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| Press Release |
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Sherman gets lucky and wins his 113th career win Sat. night at Manzanita Speedway |
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(October 18) Manzanita Speedway hosted four divisions in Saturday night’s Buddy Taylor Memorial race and one of the best crowds of the year was in the stands. A total of 90 cars were on hand and were treated to some of the fastest races of the year. A couple of track records were broken as Chris Bonneau won the sprint car semi main in record time. He stopped the clock in the 12 lap race at 3:59.28 which was better than the 4:02.72 turned by Chad Boat in 2007. Andy Eatwell put his name in the record books in the Southwest Modlite 15 lap feature. His time for the race was 4:34.67. The old record of 4:43.10 was set by Troy Korkosz last year. The Discount Tire American Sprint Car Series had a very fast half mile track and they posted the fastest laps ever turned by the 360 c.i. sprints. Casey Shuman led the first 23 laps and was consistently turning lap times in the 18.70 range which translates to 96 m.p.h.. However he dropped out with seven laps to go with mechanical problems. Nathan High, who was clocked at 18.81 in his heat race inherited the lead but almost slammed the wall and gave way to Jeremy Sherman on the 28th lap. A yellow flag slowed the field with 26 laps completed. Charles Davis, Jr. was running second to High but three lapped cars were between them, Davis shot to the outside getting into turn one and one of the slower cars pushed him up high of the track and Sherman sped by for second. He passed High when he pushed wide and made a great save without making contact with the wall. He dropped to fourth as Sherman, Davis and Andy Reinbold roared by. Shon Deskins came out of the sixth row to finish fifth. Rounding out the top ten were R.J. Johnson, Mike Martin, Josh Pelkey, Bill Rose and Brian O’Donnell. Several New Mexico cars were on hand to honor Taylor who lost his life in a sprint car crash at Manzy Sept. 23, 1978. Charlie Fegan fielded cars driven by Rose and Bo Baker. Rick Johnson of Albuquerque also made the trip to Phoenix. Andy Reinbold continues to impress and will likely received the most improved driver award for the year. He won the first eight lap heat race with R.J. Johnson applying pressure. Shuman finished third ahead of Baker and O’Donnell. The second heat went to Davis who came close to eclipsing the record. His time of 2:34.94 was only a third of a second slower than the record of 2:34.64 set by then 14 year old Chad Boat in 2006. .Davis ran away from the field with Sherman in second followed by Rose and Deskins. The third heat went to Martin who shot from third to first on the first lap and made it look easy in beating Adam Wirth, Stevie Sussex, and Jeremy Reagles. The final heat was won by High who beat Pelkey, Mike Leslie and Bonneau. High won his sixth trophy dash of the year. Behind Bonneau in his record run in the semi main were Bob Ream, Jr., Bernie Smith, Thomas Ogle and Nick Rael. Sherman’s 13th win in ASCS competition this year virtually wrapped up the championship. Unless something unforeseen occurs Sherman will become the first driver in Manzanita’s fifty seven year history to string together four consecutive driving titles. He won the Arizona Sprint Car Association championships in 2005 and ‘06 and was the ASCS champion last year. His win was his 112th career victory and his is now only three wins away from his record of 16 sprint car wins in a season. He is also only five wins away from Lealand McSpadden win total of 118 victories, good enough for fourth on the all time list. The Southwest Modlites were the first on the track for main event action. Hayden Bender beat Cody Taylor into the first turn and led the first seven laps before yielding to Eatwell who started in the fifth row. Once at front Eatwell mastered lapped traffic and was only challenged in the closing laps by Nicky Escobedo who finished second. Third went to Travis Muelebroeck with Josh Witwiski fourth ahead of Bud Grossenbacher. Rounding out the top ten were Steve Moriarity, David Hokanson, Mike Martin, Bender and Mark Julian. Bender started off his night with a win over Muelebroeck, Cody and Art Garcia in the first heat race. The second heat went to Escobedo who led wire to wire. Grossenbacher came out of the back row to finish second ahead of Moriarity, Jimmy Webster and AJ Whisler. Eatwell led all six laps in winning the final heat. Hokanson was second, Witwiski third, Evans fourth and Anthony Platt was fifth. Mike Martin took the win in the eight lap semi main and Julian, Greg Loper, Ken Young and Scott Gannett also earned main event transfer spots. Kurt Stults led all 15 laps in the mini sprint feature with the 2008 champion Kiley Fellers and Josh Shipley in pursuit. It marked the second straight win for Stults who won last week in Tucson. Josh Castro finished a close fourth with Garret Guilkey in fifth. The rest of the top ten, in order, were Paul Martin, Mike Visser, Dennis Parks, Brandon George and Travis Keesler. ‘ George made it look easy in winning the first heat race. His pole position was more advantage he needed as he finished well ahead of Keesler, Parks, Martin and PAT wing. . The second heat race belonged to Guilkey who drove the mini sprint usually driven by Ashley Robella. Second went to Shipley who was chased by Castro, Tyler Keesler and Greg Loper. The final heat was a showcase for Fellers who flew out of the third row to beat Stults, Visser, J..D. Bernal and Cliff Cormany. Josh Shipley took home the trophy for the trophy dash. His brother Kyle was second ahead of Stults and Parks. The AMRA midget feature was halted after only two laps had been completed due to a horrific crash. Cole Peard did nine and a half end over end flips. He was conscious as he was removed from his car but was taken to a local hospital to determine the extent of his injuries. R.J. Johnson was declared the winner of the scheduled 15 lap feature. The rest, in order, were Nathan High, Jeff Perry, Joey Fabbozzi, Rick Shuman, Larry Gibson, Mike Lapp, Terry Goodwin and Peard. Heats were won by Johnson and High. Saturday night was also Faith Night at Manzy with several members of the Racers For Christ on hand and a few hundred members of churches throughout the city. A special bomber race for Parsons and Chaplains was held and the eight lap race was won by Drew Arliskis from the Bethany Bible Church. He was followed by Paul Neighbors from Racers for Christ and Dave Kellen from Gideons International. BUDDY TAYLOR MEMORIAL SUMMARY DISCOUNT TIRE AMERICAN SPRINT CAR SERIES--1/2 MILE TRACK Main Event (30 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Andy Reinbold 4. Nathan High 5. Shon Deskins 6. R.J. Johnson 7. Mike Martin 8. Josh Pelkey 9. Bill Rose 10. Jody Wirth 11. Stevie Sussex 12. Zack Sawyer 13. Chris Bonneau 14. Thomas Ogle 15. Brandon Lane 16. Mike Leslie 17. Bo Baker 18. Brian O’Donnell 19. Nick Rael 20. Kevin Wolfe 21. Jeremy Reagles 22. Casey Shuman 23. Bernie Smith (DNS-Bob Ream, Jr.) Lap leaders: laps 1-23 Shuman, laps 24-27 High, laps 28-30 Sherman 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Andy Reinbold 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Casey Shuman 4. Bo Baker 5. Brian O’Donnell 6. Mike Colegrove 7. Robert King, Jr. (no time, yellow flag) 2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Bill Rose 4. Shon Deskins 5. Bernie Smith 6. Nick Rael 7. Thomas Ogle (time: 2:34.94) 3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Mike Martin 2. Jody Wirth 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Jeremy Reagles 5. Brandon Lane 6. Zack Sawyer 7. Kevin Wolfe (time: 2:39.60) 4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Mike Leslie 4. Chris Bonneau 5. Bob Ream, Jr. 6. Steve Tellas 7. Rick Johnson (no time, yellow flag) Semi Main: (12 laps) 1. Chris Bonneau 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. Bernie Smith 4. Thomas Ogle 5. Nick Rael 6. Zack Sawyer 7. Brian O’Donnell 8. Kevin Wolfe 9. Steve Tellas 10. Rick Johnson (time: 3:59.28, new track record) Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Jeremy Reagles (time: 1:21.19) SOUTHWEST MODLITES-1/3 MILE TRACK Main Event: (15 laps) 1. Andy Eatwell 2. Nick Escobedo 3. Travis Muelebroeck 4. Josh Witwiski 5. Bud Grossenbacher 6. Steve Moriarity 7. David Hokanson 8. Mike Martin 9. Hayden Bender 10. Mark Julian 11. Tony Evans 12. Jimmy Webster 13. Ken Young 14. Scott Gannett 15. Greg Loper 16. AJ Whisher 17. Anthony Platt 18. Adam Echter 19. Cody Taylor 20. Art Garcia (no time, yellow flags) 1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Hayden Bender 2. Travis Muelebroeck 3. Cody Taylor 4. Art Garcia 5. Adam Echter 6. Mike Martin 7. Ken Young 8. Ronald Webster 9. Tony Martin (no time, yellow flag) 2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Nicky Escobedo 2. Bud Grossenbacher 3. Steve Moriarity 4. Jimmy Webster 5.AJ Whisher 6. Brian Dervage 7. Mark Julian 8. Scott Gannett 9. Jim Gemmell (no time, yellow flag) 3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Andy Eatwell 2. David Hokanson 3. Josh Witwiski 4. Tony Evans 5.Anthony Platt 6. Greg Loper 7. Popeye Madrid 8. Rick Gamble 9. Nick Gann (no time, yellow flag) Semi Main: (8 laps) 1. Mike Martin 2. Mark Julian 3. Greg Loper 4. Ken Young 5. Scott Gannett 6. Brian Dervage 7. Ronald Webster 8. Popeye Madrid 9. Nick Gann 10. Rick Gamble 11. Jim Gemmell (time: 2:29.59) ARIZONA MINI SPRINTS Main Event: (15 laps) 1. Kurt Stults 2. Kiley Fellers 3. Kyle Shipley 4. Josh Castro 5. Garrett Guilkey 6. Paul Martin 7. Mike Visser 8. Dennis Parks 9. Brandon George 10. Travis Keesler 11. Justin Quinn 12. J.D. Bernal 13. Pat Wing 14. Mike Clausen 15. Cliff Cormany 16. Tim West 17. B.J. Arntz 18. Jim Mattison 19. Ryan Walter 20. Tyler Keesler 21. Kathrine Aragon 22. Eric Smith 23. Alan Saine (no time, yellow flag) 1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Brandon George 2. Travis Keesler 3. Dennis Parks 4. Paul Martin 5. Pat Wing 6. Justin Quinn 7. Jim Mattison 8. Mike Clausen 9. Katherine Aragon (time: 1:33.99) 2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Garrett Guilkey 2. Kyle Shipley 3. Josh Castro 4. Tyler Keesler 5. B.J. Arntz 6. Ryan Walter 7. Tim West 8. Jeff Greszler (no time, yellow flag) 3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Kiley Fellers 2. Kurt Stults 3. Mike Visser 4. J.D. Bernal 5. Cliff Cormany 6. Eric Smith 7. Alan Saine (time: 1:30.73) Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Josh Shipley 2. Kyle Shipley 3. Kurt Stults 4. Dennis Parks (time: 1:11.03) ARIZONA MIDGET RACING ASSOCIATION Main Event: 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Nathan High 3. Jeff Perry 4. Joey Fabbozzi 5. Rick Shuman 6. Larry Gibson 7. Mile Lapp 8. Terry Goodwin 9. Cole Peard.(race stopped after two laps completed) 1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Rick Shuman 3. Jeff Perry 4. Mike Lapp 5. Dennis Howell (no time, yellow flag) 2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. Terry Goodwin 3. Cole Peard 4. Larry Gibson 5. Joey Fabbozzi (time: 1:44.28) PASTORS AND CHAPLAINS BOMBER RACE MAIN EVENT; (8 LAPS) 1. Drew Arliskis 2. Paul Neighbors 3. Dave Kellen 4. Jeff Davis 5. Peter Marcus 6. Joe Razo 7. Richard Gotthardt 8. Jerry Rotan |
