Peter Murphy overcame a painful back injury suffered in his heat race to lead the entire event to win his 8th feature in 16 Bandit series races. The Tarlton and Son, Shark powered machine used the front row advantage to its fullest potential. Peter was harassed and challenged at various points by a hard charging Jonathon Logan who wanted the win as badly as Rusty Carlile did the race two weeks previous at Kings. Logan was unable to pressure the veteran Murphy into a mistake even though it appeared as Logan was the fastest on the track. In victory lane, Peter was in obvious and visible discomfort as the exhilaration of victory served to dull the pain.
Murphy and Logan were followed to the checkers by Richard VanderWeerd, Danny Faria, Jace VanderWeerd and new comer midget ace Justin Grant. Faria worked the high line to gain early positions but it was a track that worked for the cellar dwellers. Those on the down low moved through the field and avoided the bumps and ruts as much as possible to survive a mighty challenging track. The VanderWeerd brothers sandwiched the spectacular and aggressive Faria. Jace nearly over took Faria before Hollywood Dan got a clue and moved to the bottom in a defensive move that preserved his podium finish. Papa VanderWeerd was proud of his boys and the great effort they showed, while Hollywood Dan needed therepy for his whiplashed neck.
Murphy proved his toughness and determination after hitting a deep turn 3 rut and having his torque tube slam against his seat. Peter pulled off turn 4 and climbed from his race car and dropped to his knees. Many thought he had a problem with his car and was checking the car, then the alarming calls for medical attention came and the ambulance rolled. As the cars circled under caution, Murphy, still wincing in pain and catching the breath that was knocked from his lungs climbed back on the horse that threw him. Pushing off to the crowd’s delight Murphy caught up with the rear of the field and then put him in the feature when the race resumed. Murphy obviously was in growing pain at post race tech inspection and quickly retreated and left the scene after the feature.
The first 2 laps were tough as Justyne Hamblin dropped from the field shortly after being pushed off with her motor woes uncured even with the best efforts crew chief Steve and dad Steve along with talented and renowned motor builder Mr. Lawrence. Rusty Carlile’s spin caused a complete restart and relegating the Bakersfield stalwart to the rear of the line-up. Then as the race got under way T.J. Smith caught a turn 3 rut and flipped in the midst of a pack of sideways cars and to the credit of his fellow pilots didn’t collect any cars as he rolled over the tops of a couple of cars. Off of the next restart Davey Knott took the highline above the ruts and got loose and ran out of race track bringing out another caution and ruining his good night.
The rest of the race was a high attrition affair as the track took its toll. Kevin Barnes attributed his blown motor to track conditions and the oscillating RPM pattern of the track. Davey Pombo, Rick Eberhardt and others pulled out of the event to avoid damage to their cars. About half of the field was running at the end and toughed out the conditions.
Fast time went to Jeff Gardner who for the second straight Kings event shown the fast way around the track with a blazing 16.441. Fast Albert Pombo was a scant 23/100’s of a second behind Gardner’s quick run. Several drivers had quick runs that were slowed due to the challenging track surface. Gardner was notable because he was so fast and smooth even over the bumps and grooves that so altered others lines. This former USAC champion deserves credit for his abilities in a race car both on dirt as well as asphalt.
SPINTECH Heat race 1 was won by Bakersfield rookie Tricky Ricky Kirkbride over Richard VanderWeerd, Fresno racer Davey Knott and Jace “the Answer” VanderWeerd. Midget racer Justin Grant finished a close 5th while Gardner and Rick Eberhardt followed him home.
STAINLESS STORAGE SOLUTIONS heat 2 titillated fans as Dan Faria won in spectacular fashion passing cars high and low and then checking out to a half lap lead over brilliant rookie Tyler Schmidt of Hollister. Fast Albert and Logan made the A-list cut while Jayson May and Kevin Barnes finished out of the time cut. May was running a strong 2nd for most of the event when a broken brake line slowed his effort over the last two laps.
The EXTREME MUFFLERS 3rd heat was won almost anti-climactically by another standout rookie T.J. Smith when the Peter Murphy situation turned the focus on the black 21 and removed it from the black 14 car. Smith led the A-lister’s of Rapid Rusty Carlile, Davey Pombo, and Murphy over rookie Jared Little and Justyne Hamblin who succumbed to motor problems. After the racing resumed following the Murphy yellow, Rusty Carlile caught the same turn 3 rut and caught several feet of air and almost had a quick braking Davey Pombo avoid driving underneath the beautiful green 51 race car.
Many were concerned over Peter Murphy’s condition and we are happy to report that Peter is feeling better and will be at Santa Maria this week-end. Others raised significant concerns over the safety of track conditions and future events at Kings. These are being dealt with as a serious issue and will be discussed further as we head into the next event at Santa Maria August 9th.
On a big night for Kings Speedway, where promoter Frank Dias worked very hard for many weeks to create a successful event, the track became the challenge for everyone. Dias and his crew did what they felt they could without making conditions worse but it was unsatisfactory. Frank was very concerned and through the tough conditions hopefully learns from this and make sure that the track is safe to race on.
Without further controversy and with the interest of this great series we will be working with Kings Speedway and the race teams to resolve these issues earnestly and respectfully. We feel that Kings Speedway is a vital part of the Bandit Series and program and hope that these issues can be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Safety is the primary concern of this series and the teams that make up this series and that will be the focus of our attention in resolving this issue.
Any questions or comments can be made to me at email peterdbanditguy@live.com or cell phone 805-305-9884
BANDIT SPRINT CARS-Kings Speedway - Hanford, CA August 2, 2008
TIME TRIALS:
1. JEFF GARDNER, 51T- 16.441, 2. Albert Pombo, 11- 16.464, 3. Davey Pombo, 27- 16.603, 4. Jace VanderWeerd- 88 16.762, 5. Jonathan Logan, 32- 16.832, 6. Peter Murphy, 21- 16.834, 7. Richard VanderWeerd, 10- 16.876, 8. Danny Faria Jr., 17V- 16.917, 9. Rusty Carlile, 51- 17.003, 10. Ricky Kirkbride, 87- 17.030, 11. Tyler Schmidt, 49- 17.106, 12. Justyne Hamblin, 8- 17.167, 13. Justin Grant, 22- 17.184, 14. Kevin Barnes Sr., 36B- 17.265, 15. T.J. Smith, 14- 17.360, 16. Dave Knott, 28- 17.462, 17. Jayson May, 8M- 17.491, 18. Jared Little, 25- 17.547, 19. Rick Eberhardt, 4- 18.538. (19 CARS)
SPINTECH MUFFLERS HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps)
1. RICKY KIRKBRIDE, 2. Richard VanderWeerd, 3. Dave Knott, 4. Jace VanderWeerd, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Jeff Gardner, 7. Rick Eberhardt.
STAINLESS STORAGE SOLUTIONS HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps)
1. DANNY FARIA JR, 2. Tyler Schmidt, 3. Albert Pombo, 4. Jonathan Logan, 5. Jayson May, 6. Kevin Barnes Sr.
EXTREME MUFFLERS HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps)
1. T.J. SMITH, 2. Rusty Carlile, 3. Davey Pombo, 4. Peter Murphy, 5. Jared Little, 6. Justyne Hamblin.
FEATURE: (30 laps)
1. PETER MURPHY, 2. Jonathan Logan, 3. Richard VanderWeerd, 4. Danny Faria Jr., 5. Jace VanderWeerd, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Jeff Gardner, 8. Rusty Carlile, 9. Albert Pombo, 10. Ricky Kirkbride, 11. Tyler Schmidt, 12. Davey Pombo, 13. Jared Little, 14. Jayson May, 15. Kevin Barnes Sr., 16. Rick Eberhardt, 17. Dave Knott, 18. T.J. Smith, 19. Justyne Hamblin (DNS).
*BR MOTORSPORTS ROOKIE AWARD: RICHARD VANDERWEERD
*VMAC QUICK TIME: JEFF GARDNER *iTi FEATURE AWARD: PETER MURPHY
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