman 50D (8) 11. Howard (19) 12. Whitney (20) 13. Rockhold (18) 14. Kurt Davis 6K (15) 15. Biertzer (21) 16. John Sernett 91 (13) 17. Dave Enders 51E (16) 18. John Schulz 45 (17) 19. Eddie Leavitt Jr. 1A (4) 20. Mike Stefka 35s (14) 21. Henderson (22) 22. Troy Little 20AU (12) DNS - Jesse Giannetto D1, Joe Beaver 53, Daron Clayton 92D

Leavitt had a spinfest in turn two of the first lap, doing several 360s before coming to rest. He would restart at the tail. Whitney was blackflagged to the tail at the next attempt at a start. With Rose leading impressively, Schulz spun on lap two. This spelled disaster for Rose as Tatnell took the point from him with Herrera in tow. Henderson pulled off on lap four, but the rest of the way went caution-free. Brown pulled up to Herrera several times, but could not get by him. He would work his way into the B by brokering a deal with Marty Perovich. It would pay off for him.

B feature (started): 1. Randy Hannagan 1x (1) 2. Dennis Moore Jr. 0 (4) 3. Colin Northway 60 (3) 4. Jason Johnson (LA) 22 (2) 5. Jeff Mitrisin 5J (5) 6. Brown (21) 7. Jaymie Moyle 10 (9) 8. Mike Reinke 02 (8) / 9. Mike Kertscher 80K (6) 10. Tatnell (19) 11. Max Dumesny 1 (14) 12. Herrera (22) 13. Todd Hepfner 28 (16) 14. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (7) 15. Jesse Hockett 75J (13) 16. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (11) 17. Toni Lutar 4x (10) 18. Clint Garner 55 (20) 19. Kim Mock 1m (18) 20. Jeff Johnson 11J (17) 21. Matt Moro 47 (12) 22. Lynton Jeffrey 4K (15) DNS - Marty Perovich 17

Hannagan led the entire distance of the 15 lapper. Jeffrey hit the frontstretch wall and turned over on lap eight. He was uninjured. Moro who had been in the top eight in the Sonner 47 (heights not seen by the car in quite awhile), and was running ninth when he came to a stop on lap 13 in the only other stoppage of the B. Brown's charge was impressive and cemented a spot in the A. Kertscher, who had fallen back deep in the pack, came on the last four laps and with two to go, briefly passed Reinke and Moyle for seventh. He couldn't make it stick however when Moyle cut him off going into turn one.

A main (started): 1. Terry McCarl 24 (2) 2. Tim Shaffer 83 (7) 3. Shane Stewart 4m (4) 4. Jason Meyers 7m (3) 5. Jeff Shepard 92A (10) 6. Don Droud Jr. 7x (14) 7. Kerry Madsen 82 (6) 8. Skip Jackson 21 (13) 9. Ricky Logan 17G (8) 10. Brown (22) 11. Chad Kemenah 15K (12) 12. Hannagan (17) 13. Jonathan Allard 35w (5) 14. Tim Kaeding 7T (11) 15. Northway (19) 16. Kenny Jacobs 70 (9) 17. Ja. Johnson (LA) (20) 18. Dean Jacobs 29 (1) 19. Mitrisin (21) 20. D. Moore (18) 21. Moyle (23) 22. Wayne Johnson 12x (16) 23. Reinke (24) 24. Jon Agan 4 (15)

What looked like a walk-off laugher for Meyers turned into one of the top races of the year. Meyers grabbed the lead and ran from the pack at the outset. McCarl held off Shaffer for second much of the way, but Meyers had put plenty of lapped traffic between himself and second. McCarl, Shaffer nad Stewart battled for second through fourth for much of the way. A certain win for Meyers changed when K. Jacobs spun on lap 22. With McCarl and Shaffer on his nerf bar, Meyers took the green without the benefit of lapped traffic buffer. Shaffer slid him going into turn one and led for a lap before McCarl put a bonzai move on the two, executing a couple of slide jobs. He went on to win the $15,000 reward to the joy of the locals. He thanked the person who drew his starting spot for him, Wayne Johnson. Brown earned the hard-charger, moving up twelve spots to tenth.

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for A): 1. Billy Alley 22A (4*) 2. Ed Ergenbright 11 (1*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (2*) 4. Dave Hall 51 (3*) 5. John VanDenBerg V10 (6) 6. Rodney Turner 69 (8) 7. Stacey Alexander 126 (7) 8. Curtis Thorson 91 (5) 9. Rusty Potter 3P (10) 10. Steve Wares 10 (11) 11. Doug Larsen 4 (9)

Alley battled with Giannetto for two laps on a narrow track until getting by. He then set his sights on Ergenbright, and passed him in dramatic fashion on the last lap.

Heat two (started, *qualified for A): 1. Steve Breazeale 57 (2*) 2. Josh Higday 24 (4*) 3. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (7*) 4. Dennis Moore Jr. 75 (10*) 5. Rob Edwards 22 (8*) 6. John Hall 7H (9) 7. Bruce Williams 8s (6) 8. Danny Hutchins F4 (5) DNS - Bobby Mincer 15 (1), Joe Beaver 53 (3)

Mincer and Beaver were fighting mechanical demons and couldn't make the call. Breazeale led a mosty single file race, save some early race passing by D. Moore.

Heat three (started, *qualified for A): 1. Dave Hesmer 1 (3*) 2. Brett Golik 5G (1*) 3. Eric Mason B29 (6*) 4. Michael Jones 12 (4*) 5. DJ Heskin 56 (2) 6. Ryan York 5R (8) 7. Brett Mather 54 (7) 8. Dave Middleswart 40 (5) 9. Jon Agan 4J (10) 10. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (9)

Houseman Jr. had enough after the first lap. Agan exited a lap later with problems from a broken brake caliper. Golik led the first four laps before succumbing to the challenges of Hesmer. Mason moved up nicely.

Heat four (started, *qualified for A): 1. Johnny Anderson 7a (2*) 2. Tom Lenz 8L (1*) 3. Mike Houseman 83 (7*) 4. Doug Wilson 33w (4) 5. Mitchell Alexander 6 (3) 6. Bruce Defries 82 (9) 7. Chris Martinez 7m (5) 8. Tyson Hart 5H (6) 9. Frankie Heimbaugh 6x (8) 10. Dan Thornburg 57T (10)

Thornburg met the first turn wall and flipped on the initial start. The restart saw Martinez get over the left rear of Hart. He spun and collected Heimbaugh and Defries. Only Defries would restart. Hart was taken in for a cut hand. Once underway, J. Anderson led the duration, while Houseman made a nice move forward.

B main (started): 1. VanDenBerg (2) 2. Turner (4) 3. Wilson (1) 4. Beaver (16) / 5. Heskin (6) 6. York (5) 7. J. Hall (8) 8. Mather (11) 9. Williams (10) 10. Potter (15) 11. S. Alexander (9) 12. Middleswart (13) 13. Defries (3) 14. Wares (14) 15. M. Alexander (7) 16. Larsen (18) 17. Hutchins (12) 18. Houseman Jr. (17) DNS - Martinez, Thorson, Hart, Agan, Heimbaugh, Thornburg, Mincer

VanDenBerg led green to checkered in this non-stop B. Beaver was on the move, sliding by 12 competitors to earn a spot in the A.

A main (started): 1. Alley (8) 2. Higday (4) 3. Ergenbright (1) 4. J. Anderson (5) 5. Houseman (3) 6. D. Moore (11) 7. Giannetto (12) 8. Hesmer (7) 9. Breazeale (6) 10. Beaver (20) 11. VanDenBerg (17) 12. Ball (13) 13. Wilson (19) 14. Lenz (10) 15. Golik (9) 16. Turner (18) 17. Mason (2) 18. D. Hall (15) 19. Edwards (14) 20. Jones (16)

Jones and Beaver got together after the drop of the green with Jones suffering front end damage that ended his night. The restart saw Mason spin in front of the field. Everyone avoided him, and a ragged start was allowed on the next try. The race went non-stop with Higday taking command with Ergenbright in tow. In what has become a common sight, Alley hunted down both Ergenbright and then Higday to make a last lap pass for the win, much to the delight of the crowd. It was Alley's ninth win this year, and fourth at Knoxville.