|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
Sherman gets record in his second straight Hank Arnold Memorial at Manzanita
Speedway by Windy McDonald |
|
Phoenix, AZ (June 18) Jeremy Sherman won his second straight Hank Arnold Memorial Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway and set a new 25 lap track record as he registered his eighth feature win of the year. For a while it appeared that it would be, as the great Yogi Berra once said, “déjà- vu all over again” as Jeff Henry was desperately hoping for just one yellow flag to allow him to close on the leader after he drove from 17th to second. However Sherman’s lead remained safe as the 25 lap race went green all the way. Henry, was hoping to match the drive that earned Charles Davis, Jr. a win the last time the Arizona Sprint Car Association ran on Manzanita’s half mile track. Davis had started 17th in that one and took the lead at the white flag pinning a rare loss on Sherman. Sherman’s pace in the Fred Bryan sprinter put all but ten cars a lap down at the finish. Sherman took the checkered flag with a comfortable lead and stopped the clock at 8:53.51 easily erasing the old mark of 9:39.96 set by Marty Miller on August 24, 2002. Henry came through the field in a hurry until he caught Matt Rossi and then the battle for second had the attention of the fans. By the time Henry took over second it was too late. Rossi finished third ahead of Josh Pelkey and Marty Miller. Still on the lead lap and rounding out the top ten were Chris Bonneau, Seainn Hendricsen, Mike Martin, Ben Gregg and Bernie Smith. Bonneau bounced off the wall while running fourth but still managed a good run despite some minor damage to his car. Bob Ream, Jr. was on the pole at the start of the feature and took the lead at the green flag. However a multi-car crash brought about a restart. Andy Reinbold was the only driver unable to restart. The others, Shon Deskins, Davey Bateman and Tim Beal made repairs and took the second green. Rossi beat Ream into the first turn and lead the first five laps. Sherman was on the move from his fourth row starting berth and took the lead on the sixth lap. From there on it was Katy bar the door as he set a blistering pace and put two cars a lap down. The attrition rate was high as only 12 of the 20 starters were running at the checkered flag. Ream lasted only a lap and Mike Leslie pitted a two laps later. Bateman lasted until the 13th lap. Nathan High, who entered the race ranked third in points was running in the top five until mechanical problems sent him to the pits on the 16th lap. Mike Martin slammed the wall and did several barrel rolls on his qualifying run but landed a ride in Brian Hacker’s back up car and won his heat race as well as his eighth place finish in the feature. Rookie driver Don Keesler hit the wall in about the same spot in the first heat and also flipped. He was uninjured. Another rookie, Richard Ronco, caught the fence on the back straightway and rolled. His car burst into flames as Ronco made a hasty exit and was not injured. Sherman came out of the back row and inherited the lead in the first heat when Tom Ogle made a rookie mistake. When Keesler flipped the red flag waved. All the cars came onto the one third mile track on the back straightaway. Ogle, in violation of the ASCA rules, drove past the accident and was placed at the rear of the field. Ream, Smith and Hendricsen trailed Sherman and earned main event starting berths. The win was the ninth in heat race competition for Sherman, the tenth for the Fred Bryan car. Chris Bonneau started fourth in the second eight lapper and made it look easy as he beat Gregg, Reinbold and High. The third heat belonged to Pelkey who started fifth and finished ahead of Jay Ervine, Beal and Rossi who followed him into the main. For Pelkey it was a seventh heat race victory. The final heat belonged to Martin who seemed right at home in the Hacker back up. He beat Shon Deskins, Miller and Leslie. The top four in the 12 lap semi main filled the field for the feature. Henry took the win over Bateman, Bruce St. James and Scott Pasmore. St. James was running second until he crossed up, almost lost it, managed the save and lost only one position. Sherman was the fastest of the 30 car field in qualifying as he zipped to a 19.237 (93.569 m.p.h) establishing a one lap record. SUMMARY Main Event: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Jeff Henry 3. Matt Rossi 4. Josh Pelkey 5. Marty Miller 6. Chris Bonneau 7. Seainn Hendricsen 8. Mike Martin 9. Ben Gregg 10. Bernie Smith 11. Tim Beal 12. Scott Pasmore 13. Bruce St. James 14. Nathan High 15. Davey Bateman 16. Jay Ervine 17. Mike Leslie 18. Bob Ream, Jr. 19. Shon Deskins 20. Andy Reinbold (25 laps-Time:8:53.51 New Track Record) 1st Heat: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. Bernie Smith 4. Seainn Hendricsen 5. Tom Ogle 6. Johnny Williams, Jr. 7. Don Keesler (no time) 2nd Heat: 1. Chris Bonneau 2. Ben Gregg 3. Andy Reinbold 4. Nathan High 5. Jeff Henry 6. Brian Hacker 7. Mike Harris (8 laps, time: 2:41.40) 3rd Heat: 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Jay Ervine 3. Tim Beal 4. Matt Rossi 5. Jesse Dunham 6. Scott Pasmore 7. Richard Ronco 8. Larry Lloyd (no time) 4th Heat: 1. Mike Martin 2. Shon Deskins 3. Marty Miller 4. Mike Leslie 5. Davey Bateman 6. Michael Bryan 7. Bobby Boone 8. Bruce St. James (8 laps, time: 2:46.26) Semi Main: 1. Jeff Henry 2. Davey Bateman 3. Bruce St. James 4. Scott Pasmore 5. Tom Ogle 6. Jesse Dunham 7. Mike Harris 8. Johnny Williams, Jr. 9. Brian Hacker(12 laps, no time) Qualifying: 1. Jeremy Sherman, 19.237 (Track record) Arizona Race Mart Trophy Dash: 1. Marty Miller 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Josh Pelkey 4. Nathan High (4 laps, time: 1:18.99) QUALIFYING: 1. Jeremy Sherman (19.237) 2. Nathan High (19.331) 3. Josh Pelkey (19.339) 4. Marty Miller (19.611) 5. Bernie Smith (19.687) 6. Chris Bonneau (19.737) 7. Matt Rossi (19.812) 8. Bernie Smith (19.687) 9.Bruce St. James (19.942) 10. Bob Ream, Jr. (19.946) 11. Jay Ervine (20.009) 12. Jeff Henry (20.032) 13. Shon Deskins (20.130) 14. Mike Leslie (20.137) 15. Seainn Hendricsen (20.150) 16. Ben Gregg (20.239) 17. Scott Pasmore (20.339) 18. Davey Bateman (20.355) 19. Andy Reinbold (20.377) 20. Tom Ogle (20.454) 21. Brian Hacker (20.462) 22.Tim Beal (20.466) 23. Michael Bryan (20.485) 24. Don Keesler (20.568) 25. Mike Harris (21.006) 26. Jesse Dunham (21.058) 27. Larry Lloyd (21.186) 28. Johnny Williams (21.258) 29. Mike Martin (21.643) 30. Bobby Boone (no time) UNOFFICIAL ASCA POINTS 1.. Jeremy Sherman 2481 2.. Josh Pelkey 2111 3.. Matt Rossi 1881 4.. Nathan High 1872 5.. Mike Martin 1770 6.. Jeff Henry 1699 7.. Bernie Smith 1575 8.. Jay Ervine 1555 9.. Mike Leslie 1532 10.. Bobby Boone 1387 |
