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APRIL 26, 2008 --- R.J. Johnson had at least five opportunities to snatch the lead from Charles Davis, Jr. in Saturday night’s American Sprint Car Series 30 lap feature at Manzanita Speedway and finally took the lead on the 24th lap. Davis was seeking a third straight win and had led 19 laps before giving up the lead. While Davis praised the youngster he said in a post race interview that he had lost his brakes and steadily got worse on the restarts following yellow flags. His second place finish allowed him to cut slightly into the points lead held by Jeremy Sherman who finished fourth behind Nathan High. Mike Colegrove led the first five laps but mechanical problems ended his run at that time.
Mike Martin finished in fifth with the rest of the top ten, in order, were Jeff Henry, Josh Pelkey, Jay Ervine, Mike Leslie and Bobby Taylor.
Thomas Ogle flipped on the 18th lap of the feature
The top 16 by points out of the heat races transferred directly to the feature. Johnson got off to a quick start with a wire to wire win in the first eight lap heat. Colegrove started third and ran second with Jeff Henry dropping from his front row position to third. High had the best of it in points as he came from eighth to fourth.
The second heat was another wire to wire win, this time by Andy Reinbold. Davis was top dog in the heat as he drove from fifth to second. Sherman started on the pole and finished third with Pelky fourth and Leslie fifth.
The third heat stole the show. Jeremy Reagles started seventh, spun out, and then turned the Mopar powered sprinter loose to finish a close second to Mike Martin. His drive made him the high point driver and he rolled the die to determine how many cars would be inverted in the feature. The die came up "8", meaning he would start the feature on the outside of the fourth. row. Falling victim to Reagles’ run were Brian Swinehart and Jay Ervine.
Eight spots were left open in the feature and were filled with the runnnig of a ten lap semi main. Justin Fisher came out of the third row to take the win over Thomas Ogle, Nick Aiuto, Seainn Hendricsen, Taylor, Jody Wirth, first time driver Zack Sawyer and Derek Williams.
High had earlier beaten Johnson in the Arizona Midget Racing Association 12 lap feature. West Coast driver Chris Rahe finished third and Jeff Perry, winner of the trophy dash, was fourth and Adam Young fifth. Behind the top five were Terry Goodwin, Joe Fabozzi, Michael Marfia, Eric Young and Brenden Higgins.
Eric Young ran out of room in the feature and did a hard flip when Maria looped it while leading. Young went over the top of Maria’s car and Brenden Higgins was also involved. Neither Young nor Higgins was able to continue.
The 11 cars ran two heats with the field inverted for the second eight lap race. Fabozzi captured the first heat over Rahe, Johnson, High and Marfia. The second heat was a no contest affair as High outran Johnson, Marfia and Perry.
Perry took to honors in the four lap trophy dash.
Kiley Fellers easily won his third straight mini sprint car feature on Manzy’s one third mile track. Despite several caution flags which kept the competition close, Fellers was never seriously challenged after taking the lead on the fifth lap and leading the final 15 circuits.
Former champion Brandon George made a late charge after starting 13th and edged Pat Wing for runner-up honors. Wing’s third place finish was a career high at Manzanita. Kyle Shipley, the defending champion, took the checkered flag in fourth and Austin Quick was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Dennis Parks, Joshua Shipley, Paul Martin and Dustin Cormany.
The 28 car field ran three eight lap heat races. Kyle Shipley won the first heat over Cormany, Fellers, Travis Keesler and Rick Shuman. Josh Castro was strong in the second heat as he ranaway from the field after starting on the pole. Kurt Stults finished second followed by Tyler Keesler, Jim Mattison and Mike Visser.
The third heat was halted when the throttle on the #42 car stuck and Katherine Aragon hit the wall in turn one of the half mile track at full speed and flipped. The young lady managed to walk away from the crash. Martin took the win over Wing, Parks, Quick and Ashley Robella.
George won the ten lap semi ahead of Robella, Josh Shipley, Shuman and Jeff Greszler. Dennis Carrier won the trophy dash.
SUMMARY
ASCS SPRINT CARS
Main Event: (30 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Nathan High 4. Jeremy Sherman 5. Mike Martin 6. Jeff Henry 7. Josh Pelkey 8. Jay Ervine 9. Mike Leslie 10. Bobby Taylor 11. Brian Swinehart 12. Justin Fisher 13. Jody Wirth 14. Derrick Sells 15. Zack Sawyer 16. Steve Tellas 17. Nick Aiuto 18. Derek Williams 19. Andy Reinbold 20. Thomas Ogle 21. Bob Ream, Jr. 22. Jeremy Reagles 23. Seainn Hendricsen 24. Mike Colegrove
Lap leaders: laps 1-5 Colegrove, laps 6-23 Davis, laps 24-30 Johnson
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Mike Colegrove 3. Jeff Henry 4. Nathan High 5. Bob Ream, Jr. 6. Mike Rux, Jr. 7. Zack Sawyer 8. Nick Aiuto 9. Derek Williams (time-2:00.16
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Andy Reinbold 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Jeremy Sherman 4. Josh Pelkey 5. Mike Leslie 6. Seainn Hendricsen 7. Thomas Ogle 8. Jody Wirth 9. Carson Ditsh (no time)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Mike Martin 2. Jeremy Reagles 3. Brian Swinehart 4. Jay Ervine 5. Derrick Sells 6. Steve Tellas 7. Justin Fisher 8. Bobby Taylor 9. Steve Sussex, Jr. (no time)
Semi Main: (10 laps) 1. Justin Fisher 2. Thomas Ogle 3. Nick Aiuto 4. Seainn Hendricsen 5. Bobby Taylor 6. Jody Wirth 7. Zack Sawyer 8. Derek Williams 9. Mike Rux, Jr. 10. Steve Sussex, Jr. 11. Carson Ditsh (no time)
Arizona Race Mart Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Jeremy Sherman 4. Andy Reinbold (time-1:00.65)
ARIZONA MINI SPRINTS
Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Kiley Fellers 2. Brandon George 3. Pat Wing 4. Kyle Shipley 5. Austin Quick 6. Dennis Parks 7. Kurt Stults 8. Joshua Shipley 9. Paul Martin 10. Dustin Cormany 11. Travis Keesler 12. Rick Shuman 13. Jim Mattison 14. Ashley Robella 15. Rick Alexander 16. Tyler Keesler 17. Mike Visser 18. Jeff Greszler 19. Josh Castro (DNS-Chad Fife)
Lap leaders: laps 1-2 Cormany, laps 3-4 K. Shipley, laps 5-20 Fellers
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Kyle Shipley 2. Dustin Cormany 3. Kiley Fellers 4. Travis Keesler 5. Rick Shuman 6. Chad Fife 7. Brandon George 8. Dennis Carrier (no time)
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Josh Castro 2. Kurt Stults 3. Tyler Keesler 4. Jim Mattison 5. Mike Visser 6. Dallas Caldwell 7. Rick Alexander 8. Joshua Shipley 9. Jordon Stetson (no time)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Paul Martin 2. Pat Wing 3. Dennis Parks 4. Austin Quick 5. Ashley Robella 6. Cliff Cormany 7. Jacob Hawkins 8. Ryan Walter 9. J.D. Bernal 10. Katherine Aragon (no time)
Semi Main: (10 laps) 1. Brandon George 2. Ashley Robella 3. Joshua Shipley 4. Rick Shuman 5. Jeff Greszler 6. Chad Fife 7. Mike Visser 8. Jacob Hawkins 9. Dallas Caldwell 10. Rick Alexander 11. Ryan Walter 12. Jordon Stetson 13. Katherine Aragon 14. Cliff Cormany 15. J.D. Bernal (no time)
Trophy Dash: 1. Dennis Carrier 2. Kyle Shipley 3. Dennis Parks 4. Kiley Fellers 5. Kurt Stults 6. Ashley Robella (time-1:05.10)
ARIZONA MIDGETS
Main Event: (12 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Chris Rahe 4. Jeff Perry 5. Adam Young 6. Terry Goodwin 7. Joe Fabozzi 8. Michael Marfia 9. Eric Young 10. Brenden Higgins (no time)
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Joe Fabozzi 2. Chris Rahe 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Nathan High 5. Michael Marfia 6. Adam Young 7. Terry Goodwin 8. Jeff Perry 9. Eric Young 10. Brenden Higgins (no time)
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Michael Marfia 4. Jeff Perry 5. Joe Fabozzi 6. Chris Rahe 7. Terry Goodwin 8. Adam Young 9. Brenden Higgins 10. Eric Young (time-2:05.87)
Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Jeff Perry 2. Brenden Higgins 3. Michael Marfia 4. Eric Young (time-1:03.00)
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