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Lake Pleasant,
AZ....Sept 11.....Taking the lead at the midway mark from former
dwarf car racer Willy Grombach, Eric Wilkins posted his fourth 25
lap ASCA unwinged 360 sprint car win of the 2004 season Saturday
night and took over the point lead in the process. Wilkins started
the night 11 points back of five feature winner Bob Ream Jr, but
Ream Jr had a spectacular five flip incident in the heat action and
was done for the night. The 25 lap main ran without a caution after
young R J Johnson flipped down the front stretch on the initial
green flag. Jeremy Sherman and dash winner Nathan High chased
Wilkins to the feature win. Eleven year old Chad Boat again won the
mini sprint 600 feature for his 8th victory. California invader
Robby Jossett led the first 6 laps and finished second to Boat with
Mark Stroh in third. Ron Copley was a wire to wire winner in the
modified midget 250 action with dash winner Steven Harms second
ahead of John Carioscia.
The unwinged 360 sprint cars checked in with 24 entries so they
transferred four cars out of three heat races and took 8 more from a
12 car B Main to set their 20 car A Main grid. High won the dash
over Wilkins and Ben Gregg. Bernie Smith beat Chuck Buckman and Bugs
Norbury in heat 1 and it was High also getting the heat 2 win over R
J Johnson and Grombach. Northern California's Danny Olmstead raced
with the group for a second straight week and he won heat 3 over
Sherman and Wilkins. Ream's flip occurred when James Aragon drifted
up the track and he had to take evasive action. He flipped five and
a half times and his car was heavily damaged. Andy Reinbold crashed
hard into the fence in heat 3. Brian Hacker was the B Main winner
over Marty Miller, Gregg and Jeff Henry. Outside third row starter R
J Johnson got too high coming off turn 4 on the initial green flag
for the 25 lap feature. He caught the fence and flipped all the way
from the flagstand into turn 1. He got out unhurt and walked back to
the pit area. The 25 lapper then ran without a caution flag.
Grombach paced the first half of the race before Wilkins took over.
Sherman got second from Grombach two laps later and chased Wilkins
to the win. The leaders had already taken the white flag when Hacker
spun in turn 3 so they had to race around the stalled car to the
checkered flag. Seventeen of the 20 starters finished and 12 were on
the lead lap. High ran a solid third ahead of Grombach, Olmstead,
Ricky Johnson, Bernie Smith, Paul Norbury and Bugs Norbury.
With a few California visitors, the mini sprints and modified
midgets drew a season high 31 cars. Heat race action for the mini
sprint 600 group found Mike Colegrove getting the heat 1 win over
Bobby Bender and Chad Fife. Jessie Vancell won heat 2 over Stroh and
Brandon Shelton. Boat outraced Jossett and Kenny Hilton in heat 3.
Their feature race had 19 starters and 14 were still running at the
checkered flag. Jossett led 6 laps before 11 year old Boat took
over. They got into lapped traffic on lap 9 of the 20 lapper and
Boat scored his 8th win of 2004 ahead of Jossett, Stroh, Bender,
Colegrove, Hilton, Vancell and Ken Caskey. The modified midget 250
class ran a dash with Harms beating Carioscia. Brandon Young won
their lone heat race over Ron Copley and Harms. The main event had 8
startes and 7 finished. Ron Copley led all the way for the win.
Chris Willaman hit the wall hard on lap 1 for a yellow, but he
continued. Ron Copley won over Harms, Carioscia, Young and Ryan
Copley.
Summary
Modified Midget 250
Dash-Steven Harms, John Carioscia, Kevin Simington. Heat-Brandon
Young, Ron Copley, Harms, Ryan Copley, Carioscia.
Main-Ron Copley, Harms, Carioscia, Young, Ryan Copley, Doug Welty,
Chris Willaman, Simington.
Mini Sprint 600
Heat 1-Mike Colegrove, Bobby Bender, Chad Fife, Brent Yarnell, C J
Sarna.
Heat 2-Jessie Vancell, Mark Stroh, Brandon Shelton, Ken Caskey,
Dallas Caldwell.
Heat 3-Chad Boat, Robby Jossett, Kenny Hilton, Derek McCluskey,
Ronnnie Smith.
Main-Boat, Jossett, Stroh, Bender, Colegrove, Hilton, Vancell,
Caskey, Smith, Sarna, Shelton, Dave Henry, Mike Visser, Fife, Joey
Strobel, McCluskey, Yarnell, Jacob Hawkins.
ASCA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Dash-Nathan High, Eric Wilkins, Ben Gregg.
Heat 1-Bernie Smith, Chuck Buckman, Bugs Norbury, Paul Norbury,
Gregg.
Heat 2-High, R J Johnson, Willy Grombach, Ricky Johnson, Jeff Henry.
Heat 3-Danny Olmstead, Jeremy Sherman, Eric Wilkins, Davey Bateman,
Brian Hacker.
B Main-Hacker, Marty Miller, Gregg, Henry, Chris Bonneau.
A Main-Wilkins, Sherman, High, Grombach, Olmstead, Ricky Johnson,
Smith, P Norbury, B Norbury, Buckman, Henry, Gregg, Seainn
Hendrickson, Marty Miller, James Aragon, Hacker, Scott Passmore,
Bonneau, Bateman, R J Johnson.
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