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Wins Bandit Main Event by Ron Rodda |
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Sprints - Rebel Cup & Bandits, IMCA Modifieds |
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(Hanford CA…April 6) Chris
D’Arcy received one break and make the rest happen himself when he won his
first main event ever Saturday at Kings Speedway in the Rebel Cup contest.
D’Arcy edged Tim Worth at the line by inches in a thrilling drive by
the former San Jose Speedway rookie of the year.
Jimmy Thompson won the nonwing Bandit sprint main event and Tim Clark
dominated the IMCA modified headliner in the well presented event.
A field of 20 winged Rebel sprints tested the clock and Lawrence Edlund
led the way with a 13.800 time while Worth, D’Arcy, Danny Faria Jr., and Andy
Ferris were also in the 13.8 bracket. A
trio of heats went to Craig Stidham, Worth, and Kurt Nelson before a six
inversion put Luke Bebereia and Ferris on the front row while D. Faria and
D’Arcy sat in row two.
The first start wasn’t acceptable and Mark Barroso suffered damage in
the resulting shuffle. Only one lap was scored before Robbie Lowder flipped hard off
of turn one as Kirk Sargent turned over his mount on the backstretch.
Bebereia led that initial circle and quickly stormed out to a big
advantage in the early laps. As the race approached the 15 lap halfway mark, there was
obviously no catching Bebereia, but the action well behind his 6K sprint was
very intense. Ferris, Worth, and
D’Arcy furiously raced for 2nd place honors as the trio raced together,
swapping positions repeatedly.
As Bebereia ran his favorite groove wide open at the top of turns 3 and 4
for the 18th time, his steering box broke, sending the dominant car of the night
into the tires guarding the turn four wall.
Stunned by the impact, Bebereia was able to climb from the injured car
and a certain win was gone.
Bebereia’s misfortune instantly created a huge battle for inheritance
rights to the lead. Worth, having been in 2nd when Bebereia crashed, assumed the
lead and D’Arcy mounted numerous charges, all in vain as he tried to keep
worth from winning two in a row. D’Arcy
would draw close running an all out effort, but either slip in turn two or even
a brush with the turn four wall would see him lose ground to Worth.
As the last pair of laps were unfolding, Worth ran into lapped traffic
and slowed enough to give D’Arcy time to catch up once again, setting up the
thrilling finish. As the pair hit
turn four for the last time, D’Arcy challenged the wall again and squeezed
past Worth on the outside as they race to the checkers, edging Worth by less
than a foot. Ferris ran a fine race
to come in 3rd while Lawrence Edlund was 4tha ahead of Nelson.
A field of 23 nonwing Bandit sprints appeared and Gene Manhire was
fastest with a 15.724 effort. Three
heats were claimed by Dale Cross, Jeff Fiscus, and Aaron Altaffer and an invert
8 assembly put Altaffer and Jason Yount on the first row as Thompson started
fifth.
Yount led the first three before Thompson leaped from 3rd to first in one
lap, using the low areas of turns two and four for the advancements.
Once in front, Thompson was able to establish a comfortable lead for the
last 17 laps for the win. Behind
him, A. J. Burgin moved into 2nd a lap after Thompson had taken the lead and
held the spot for the remained of the laps.
Scott Nail started 7th, dropped back from that location, and charged the
last half of the race for a 3rd finish. Nail
and Manhire raced hard together for the last podium spot before Nail prevailed,
leaving Manhire in 4th ahead of Davey Pombo.
Only one yellow slowed their pace.
The IMCA modifieds brought 20 cars and their heats went to Joe Chapman,
Tom Stidham, and Jimmy Reeves.
Sixteen started their 20 lap main with A. J. Wright and Reeves on the
front row while Tim Clark lined up 4th. Clark
used a superb effort in turn two to split two cars and had the lead by the time
the field hit the backstretch. Clark
was untouchable from that point on and only 4 yellows slowed the Watsonville
based driver.
Reeves, Bryan Burnes, and Marcus Aue had their own tussle behind Clark
and Burnes took runnerup honors, holding the spot the last 11 laps after Reeves
ventured off of the backstretch momentarily.
Aue got by Reeves on lap 14 to finish 3rd ahead of Reeves and Chapman.
Two time prior winner, Lonnie Lacy, was 4th on lap 14 when he was
squeezed up high and went into the neverlands of turn 3 and later suffered a
flat.
The track announced that the September 7th IMCA modified night will be
replaced by running the division on April 27th.
Rebel sprints IMCA
Modifieds |
