|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
HENRY
UPSETS SPRINT CAR FIELD |
|
Phoenix, AZ (April 12) All three winners in Saturday nights open wheel
tripleheader had to ask directions on how to get to the winner's circle since it
was a new experience for each of them.
With the entire field pushing the cushion on Manzanita Speedway's one third mile track passing was at a premium and the defending champion Eric Wilkins was out front it appeared that he was on the way to his first win of the year. However Jeff Henry who had been holding off the rest of the pack found something a little lower on the track and wrested the lead from Wilkins on the 17th lap. Wilkins stayed on top of the track and Chuck Buckman, making his first start of the year and Charles Davis, Jr. dropped him further back. Buckman was the first to find the lower groove. He was running fifth when the
race was slowed due to a spin by Davey Bateman on the 15th lap but quickly moved
past Josh Pelkey, Wilkins and Davis who all dropped down a bit for the final
five laps. Buckman took second on the 18th lap but had to look at the tail section of the Robbie Allen/Steve Coury Pontiac, Buick GMC Buckley in the closing laps. Davis managed to get by Wilkins and applied pressure to Buckman who stood his ground and Davis took third. Wilkins was fourth at the line with Josh Pelkey taking fifth. Rounding out the top ten in the Fast Track feature were Joey Moriarity, Tony Smiley, Ricky Johnson, Bob Ream, Jr. and Paul Norbury. Davis continued his assault on the record book as he blistered the one third mile track for two new records. In the past three events the two time champion has now lowered marks four times. Bob Ream, Jr.'s four lap record on the short track stood for over three years and appeared unbreakable. Davis knocked .70 seconds off the Ream's record with a blistering 59.05 on March 29th as he averaged 14.762 per lap. Most pundits felt that his record would stand good for years. However Davis was even faster Saturday night as he pushed the Evelyn BryanF&E Development Buckley to a mark almost a full second quicker in the Arizona Race Mart Trophy dash. He stopped the clock at 58:09, a a14.522 average. He was not through and went even faster in his eight lap heat race. He bettered the standard of 1:57.65 set by Wilkins in March of ‘02 as he averaged 14.411 (83.267 mph) for a total time of 1:55.29. That is just a tick of the clock off the 410 Sprint Car record of 14.442 held by Tony Elliott. Davis also set a four lap record on the half mile track last week. In addition to those heroics Davis also assumed the points lead as he jumped past Josh Pelkey, Bob Ream, Ricky Johnson and the idled Marty Miller. Ream won the first heat race as he came out of the third row to beat Johnson and Pelkey. Behind Davis in the second heat were Jay Ervine and Wilkins. Tony Smiley took care of Henry and Buckman in winning the final heat. Bugs Norbury scored his second semi main win of the year as he beat his brother Paul as well as Brian Hacker, Jesse Dunham and Jimmy Norman. SUMMARY ASCA SPRINT CARS Main Event: Semi Main: 1st Heat: 3rd Heat: Trophy Dash: EVERYTHING ROSY FOR ROSALES IN MIDGET WIN Rosales found the high groove early and moved from his third row starting berth early. He was second by the fourth lap and then, after racing side by side for the lead for two laps, took control on the eighth lap. Even though the field was bunch a couple of times for harmless spins, Rosales' lead was never seriously challenged but the battle for second was a donnybrook as Chris Edwards was on the high side with Birmingham, Justin Fisher and R.J. Johnson dicing. Edwards went off the track in turn four, dropped to sixth but managed to climb back to fifth at the checkered flag. It was Rosales by 1.03 seconds at the line with Birmingham, Fisher and last year's champion Johnson in that order. Rounding out the top ten were Doug Elliott who came back strong after his crash in the opener, Jay Rosales, Robert Ellis, Darren Hagen and Cole Houser. Hagen was at the wheel of one of the Ford Focus cars and, although down on power, ran well with the locals. Mike Leslie won the first heat from the front row as he held off third row starters Edwards and Fisher. The second heat went Birmingham who bested Elliott and D. Rosales. Mike Courtney won the trophy dash. AMRA MIDGETS Main event: 1st Heat: 2nd Heat: Trophy Dash: The #70 he was referring to was Dustin Carmony who started sixth and was about five car lengths back until he closed on the final circuit but fell short of making the pass on Fellers' Budget Signs/Arizona Race Mart entry. Tim Ogle got by Scott Pasmore on the 18th lap after they had traded positions a couple of times and finished third. Pasmore, who started 10th, finished fourth for the second straight race at Manzy with Brent Yarnal in fifth. Rookie driver Tony Usuch was the night's hard charger with a great drive from 23rd to sixth. The rest of the top ten were Dave Alexander, Don Keesler, Rick Alexander and Jessica Patterson. Tim Ogle barely edged his son Thomas in winning the first heat race with Jeff Greszler in third. Danny Mathus topped Fellers and Brandon George in the second heat while Carmony was better than Joey Parks and Keesler in the final heat. Dave Alexander won the trophy dash. AMSRA MINI SPRINTS Main Event: 1st Heat: 2nd Heat: 3rd Heat: Trophy Dash: |
