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MILLER
FINDS A WAY IN ASCA SPRINT CAR FEATURE |
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Phoenix, AZ (March 29)
Marty Miller stayed perfect, Justin Fisher got his first win and Thomas Ogle
made it to the winner's circle in Saturday night's races at Manzanita Speedway.
A lot of hard driving plus a little bit of luck kept Marty Miller's undefeated Sprint Car season intact Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway. Miller, the 2000 Arizona Sprint Car Association driving champion won both his heat race and the Main event in the March 15th opener at Manzy, traveled to Perris California last week and won both his heat and main and then scored wins in both his heat race and feature Saturday night. While Miller was fast he also need a
helping hand from Lady Luck in getting his Bill and Linda Sweeney Buckley from
ninth to first. He was running third, a half lap behind the leader Charles
Davis, Jr. midway through the 25 lap race when Davis cut a tire and retired. The
yellow flag allowed the field to bunch up with Jeremy Sherman at the point.
Sherman, fresh from winning the SCRA/USAC Gary Sokola Classic, managed to
keep Miller at bay until the 22nd lap. Miller had repeatedly tried to pass
Sherman on the inside and finally tried a hard pass, pushed into Sherman shoving
him high and then went on to the win. Eric Wilkins, after losing a motor in the season opener had another bad night. With one of the owners of his car, Bob Meixsell, in a local hospital, the defending champion jumped out front at the opening green flag and was slowing pulling away from Davis, Jr. who had started on the outside of the third row, when the magneto failed as he completed the fourth lap ending his night. Davis then took over and pulled away from the field with his Fred & Evelyn Bryan Buckley. "Charging Charlie" was running about a quarter of a second faster than the rest of the field until he cut down his right rear tiee on a small piece of debris and coasted to a stop bringing out the yellow flag. Miller used the low side of the one third mile track and pulled along side Sherman in each turn but Sherman was up to the task and kept the lead. Miller drove in deep in turn one of the 22nd lap, slid wide and made contact with Sherman's Stacy Fuller owned machine. Bob Ream, Jr. was running third at the time and had to brake hard to avoid hitting Sherman. With Sherman slowing due to the blown tire Miller pulled away to a 1:47 second advantage as he flashed under Chris Odom's checkered flag. Johnson and Martin made the big moves in the feature as they started far back in the field and drove their way to sixth and seventh respectively. Johnson had won the 12 lap semi in a record time of 3:01.01 (79.58 mph) and was 17th on the grid with Martin in 19th. The 31 car field was divided into four heat
races with only Charlie Fegan unable to compete. Sherman started fourth in the
first heat and took the win over Bugs Norbury, Mike Boat and Bob Ream, Jr with a
quick move on a restart following a yellow flag that carried him past both Boat
and Ream. The second heat went to Jay Ervine who led wire to wire in beating
eighth starting Wilkins, the 1997 champion Pelkey and Desjubs, In heat #3 it was
Rob Davis leading all the way with Davis, Jason Sutphen and Nathan High
in pursuit. The final heat was a donnybrook with Miller edging Ream, John
Gaston and Kaylene Vervile. Miller was pushed to a near track record as he
tripped the clock at 1:58:53, just a tick of a clock off the eight lap record of
1:57.65 held by Wilkins. Charles Davis, Jr. made it look easy in winning the trophy dash by almost a full straightaway as he broke the five year old four lap record held by Ream. He was clocked at 59:05 lowering the standard by .70 seconds. The Sprint Cars will be switching to Manzy's half mile track for the April 5th race with the IMCA Dirt Modifieds racing on the short track. Sixteen year old Justin Fisher passed Amy Maris on the 12th lap and went on to score his first win in the Midget main event with Maris in second ahead of David Rosales, David Rosales and Cole Houser. Thomas Ogle led Danny Mathus, Jeff Greszler, Scott Pasmore and Tim Ogle to the finish line in the Mini Sprint featuree. SUMMARY Semi Main: 1. Ricky Johnson 2. Brandon Lane 3. Mike Martin 4. Joey Moriarty 5. Brian Hacker 6. Ben Gregg 7. Paul Norbury 8. Terry Belcher, Jr. 9. Jimmy Norman 10. Rick Johnson 11. Mike Kuemper 12. Chris Bonneau 13. Justin Fisher ( Time: 3.01:01–79.57 mph- New 12 lap track record) 1st Heat; 1. Bugs Norbury 2. Mike Boat 3. Jeremy Sherman 4. Bob Ream, Jr. 5. Brandon Lane 6. Joey Moriarty 7. Chris Bonneay 8. Paul Norbury 2nd Heat: 1. Jay Ervine 2. Eric Wilkins 3. Josh Pelkey 4. Shon Deskins 5. Ricky Johnson 6. Ben Gregg 7. Jimmy Norman 3rd Heat: 1. Rob Davis 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Jason Sutphen 4. Nathan High 5. Terry Belcher, Jr. 6. Mike Martin 7. Rick Johnson 8. Jeff Henry (Time: 2.04:93) 4th Heat: 1. Marty Miller 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. John Gaston 4. Kaylene Verville 5. Brian hacker 6. Mike Kuemper 7. Justin Fisher( Time: 1:58.53) Trophy Dash: 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. Marty Miller 3. Bob Ream, Jr. 4. Brandon Lane (Time; 59:05, New four lap record) FISHER GETS TO DRINK FROM THE WINNER'S
CUP Maris gave up the lead to Fisher on the 11th lap but was back in front the next time around. Then Fisher put the Capital Tree Service Midget to the front with a low side pass and stayed in front of Maris to the checkered flag. Behind the front running duo were David Rosales, Mike Courtney and rookie driver Cole Houser.Rounding out the top ten wre Robert Ellis, Dean Daly, James Tash, Terry Palmer and Dale Daly. Birmingham was a wire to wire winner in the
first heat race as he bested Leslie, Johnson and Palmer. Palmer, a former Dwarf
Car champion took his first ride in a Midget since 1987 and was impressive. The
second heat went to Elliott who won from the pole with sixth starting Maris
taking second ahead of Fisher and Tash. MIDGETS 1st Heat: 1. David Birmingham, Jr. 2. Mike Leslie 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Terry Palmer 5. David Rosales 6. Robert Ellis 7. Cole Houser 8. Dean Daly 2nd Heat: 1. Doug Elliott 2. Amy Maris 3. Justin Fisher 4. James Tash 5. Mike Courtney 6. Jim Nutter 7. Mike Welker (Time: 2.06:95) Trophy Dash: 1. David Birmingham, Jr. 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Justin Fisher 4. Mike Welker (Time: 1:04.69) OGLE SHOWS PATIENCE IN GETTING MINI
SPRINT WIN Ogle methodically worked his way to the front as he got by a slowing Palmer and then moved into second behind race long leader Kiley Fellers. Danny Mathus was also on the move as he was in fourth after starting sixth and Scott Pasmore had worked his way to fifth with a great drive from 15th. Ogle finally wrested the lead from Fellers
on the 15th lap and pulled away. Fellers lost it coming off the final turn and
that put Mathus in second with Greszler following up his second place finish in
the March 15th opener with a third place effort. Pasmore took passing honors
with a fourth place finish and Tim Ogle, the winner's father, in fifth.
Behind the top five were Mark Stroh, Brandon George, Fellers, Tony Osuch and
Rick Alexander. Dustin Carmony went wire to wire in the 10 lap semi main with Charles Mokry in third. Scott Pasmore was again the passing leader with a drive from tenth to third ahead of Scott Birdzell and Mitchell. Greszler won the trophy dash with Mathus, Palmer and Thomas Ogle in pursuit. MINI SPRINT Semi Main: 1. Dustin Carmony 2. Charles Mokry 3. Scott Pasmore 4. Scott Birdzell 5. Robert Mitchell 6. Rick Alexander 7. Tony Osuch 8. Trey Deane 9. Dale Janisse 10. Lance Petersen 11. Judd Hathaway 12. Michael Young 13. Dan Goodman 1st Heat: 1. Kiley Fellers 2. Terry Palmer 3. Dennis Parks 4. Mark Stroh 5. Dustin Carmony 6. Charles Mokry 7. Dale Janisse 8. Tony Osuch 9. Michael Young 10. Dan Goodman (Time: 2.05.78) 2nd Heat: 1. Kurt Stults 2. Thomas Ogle 3. Don Keesler 4. Jim Mattison 5. Judd Hataway 6. Rick Alexander 7. Tony Osuch 8. Robert Mobley 9. Scott Pasmore 3rd Heat: 1. Jeff Greszler 2. Brandon George 3. Tim Ogle 4. Danny Mathus 5. Scott Birdzell 6 Brian Shaw 7. Lance Petersen 8. Robert Mitchell 9. Brent Yarnell Trophy Dash: 1. Jeff Greszler 2.
Danny Matthus 3. Terry Palmer 4. Thomas Ogle 5. Kurt Stults 6. Charles Mokry
(Time: 1.04:69) |
