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Sherman and Colegrove win in Manzy's
Arnold Memorial |
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Phoenix, AZ (June 17) Two late yellow flags allowed Jeremy Sherman to make up ground and it led to his eighth Arizona Sprint Car Association victory of the season in Saturday night's 40th Annual Hank Arnold Memorial Race at Manzanita Speedway. However, had a vote been taken for the most popular driver after the checkered flag, fifteen year old rookie sensation Mike Colegrove would no doubt have won hands down. The 2005 mini sprint car champion had earlier won the co-featured midget main event and was in command in the sprint car feature until the yellow flags, one on lap 19 and another two laps later, allowed the field to close in. When the lap 19 yellow was displayed, Sherman, who started eighth, was running third and had a couple of lapped cars between him and second place Bernie Smith. He got by the traffic as well as Smith, who had led the first 13 laps, before the yellow flew again. This time he was on the rookie's rear bumper. He got a great jump on the restart and used a low line pass exiting turn four for the lead on lap 22. Colegrove led laps 14 through 21 in the 25 lap feature on Manzanita Speedway's half mile track and finished second after Sherman passed him following the second yellow flag. Another youngster, nineteen year old R.J. Johnson, also had much of the fans support with a great drive from 13th to finish a close third in the sprint feature. In his five starts at Manzy (he races with the USAC/CRA when they run at Perris) he has been no worse than fourth and has finished second twice. Two time ASCA champion Charles Davis, Jr., another regular with the USAC/CRA sprints, took time away from that series to compete and finished fourth. Smith hung on for his second top five finish of the year. Rounding out the top ten were Nathan High, Josh Pelkey, Justin Fisher, Mike Martin and Andy Reinbold. Fisher was the hard charger of the race as he drove from 19th, passing 11 cars on his way to the eighth place finish. Johnson and Jon Taylor, the 13th place finisher, each passed ten cars. Attrition was high in the feature as only 15 of the 24 cars that started the feature were around for the checkered flag. Three cars were eliminated with only one lap completed. Brandon Lane, last week's second place finisher, Brian Hacker and Chris Bonneau were involved and all three of their cars were taken to the pits by the wreckers. Jeff Henry had a top ten finish going but ASCA officials had him black flagged when he ran into Davis under the lap 21 yellow flag. Henry reportedly thought Davis had roughed him up but realized later that it was not Davis who was the guilty party. The infraction place Henry 15th. The well prepared half mile track produced a new eight lap record as Jeff Henry started on the pole and won the third heat by almost a full straightaway. His time of 2:38.06 was a little over a half second faster than the old mark of 2:38.62 set by Bob Ream, Jr. November 18, 2000. He averaged 91.107 mph in his record run. Ream had the pole for the final heat and was running at near record speed when the race was halted due to a horrifying crash with one lap remaining. Marty Miller, fighting for a main event berth after starting last in the seven car field, ran over the right rear wheel on Brian Hacker's car, did an end over end flip and then cleared the 12 high fence in turn one as he did another flip. He landed very close to 35th Avenue which runs alongside the track. The fans were holding their breath and when pit announcer Rick Setser's voice came over the p.a. with news that Miller was okay, their was a long, loud sigh of relief. Miller, the 2000 champion was injured in a turn one crash in 2003 that kept him out for the season. This one, managed to walk away from. Lane caputured the trophy dash and became the 11th different driver to claim a trophy in the first 11 outings of the year. Colegrove got started right with a wire to wire win in the first heat as Davis stole the show with a great drive from the back row to finish second. Seainn Hendricsen ran third and Johnson earned the final main event berth with a fourth place finish. High beat Sherman into the first turn of the second heat and scored his second heat race win of the season. Jay Ervine finished third ahead of Pelkey. Finishing behind Henry in his record run were Reinbold, Shon Deskins and Lane. Trailing Ream to the finish line in the final heat wwwre Smith, Hacker and Chris Bonneau. Bruce St. James lost an engine in hot laps and Mike Leslie had mechanical problems and also did not start.
Colegrove started on the pole in the 20 lap midget feature and was still in front at the checkered flag with New Mexico driver Robert Marfia second and Dustin Burkhart third. He won in only his fifth start in the midgets, joining Chad Boat as winner's in their rookie season. Numerous yellow flags kept the field close and Marfia kept constant pressure on the leader but the pressure did not faze the rookie. Mike Welker, the defending champion, finished fourth with 13 year old West Coast driver Kyle Larson coming from 17th to fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Jeff Perry, John Sarna, Bugs Norbury, Lonnie Oliver and C.J. Sarna. Leslie's bad luck continued in the midgets as he came out of the back row and was catching the leader's when Sherman crossed up and Leslie had no place to go. He hit the front end of the Pat Fly midget being driven by Sherman and rolled his car ending a frustrating night. Sherman won the first heat in the midgets as he came out of the second row to beat Burkhart, Mike Marfia, Brian Swinehart and Ken Perry. Marfia moved to the pole of the second heat when Leslie scratched so that he could try to get his sprint car ready for heat race action. He pulled away from the field as he beat Colegrove into the first turn and went on to take the win. Colegrove was second ahead of John Sarna, Larson and C.J. Sarna. The third heat wnet to Norbury who used the high groove on the one third mile track to get his second heat victory of the season. Welker finished second ahead of Stevie Sussex, Jeff Perry and Oliver. Jim Voitel bicycled getting into turn one midway through the final heat and did a series of hard barrell rolls. He walked away from the crash uninjured. Sussex won the dash. He started third but had the lead going into turn one. John Sarna was the lead on the third lap but Sussex drove back by to get his first dash win of the year. Hank Arnold's famous "Twister", restored by Don Brown, was on hand and was the pace car for the sprint car feature. SUMMARY HANK ARNOLD MEMORIAL ARIZONA SPRINT CAR ASSOCIATION (1/2 MILE TRACK) Main Event: (25 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Mike Colegrove 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Charles Davis, Jr. 5. Bernie Smith 6. Nathan High 7. Josh Pelkey 8. Justin Fisher 9. Mike Martin 10. Andy Reinbold 11. Shon Deskins 12. Seainn Hendricsen 13. Jon Taylor 14. Kelly Dennison 15. Jeff Henry 16. Bob Ream, Jr. 17. Steve Sandrolini 18. Jay Ervine 19. Ben Gregg 20. Matthew Rossi 21. Mike Bonneau 22. Brandon Lane 23. Chris Bonneau 24. Brian Hacker Lap leaders: laps 1-13 Smith, laps 14-21 Colegrove, laps 22-25 Sherman 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Mike Colegrove 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Seainn Hendricsen 4. R.J. Johnson 5. Dana Fite 6. Jon Taylor 7. Steve Sandrolini (time: 2:42.36) 2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Jay Ervine 4. Josh Pelkey 5. Ben Gregg 6. Justin Fisher 7. Mike Bonneau (time: 2:39.94) 3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jeff Henry 2. Andy Reinbold 3. Shon Deskins 4. Brandon Lane 5. Mike Martin 6. Matthew Rossi (time: 2:38.06 new track record) 4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Bob Ream, Jr. 2. Bernie Smith 3. Brian Hacker 4. Chris Bonneau 5. Kelly Dennison 6. Marty Miller (no time, red flag) Semi Main: (12 laps) 1. Mike Martin 2. Matthew Rossi 3. Justin Fisher 4. Ben Gregg 5. Mike Bonneau 6. Kelly Dennison 7. Jon Taylor 8. Steve Sandrolini 9. Dana Fite (time: 4:07.97) ARIZONA RACE MART TROPHY DASH: (4 laps) 1. Brandon Lane 2. Mike Colegrove 3. Jeremy Sherman 4. Dana Fite (time: 1:22.25) UNOFFICIAL ASCA POINTS 1. Jeremy Sherman 2379 2. Josh Pelkey 1809 3. Mike Colegrove 1633 4. Nathan High 1554 5 Jeff Henry 1527 Bernie Smith 1527 7. Mike Leslie 1416 8. Mike Martin 1397 9. Matthew Rossi 1384 Marty Miller 1370 ARIZONA MIDGET RACING ASSOCIATION (1/3 MILE TRACK) Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Mike Colegrove 2. Robert Marfia 3. Dustin Burkhart 4. Mike Welker 5. Kyle Larson 6. Jeff Perry 7. John Sarna 8. Bugs Norbury 9. Lonnie Oliver 10. C.J. Sarna 11. Brian Swinehart 12. Ken Perry 13. Jeremy Sherman 14. Stevie Sussex 15. Mike Leslie 16. Mike Marfia Lap leaders: laps 1-20 Colegrove 1st Heat: ( 6 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Dustin Burkhart 3. Mike Marfia 4. Brian Swinehart 5. Ken Perry 6. R.J. Johnson 2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Robert Marfia 2. Mike Colegrove 3. John Sarna 4. Kyle Larson 5. C.J. Sarna (DNS-Mike Leslie) 3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Bugs Norbury 2. Mike Welker 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Jeff Perry 5. Lonnie Oliver 6. Jim Voitel Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Stevie Sussex 2. Dustin Burkhart 3. John Sarna 4. C.J. Sarna |
