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Hanford, CA....June 19.......Danny
Sheridan made it four wins in seven appearances with the traveling Bandit
unwinged 360 sprint car series on Saturday night at Kings Speedway. Sheridan
made an exciting pass from third to the lead on lap 14 and won the 30 lap
feature ahead of point title challenger Davey Pombo Jr and point leader A J
Burgin. Burgin emerged from the night with a 21 point lead on Richard Harvey Jr,
who ran 8th in the 22 car feature. Red hot Marcus Aue got his second Kings
Speedway 25 lap feature win in the IMCA Modifieds with his Victory Chassis.
Front row starter Aue led all 25 laps and point leader Paul Stone, also in a
Victory Chassis, ran second ahead of 2003 champion Bryan Burnes. Stone came out
of the night with a 7 point lead on Burnes. Promoter Dave Swindell had offered a
$1000 bonus to any of his regular divisions that could run an all green features
and the IMCA Modifieds succeeded in that task on Saturday night to add $50 to
the payday for every car.
Sheridan was
the quickest of the 22 Bandits with a 16.850 lap as Chris D'Arcy made a rare non
wing appearance and ranked second at 16.963. Jarrett Chaney was third quick at
17.073. The cars were split into three invert 6 heat races and all 22 cars
survived to start their 30 lap feature. Pombo beat Sheridan and Harvey in heat 1
while Gene Manhire came out on top in heat 2 over Burgin and Danny Olmstead.
Matt Day captured heat 3 over Chaney and Jason May. The 30 lap feature had a six
car inversion that placed John Burnett and May on the front row with
Chaney and Sheridan in row 3. The field ran ten rounds before the first yellow
for a spin by Jason Smith. May led the opening lap, then Burnett used an inside
pass in turn 4 on lap 2 to take over. Harvey raced into third ahead of Chaney
and Burgin. Burgin gained fourth on lap 5 and Sheridan raced into fifth on lap
12. Riding an extreme high line, Sheridan gained third on lap 13 and then raced
from third to the lead a lap later. Manhire flipped in turn 4 on lap 15 to end
his night. In the final half of the race, Sheridan stretched his lead and four
others dueled for second. May held onto second with Pombo coming from 11th to
the top five on lap 17. Pombo was rim riding like Sheridan. Pombo gained second
on lap 22 and Johnathan Logan drew a second yellow flag on lap 23. Sheridan
paced Pombo, Burgin, May and Burnett at this point. The third driver to test the
high line, Steven Williams gained fifth on the lap 24 restart and he raced into
third on lap 25. Pombo closed on Sheridan and Williams lost third when he
slipped off the backstretch on lap 29. Sheridan won ahead of Pombo, Burgin,
Williams, May, Burnett, Scott Holloway and Harvey. Burgin came out of the night
with a 21 point lead on Harvey, 25 ahead of Pombo and Sheridan ranks fourth
despite missing two races. Sheridan is just 3 points ahead of Olmstead, who
placed 17th this night.
The
IMCA Modifieds split 16 cars into a pair of heat races. Mark Hamblin outraced
Aue and Buck Cox in heat 1 while Steve Smothermon put the Donnie Range car in
the heat 2 winner's circle ahead of Stone and Ed Nichols. Jim Reed was a feature
scratch and Aue shared the front row with Cox for their 25 lap feature. Aue took
a quick lead and Smothermon ran second for the opening lap. Smothermon slipped
high in turn 2 on lap 4 and Cox regained second. Coming from 7th, Stone was 4th
on lap 6, third on lap 7 and second on lap 8. Burnes gained third on lap 11.
Stone caught Aue on lap 20 and the pair stayed a side by side duel over the
final 6 rounds. Aue fought off Stone for the win with Burnes third ahead of
Smothermon, Hamblin, Petaluma's Tommy Bottini and Cox. Stone came out of the
night 7 points ahead of Burnes, 39 in front of Hamblin and 49 ahead of Claudine
Contente, who ran 13th. Smothermon closed to within 9 points of C Contente.
On June 26,
Kings Speedway stages the annual Spanky Mathews as the Golden State Challenge
winged 410 sprint cars return from their Washington Dirt Cup trip and they will
be joined by the winged 360 Rebel Cup Series.
Summary
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Mark Hamblin, Marcus Aue, Buck Cox, Todd Hermosillo, Bryan Burnes.
Heat 2-Steve Smothermon, Paul Stone, Ed Nichols, Lonnie Lacy Jr, Claudine
Contente.
Main-Aue, Stone, Burnes, Smothermon, Hamblin, Tommy Bottini, Cox, Lacy, Billy
Wilker, Nichols, Hermosillo, Joe Chapman, Contente, A J Wright, Jory Rotherfluh.
Bandit Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Fast Time-Danny Sheridan 16.850
Heat 1-Davey Pombo Jr, Sheridan, Richard Harvey Jr, Scott Holloway, John
Burnett.
Heat 2-Gene Manhire, A J Burgin, Danny Olmstead, Steven Williams, Johnathan
Logan.
Heat 3-Matt Day, Jarrett Chaney, Jason May, Brad Evett, Mark Deskovick.
Main-Sheridan, Pombo, Burgin, Williams, May, Burnett, Holloway, Harvey, Rusty
Carlisle, Chaney, Deskovick, Chris D'Arcy, Day, Evan Suggs, Thad Bennett, Jimmy
Reeves, Olmstead, Logan, Bobby Davis Jr, Manhire, Evett, Jason Smith.
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