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Show Low, AZ....August
30-31........Taking the lead from Phoenix star Charles Davis Jr with just five
laps to go, Rick Ziehl from Las Cruces NM finished off a two win weekend by
capturing Saturday night's 30 lap USAC unwinged sprint car main event at Thunder
Raceway. Ziehl won the Friday night show at Hollywood Hills Speedway and his
three race winning streak has given him a 31 point lead over Brandon Lane as the
season winds down. Davis ran second and Jeff Branaman was third. Twenty of the
state's best dwarf cars towed into town for a Beat the Heat Special and former
track champion Randy Anderson beat Jesse Chinn and Kevin Hickson in the Sunday
night finale after Danny Torgerson had won the preliminary night main event on
Saturday. David Totherow won the Pro Stock main event ahead of Jarod Davis and
Roy Meeks on Sunday and the mini stocks rounded out that night's racing with
Jeremy Cheadle edging out heat winner Rick Haase.
For the second straight
night, Brandon Lane posted quick time for the traveling USAC unwinged sprint car
series as he ran a 13.05 lap on the quick 1/4 mile clay oval. That paced a 26
car field as Shon Deskins clicked off a 13.31 and Branaman a 13.33. Davis Jr
ranked fourth at 13.46 and Ziehl was 8th quick behind Robert Hall Jr, Beau
Binder and Steve Cushman. Branaman beat Davis Jr and Deskins in the dash. With
the large field and the small quarter-mile track, the top four finishers from
each heat advanced into the 30 lap feature and they were joined by four
transfers from the B Main. Hall beat California long tow Mark Deskovick and
female ace Kaylene Verville in heat 1. After his car ran poorly in time trials,
Yuma's Mike Martin won heat 2 over Leighton Crouch and Bruce St James. Ronnie
Clark won heat 3 in front of David Burns and Branaman. Davis Jr then won heat 4
as Ziehl ran second ahead of J T Imperial. Binder led the B Main finish ahead of
Steve Stone, L C Kesterson and Jimmy Scott. Jim Aragon and Mike Miller just
missed transferring forward and dirt modified star R C Whitwell made his sprint
car debut, but had engine problems in the Sink car and ran 8th in the B Main.
Davis Jr had the pole for the feature with the usual USAC four car inversion and
he paced the first 25 laps of the main event. Ziehl raced by on lap 26 and won
for the fourth time on the series. Verville flipped in the main event as Davis
Jr ran second ahead of Branman, Hall Jr, Lane, Deskovick, Imperial, Martin and
St James. Ziehl holds a 31 point lead over Lane with Hall Jr 86 points back in
third. Clark is just 9 points back of Hall Jr and 5 ahead of Verville. Binder is
also in the battle for third, just 25 points back of Hall Jr.
Despite very little
support from Show Low's own dwarf car class, the special drew 18 cars on
Saturday night and a couple more joined in for Sunday. On Saturday night, Chinn
beat Jeff Perry in heat 1, Torgerson won heat 2 over Anderson and Nick Bruce
captured heat 3 ahead of Brad Hickson. The preliminary feature locked in four
cars into the Sunday night finale. Torgerson won ahead of Perry, Chinn and
Anderson. B Hickson was fifth ahead of Bruce, Matt Lund, Chris Ricker, Jim Ward
and Kevin Hickson. Those four cars ran a special dash on Sunday night to
determine their order at the front of the field in the feature. Chinn won that
dash ahead of Torgerson and Anderson. The remaining cars were split into a pair
of heat races and K Hickson won the first ahead of Sunday arrival Dean Riggs.
Bruce beat B Hickson and Ricker in the second heat. The big money feature went
to Anderson ahead of Chinn, K Hickson, B Hickson, Bruce, Fred Donaldson, Ward,
Mark Pascucci, Lund and Melvin Spaght. Torgerson and Perry both had problems
with Torgerson 20th and Perry 17th. Cortez CO track champion Jim Shinn raced
both nights with a 14th and an 11th.
The 16 Pro Stocks were divided
into three heat races. Greg Kiser beat Richard Malone in heat 1 and usual dirt
modified racer Richie Davis beat Jarrod Davis in heat 2. Point leader Ron Butler
outraced David Totherow in heat 3. D Totherow claimed his first feature win
ahead of J Davis, Roy Meeks, usual dirt modified racer Dan Radcliffe Jr, Butler,
point runnerup Jay Niver, Globe's Joey Wampole, Flagstaff lady racer Yvonne
Doyle and Jeff Rodriguez. The mini stocks had their best turnout of the season
with 7 cars in action. Haase beat Cheadle in the heat race with Brent Shumaker
third. Cheadle opened the night with a 4 point lead on Haase and he won the main
event with Haase second ahead of Shumaker, Scott Kemberg and Darrell Craig.
Thunder Raceway has cancelled the
scheduled October races leaving just the three remaining September dates. The
final 2003 season visit for the Southwest Dirt Late Models was moved from Sept
20th to Sept 27th.
Summary
August 30
Dwarf Car
Heat 1-Jesse Chinn, Jeff Perry, Jim Ward, Matt Lund, Fred Donaldson.
Heat 2-Danny Torgerson, Randy Anderson, Chris Ricker, Jim Horton, Jim
Shinn.
Heat 3-Nick Bruce, Brad Hickson, Kevin Hickson, Melvin Spaght, Jeff Adams.
Main-Torgerson, Perry, Chinn, Anderson, B Hickson, Bruce, Lund, Ricker, Ward, K
Hickson, Adams, Spaght, Mark Pascucci, Shinn, Horton, Tim Reiling, Shawn Arnold.
USAC Unwinged Sprint Car
Fast Time-Brandon Lane 13.05
Dash-Jeff Branaman, Charles Davis Jr, Shon Deskins.
Heat 1-Robert Hall Jr, Mark Deskovick, Kaylene Verville, Lane, Tom Saenz.
Heat 2-Mike Martin, Leighton Crouch, Bruce St James, Deskins, Beau Binder.
Heat 3-Ronnie Clark, David Burns, Branaman, Steve Cushman, Steve Stone.
Heat 4-Davis, Rick Ziehl, J T Imperial, Rick Sipes, Lonnie Sherman.
B Main-Binder, Stone, L C Kesterson, Jimmy Scott, Jim Aragon, Mike Miller, Gary
Appel, R C Whitwell, Saenz.
A Main-Ziehl, Davis, Branaman, Hall, Lane, Deskovick, Imperial, Martin, St
James, Binder, Crouch, Clark, Verville, Burns, Cushman, Scott, Kesterson,
Deskins, Sipes, Stone.
August 31
Mini Stock
Heat-Rick Haase, Jeremy Cheadle, Brent Shumaker, Scott Kemberg, Darrell Craig.
Main-Cheadle, Haase, Shumaker, Kemberg, Craig, Chuck Childs, Don Sterbutzel.
Pro Stock
Heat 1-Greg Kiser, Richard Malone, Dan Radcliffe Jr, Brad Dorsey, Roy
Meeks.
Heat 2-Richie Davis, Jarrod Davis, Yvonne Doyle, Jeremy Stalter, Jeff
Rodriguez.
Heat 3-Ron Butler, David Totherow, Loren Hunt, Wayne Totherow, Jay Niver.
Main-D Totherow, J Davis, Meeks, Radcliffe Jr, Butler, Niver, Joey Wampole,
Doyle, Rodriguez, Kiser, Dorsey, W Totherow, Hunt, Stalter, Malone, Jonathan
Totherow.
Dwarf Car
Dash-Jesse Chinn, Danny Torgerson, Randy Anderson.
Heat 1-Kevin Hickson, Dean Riggs, Fred Donaldson, Mark Pascucci, Jim Ward.
Heat 2-Nick Bruce, Brad Hickson, Chris Ricker, Shawn Arnold, Jeff Adams.
Main-Anderson, Chinn, K Hickson, B Hickson, Bruce, Donaldson, Ward, Pascucci,
Matt Lund, Melvin Spaght, Jim Shinn, Arnold, Jeff Adams, Tim Reiling, Jim
Horton, Ricker, Jeff Perry, Riggs, Victor Pfluger, Torgerson.
*eot
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