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Tanner & Herrera Split Southwest Spring Shootout |
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April 25, 2005...Jason Tanner and Johnny Herrera split a pair of
victories last weekend in the SCRL Southwest Sprint Car Series Spring Shootout
last weekend on the dirt tracks in Las Cruces, NM and El Paso, TX. The races were events No. 2 and 3 in the season for the Southwest Sprint Series drivers, whose big prize at season's end is the Hawaiian Classic in Honolulu against the top Hawaiian drivers. The Hawaiians will be on the mainland for Challenege races at USA raceway in Tucson, AZ on May 28th & 29th. Tanner, grandson of Indianapolis 500 great Al Unser, and runner-up Leighton Croutch, had to earn their starting spots in the 30-lap by running one-two in the semi-main Saturday night at Southern New Mexico Speedway. Tanner qualified fourth and Croutch sixth but neither could make the top four in the heat races. Tanner's qualifying time of 15.83 seconds was fourth quickest time among the 36 drivers but earned the pole for the inverted start of the trophy dash. He beat fast qualifier Herrera, whose time of 15.32 seconds was three-tenths better than Beau Binder, and a half-second better than Tanner. Billy Roy Harris lead the first five laps of the feature before Tanner took over. Herrera dogged him the rest of the way but blew a right rear on the 28th lap, turning second place over to Shawn Sander. Croutch grabbed second on the last lap, pushing Sander back to third. Herrera wond up 15th. Scott Box was fourth, followed by John Carney Jr, Bob Ream Jr. and RonnieClark. Clark had one of the night best drives, finished seventh after starting 19th. Another group of driver came from the back of the starting grid to complete the top 10. Rick Ziehl started 17th and finished eighth, Tom Ball went from 18th to ninth and Robert Gomez finished 10th after starting 19th. Ball, Binder, John Carney Sr. and Rick Ziehl won the qualifying heats Saturday night. Herrera, whose success in sprint cars is mostly under the wings of the World of Outlaws, grabbed the lead from Mike Martin on the second lap and fought off Martin and Ziehl for the 40-lap victory on a windy Sunday afternoon at El Paso. Martin made a strong run, challenging Herrera until he had a flat tire on the last lap, Ziehl who started ninth worked his way to third on lap 33 before he had a flat tire. Ziehl changed the tire and got back out to finish 10th. This Main Event was plagued with many un-expected right rear tire changes! The fast qualifier in El Paso was Bo Baker whose time of 17.34 seconds was just hundreths ahead of Jerry Coons" 17.37. Scott Box was third at 17.62 and Herrera had a 17.72. Sander and Box had the best runs in the Spring Shootout races, with Box finishing second on Sunday after Saturday night's fourth and Sander running third at the end of both races. Box ran in the top five throughout the Sunday feature. Fourth place was Rich Bubak, followed by Tom Ball. The second five was Jimmy Scott, Brandon Lane, Rick Ziehl, Ronnie Clark and Leighton Croutch. Rich, Bob Ream Jr., Ronnie Clark and Herrera won the heat races. Box, Sander, Bo Baker and Tom Ball qualified for the feature event by finishing 1-2-3-4 in the 12-lap semi. Sprint Car Racing League www.scrlracing.com |
