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Coons, Jr. takes Manzy Sprints, High
wins in the midgets |
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Phoenix, AZ (October 28) It seemed that Manzanita Speedway saved the best for last as the Arizona Sprint Car Association fielded its largest and most talented field of the year for the end of their regular season. The Parker Store did its part with Halloween treats for the youngsters, a Halloween costume contest and a fireworks show. The Midgets, though a little down in car count, also put on a competitive night of racing. The one third mile track was in exellent condition and both the high groove and the lowside were used in the sprint main with the top three pushing the cushion and the next two running on the bottom. The top three, Jerry Coons, Jr., Jeremy Sherman and Charles Davis, Jr., are considered to be among the best open wheel drivers in the state and even though the cushion on top of the track wore thin they pulled away from Nathan High and Mike Martin in the closing laps. Coons was 1.37 seconds ahead of Sherman at the finish line. High was seeking a double clean sweep when he lined up third in the 24 car field for the 25 lap sprint car feature. He had already made a sweep in the Arizona Midget Racing Association races by winning not only the feature but his heat race and trophy dash as well. He had also won the sprint car dash and his heat. He led the first 6 laps in the feature before giving way to Coons, the soon to be USAC National Midget champion who had started seventh. Even though he could not get his third sprint car win of the year his fourth place finsh made it the best night of his career. Coons was at the wheel of a new Maxim chassis fielded by Fred Bryan who also owned the car driven by Charles Davis, Jr. The win marked Bryan's fourth win of the year as Davis has won twice and Coons drove the Davis car to an early season win in Tucson. Josh Pelkey was a show unto himself in the sprint cars. He flipped in his heat race but his crew readied the car for the consolation race and he came out of the fourth row to post the win which gave him a seventh row starting berth in the 12 lap semi main. He made it to the front and that put him in the ninth row for the feature and he ran the top of the track and was the hard charger of the night with a sixth place finish. He passed 11 cars in the feature, 12 in the semi and 7 in the consy. Shon Deskins had a good run but dropped out of the top five in the closing laps and finished seventh, his fifth straight top ten finish, his eighth overall. Mike Leslie was next across the line, Mike Colegrove, a shoo-in for rookie of the year, finished ninth and Seanin Henricsen was tenth. Henricsen was the main event hard charger as he came from 24th. The 39 car field was divided into four heat races with the top four from each heat transferring to the feature. Coons came out of the second row to take the win in the first eight lapper wiht Brian Swinehart, Andy Reinbold and Bobby Ream earning the transfer spots. Jay Ervine cross the line in fourth but was penalized two spots for a Texas start. High started third in the second heat and chased down R.J. Johnson for the win. R.J. finished second ahead of Chad Boat Mike Bonneau. Jeff Henry played a game of "Git Gone" in the third heat as he shot to the front at the drop of the green and built a comfortable lead to beat Jeremy Sherman who started seventh. Deskins took third and Tom Ogle was fourth. The race was halted for Pelkey's crash when Mike Rux, Jr. spun and Josh ran over the front end of his car sending him on an end over end flip. Mike Martin scored the win in the final heat. Martin started third but quickly moved to the front and held off Davis, Jr. who started fifth. Leslie drove from seventh to third and rookie driver Darrin Boltin came from sixth to fourth. Finishing second to Pelkey in the 12 lap consy was Bruce St. James who started on the pole. Bernie Smith took third and Brian Hacker earned a berth in the semi main with his fourth place finish. Fifteen cars ran the 12 lap semi but Pelkey managed to chase down the front runners to get the win. The top eight made the main and they were, in order, Chuck Buckman, Colegrove, Chirs Bonneau, Brandon Lane, Smith, Brad Kuhn and Hendricsen. Coons called the well prepared Bryan car "very comfortable and very forgiving". He also said in his victory lane interview, "I had already decided that I was just going to drive in the USAC/CRA part of the Western, but I am having doubts about bypassing the 360 Western now". Coons elected to bypass the midget races to concentrate on helping to make sure the new sprint car was right and that opened up the ride in the 21AZ Mike Burkhart car for High. High was the class of the midgets and only his team mate R.J. Johnson offered any threat at all. Nathan stayed on the bottom of the track and R.J. was running the top. He pulled even with High several times but could not pull off a pass. He was 2.65 seconds back when he chased High to the finish line. Chad Boat, a two time midget winner, stayed in the thick of the battle as he was working low and was a close third at the checkered flag. Mike Leslie took fourth ahead of Bugs Norbury who won the AMRA driving championship with his fifth place finish. Rounding out the top ten were John Sarale, Darren Burkhart, Jonathan Henry, Randy Pankratz and Jeff Perry. John Sarna continued his hard luck string when, for the second straight race, he had problems in hot laps and never took a green flag. He had virtually no chance of coming back to win the championship and his fate was sealed with his engine failure. Norbury actually put himself over the top when he beat Henry, Stevie Sussex, Pankratz and Boltin in the first heat which was called after a race halting red flag while working the third lap. Sussex flipped when he was involved in the crash that put Boltin, Colby Copeland and Pankratz out of the race. High started on the pole in the trophy dash and was again pursued by Johnson on his way to the win. Boat finished third, Leslie was fourth and C.J. Sarna took fifth. High broke a four lap record that had stood since March 4, 2000 when he flashed under the checkered flag with a time of 59.59 in the trophy dash. That barely eclipsed the Bob Ellis record of 59.72. SUMMARY ASCA SPRINT CARS Main Event: 1. Jerry Coons, Jr. 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Charles Davis, Jr. 4. Nathan High 5. Mike Martin 6. Josh Pelkey 7. Shon Deskins 8. Mike Leslie 9. Mike Colegrove 10. Seanin Hendricsen 11. Brad Kuhn 12. Andy Reinbold 13. Chuck Buckman 14. Jeff Henry 15. R.J. Johnson 16. Brandon Lane 17. Tom Ogle 18. Chad Boat 19. Brian Swinehart 20. Mike Bonneau 21. Chris Bonneau 22. Bob Ream, Jr. 23. Darrin Bolten 24. Bernie Smith Lap leaders: laps 1-6 High, laps 7-25 Coons, Jr. 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jerry Coons, Jr. 2. Brian Swinehart 3. Andy Reinbold 4. Bob Ream, Jr. 5. Brandon Lane 6. Jay Ervine 7. Ronnie Clark 8. Bruce St. James 9. Brian Hacker 10. Scott Oliver (Time-1:59.62) 2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Chad Boat 4. Mike Bonneau 5. Jeff Oliver 6. Darrin Boltin 7. Chris Bonneau 8. John Brinkley 9. Chris Beal 10. J.T. Imperial (no time) 3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jeff Henry 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Shon Deskins 4. Tom Ogle 5. Mike Mundy 6. Brad Kuhn 7. Trey Deane 8. Bernie Smith 9. Mike Rux, Jr. 10. Josh Pelkey (no time) 4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Mike Martin 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Mike Leslie 5. Chuck Buckman 6. Seanin Hendricsen 7. Mike Colegrove 8. Dana Fite 9. Don Earven (Time: 1:58.44) Semi Main (12 laps) 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Darrin Boltin 3. Mike Colegrove 4. Chris Bonneau 5. Brandon Lane 6. Bernie Smith 7. Brad Kuhn 8. Seanin Hendricsen 9. Bruce St. James 10. Jay Ervine 11. Ronnie Clark 12. Brian Hacker 13. Trey Deane 14. Shane Golobic 15. Jeff Oliver (no time) Consolation Race: (12 laps) 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Bruce St. James 3. Bernie Smith 4. Brian Hacker 5. Dana Fite 6. Don Earven 7. Chris Beal 8. Scott Oliver 9. Mike Rux, Jr. 10. John Brinkley (no time) Arizona Race Mart Trophy Dash: 1. Nathan High 2. Mike Martin 3. Jeff Oliver 4. Chad Boat (Time: 1:00.78) AMRA MIDGETS Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Chad Boat 4. Mike Leslie 5. Bugs Norbury 6. Johm Sarale 7. Darren Burkhart 8. Jonathan Henry 9. Randy Pankratz 10. Jeff Perry 11. Ken Perry 12. Darrin Boltin 13. C.J. Sarna (DNS-John Sarna, Stevie Sussex, Colby Copeland) 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Bugs Norbury 2. Jonathan Henry 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Randy Pankratz 5. Darrin Boltin 6. Colby Copeland 2nd Heat (8 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Chad Boat 4. Mike Leslie 5. C.J. Sarna 6. Darren Burkhart 7. Ken Perry 8. Jeff Perry (no time) Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. C.J. Sarna 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Bugs Norbury (Time: 59.59, new track record) |
