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Phoenix, AZ
(May 13)
Nathan High had a new car for the Saturday night race and found the
best groove on the one third mile track to score his first win since April 16th
of 2005. High was involved in a two car crash on April 8th that destroyed the
Susie Pritchett car and he has bummed rides for the past two races while he
waited on the new cars.
"We finished the car at 2:30 this afternoon," he said in victory lane.
"And then we put the number on the car in the pits before hot laps. The new
Stewart chassis was good from the time we unloaded it."
The track had two distinct grooves. One was very low, in fact it bordered on
being called the infield. The other was very high. Nathan started on the outside
of row two but immediately dove to the low side. He made an inside pass on Ben
Gregg on the fifth lap and led the remaining 21 circuits. High never moved off
the bottom but was challenged just past the midway point by Marty Miller who was
pushing the cushion. Miller could gain ground going into the turns but High was
quicker on the exits.
Miller, who started seventh was being challenged by Jeremy Sherman who was also
on the top of the one third mile track. Sherman, who started alongside Miller,
ran on his rear bumper for most of the second half of the 25 lapper. As the laps
wound down he tried an inside move in turn four and his right rear wheel hit the
left front of Miller's Sweeney/Wooldrige sprinter and Miller was knocked out of
the groove. He recovered after losing the second postition to Sherman.
High and Sherman encountered lapped cars and the low groove was the best as they
fought for the win in the closing laps. Sherman got held back with two laps
remaining and was still two car lengths back at the checkered flag. Miller,
perhaps a little pertubed by Sherman's move, took third ahead of Shon Deskins
who had his first top five finish since the 2003 season. Jay Ervine was in the
Bob Bishop sprinter that High had driven while awaiting the new car. Rounding
out the top ten were Ricky Hood, Brian Hacker, Josh Pelkey, Bob Ream, Jr. and
Gregg. Hacker was the hard charger of the race with his drive from 19th to
seventh.
The race was briefly halted when Mike Martin and Mike Leslie made contact on the
sixth lap and Martin's car rolled over on top of the right side wheels on
Leslie's car. Neither driver was injured but Martin's car was through for the
night.
Nineteen of the 24 starters finished the race.
Sherman had the pole for the first eight lap heat race but Miller beat him into
the first turn and became the first three time heat race winner. The top four
from each heat made the feature. Sherman finished second, Matthew Rossi third
and Deskins fourth.
Gregg scored his first heat race victory by beating Leslie, Bernie Smith and
Martin in the second heat. The third heat went to Deskins who started in the
front row and held off High, Ervine and Ream. Bruce St. James went wire to wire
in the final heat while Seainn Hendricsen, Andy Reinbold and Jeff Slinkard
earned their way into the feature.
Hood, who will be formally inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in
Knoxville, IA later this year, outran the field in the semi main where the top
eight would complete the 24 car field for the feature. Jeff Henry finished a
strong second ahead of Brian Hacker, Mike Colegrove, Chad Boat, Brandon Lane,
Ryan Linder and James Aragon.
Bernie Smith became the seventh different driver to win an Arizona Race Mart
trophy dash when he beat Reinbold, Lane and St. James. There have been no repeat
trophy dash winners this season.
ASCA RESULTS
Main Event: 1. Nathan High 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Marty Miller 4. Shon Deskins 5.
Jay Ervine 6. Ricky Hood 7. Brian Hacker 8. Josh Pelkey 9. Bob Ream, Jr. 10. Ben
Gregg 11. Bruce St. James 12. Jeff Slinkard 13. Mike Colegrove 14. Brandon Lane
15. Jeff Henry 16. Bernie Smith 17. Andy Reinbold 18. James Aragon 19. Mike
Leslie 20. Mike Martin 21. Seainn Hendricsen 22. Matthew Rossi 23. Chad Boat 24.
Ryan Linder
Lap leaders: laps 1-4 Gregg, laps 5-25 High
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Marty Miller 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Matthew Rossi 4. Josh
Pelkey 5. Ricky Hood 6. Mike Colegrove 7. James Aragon (Time: 2:01.37)
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Ben Gregg 2. Mike Leslie 3. Bernie Smith 4.Mike Martin 5.
Stevie Sussex 6. Brian Hacker 7. Josh Foster (no time)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Shon Deskins 2. Nathan High 3. Jay Ervine 4. Bob Ream, Jr.
5. Jeff Henry 6. Ryan Linder 7. Brandon Lane (Time: 2:03.56)
4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Bruce St. James 2. Seainn Hendricsen 3. Andy Reinbold 4.
Jeff Slinkard 5. Chad Boat 6. John Williams (Time: 2:03.89)
Semi Main: (12 laps) 1. Ricky Hood 2. Jeff Henry 3. Brian Hacker 4. Mike
Colegrove 5. Chad Boat 6. Brandon Lane 7. Ryan Linder 8. James Aragon 9. John
Williams 10. Stevie Sussex (no time)
Arizona Race Mart Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Bernie Smith 2. Andy Reinbold 3.
Brandon Lane 4. Bruce St. James (Time: 1:01.84)
RAHE RACES TO EASY WIN IN AMRA MIDGET FEATURE
West Coast midget ace Chris Rahe made it a no contest in the midget 20 lap main
event as he started in the front row and, despite several yellow flags that kept
the field bunched, was 4.38 seconds ahead of Bugs Norbury when the checkered
flag fell. Rahe was consistently clocked in the high 15 second range, a speed
that the rest of the field could not match. Midway through the race he turned a
lap at 15.72.
John Sarna came out of the fourth row to take third, his second top five of the
year. However he is the only driver to finish all seven midget races in the top
ten. Dustin Burkhart drove from ninth to finish fourth just ahead of Paul
Norbury who started alongside him. The rest of the top ten were Mike Courtney,
Jeff Perry, Mike Welker, Lonnie Oliver and Mike Marfia.
Robert Marfia shot from fourth to first before the first lap of the first heat
race was completed and then held off Rahe who started last in the eight car
field. Chad Boat took third and Courtney was fourth. In the second heat Jeff
Perry led the way to the finish line with Welker, Paul Norbury and Sarna in
pursuit.
Darrin Boltin scored his first trophy dash win be outrunnig Welker, Sarna and
Bugs Norbury.
AMRA RESULTS
Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Chris Rahe 2. Bugs Norbury 3. John Sarna 4. Dustin
Burkhart 5. Paul Norbury 6. Mike Courtney 7. Jeff Perry 8. Mike Welker 9. Lonnie
Oliver 10. Mike Marfia 11. Chad Boat 12. Ken Perry 13. Steve Alcott 14. Robert
Marfia 15. Darrin Boltin 16. Mike Lelie
Lap leaders: laps 1-20 Rahe
1st Heat: 1. Robert Marfia 2. Chris Rahe 3. Chad Boat 4. Mike Courtney 5. Dustin
Burkhart 6. Steve Alcott 7. Mike Leslie (Time: 2:05.68)
2nd Heat: 1. Jeff Perry 2. Mike Welker 3. Bugs Norbury 4. John Sarna 5. Paul
Norbury 6. Lonnie Oliver 7. Ken Perry (no time)
Hammer Homes Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Darrin Boltin 2. Mike Welker 3. John Sarna
4. Bugs Norbury (Time: 1:03.60)
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