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SHERMAN SPECTACULAR IN SOKOLA CLASSIC WIN |
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PHOENIX, AZ, MARCH 21, 2003 - Jeremy Sherman charged his way from the 15th starting position to win his second consecutive Gary Sokola Classic Saturday at Keith Hall's Manzanita Speedway. After gathering his eighth career NAPA / Auto Trader Magazines Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA) victory, Sherman dedicated the win to one of his racing heroes who is currently battling some health problems. "Lealand McSpadden has been sick, and I don't know how many times I came out here and watched him," Sherman said of the 1995 SCRA Champion. "I learned so much watching him come from the back to win. We just wish him well and wanted him to know that this one is for him." Richard Griffin, who took over the driving duties in the Ron Chaffin sprinter after McSpadden's retirement, won the JE Pistons Dash and occupied the front row with Charles Davis, Jr. for the second night in a row. Much like he did the night before, Griffin easily won the race to the green flag. Davis didn't get the best of starts and dropped to fourth behind Troy Rutherford and J.J. Yeley on the opening lap. Bobby Cody's sophomore jinx continued on lap three when he flipped through the first turn after climbing the right rear tire of another car. Cody was not hurt by his third flip in four starts and was given the Hedman Hedders Hard Luck Award for his troubles. As Griffin paced the field after the restart, Sherman quickly showed that his Dave Ellis Race Cars No. 21 could pass nearly anywhere. In fact, "The Shermanator" was up to sixth by the conclusion of the ninth circuit. Three laps later, Griffin relinquished the lead for the first time all weekend after Rutherford darted to the bottom of turn four and grabbed the top spot. With the handling having apparently diminished on the Arizona Race Mart No. 50 Jon Boy, Rutherford wasted little time extending his lead over Griffin. That margin increased slightly on lap 19 after Griffin rubbed the front straight wall. Still on the move, Sherman took over the fourth position on lap 23. One lap later, Sherman muscled his way ahead of the Smiley's Crane Service No. 2A Extreme driven by Yeley. "It was a 40-lap race, so I knew I had time to pick off the cars slowly and save my tires," Sherman explained. "I try to never count myself out of any race. Whether I'm starting last, or 15th like tonight, I feel like I have a chance to win." Even as fast as Sherman was, to have "a chance to win" he was going to need some help since Rutherford and Griffin were comfortably ahead of him. Sherman's help came 15 laps from the finish in the form of a yellow flag after Tony Jones stopped in turn four. Another yellow flag appeared two laps after the restart, when Davis slid to a stop on the front straight after contact with Damion Gardner. Sherman snagged the second spot on the restart after Griffin pushed over the cushion coming down to accept the green flag. Having now chased down the car he won the Sokola Classic with one year ago, Sherman gave Rutherford a Manzy slide-job and took the lead in turn three on lap 27. Remarkably, Sherman's pass on Rutherford marked the 27th car he had overtaken in 47 main event laps over the two-day event. "One night my uncle, Larry Clark, came up and told me that if I was ever going to be good here that I needed to learn how to do a slide-job. Ever since then, I've been good here," Sherman said. Rutherford battled back, and briefly held the lead after a lap 30 restart. Unfortunately for Rutherford, his Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightliners No. 7 Kunz drifted over the cushion in the closing laps resulting in a fourth place finish behind Griffin and his teammate Tracy Hines. Yeley came home in fifth ahead of Gardner. SCRA RACE #4 - MANZANITA SPEEDWAY, PHOENIX, AZ Date of Race: 3/22/03 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Mike English, Jory 6, 19.443, 2. J.J. Yeley, Smiley 2A, 19.459, 3. Tracy Hines, Priestley 7H, 19.481, 4. Steve Ostling, Fischer Motorsports 29, 19.641, 5. Marty Wilcox, Wilcox 3A, 19.662, 6. Cory Kruseman, Witherill 61, 19.695, 7. Adam Mitchell, Mitchell 99, 19.718, 8. Damion Gardner, Willis 45, 19.756, 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., Rossi 14A, 19.763, 10. Verne Sweeney, Sweeney 98, 19.802, 11. Jeremy Sherman, Ellis 21, 19.861 12. Bobby Cody, Cody Racing 41, 19.885, 13. Rip Williams, Jory 3, 19.893, 14. Tony Jones, Vermeer 2, 19.896, 15. Brian Stanfill, Lancaster 14, 19.955, 16. Lance Gremett, Gremett 85, 19.965, 17. Rickie Gaunt, Alexander 4, 20.024, 18. Dan Hillberg, Hillberg 82, 20.030, 19. Alan Ballard, Ballard 97, 20.066, 20. Trevor Brilman, Element Motorsports 10, 20.077, 21. Mike Spencer, Engstrom 44, 20.118, 22. Nicholas Lima, Lima 30, 20.120, 23. Cal Smith, Pratt 39, 20.132, 24. Jimmy Crawford, Ruth 25, 20.277 25. Alex Pruett, Pruett 56AZ, 20.310, 26. Paul Norbury, Carsten 91AZ, 20.390, 27. Bugs Norbury, Carsten 91AZ, 20.477, 28. Ronnie Clark, Clark 33, 20.545, 29. Jeff Henry, Allen 12AZ, 20.583, 30. Josh Ford, Willis/Ford 54, 20.606, 31. Joe Larkin, Jr., Larkin 36L, 20.626, 32. Mel Murphy, Murphy 62, 20.757, 33. Seth Wilson, Racing Optics 17, 20.782, 34. Robert Hall, Hall 16AZ, 21.347, 35. Rodney Stone, Stone 16X, 21.687, 36. Rick Vaughn, Grayson 22X, No Time, 37. Levi Jones, Crossno 38, No Time SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1 1. Gaunt, 2. Spencer, 3. Coons, 4. Williams, 5. Wilcox, 6. English, 7. Wilson, 8. Pruett, 9. Henry. SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Yeley, 2. Hillberg, 3. Kruseman, 4. T. Jones, 5. Ford, 6. Sweeney, 7. Hall, 8. Lima SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3 1. Sherman, 2. Hines, 3. Mitchell, 4. Stanfill, 5. Smith, 6. B. Norbury, 7. Larkin, 8. Ballard, 9. Stone. STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Gardner, 2. Cody, 3. Gremett, 4. Ostling, 5. Clark, 6. Brilman, 7. Crawford, 8. Murphy. JE PISTONS DASH 1. Richard Griffin, 2. Charles Davis, Jr., 3. Troy Rutherford, 4. Hines, 5. Yeley, 6. Ostling. 7. Kruseman, 8. Bob Ream, Jr. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS B FEATURE 1. English, 2. Wilcox, 3. Brilman, 4. Sweeney, 5. Larkin, 6. Ford, 7. Ballard, 8. B. Norbury, 9. Henry, 10. Stone, 11. Wilson, 12. Smith, 13. Crawford, 14. Pruett, 15. Clark, 16. Hall, 17. Murphy. A FEATURE (40 Laps) 1. Sherman, 2. Griffin, 3. Hines, 4. Rutherford, 5. Yeley, 6. Gardner, 7. Coons, 8. Williams, 9. T. Jones, 10. Ream, 11. English, 12. Davis, 13. Spencer, 14. Gaunt, 15. Gremett, 16. Wilcox, 17. Sweeney, 18. Brilman, 19. Stanfill, 20. Kruseman, 21. Mitchell, 22. Hillberg, 23. Ostling, 24. Cody. Laps Led: Griffin 1-11, Rutherford 12-26, Sherman 27-40 SCRA Point Standings as of: 03/22/03 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 4 205 2. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 4 187 3. 2 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 4 162 4. 14AZ Jerry Coons, Jr Tucson AZ 3 135 5. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 4 130 6. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 4 124 7. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 4 123 8. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 4 119 9. 21 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 2 117 10. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 4 115 11. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 4 107 12. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 4 107 13. 2A J.J. Yeley Phoenix AZ 2 99 14. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 4 98 15. 61 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 4 94 16. 8 Bob Ream Jr Glendale AZ 2 93 17. 7H Tracy Hines Greenfield IN 2 92 18. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 4 81 19. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 4 79 20. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 4 79 |
