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| Press Release |
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SHERMAN TOO MUCH FOR REAM by Windy McDonald |
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Phoenix, AZ (April 2) Bob Ream, Jr. played a great game of "Get
Gone" in Saturday night's 25 lap Arizona Sprint Car Association feature at
Manzanita Speedway but Jeremy Sherman's game of "Catch Up" made him
the winner. Ream, the 1998 champion, was seeking a second straight win and got off to a blazing start as he shot from fifth to first in the opening lap. He immediately opened up a lead over the field as Sherman, who started a row behind him, fought his way through the field. He used up five laps trying to get by Davey Bateman and when he finally made the pass he was a full straightaway behind Ream with only ten laps to go. With no yellow flags to help him Sherman was full throttle on the Fred Bryan owned car that had carried him to a win in the season opener. When Ream encountered lapped traffic Jeremy slowly closed the gap. He finally caught Ream and made one of his patented Manzanita slide jobs to wrest the lead from Bobby on the 20th lap. One lap after taking command the only yellow flag of the race was displayed when Brian Hacker spun getting into turn one. On the ensuing restart Ream looked for room to try his own slide job but, as he said later, "I couldn't get close enough to make it and if I had we would both have been in trouble". Even with the loss, Ream was all smiles knowing that he had been part of a great race for the fans. He finished only 0.77 seconds behind Sherman. Josh Pelkey had to come out of the sixth row to nail down third and his final four laps were among the fastest of the race. There were five slower cars between him and Ream and while most of the field was on the bottom of the track the 1997 champion used the cushion to get by the lapped cars and was closing on the leaders when the checkered flag fell. R.J. Johnson crossed the finish line in fourth and Mike Leslie took fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Bateman, Mike Martin, Marty Miller, Jeff Henry and Matt Rossi. Ream got off to a fast start as he led all four laps in the Arizona Race Mart trophy dash as he beat Sherman to the checkered flag with a time of 1:00.46. Seanin Hendricsen and Hacker trailed. Martin had the pole for the first eight lap heat race and pulled away from the field with fifth starter Leslie taking second over Chris Bonneau, Henry and Scott Pasmore. Martin made it look easy with a time of 1:58.25, the fastest heat of the night, as he averaged 14.78 seconds per lap. R.J. Johnson had the weekend off from the USAC/CRA races and beat the field in the second eight lapper. Behind him were Ream, up from eighth, Willy Grombach, Ben Gregg and Bernie Smith. Sherman dominated the third heat race as he went wire to wire to beat Shon Deskins, Pelkey, Miller and Jay Ervine. The final heat was won by Bateman who started fourth. Charlie Fegan, Cole Houser, Hendricsen and Ashly Corey trailed. Hacker captured the 12 lap semi main which had the top four finishers joining the 16 drivers who had made the feature through the heats. The remaining three berths went to Rossi, Ervine and Bobby Boone. Rossi won the consolation race over Boone, rookie drivers Trey Deane and Adam Young who was subbing for Nathan High. ARIZONA SPRINT CAR ASSOCIATION Main Event: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. Josh Pelkey 4. R.J. Johnson 5. Mike Leslie 6. Davey Bateman 7. Mike Martin 8. Marty Miller 9. Jeff Henry 10. Matt Rossi 11. Shon Deskins 12. Brian Hacker 13. Jay Ervine 14. Chris Bonneau 15. Charlie Fegan 16. Cole Houser 17. Ben Gregg 18. Seanin Hendricsen 19. Willy Grombach 20. Bobby Boone Lap leaders: laps 1-20 Ream, laps 21-25 Sherman 1st Heat: 1. Mike Martin 2. Mike Leslie 3. Chris Bonneau 4. Jeff Henry 5. Scott Pasmore 6. Mike Bonneau 7. Thomas Ogle 8. Trey Deane 9. Drew Starck (8 laps, Time: 1:58.25) 2nd Heat: 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. Willy Grombach 4. Ben Gregg 5. Bernie Smith 6. Art Garcia 7. Andy Reinbold 8. Adam Young (Time: 2:00.10) 3rd Heat: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Shon Deskins 3. Josh Pelkey 4. Marty Miller 5. Jay Ervine 6. Brian Swinehart 7. Chris McArthur 8. Matt Rossi 9. Bobby Boone (No time) 4th Heat: 1. Davey Bateman 2. Charlie Fegan 3. Cole Houser 4. Seainn Hendricsen 5. Ashley Corey 6. Brian Hacker 7. Michael Munday 8. Jimmy Drinan 9. Brad Donahue (No time) Semi Main: 1. Brian Hacker 2. Matt Rossi 3. Jay Ervine 4. Bobby Boone 5. Chris McArthur 6. Adam Young 7. Scott Pasmore 8. Mike Bonneau 9. Art Garcia 10. Michael Mundy 11. Andy Reinbold 12. Brian Swinehart 13. Ashley Corey 14. Bernie Smith Consy: 1. Matt Rossi 2. Bobby Boone 3. Trey Deane 4. Adam Young 5. Brad Donahue 6. Drew Starck 7. Jimmy Drinan Trophy Dash: 1. Bob Ream, Jr. 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Seainn Hendricsen 4. Brian Hacker (4 laps, Time: 1:00.46) UNOFFICIAL ASCA POINTS 1. Jeremy Sherman 670 2. Josh Pelkey 541 3. Bob Ream, Jr. 522 4. Marty Miller 486 5. Mike Martin 460 6.Brian Hacker 458 7. Mike Leslie 450 8. Shon Deskins 395 9. Ben Gregg 359 10. R.J. Johnson 348 |
