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MILLER AND WILKINS COLLIDE. STILL RUN 1-2 IN
SPRINT CAR FEATURE |
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Phoenix, AZ (August 24) The 86 drivers on hand for Manzanita Speedway's
51st Anniversary Races let it all hang out Saturday night, much to the
delight of the near capacity crowd. Marty Miller and Anthony Madrid each won
thrillers on the half mile track while Dustin Carmony and Steve Sussex, Jr. were
the best on the short track. A down to the wire battle in the 25 lap Arizona Sprint Car Association feature on Manzy's half mile track between the 2000 champion Marty Miller and current points leader Eric Wilkins ended with Wilkins bouncing off the wall just short of the checkered flag after the two made contact exiting the final turn. Miller managed to stay straight and take the win and Wilkins regained enough control to pad his points lead with a second place finsh. With the top 12 drivers were inverted by point average for the feature, Mike Martin lined up on the outside of the front row and beat rookie driver Brandon George into the first turn. With the top drivers mired back in the middle of the 20 car field, Martin kept his Naquin Precision Earth Moving 360 c.i. sprinter out front. Terry Belcher, Jr. slipped past George on the sixth lap and Miller, who started ninth, followed him through with eighth starting Josh Pelkey moving to fourth. Martin had built a one second lead on the field but Miller got by Belcher on the ninth lap and the five car battle for second cut into the lead. Miller was working on Martin for the lead when Rick Byler flipped while working the 13th lap. Byler climbed from his Lazy Lou's Fish & Chips car uninjured but his night ended after he had worked his way into the top ten after starting 17th. Martin, who is usually strong on restarts, apparently missed the green flag and the cars, bunched up behind him, shot past. One of the cars made heavy contact with Martin, wiping out the front end. He careen down the front straightaway and into the infield retaining car ending his effort. The tight field slowed for the crash but some drivers were rear ended and that resulted in Ricky Johnson flipping his new Ellis car. Even though the five time champion did at least two rolls, his crew repaired most of the damage and he rejoined the field. However Nathan High, who was pushed into Johnson and then hit the wall, was through. Miller inherited the lead and kept his WJS Development Buckley in front while Wilkins, who started 12th was fighting his way to the front. He took several laps getting by Pelkey and then Belcher and by that time Miller had a sizable lead. Wilkins went to work whittling into the margin but did not get into position to challenge for the lead until the final laps. He went to the outside in turns three and four but Miller was in traffic. He moved to pass a slower car and Wilkins was alongside trying for the lead. The two cars bumped with Wilkins' Canyon Apparel Buckley slamming the wall. Miller stayed straight and took the checkered flag for his second win of the year. A disappointed Wilkins recovered to finish second and expand his points lead with his 15th top five finish in his 17 starts. Belcher, who has three career wins, had his best finish of the year as took the checkered flag in third in his Pritchett Metal Products Buckley, Pelkey, the 1997 champion, picked up his ninth top five finish by beating Jeremy Sherman, who was celebrating his birthday taking fifth after starting 14th. The rest of the top ten were Charles Davis, Jr., Bob Ream, Jr., Chuck Buckman, Davey Bateman and Jeff Henry. Paul Norbury won the trophy dash and followed that up with a win over Sherman and Davis in the semi main. Wilkins started the evening with a 440 point lead over Ream and added forty points to his margin. Miller moved past Johnson into third but he trails by 675 points.With Johnson credited with a 15th place finish, he also dropped behind Pelkey. SUMMARY–51st ANNIVERSARY RACES ARIZONA SPRINT CAR ASSOCIATION (½ MILE TRACK) Main event: 1. Marty Miller 2. Eric Wilkins 3. Terry Belcher, Jr. 4. Josh Pelkey 5. Jeremy Sherman 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 7. Bob Ream, Jr. 8. Chuck Buckman 9. Davey Bateman 10. Jeff Henry 11. Brandon George 12. Paul Norbury 13. Travis Cooley 14. Ryan Linder 15. Ricky Johnson 16. John Gaston 17. Jason Sutphen 18. Mike Martin 19. Nathan High 20. Rick Byler Lap Leaders: Laps 1-12, Martin—Laps 13-25, Miller Semi main: 1. Paul Norbury 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Charles Davis, Jr. 4. Travis Cooley 5. Rick Byler 6. John Gaston 7. Ryan Linder 8. Nathan High 9. Ronnie Clark 10. Jay Ervine 11. J.T. Imperial 12. Kim Deal 13. Lonnie Sherman 14. Tony Smiley 15. Michael Bryan 16. Bernie Smith 17. Shon Deskins 18. Chris Bonneau Trophy dash; 1. Paul Norbury 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Chuck Buckman 4. Bob Ream, Jr. UNOFFICIAL ASCA SPRINT CAR POINT 1. Eric Wilkins 3710 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3230 3. Marty Miller 3035 4. Josh Pelkey 2995 5. Ricky Johnson 2966 6. Jeff Henry 2870 7. Terry Belcher, Jr. 2549 8. Davey Bateman 2398 9. Jason Sutphen 2300 10. Fred Bryan 2025 MADRID AND BELCHER, JR. HOOK IT UP WITH MADRID GETTING THERE FIRST Anthony Madrid appears to be a man on a mission and the thought of breaking a record held by the legendary Lealand McSpadden may have helped him hold off a hard charging Terry Belcher, Jr. for his third IMCA Dirt Modified race of the year. Madrid, who had won his 15th Factory Stock Car feature in the Friday night part of the 51st Anniversay races to move to within seven wins of McSpadden's record of 25 wins in a season set back in 1977. The 15 lap main event on the half mile track was line up straight up by points and that put Madrid on the outside of the second row. Darren Williams outjumped points leader Ricky Thornton at the drop of the green and Madrid followed him to take over second. Williams appeared unbeatable with Madrid in pursuit but his Hollywood Body & Paint car had problems while working the fourth lap and he called it a night. That gave the lead to Madrid with Thornton and Joe Warner giving chase. However, all eyes were on Belcher, Jr. who had started 11th and was threading his way through the field. He finally took over the second spot with five laps remaining and he was closing fast on Madrid. Even though the race was slowed for a harmless spin allowing Junior to close up on his rear bumper, Anthony was up to the challenge. Junior got the nose of his Hatfield Racing modified in front to lead the 11th lap but Madrid used the high side to reclaim the lead exiting turn two. Junior threw everything he had at Madrid but was unable to pull off the pass and trailed by a car length at the finish line. Warner, who dropped back early, roared back to take the third place money while Thornton's fourth place finish kept him atop the points standings. Terry Belcher made a pit stop before the green and dropped to the back of the 23 car field. He put on a driving clinic and moved all the way to fifth. Behind the top five were Jason Black, Ron Funk, Jeff Gibson, Jeremy Thornton and Shawn Zalenka. Jeremy Thornton, who won his only trophy dash in the Bombers in last year's Anniversary races, did the same this year as he beat Fun, Mike Ostrom and Dave Van Bruggen in the year's only dash for the Modifieds. IMCA DIRT MODIFIEDS (½ MILE TRACK) Main event: 1. Anthony Madrid 2. Terry Belcher, Jr. 3. Joe Warner 4. Ricky Thornton 5. Terry Belcher 6. Jason Black 7. Ron Funk 8. Jeff Gibson 9. Jeremy Thornton 10. Shawn Zalenka 11. John Cornell 12. R.C. Whitwell 13. Greg Lemon 14. Tony Miller 15. Steven Adams 16. Mike Ostrom 17. Mark Harrison 18. Brandon Eichelberger 19. Dave Van Bruggen 20. Chris Huneycutt 21. Darin Center 22. Jason Noll 23. Darren Williams Lap Leaders: 1-3, Williams–Laps 4-10, Madrid–Lap 11, Belcher, Jr–Laps 13-15, Madrid Trophy dash: 1. Jeremy Thornton 2. Ron Funk 3. Mike Ostrom 4. Dave Van Bruggen UNOFFICIAL IMCA DIRT MODIFIED POINTS 1. Ricky Thornton 588 2. Joe Warner 570 3. Darren Williams 563 4. Anthony Madrid 555 5. Jason Black 543 6. Darin Center 511 7. Terry Belcher 487 8. John Cornell 473 9. R.C. Whitwell 434 10. Jason Noll 425 CARMONY MAKES IT TWO IN ROW Sixteen year old Dustin Carmony shared the front row with four time winner Charles Mokry but was undaunted by the challenge as he beat Mokry into the first turn and never looked back in winning the 20 lap Mini Sprint Car feature in near record time. It was his second straight win on Manzy's one third mile track Carmony's wire to wire win gave him 38 consecutive laps that he has led in his two wins.The heavy traffic in the closing laps slowed his pace just enough that he missed the record by fourteen seconds. Mokry fell back in the early laps, roared back to challenge Carmony but was still four car lengths back at the checkered flag. Jeff Greszler, a three time winner drove from fifth to finish third with Dennis Parks taking fourth. Thomas Ogle, a former winner, made a great drive from 14to to claim fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Terry Palmer, Kiley Fellers, Danny Mathus, Mark Stroh and Jeff Perry. Rookie driver Alex Pruett captured the trophy dash over Parks, Greszler and Ogle. MINI SPRINT CARS ( 1/3 MILE TRACK) Main event: 1. Dustin Carmony 2. Charles Mokry 3. Jeff Greszler 4. Dennis Parks 5. Thomas Ogle 6. Terry Palmer 7. Kiley Fellers 8. Danny Mathus 9. Mark Stroh 10. Jeff Perry 11. Scott Pasmore 12. Alex Pruett 13. Jeff Henry 14. Mike Kuemper 15. Jim Prebble 16. Don Kesler 17. Tim Ogle 18. Rick Alexander 19. Jim Mattison 20. Duane Adams Lap Leaders: 1-20, Carmony Trophy dash: 1. Alex Pruett 2. Dennis Parks 3. Jeff Greszler 4. Thomas Ogle SUSSEX TAKES THE KAREN ELLIS MIDGET TO ITS THIRD WIN OF THE YEAR Steve Sussex, Jr., the 2000 Kenz & Leslie BG Midget series champion took his first ride in the Karen Ellis Midget and, like Kevin Doty and Ron Clark did before him, took the car to the winner's cirlce. It was another short field as several cars that were expected to be ready still had not made the cars ready for competition. Rookie driver Doug Elliott, one of ten drivers that have won in the Midgets this year, led the first two laps then gave way to Sussex who took the green flag from the second row. Once out front, only a couple of yellow flags let the field stay close. While Sussex was building his lead, the battle for the other positions was fierce as Elliott dropped back while David Birmingham, Jr., Justin Fisher, R.J. Johnson and Mike Leslie were swapping positions. Leslie, ranked third in points, moved by Johnson, then slipped past Fisher. He finally got by Birmingham, the defending champion, and set his sights on Sussex. Sussex was up to the challenge and kept the Ellis car in front to score his second win of the year. Birmingham took took third with Fisher and Johnson trailing. Elliott was sixth followed by trophy dash winner Mike Welker, Amy Maris, Scott Mears and Mike Courtney. Fisher picked up only two points on Johnson and still trails the leader by 108 points with only three races remaining on the schedule. Leslie is only three point behind Fisher. Should either Johnson or Fisher emerge as the champion they would be the youngest to win a title in the 51 year history of Manzy. KENZ & LESLIE BG MIDGET SERIES Main event: 1.Steve Sussex, Jr. 2. Mike Leslie 3. David Birmingham, Jr. 4. Justin Fisher 5. R.J. Johnson 6. Doug Elliott 7. Mike Welker 8. Amy Maris 9. Scott Mears 10. Mike Courtney 11. Dean Daly Lap Leaders: Laps 1-2, Elliott–Laps 3-20, Sussex Trophy dash: 1. Mike Welker 2. Mike Leslie 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Justin Fisher UNOFFICIAL KENZ & LESLIE BG MIDGET POINTS 1. R.J. Johnson 988 2. Justin Fisher 880 3. Mike Leslie 877 4. Mike Welker 841 5. David Birmingham, Jr.814 6. Chris Edwards 760 7. Doug Elliott 688 8. Adam Young 661 9. Steve Sussex, Jr. 598 10. Dale Daly 513 |
