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SHERMAN
BEATS A TOUGH FIELD FOR 15TH WIN |
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Phoenix, AZ (October 15) Jeremy Sherman continued his domination of the Arizona Sprint Car Association and Brad Kuhn showed the way in the Arizona Midget Racing Association’s feature in Saturday night’s Buddy Taylor Memorial race at Manzanita Speedway Even a record number of entries could not derail Jeremy Sherman and his “Victory Express” as he roared to his 15th win of the season in Saturday night’s sprint car Buddy Taylor Memorial at Manzanita Speedway. A total of 41 cars took part in the races, a record number for the Arizona Sprint Car Association which has averaged just over 33 cars per race this year. Sherman used the high groove on Manzy’s half mile track as he powered his way from ninth to first in just ten laps. He took the lead from Chris Bonneau and then sped to a 4.01 second victory over steadily improving Bruce St. James who got by Bonneau on the final lap. Tim Beal had his best career finish as he edged Bob Ream, Jr. for fourth. St. James was elated on his second place finish which came on his crew chief, Whitey Owens’, birthday. “I was the best in class,” he said. “Jeremy is in a class by himself”. The huge field made for a 24 car main event and after a shaky start the field settled down for 20 laps of green flag racing. In the early laps cars driven by Jason Tanner, Robert Marfia, Charles Davis, Jr. and Matt Rossi were involved in a crash that eliminated the cars driven by Marfia and Tanner and put Davis and Rossi at the back of the field. J.T. Imperial caught the turn one wall and flipped, bringing out a red flag on the fifth lap. He was not injured. The race went full bore for the remaining 20 laps. Bonneau had taken the lead from St. James on the fourth lap and tried to pull away as Sherman methodically headed to the front after starting ninth. He went past St. James on the eighth lap and then used one of his patented slide jobs to get by Bonneau two laps later. Tim Beal started on the pole and ran with the leaders for the full 20 laps. His fourth place finish marked his first ever top five and was his first top ten finish of the year. The real race was for fifth as Ream and Jeff Henry switched the position a couple of times and Bobby Boone was also in the mix. Davis was pushing the cushion as he came from the rear of the field to make it a four car battle. He got by Boone and was working on Henry and Ream but ran out of laps. He had to settle for a hard earned seventh. Boone was eighth, Josh Pelkey ninth and Chuck Buckman tenth. The field was so tough that several top drivers failed to make the feature. Fourth ranked Nathan High, R.J. Johnson who had five top fives in his five starts and tenth ranked Andy Reinbold were in the consolation race. They finished in that order with Mike Bonneau taking fourth and getting the final transfer spot to the 12 lap semi. The semi main was scary. Ronnie Clark spun on the fifth lap and collected High and Johnson. Both were eliminated but Clark was able to continue. While working the eighth lap Marty Miller, the 2000 driving champion, made contact with Mike Martin, hit the wall and did several end over end flips. His car cleared the retaining way and the signboards and flipped into the adjoining wrecking yard. Miller, who was injured in a crash in 2003, climbed from his car uninjured. The race was halted for about 30 minutes as the wreckers worked to retrieve the car which was totaled in the crash and to do repair work to the fence. A lap later Steve Sandrolini caught the turn four wall and did a couple of flips. He too managed to walk away. J.T. Imperial started on the pole and went wire to wire for the win in the semi. Jay Ervine made a great drive from seventh to finish second. Martin was third and Mike Bonneau, after running in the consy made the feature with a fourth place finish after starting last in the 14 car field. Beal inherited the pole for the first eight lap heat race when Tom Ogle scratched and used it to good advantage to scored his first heat race win. Brian Hacker took second after starting sixth, Chuck Buckman was third and the final main event transfer spot went to Jason Tanner. Davis, who had a night off from his USAC/CRA duties where he is fifth in points, sped away from the field in the second heat but slowed dramatically in the closing laps after breaking a shock bracket which allowed Robert Marfia to challenge for the lead. Davis barely edged the New Mexico driver at the checkered flag. Ream started third and was still in that position at the finish line with Mike Leslie getting fourth. Pelkey had a front row berth for the third heat and made it no contest as he beat St. James who started last in the eight car field, Rick Ziehl and Bernie Smith. Gary Taylor gave the Chris McArthur car a fast ride as the Colorado driver held off Chris Bonneau, Ricky Hood and Seainn Hendricsen to win the fourth heat. The fifth heat marked heat race win #15 for Sherman who started fifth. He took the lead from Jeff Henry midway through the eight lapper and led the rest of the way. Henry was second ahead of Matt Rossi and Boone.
SUMMARY—26TH ANNUAL BUDDY TAYLOR MEMORIAL
ARIZONA SPRINT CAR ASSOCIATION Main Event: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Bruce St. James 3. Chris Bonneau 4. Tim Beal 5. Bob Ream, Jr. 6. Jeff Henry 7. Charles Davis, Jr. 8. Bobby Boone 9. Josh Pelkey 10. Chuck Buckman 11. Mike Leslie 12. Rick Ziehl 13. Mike Martin 14. Ricky Hood 15. Seainn Hendricsen 16. Matt Rossi 17. Bernie Smith 18. Gary Taylor 19. Jay Ervine 20. Brian Hacker 21. Mike Bonneau 22. J.T. Imperial 23. Robert Marfia 24. Jason Tanner Lap leaders: laps 1-3 St. James, laps 4-9 Bonneau, laps 10-25 Sherman
1st Heat: 1. Tim Beal 2. Brian Hacker 3. Chuck Buckman 4. Jason Tanner 5. Mike Martin 6. Johnny Williams, Jr. 7. Cole Houser (8 laps, time: 2:46.62)DNS-Tom Ogle
2nd Heat: 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. Robert Marfia 3. Bob Ream, Jr. 4. Mike Leslie 5. J.T. Imperial 6. Jay Ervine 7. Nathan High 8. R.J. Johnson (8 laps, time: 2:45.06)
3rd Heat: 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Bruce St. James 3. Rick Ziehl 4. Bernie Smith 5. Ben Greg 6. Jon Taylor 7. Mike Bonneau 8. Lealand Fuller (8 laps, time: 2:44.25)
4th Heat: 1. Gary Taylor 2. Chris Bonneau 3. Ricky Hood 4. Seainn Hendricsen 5. Marty Miller 6. Larry Lloyd 7. Andy Reinbold 8. Shon Deskins (8 laps, time: 2:45.16)
5th Heat: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Jeff Henry 3. Matt Rossi 4. Bobby Boone 5. Ronnie Clark 6. Steve Sandrolini 7. Jesse Dunham 8. Don Earven (8 laps, time: 2:46.13)
Semi Main: 1. J.T. Imperial 2. Jay Ervine 3. Mike Martin 4. Mike Bonneau 5. Ben Gregg 6. Ronnie Clark 7. Larry Lloyd 8. Andy Reinbold 9. Jon Taylor 10. Steve Sandrolini 11. Johnny William, Jr. 12. Marty Miller 13. Nathan High 14. R.J. Johnson (12 laps, no time)
Consolation Race: 1. Nathan High 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Andy Reinbold 4. Mike Bonneau 5. Jesse Dunham 6. Shon Deskins 7. Don Earven 8. Lealand Fuller (10 laps, time: 3:30.28)
Trophy Dash: 1. Marty Miller 2. Jeff Henry 3. Mike Martin 4. Andy Reinbold (4 laps, time: 1:21.03
ARIZONA MIDGET RACING ASSOCIAITON Main Event: 1. Brad Kuhn 2. Stevie Sussex 3. Chad Boat 4. Charles Davis, Jr. 5. John Sarna 6. Mike Welker 7. Darrin Bolton 8. Bugs Norbury 9. Paul Norbury 10. Mike Courtney 11. Darin Fala 12. Jeff Perry 13. C.J. Sarna 14. Chris Edwards 15. Butch Middleton 16. Connor Pullen 17. Mike Schnakel 18. Cole Houser 19. Jeremy Sherman 20. Michael Marfia 21. Jonathan Henry 22. Dustin Burkhart (20 laps, no time) Lap leaders: laps 1-3 Sussex, laps 4-7 Boat, laps 8-10 Sussex, laps 11-20 Kuhn
1st Heat: 1. Darrin Bolton 2. Mike Welker 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Connor Pullen 5. Jeremy Sherman 6. Brad Kuhn 7. Butch Middleton (8 laps, no time)
2nd Heat: 1. John Sarna 2. Dustin Burkhart 3. Chris Edwards 4. Mike Courtney 5. Darin Fala 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 7. Shon Deskins 8. Mike Schnakel (8 laps, no time)
3rd Heat: 1. Bugs Norbury 2. Chad Boat 3. Jeff Perry 4. Cole Houser 5. Jonathon Henry 6. Paul Norbury 7. Jeff Henry 8. C.J. Sarna (8 laps, time: 2:02.02
U.S.W. Cat Construction Rookie Trophy Dash: 1. Darrin Bolton 2. Stevie Sussex 3. Chad Boat 4. Jonathon Henry 5. C.J. Sarna 6. Mike Schnakel (6 laps, time: 1:30.99)
U.S.W. Cat Construction Race of the States Trophy Dash: 1. Brad Kuhn 2. Darrin Bolton 3. Connors Pullen 4. Jeff Perry 5. Butch Middleton 6. Michael Marfia (4 laps, time: 1:00.62) |
