Traditional Sprint Car FanSite

See You At The Races!!!

 Press Release

LUCK PLAYS HUGE ROLE IN POMBO VICTORY
by Dan Fleischer
BAKERSFIELD, CA - MAY 12, 2007 ---If you designed a chart and with two headings, Bad Luck and Good Luck, it would list the following: Bad Luck, Peter Murphy, Kiwi Alexander, Todd Hunsaker, Brian Schuler. Good Luck would have only one name, Davey Pombo.

Pombo won the 30-lap SCRA 360 c.i. wingless Sprint car event at Bakersfield Speedway (CA), compliments of Murphy, when the latter suffered a flat tire while running away from the field. Murphy, starting from the pole via his victory in the Dash, found the dry, slick track to his liking and began hugging the rail and was “off to the races.” By lap 15, the Australian native built a comfortable straight-away lead and was on his way to his second consecutive feature win.

Luck then intervened. John Niggli spun on l7 bringing out the first of two yellows of the evening. While the cars were parading around, Murphy discovers he was running on a flat, left rear tire and headed for the pits. It was later discovered that a “bleeder” valve malfunctioned. He rejoined the field at the back of the pack in time for the restart, and salvaged the evening with an exciting run from last to sixth in the final 13 laps.

Pombo started from the fourth spot and patiently worked his way to second, passing Rusty Carlile and Richard Harvey Jr. on laps six and seven respectively. However, he had nothing for Murphy on this evening, until Murphy’s tire let go. From that point forward, Pombo fought off a gallant effort by Harvey for the lead, and came home the winner by a comfortable margin.

The second yellow waived as the result of a scary looking, but non-threatening crash on lap 22 when Myles Bishop bounced off the main straightaway wall and was collected by John Iturriria. Iturriria’s car almost flipped but came to rest on all fours. Neither driver was injured.

Carlile had his hands full during the thrilling main dueling with Jeff Gardner, Harvey and Kiwi Alexander. He barley held off the latter to take the “place” position, while Harvey came home a strong fourth ahead of Gardner. Rounding out the top-ten were Murphy, Justyne Hamblin, Niggli, Adam Frith-Smith and Jonathan Logan.

Alexander’s name was on the Bad Luck list as a result of “throwing a shoe” during his heat race. Kiwi was in a position to earn a direct transfer to the Dash, which would have positioned him in the first three rows of the Main. However, with his misfortune he was forced to start 14th on the grid. While most of the fans were watching the leaders, Alexander sliced through the field like a sharply honed knife and joined the Carlile, Harvey, Gardner battle. Had he started near the front, chances are he might have taken home the big dollars. However, his strong, exciting effort earned him the Hard Charger Award.

Hunsaker was another in the Bad luck column. Finishing a strong third in his heat, he transferred to the Dash and once again, the opportunity of starting near the front of the field in the main. However, he flipped in turn three during the dash and elected to start at the rear of the main, fearing his car was not up-to-par. Brian Schuler, the final name on the Bad luck list, blew an engine while finishing fourth in his heat. It was the second time this year the seasoned veteran suffered that fate.

In addition to providing his hometown fans with something to cheer about during his heat, (which he won) and his strong showing in the Main, Carlile had them screaming in the Dash. In the most exciting six-lapper of the season, Carlile started third but promptly spun and was relegated to the rear on the restart. However, he powered his way to third as Murphy and Harvey battled side-by-side during the entire event. Carlile was on their proverbial “bumper” as the trio came out of turn four looking for the checkers. It was a blanket finish with the Murphy and Harvey only a half-car length apart, nipping Carlile by a scant few feet.

Pombo was the fast qualifier for the second time this season with a clocking of 13.105. Heat winners were Niggli, who looked impressive going wire-to-wire, Murphy and Carlile.

QUALIFYING:
#38 Davey Pombo 13.105, #7 Myles Bishop 13.288, #11 Kiwi Alexander 13.301, #98 Richard Harvey 13.308, #21 Peter Murphy 13.311, #51 Rusty Carlile 13.357, #32 Jonathan Logan 13.368, #51t Jeff Gardner 13.390, #6 Todd Hunsaker 13.520, #97 Matt Day 13.615, #62 Adam Frith-Smith 13.653, #8 Justyne Hamblin 13.754, #9 John Niggli 13.777, #36 John Iturriria 13.924, #36b Kevin Barnes 14.030, #50 Gordy Edwards 14.189, #77s Brian Schuler 14.628, #0 Ron Tjarrda 17.783

EXTREME MUFFLERS HEAT #1-8 Laps: Niggli, Harvey, Pombo, Schuler, Logan, Day

KAEDING PERFORMANCE/KEIZER WHEELS HEAT #2-8 Laps:Murphy, Gardner, Iturriria, Frith-Smith, Tjaarda DNF, Bishop DNS

SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT #3-8 Laps:Carlile, Barnes, Hunsaker, Hamblin, Edwards, Alexander DNF

RIDDELL ENTERPRISES DASH-6 Laps:Murphy, Harvey, Carlile, Pombo, Gardner, Hunsaker DNF

KEIZER WHEELS, ALTERNATIVE SWITCH-WEAR, BR MOTORSPORTS, MATT & GLASS, STINGER CHASSIS, WELD WHEELS, RACING OPTICS, AWARDS & SIGNS MAIN-30 Laps:Pombo, Carlile, Alexander, Harvey, Gardner, Murphy, Hamblin, Niggli, Frith-Smith, Logan, Barnes, Day, Edwards, Bishop, Iturriria, Hunsaker, Tjaarda

POINT STANDINGS TOP 25
Davey Pombo 447, Peter Murphy 412, Kiwi Alexander 344, Rusty Carlile 339, Jeff Gardner 302, Richard Harvey Jr. 269, John Niggli 260, Jonathan Logan 257, Justyne Hamblin 248, Ryan Kaplan 190, Kevin Barnes 159, Garrett Ishii 141, Myles Bishop 136, Brian Schuler 135, John Iturriria 129, Jesse Mack 118, Adam Frith-Smith 117, Daniel Hood 109, Jace VanderWeerd 83, Albert Pombo 69, Matt Day 60, Dwayne Marcum 56, Steven Williams 50, Ron Tjaarda 46, Brandon Thomas 43

SITE SEARCH

WEBSITE
 HOME PAGE
 LATEST UPDATES
 MESSAGE BOARD
 CHAT ROOMS
 CLASSIFIEDS
 BUSINESS CARDS
 ADVERTISING
 SPONSORS
 MULTIMEDIA
 ACTION GALLERY
 GIFT IDEAS
 ONLINE STORE
 LINKS

SANCTIONS
 SPRINT CARS
 OTHERS

RACING
 RACE RESULTS
 RACE SCHEDULES
 PRESS RELEASES
 RACE COLUMNS
 NEWS & NOTES
 TEAM NOTES
 DRIVER ROSTERS
 DRIVER PROFILES
 RACE TRACKS
 RACING INFO

MISC
 VOTING BOOTH
 BULLETIN BOARD
 DTRSC SKINS
 FUN PAGE
 RACE FANS
 TRIBUTES
 SPECIAL THANKS

Get your own FREE Guestbook from htmlGEAR
 SIGN GUESTBOOK
 VIEW GUESTBOOK

EMAIL US

T-SHIRTS
& MORE