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2003 VISIT TO MANZANITA SPEEDWAY by Norm Bogan |
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When Copper World comes to Phoenix, its time for the season opening SCRA show at Manzanita. This event has become known as the “Gary Sokola Classic”, named in memory of the former CRA and USAC Competition Director. The two-day show found forty-five cars on hand on Friday night, with thirty-nine returning for the Saturday night finale. Storms had preceded the SCRA racers in the journey across the desert and Manzy had been inundated early in the week making track preparation tricky for the opening show. Friday night, Bob Ream Jr. set fast time. The heats were somewhat racy, but the track surface was pretty narrow, thus very little passing. After the Semi, they lined up the “A” Main with Richard Griffin securing the pole position from his victory in the Passing Masters Dash. Many of the frontrunners just ran in place on Friday night, with competitors like Cory Kruseman, Damion Gardner, Rip Williams and others struggling in the back half of the pack. The Gasman was able to collect the spoils, followed by an outstanding effort from Charles Davis Jr., who has persevered through some hard luck over the past half year. Point leader Troy Rutherford came home third followed by fast timer Bob Ream. These four drivers secured starting spots in the Grand Feature on Saturday night, but others would have to re-qualify and run heats to gain starting spots. Saturday greeted the teams with a much better racing surface. It was wide enough for passing and dicing amongst the racers. Mike English timed in fast this evening and while missing the transfer from the heats, came back to lead the charge in the “B” Main. Richard Griffin again captured the pole from the Passing Masters Dash and took the early lead in the feature until a bobble let Troy Rutherford have the point. Troy appeared to be on the way to victory, when he jumped the cushion in turn three and after recovering, came in fourth. Jeremy Sherman could be known as the “Master of Manzy” as he garnered the lead and fought off challenges from Griffin to collect his second Gary Sokola Classic. Tracy Hines, wheeling a second Priestly car finishing third, followed by his teammate, Rutherford. Several spectacular crashes occurred this weekend. J.D. Vance tangled with another car at the start of a race on Friday and flipped up against the front stretch wall. The front axle from his car flew off and over the catch fence, landing in front of the turn four grandstands. Luckily, no one was injured. Friday also saw Steve Ostling break a front axle going into turn one, with the nose digging in and cart wheeling into the turn one wall. Steve was okay, but the chassis was somewhat rearranged. The crew worked hard to bend and tweak the chassis so that they could return on Saturday. Saturday evening saw Bobby Cody get into the turn two wall and do serious damage to another chassis. Perhaps, Nick Lima experienced the most spectacular crash of the weekend, coming off turn four when the car drifted into the main straightaway wall. The right rear tried to take a bite out of the wall and Nick went into a series of about six endos, before landing on his wheels going into turn one. Lima seemed okay after the races, but his Dad reported that later in the week, Nick suffered from some racer’s arthritis and a slight concussion. Sherman has been so dominant at Manzanita and struggled at most of the other tracks, suffering a number of mechanical failures. Jeremy has exhibited a lot of talent since his rookie season with SCRA and may soon break out from his Manzy jinx and start winning at other tracks. Capitalizing on the crowd from the Copper World at PIR, Manzanita had good crowds on both Friday and Saturday. Many fans that came to see their heroes at the one-mile macadam, found real racing in the dirt after the sun went down. |
