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| Press Release |
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THE WHIZ KID DRIVES TO VICTORY LANE |
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Phoenix, AZ (June 29) Wilkins gets win his fifth Sprint Car win, Art
Garcia outduels Cain to win the Dwarf Car feature and Jeff Henry takes Mini
Sprint Car win after Jeff Greszler is penalized in Saturday night's
tripleheader at Manzanita Speedway. Eric Wilkins was at his best and that was bad news for the rest of the Arizona Sprint Car Association field at Manzanita Speedway Saturday night. With the state's top non winged Sprint Car drivers lined up in front of him, Wilkins had his work cut out as the green flag dropped for the 25 lap ASCA feature. Bob Ream, Jr and five time champion Ricky Johnson started one row ahead of him while former champions Josh Pelkey and Marty Miller were in the fourth row. As has been his custom, "The Whiz Kid" utilized speed and caution
in working his way from his 11th starting berth to the front. His Buckley
chassis let him run either high or low on the one third mile track and he
slipped to the inside and quickly worked his way into the top five. He had the
Westgate Electric/Canyon Aparrel machine in third by the 12th lap and made a
move on the high side to get by second running Davey Bateman on lap #15. Marcum drove his Black Hills Racing sprinter off the track two laps after
losing the lead and parked it near the half mile track. "I started feeling
a vibration about ten laps into the race. Then the U-Joint let go and that was
it." Marcum told pit announcer Rick Setser. Marcum was later treated for
bruised ankles as a result of a beating from the drive shapt. Rounding out the top ten were Miller, Nathan High, Rob Davis, Jason Sutphen and Ream. Ricky Johnson and Chris Bonneau also finished on the lead lap. Wilkins gave an early indication that his car was hooked up when he finished second to Belcher in the trophy dash and then came out of the back row to win his heat race over Ream and Bateman. Pelkey won the first eight lapper as he passed Belcher on the final lap. Marcum took third. In the third heat it was Bryan with a wire to wire win over Miller and Davis. Sutphen won the 12 lap semi with rookie driver Brian Hacker getting second, High third and Darrell Sickles fourth. Wilkins padded his points lead as his closest pursers finished far back. Ricky Johnson, second in the standings ran in the top five for most of the race but jumped the cushion in the closing laps and finished 11th and third ranked Ream barely made it to the top ten. Wilkins will carry a 224 point lead over Johnson into the July 3 Action Pit Stop Firecracker 50 with Ream just one point behind Johnson, UNOFFICIAL ASCA POINT STANDINGS Main event (25 laps) 1. Eric Wilkins 2. Davey Bateman 3. Josh Pelkey
4. Jeff Henry 5. Terry Belcher, Jr. 6. Marty Miller 7. Nathan High 8. Rob Davis
9. Jason Sutphen 10. Bob Ream, Jr. 11. Ricky Johnson 12. Chris Bonneau 13. Brian
Hacker 14. Travis Cooley 15. Brandon George 16. Bobby Marcum 17. Fred Bryan 18.
John Gaston 19. Darrell Sickles 20. Ben Gregg Semi main (12 laps) 1. Jason Sutphen 2. Brian Hacker 3. Nathan High 4. Darrell Sickles 5. Brandon George 6. Travis Cooley 7. Ben Gregg 8. Chris Bonneau 9. Ron Kratz 10. Shon Deskins 1st heat: (8 laps, no time) 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Terry Belcher, Jr. 3. Bobby Marcum 4. Ricky Johnson 5. Ben Gregg 6. Chris Bonneau 7. Darrell Sickles 8. Shon Deskins 2nd heat: 8 laps-Time: 2:04.10) 1. Eric Wilkins 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. Davey Bateman 4. John Gaston 5. Jason Sutphen 6. Brian Hacker 7. Brandon George 3rd heat: (8 laps-Time: 2:06.03) 1. Fred Bryan 2. Marty Miller 3. Rob Davis 4. Jeff Henry 5. Nathan High 6. Ron Kratz 7. Travis Cooley Trophy dash; (4 laps-Time: 1:01.82) 1. Terry Belcher, Jr. 2. Eric Wilkins 3. Davey Bateman 4. Bob Ream, Jr. PENALTY COSTS GRESZLER HIS WIRE TO WIRE WIN Greszler started third on a track that was still heavy and slick after water had been added during intermission and had the lead midway down the back straightaway of the first lap. The veteran drivers had little trouble mastering the tricky track and the newer drivers found the right groove after a couple of early yellow flags. Henry used both grooves in moving from his fifth row starting berth but by the time he broke into second, Greszler was long gone. "I had nothing left for Jeff and he deserved to win. I hate to see the penalty, but I will take a win any way I can get it," he said in accepting the main event trophy. Dustin Carmony was disqualified for failing to ever take his car to tech and lost his fourth place finish. Mark Stroh was the official fourth place finisher and Thomas Ogle took fifth. Behind them came Dennis Parks, Don Keesler, Terry Palmer, Alex Pruett and Kevin Wolfe. Ogle came out of the second row to win the semi main over Pruett and Jim
Preble. Danny Mathus set a new eight lap record in winning his heat race.
His time of 2:01.84 was almost two full seconds faster than the old mark of
2:03.75 held by Alexander. Duane Adams and Palmer trailed the record setter.
Parks captured the first heat with Alexander and Greszler in pursuit and Jeff
Perry beat Stroh and Carmony in the final heat. MINI SPRINT CAR SUMMARY 1st heat: (8 laps-Time: 2:06.10) 1. Dennis Parks 2. Dave Alexander 3.
Jeff Greszler 4. Jeff Henry 5. Don Keesler 6. Matt Bowman 7. Chris Day 8. Jim
Mattison 9. Cole Hauser 3rd heat: (8 laps-Time: 2:05.13) 1. Jeff Perry 2. Mark Stroh 3. Dustin
Carmony 4. Kurt Stults 5. Thomas Ogle 6. Alex Pruett 7. Kiley Fellers 8. Mike
Kuemper GARCIA EDGES CAIN FOR HIS SECOND WIN Cain, the current points leader and five time champion, got to the front in a hurry. He started the 15 lap feature in the sixth row but had the lead on the third lap as he passed Matt Lund on a restart following a two car mishap. Garcia, who started one row in front of Cain, was also on the move and took second away from away from Lund on the fourth lap and three laps later he used the high side of the one third mile track to wrest the lead from Cain. Cain continued to use the bottom of the track and pulled even with Garcia
through each turn only to see the high grooving Garcia pull away as they exited
the turns. Dino Soto briefly slipped into second on the 12th lap but Cain blew
back by a lap later. He drove it in deep on the final lap but Garcia was still
in front at the checkered flag. Soto took third, Sandy Matthews fourth and Lund
hung on for fifth. The rest of the top ten were Tony Martin, David Brodeur, Rick
Kochanowski, Kevin Stalbaum and Denny Dawty. DESERT DWARF CAR SUMMARY Semi main (10 laps, No time) 1. Paul Taylor 2. Randy Paris 3. Helen Henesey 4. Randi Phillips 5. Dennis Wutzke 6. Roger Dvork 7. Theron Bobbitt 8. Travis Seals 9. Tim Jones (DNS-Dennis Foxx) 1st heat: 8 laps-No time) 1. Pat Henesey 2. Casey Cain 3. Matt Lund 4. Denny Dawty 5. Bryan Henesey 6. Helen Henesey 7. Dennis Foxx 8. Randi Phillips 9. Randy Anderson 2nd heat: (8 laps-Time:2:30.48) 1. Dino Soto 2. Kevin Cain 3. Sandy Matthews 4. Kevin Stalbaum 5. Rick Kochanowski 6. Storm Phillips 7. Randy Paris 8. Travis Seals 9. Theron Bobbitt 3rd heat: ( 8 laps-Time: 2:31.75) 1. Art Garcia 2. Tony Martin 3. George Rosnick 4. Larry Ricker 5. David Brodeur 6. Paul Taylor 7. Tim Jones 8. Dennis Wutzke 9. Roger Dvork Trophy dash (4 laps-Time:1:18.57) 1. Tony Martin 2. Rick Kochanowski 3. George Rosnick 4. Larry Ricker |
