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SHERMAN MAKES IT FIVE IN A ROW IN ASCA SPRINTS |
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Phoenix, AZ (October 4) The old Pepsodent toothpaste commercial stated “You will wonder where the yellow went”. After Saturday nights races at Manzanita Speedway fans can quit wondering. The yellow showed up for the open wheel tripleheader as the combined 71 car field could seldom run more than five laps without a car stalling or crashing. When they were racing it was fierce as the battle for points is in its final days and that may have added to the contact between cars whether they were Sprints, Midgets or Mini Sprints.
Starting 17th in the Sprint Car feature was no problem for Jeremy Sherman who drove through the field to take the lead at the midpoint of the 25 lap feature on Manzanita Speedway’s one third mile track. For Sherman it marked his eighth Arizona Sprint Car Association win of the year. He also has five Midget Car wins and one win with the California sprinters. He stretched his ASCA win streak to five as he finished ahead of Nathan High, Davey Bateman, Mike Leslie who was making his first Sprint Car start and 1998 champion Bob Ream, Jr.
Rookie driver Willy Grombach beat Mike Boat into the first turn and led the first three laps before yielding to Matthew Rossi who survived a yellow flag restart following a two car incident involving Josh Pelkey who ran up and almost over a spinning Jeff Branaman. Pelkey was able to continue and keep his championship hopes alive. Rossi stayed in front and led until he had problems on the seventh lap and went off the end of the track in turn one.
Mike Martin, driving one of his best races ever diced with High and took the lead when Rossi exited the race. While working lap 12 High tried a low side pass for the lead and the two cars made contact sending Martin’s car flipping end over end. Although his Naquin Precision Earth Moving sprinter suffered extensive damage, Martin was uninjured.
On the restart following the red flag for the crash Sherman shot by High for a lead he never relinquished. Most eyes were centered back in the field where Ricky Johnson who had a 31 point lead heading into the feature was running just in front of Pelkey, the only driver with a shot at overtaking the five time Sprint Car champion.
Pelkey picked his way toward the front and when the yellow came out on the 19th lap when Joey Moriarity shot off the end of the track, Pelkey was four positions ahead of Johnson. Pelkey, the 1997 champion moved all the way to third but made contact trying to take over second, hit the back straightway wall and flipped his J.D. Byrider of Glendale Buckley. The field was already so decimated that Pelkey was credited with an 12th place finish which awards 90 points.
Johnson went to work and brought the Weiler Farms Ellis car home in sixth which expanded his lead over Pelkey to 61 (3431-3370) with only the October 18 Buddy Taylor Memorial on the half mile track remaining. Asley Corey took seventh, Jay Ervine was eighth. Eric Wilkins, the defending champion was running third at the white flag but spun due to contact and took ninth ahead of Moriarity. Johnson scored his third heat win of the year when he went wire to wire to beat Pelkey, Wilkins and Bateman in the first heat. High also used the pole to good advantage in the second heat when he bested Martin, Ream and Branaman. The third heat went to another front row started with Moriarity finishing ahead of Mike Boat, Grombach and J.T. Imperial. Although running on only seven cylinders Rossi came out of the third row to beat Ervine, Justin Fisher and Darren Hagen. Despite all his successes, Sherman’s Parker Stores Trophy Dash win was his first of the year.
SPRINT CAR RESULTS Main Event: Lap Leaders: laps 1-3 Grombach, laps 4-7 Rossi, laps 8-12 Martin, laps 13-25 Sherman
Semi Main:
1st
Heat:
2nd
Heat:
3rd
Heat:
4th
Heat:
Trophy Dash:
UNOFFICIAL ASCA POINTS 1. Ricky Johnson 3431 2. Josh Pelkey 3370 3. Eric Wilkins 3106 4. Jeremy Sherman 2969 5. Jay Ervine 2767 6. Bugs Norbury 2665 7. Davey Bateman 2 635 8. R.J. Johnson 2503 9. Paul Norbury 2469 10. Jeff Henry 2413
LESLIE BEATS MIDGET FIELD FOR HIS SECOND WIN OF THE YEAR
For the second straight race the lead in the Midget feature was like a hot potato as three drivers produced six lead changes with Mike Leslie finally leading the final three laps for his second win of the year.
Mike Courtney shot out of the second row to lead the first three laps then Leslie, who started fourth put his Kenz & Leslie/BG Chemicals car in front for a couple of laps but had trouble getting off turn two and Courtney blasted by on the outside to regain the point. However Leslie was back in front for lap seven and the former Dwarf Car champion Terry Palmer, up from 11th squeezed by on the inside to lead the 12th lap. Leslie was not to be denied as he regained the lead and brought it home three laps later.
Palmer finished second with Courtney applying pressure. David Birmingham, Jr. crossed the line in fourth and David Rosales was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Cole Houser, Bobby Ellis, Jesse Turner, Amy Maris and Justin Fisher. It was a tough night for the defending champion and points leader R. J. Johnson. He broke in the trophy dash and parked his Weiler Farms Ellis for the night. Dave Ellis talked things over with his driver, Jeremy Sherman, and they decided to put R.J. in the car that had carried Sherman to five wins.
R. J. got a feel for the car in the second heat race and finished third behind Leslie and Houser. Only three cars started the second heat out of the scheduled seven and Birmingham, Jr. bested Courtney and Maris. Johnson entered the main event one point behind Birmingham who had earlier won the Cantera Homes trophy dash. His chances of regaining the lead appeared good when Birmingham was tapped in the feature and spun. He tagged the field and was working his way back to the front runners when Palmer inadvertently tapped Johnson and sent him spinning. Johnson tagged the field but the steering was damaged and he parked the Ellis car just short of the turn two wall. He was credited with 11th and that, coupled with Birmingham’s fourth place finish leaves him facing a 23 point deficit heading into the season finale, the Buddy Taylor Memorial in two weeks.
AMRA MIDGET RESULTS Main Event: Lap Leaders: laps 1-3 Courtney, laps 4-5 Leslie, lap 6 Courtney, laps 7-11 Leslie lap 12 Palmer, laps 13-15 Leslie
1st
Heat:
2nd Heat:
Trophy Dash:
UNOFFICIAL AMRA POINTS 1. David Birmingham, Jr. 815 2. R.J. Johnson 791 3. David Rosales 765 4. Justin Fisher 745 5. Bobby Ellis 687 6. Mike Leslie 681 7. Cole Houser 642 8. Terry Palmer 631 9. Mike Courtney 621 10. Adam Young 437
After getting his first win of the year in the previous race on September 13, Danny Mathus dominated the 25 car field of Mini Sprints to make it two in a row. By winning the second heat Mathus started on the outside of the front row and steadily pulled away from the pack. His lead was reduced several times due to yellow or red flags but at each restart he proved to have the best car on the track. He dueld early with Tim Ogle with Dustin Carmony and Jim Prebble in pursuit. Prebble was involved in one of the incidents and dropped out of the race and Thomas Ogle moved up to challenge his father for the second spot and Carmony dropped back to fourth. They were still running in that order when the checkered flag dropped on the 20th lap. Tony Osuch, the leading rookie,came out of the fourth row to nail down fifth. Runaway points leader Jeff Greszler took sixth and behind him were Dallas Caldwell, making his first start, Dave Alexander, Dennis Parks and Kiley Fellers
Judd Hathaway captured the 12 lap semi over Alexander, Robert Mobley, Brian Shaw and Caldwell. Tim Ogle bested Prebble, Osuch and Parks in the first heat race. Mathus came from fourth to first on the opening lap of the second heat and had Scott Birdzell, Gresler and Fellers trailing. The final heat was won by Carmony who used one of his patented final turn charges to nip Thomas Ogle at the line. Mark Stroh was third ahead of Terry Cornwell. Carmony won the Parker Stores trophy dash over Fellers, Jim Mattison and Stroh.
AMSCA RESULTS
Main Event:
Semi Main: 1st
Heat:
2nd
Heat:
3rd
Heat:
Trophy Dash: |
