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8/2/07

Knoxville Raceway

360 Nationals Night One

51 cars

Jon Corbin (7th car out to time) set quick time on the heavy surface. Gary Wright (46th car out) registered second quick late followed by John Kearney (6th), Dale Blaney (48th), Bryan Howland (29th), Travis Rilat (15th), Brian Brown (35th), Billy Alley (47th), Kaley Gharst (8th) and Chuck Swenson (42nd). Brian Thomas was DQed for an illegal tire, and Dave Becker and Korey Weyant failed to get times in.

Heat one (started): 1. Natalie Sather 94s (2) 2. Rilat 29T (5) 3. Don Young 75 (4) 4. George White 1s (1) / 5. Larry Pinegar II 44 (3) 6. Alan Zoutte 33 (8) 7. AJ Selenke 43 (7) 8. Derek Hagar 9JR (9) / 9. Kathryne Minter 13m (10) 10. Corbin 4c (6) DNS - Korey Weyant 99

The heats had an invert of six, and transferred the top four to the A, next four to the B and the rest to the C. Sather shot on the cushion to take the lead early and led the eight lapper flag to flag. Corbin hammered the front stretch wall hard with his right rear on lap two, ending his night after registering quick time. Sather led Young, White, Pinegar and Rilat back to green flag racing after the early caution. Rilat asserted himself on teh low side, surging to second. White lost the final transfer to the A from Pinegar, but regained it with two to go.

Heat two (started): 1. Matt Moro 2m (4) 2. Brown 21 (5) 3. Russ Hall 29 (1) 4. Jarod Smith 24 (2) / 5. Wright 9 (6) 6. Nate Van Haaften 3 (7) 7. Foster Landon 11F (9) 8. Robby Vaughn 4R (8) / 9. Chris Schmelzle 57c (3) 10. Travis Porter 31P (10)

R. Hall took the point early, but Moro surged ahead on the second go-around. Brown did well moving up to second, while Wright chased J. Smith the last half of the race for the final transfer in vain.

Heat three (started): 1. Larry Neighbors 29N (2) 2. Joe Ramaker 98R (9) 3. Pete Crall 1 (7) 4. Seth Bergman 23A (1) / 5. Alley 55 (5) 6. Jeff Mitrisin 10 (3) 7. Kearney 86 (6) 8. Fred Cade 12c (4) / 9. Frankie Heimbaugh 04 (8) DNS - Jared Horstman 17

Horstman had an ill motor in time trials and scratched for the night. The first try at a start saw a disaster for five cars. Cade and Mitrisin appeared to tangle in row two, collecting Alley, Kearney and Heimbaugh. Mitrisin actually tipped over, but he, Alley and Kearney returned to the fray, while Cade and Heimbaugh were done. Kearney would only make two laps before stopping and retiring from the event. Neighbors led the distance, using the low grooove. Ramaker made several charges on the high side after his fortunate restart in row two. Alley and Mitrisin never seemed the same after making their repairs, though Alley made a late bid for the final transfer.

Heat four (started): 1. Scott Winters R19 (2) 2. Gharst 3 (5) 3. Lee Grosz 4J (1) 4. Randy Martin 14 (3) / 5. Lee Sowell 51s (4) 6. Blaney 6B (6) 7. Derek Ingalls 91x (7) 8. Danny Jennings 61J (9) / 9. Brian Thomas 67 (10) 10. Casey Heser 75c (8)

Grosz grabbed the early lead, but Winters proved himself better by taking the point on lap three. Gharst slid in front of Martin and Grosz to nail down second, while a late Sowell bid for fourth failed.

Heat five (started): 1. Luke Hall 34 (2) 2. Johnny Anderson 7A (4) 3. Jack Potter 15 (1) 4. Howland 51H (6) / 5. Don Droud Jr. 27 (3) 6. Swenson X (5) 7. Tyler Thompson 48 (9) 8. Matt Harms 53H (7) / 9. Doc Sloan D12 (8) DNS - Dave Becker 7c

L. Hall led flag to flag. Howland held on to the final transfer after holding off pressure from Droud and Swenson.

C main (started): 1. Heimbaugh (1) 2. Thomas (5) / 3. Porter (3) 4. Schmelzle (2) 5. Heser (4) 6. Minter (6) DNS - Corbin, Sloan, Hortsman, Becker, Weyant

Heimbaugh dominated the eight lapper, as Thomas won an early exchange with Porter for the final B main ticket.

B main (started): 1. Wright (1) 2. Blaney (3) 3. Kearney (2) 4. Alley (4) / 5. Swenson (5) 6. Droud (10) 7. Pinegar (8) 8. Sowell (7) 9. Thompson (20) 10. Ingalls (13) 11. Jennings (19) 12. Zoutte (15) 13. Hagar (17) 14. Van Haaften (12) 15. Heimbaugh (21) 16. Harms (14) 17. Landon (18) 18. Vaughn (16) 19. Cade (6) 20. Selenke (11) 21. Mitrisin (9) 22. Thomas (22)

First lap blues saw Thomas get upside down, a victim to a spun Hagar. Hagar was able to restart. Wright jumped out to a nice lead early before Mitrisin stopped bringing out a lap five caution. Wright led Blaney, Kearney, Alley and Swenson back to green flag racing in the 12 lapper. The top five stayed the same, but it wasn't without good racing between Blaney and Kearney, and Alley and Swenson for the final A main transfer.

A main (started): 1. Gharst (5) 2. Wright (21) 3. Moro (3) 4. R. Hall (15) 5. Anderson (2) 6. Blaney (22) 7. Winters (12) 8. Rilat (7) 9. Howland (8) 10. J. Smith (10) 11. Neighbors (11) 12. L. Hall (13) 13. Grosz (17) 14. Young (4) 15. Potter (18) 16. Bergman (16) 17. Sather (9) 18. Crall (19) 19. Martin (1) 20. Brown (6) 21. Ramaker (20) 22. White (14) 23. Alley (24) 24. Kearney (23)

Martin took the early lead and was approaching lapped traffic in the 20-lapper when White stopped in turns three and four on lap five. At the time, Martin led Anderson, Moro, Gharst and Rilat. Gharst and Mroo engaged in a torrid battle for third, exchanging slidejobs and chop jobs. Moro was able to stay ahead by lap nine, when Alley stopped with mechanical problems. Martin led Anderson, Moro, Gharst and a surging Brown back to green flag racing. Brown joined Gharst, Moro and Anderson in a battle for second and third in some of the best racing of the season. Gharst moved into the runner-up spot with Brown behind him. On lap 18, Brown slid in front of Gharst for second, and then shot under Martin in turns three and four for the lead. An ill-fated slidejob ensued, with Brown's right rear launching the Martin machine into the turn four fence and bounding down the track. Brown's sprinter suffered extensive damage as well. Fortunately, no one was injured. Gharst inherited the lead and held off Wright, who had been Hell on wheels the last seven laps or so. Wright's charge was enough to give him the high point total on the night. Gharst won $2,000 for his first career 360 win at Knoxville. R. Hall and Blaney also put on fine charges.

Night one point totals:

1. Wright 484

2. Gharst 481

3. Moro 474

4. Rilat 473

5. Blaney 469

6. Howland 467

7. Anderson 461

8. Young 448

9. Brown 445

10. Winters 442

11. Neighbors 436

12. R. Hall 436

13. Kearney 432

14. J. Smith 431

15. Alley 430

16. L. Hall 430

17. Sather 428

18. Martin 417

19. Grosz 414

20. Swenson 409

21. Potter 408

22. Bergman 407

23. White 399

24. Sowell 398

25. Pinegar 396

26. Crall 396

27. Droud 390

28. Ramaker 377

29. Cade 369

30. Mitrisin 361

31. Ingalls 348

32. Van Haaften 347

33. Zoutte 343

34. Schmelzle 338

35. Selenke 334

36. Harms 331

37. Thompson 328

38. Hagar 325

39. Heimbaugh 324

40. Vaughn 323

41. Jennings 323

42. Landon 318

43. Heser 289

44. Thomas 286

45. Porter 277

46. Minter 276

47. Corbin 273

48. Sloan 198

49. Horstman 106

50. Becker 104

51. Weyant 0

www.hoseheads.com/billw.html

Bill....not sure what else you have wrong, but you have the 3rd heat race all hosed up!! On the initial start, the 98R was black flagged for jumping, and then on the restart the mishap with the 5 cars occurred on the front stretch, not in turn 2 like you stated....maybe you should double check your work before you post it !!

Great post Bill. Love reading your reports on those races I cannot attend. Great show tonite. To bad there were not more people there to see it.

Yep, a couple minor errors. But then I don't know how you track everything anyway. Hope you are still able to enjoy the show while taking all those notes.

Yea, it's tougher when you're doing play by play at the same time, and with Wayne Johnson in my ear doing color commentary. Tonight it will be Billy Alley, so I better be on my game again!

360#10: I changed the word "turn" to "row" as I originally intended. Should be spot on for you now...

www.hoseheads.com/billw.html

Thanks Bill and great job last nite on the radio. Those of us who can't be there greatly appreciate your efforts!!! So.... was that attempted slider as bad as it sounded on the radio?? Another classic Brownie Punt Job?? wow. feel for Randy Martin.

Any Ohio folks know why Phil Gressman didnt go out in the Miller Lite car? He's been one of the few guys that can keep up with Blaney in the 360 back here this season. WOulda liked to see him out there.

Kudos to the youngster Luke Hall for trying his hand at K-ville. Is Jack Hewitt still helping him wrench on the car?

Yes that slide job was that bad. He needs to learn a thing or two from Gary Wright about timing and waiting for the right spot to make a clean pass.