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Santa Maria, CA....April 26......A
champion in several Santa Maria Speedway divisions before moving into the SCRA
410 sprint car ranks, Danny Sheridan led all 30 laps in the Warren Dorathy car
to win the first Bandit unwinged 360 sprint car feature of 2003 at Santa Maria
Speedway Saturday night. Sheridan had to fend off a fierce late race challenge
from Greg Porte to collect the honors. Fresno's John Burnett ran a career best
third and fast timer Aaron Altaffer from Tulare made a banzai high groove run on
the final lap to claim fourth. The Sheridan-Dorathy team have major plans for
the 2003 season including a run at Eldora Speedway's $1,000,000 to win show this
summer. The two car team owned by Greg Edenholm dominated the action for the
NMRA TQ Midgets with Jimmy May pacing the final 18 laps to win that 25 lapper.
He finished 1/4 lap in front of teammate Scott Hansen. Dennis Hart built both of
those cars along with the third place mount of fast timer Steve Lambert.
The final car to time,
Altaffer paced 18 Bandit unwinged 360 sprint cars with his 15.240 lap. That
nipped the 15.285 that car builder Richard Harvey Jr had clicked off early in
the session. Harvey's car owner Dick Stevens from Goleta ran third quick at
15.430 and Santa Maria champion Jimmy Thompson stood fourth in his for sale car
at 15.486. Jason Montgomery and usual VRA racer Brett Butler rounded out the
quick six. Sheridan and Bandit point leader Davey Pombo Jr were 9th and 10th.
Altaffer then drove through the pack to win heat 1 with Porte second ahead of
Pombo. Bobby Elliott raced to a win in heat 2 with Harvey second ahead of Steve
Demott. Sheridan beat Burnett and Gary Rayburn Jr in heat 3. Point
contender A J Burgin exploded the engine on his mount in time trials, but made a
deal with raw rookie Mike Baker to race his car in the 30 lap feature.
The ten car inversion for the
30 lapper put Sheridan and Pombo in the front row. Sheridan took a quick lead
over Steve Demott, Pombo and Porte. Porte leaped to second on lap 2 and Harvey
Jr briefly held third before Burnett claimed that spot on lap 4. Bobby Elliott
passed Pombo for fifth on lap 9 as the first 21 laps ran without a yellow flag.
In a thrilling run from last starting Burgin put his borrowed mount in sixth on
lap 13. Stevens spun for the first yellow flag on lap 21 with Sheridan leading
Porte, Burnett, Harvey, Elliott and Burgin. The front threesome pulled away on
this restart with Thompson climbing into the top five on lap 26. A spin by
Thompson forced a lap 28 yellow flag and Rayburn had to be pushstarted after
stalling. On this start attempt, Porte made an inside run at leader Sheridan and
they touched. This allowed Burnett to briefly slide into second, but Porte
reclaimed the spot before the lap was completed. Another yellow slowed the
action after the leaders had drawn the white flag as Harvey spun in turn 1 as he
made a bid for third. Josh Davis ended up in the turn 1 fence. A broken rear
suspension sidelined Burgin for that final round, but he was still scored in
front of all the lapped cars. Sheridan stayed out front for the win with Porte
finishing second ahead of Burnett. Fast timer Altaffer had been buried in the
mid pack for the entire race, but he leaped into the outside groove for that
final one lap run and advanced all the way to fourth at the checkered flag.
Elliott ran fifth ahead of Thompson, Pombo, Demott, Rayburn and Harvey.
Lambert was the quickest of 13 NMRA TQ Midgets with his 16.002 qualifying run.
Walt Johnson had a 16.086 and Jimmy May a 16.190. Hansen clicked off fourth
quick with his 16.345 lap. Fifth quick Chuck West won the first heat race ahead
of Kenny Wiley and Lambert. Chris Hedge stayed out front to win heat 2 with
Hansen second ahead of rookie Jody Bandfield. Their 20 lap feature had a six car
inversion that put Hedge and West on the front row. Hedge took a quick lead over
West and Ron Ahrendt. Jimmy May raced into third on lap 2 and Hansen was fourth
a lap later. After some contact, Jimmy May took second from West on lap 6 and he
ran the outside line into the lead on lap 8. Hansen leaped to second on the same
lap and Michael Bliffen spun for a lap 11 yellow flag. Hedge had settled into
third ahead of West with Lambert also taking an outside line to race into fifth
on lap 14. Lambert took fourth from West on lap 16 and he was third on lap 17.
In the closing rounds, Jimmy May stretched his final margin to 1/4 lap over
teammate Hansen with Lambert riding third ahead of West, Johnson, Bandfield,
Hedge, West Evans and Wiley. Steve Parke was the final lead lap finisher with 12
cars finishing as rookie Jake May fell out on lap 12.
Summary
NMRA TQ Midgets
Fast Time-Steve Lambert 16.002
Heat 1-Chuck West, Kenny Wiley, Lambert, Jimmy May, Ron Ahrendt.
Heat 2-Chris Hedge, Scott Hansen, Jody Bandfield, Walt Johnson, Steve Parke.
Main-May, Hansen, Lambert, West, Johnson, Bandfield, Hedge, West Evans, Wiley,
Parke, Ahrendt, Michael Bliffen, Jake May.
Bandit Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Fast Time-Aaron Altaffer 15.240
Heat 1-Altaffer, Greg Porte, Davey Pombo Jr, Jimmy Thompson, Mike Broome.
Heat 2-Bobby Elliott, Richard Harvey Jr, Steve Demott, Jason Montgomery, Ron
Butler.
Heat 3-Danny Sheridan, John Burnett, Gary Rayburn Jr, Dick Stevens, Brett
Butler.
Main-Sheridan, Porte, Burnett, Altaffer, Elliott, Thompson, Pombo, Demott,
Rayburn, Harvey, A J Burgin, Elliott, B Butler, Montgomery, Stevens, Josh Davis,
R Butler.
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