August 11, 2007 --- The Arizona Sprint Cars and the
Gaplin Ford Challenge Cup Sprint Cars made a return to the revamped Canyon
Speedway Park Saturday night. The night started off on a good foot with the
young Lealand Michael wining the Trophy Dash. Lealand won his heat race, and he
was looking to sweep the night when the main event started, and starting in the
second row was a great help.
In the first heat race, Prescott Imes made contact with
another car and start a sequence of barrel rows in turns 3 & 4. Prescott
climbed out of the car on his own power, but he was in obvious pain. Once he got
back to his pit area, they determined he needed to get to the hospital to be
checked out. A helicopter was brought in to fly him out. It turned out he
fractured his T9 vertebrae. We all are sending our prayers to Prescott and his
family. Lealand Michael went on to win the first heat with Art Mankel, Matt
Phillips, John Brinkley, Prescott Imes, and Jason Sweeney rounding out the
field.
The second heat ran with out a hitch. Jeremy Realges won
the heat with Mike Martin, Derek Williamson, Nick Auito, Caleb Cousens, Kevin
Wolf, and Paul Norbury following.
The third heat put a stoppage to action for close to an
hour when Bruce St. James had a car failure coming down the front straight while
leading. His car dug in on the right front, and started flipping down the front
straight catch fence. The car got tangled in the fence, and it took some time to
get the car out of the fence. When the heat started back, Bryan Swinehart won
the heat follow by Brian Hacker, Tray Deane, Jay Ervine, Shon Deskins, Darrel
Sickles, and St. James.
The main event started as the night had been going, bad
luck and more damage. In the opening corner, Reagles went to the bottom, and hit
a slick area. He slid up into Swinehart, and Swinhart and Hacker made contact.
Neither one of them could continue. On the restart, Michael jumped
to the lead, and held it for a few laps until Deane pulled a good slid job to
take the lead. Deane held the lead for a few laps, and Reagles ran him down and
passed him. At the end, Deskins was coming, but a couple of mistakes allowed
Reagles to win his first ever sprint car race. We all hope this Fridays night
race in Prescott, Arizona will run a little smoother. We hope to see a good car
and fan count Friday night, there will be a barbeque after the races.
Main event: 1. Jeremy Reagles #44, 2. Shon Deskins #62, 3.
Lealand Michael #77, 4. Tray Dean #81, 5. Paul Norbury #12az, 6. John Brinkley
#25, 7. Derek Willamson #74, 8. Darrell Sicles #74s, 9. Matt Phillips #55, 10.
Nick Auito #27, 11. Jay Ervine #5, 12. Mike Martin #16, 13. Art Mankell III
#76a, 14. Jason Sweeney #29, 15. Caleb Cousens #9, 16. Brain Hacker #31, 17.
Bray Swinehart #4c, and Kevin Wolf #45
20 cars on hand, Bruce St. James and Prescott Imes did not
start the main event.
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