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August 14, 2009 at
12:07:45 AM by EASports
8/13/2009 Hawkeye Ovals
Night #2 of 49th Annual Knoxville Nationals
By Eric Arnold
Tim Kaeding won night number two of the 49th Annual Knoxville Nationals after spending the first 11 laps chasing down local South Dakota driver Dusty Zomer. On lap 13 Kraig Kinser motored by Zomer to take second. Joey Saldana battled his way from his seventh starting position to finish third. Pennsylvania driver Stevie Smith came away the top point man for the night after his fourth place feature finish, heat race win, and fourth place time trial run.
Qualifying was unfortunately about the draw at the pit window as quick time went to Dale Blaney (2nd car out), second quick was Saldana (3rd car out), third quick was Tyler Walker (4th car out). But the night got exciting with a heavy and fast track for the heats, but widened out enough for some excellent, yet fast racing. Heat 1 saw Brian Brown win from his fourth starting spot as Dale Blaney moved up from his eighth starting spot to finish third. Heat 2 went to Ricky Logan from the front row, but Saldana motored up to fourth from his eighth starting position with a last lap pass of Rager Phillips. Chad Meyer won the third heat as Tyler Walker found his way to third. The fourth heat saw Stevie Smith put on a dominating performance from eighth to taking the lead by lap four and win by nearly a straightaway. Heat 5 saw Lynton Jeffrey win from the front row as Kraig Kinser went from eighth to fourth.
The B-Main was once again loaded with big names. Steve Kinser took the win followed by Greg Hodnett, Jac Haudenschild, and Jesse Gianetto all transferred to the A-Main. Wayne Johnson, Lance DeWease, and Kerry Madsen rounded out the field and ended their nights.
The A-Main started off with Jac Haudenschild spinning off turn four and down the front stretch to bring out the yellow and a complete restart. Billy Alley was scheduled to start 12th but had motor problems and had to start at the tail after an attempt to fix the problem in the work area. From there it was all green flag racing for 25 laps as Kaeding blistered the field and lapped up to the 16th place car and was closing in on 15th running Steve Kinser at the checkers. Stevie Smith and Tyler Walker had a great battle for third and fourth early in the race with Walker winning the battle but not the war as Smith got him in the end for fourth after Joey Saldana disposed of both of them on lap 19. Saldana was closing on Kraig Kinser the last couple of laps but fell short. Zomer fell to seventh, but was still pleased with his top ten finish. Terry McCarl came from 11th starting position up to sixth and looked to be gaining momentum.
After the race in the press conference the top three drivers were asked for their thoughts about the upcoming Saturday A-Main and the scheduled fuel stop. All three drivers (Kaeding, K. Kinser, Saldana) all had negative feelings towards the format but are willing to do whatever to takes to the win the biggest sprint car race in the world.
A-Main Finish (started): 1. Kaeding (3), 2. K. Kinser (4), 3. Saldana (7), 4. Smith (5), 5. Walker (6), 6. McCarl (11), 7. Zomer (1), 8. Jason Solwold (2), 9. Dale Blaney (8), 10. Brian Brown (10), 11. Bronson Maeschen (9), 12. Dean Jacobs (13), 13. Greg Hodnett (22), 14. Ricky Logan (16), 15. Steve Kinser (21), 16. Fred Rahmer (14), 17. Jac Haudenschild (23), 18. Lynton Jeffrey (20), 19. Ryan Anderson (17), 20. Tony Lutar (18), 21. Garry LeeMaier (15), 22. Jesse Gianetto (24), 23. Chad Meyer (18), 24. Billy Alley (12).
Top 10 Over All Point Totals: 1. Steve Smith 488, 2. Joey Saldana 485, 3. Tyler Walker 482, 4. Kraig Kinser 481, 5. Dale Blaney 478, 6. Tim Kaeding 478, 7. Donny Schatz 466, 8. Jason Solwold 463, 9. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 461, 10. Dusty Zomer 461.
Eric Arnold
Social Media Manager & Track Historian
Knoxville Raceway
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