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Hockett, Johnson and Shipley take season opening wins at Manzanita Speedway by Windy McDonald |
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(March 7, 2009) The season opener for the Discount Tire American Sprint Car Series and the Arizona Mini Sprints proved to be tough on the defending champions as Jeremy Sherman failed to finish the sprint car feature and Kiley Fellers, champion in the mini sprints, crashed in his heat race. Sherman failed to finish a feature for the first time since 2007. Jesse Hockett, racing out of Warsaw, IA, drove the Jim Massey Motorsports sprint car to the win when Johnathon Henry clipped a barrier coming off turn four on the 26th lap and slowed just enough to allow Hockett to get the win. Henry edged Hockett’s team mate, Charles Davis, Jr., for second. Josh Pelkey finished fourth ahead of Andy Reinbold. Rounding out the top ten were Nathan High, Ronnie Clark, Thomas Ogle, Casey Shuman, and Bruce St. James who returned to the racing wars after setting out the 2008 season. Fifteen of the 20 starters finished the 30 lap grind. Three drivers-R.J. Johnson, Tim Beal and Mike Martin failed to get in a complete lap. R. J. Johnson scored a clean sweep in the Arizona Midgets as he started off the evening with a win in the trophy dash, then held off Nathan High to win his eight lap heat race. High also finished second to Johnson, a two time champion, in the 20 lap feature. Johnson was under pressure for the entire race and gave up the lead to Johnathon Henry on the fourth lap but was back in front for the remaining 15 laps. Finishing behind High were Shannon McQueen who started seventh, Jeff Slinkard and Alex Bowman. The rest of the top ten, in order, were Johnathon Henry who ran in the top five until he was involved in a minor tangle, Dennis Carrier, Rick Shuman, Sean Doderhoff and Terry Goodwin. In addition to Johnson, Slinkard scored a win in his heat race. Josh Shipley led all 20 laps but was pressured by former champion Brandon George who shared the front row for the start. Shipley withstood five caution periods that kept George on his rear bumper to start the season on a high note. Kurt Stults was the hard charger of the race as he came out of the eighth row to claim third ahead of another former champion, Dustin Cormany, and Paul Martin. Behind the top five were Pat Wing, Mike Visser, and Tyler Deane Heats went to Shipley, George, and Justin Quinn. George won his heat in record time. His time of 1:27.92 eclipsed the old mark of 1:28.31 that was set by Kiley Fellers in 2005. Stults beat George, Visser, Travis Keesler and Tyler Keesler in the four lap trophy dash. Discount Tire ASCS Sprint Cars 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Thomas Ogle 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Ronnie Clark 4. Bernie Smith 5. Jeff Slinkard 6. Bruce St. James 7. Jody Wirth 8. Tim Beal (Time: 1:59.17) 2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jesse Hockett 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Andy Reinbold 4. Nathan High 5. Jeremy Sherman 6. Seainn Hendricsen 7. Stevie Sussex 8. Nick Aiuto (Time: 1:59.01) 3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Johnathon Henry 3. Zach Sawyers 4. Casey Shuman 5. Mike Martin 6. Brian Swinehart 7. Robert King, Jr. 8. Harris Brooks (Time: 1:59.13) Semi Main: (10 laps) 1. Swinehart 2. Hendricsen 3. Beal 4. Wirth 5. Aiuto 6. Brooks 7. King, Jr. (time: 2:30.03)) Main Event: (30 laps) 1. Hockett 2. Henry 3. Davis, Jr. 4. Pelkey 5. Reinbold 6. High 7. Clark 8. Ogle 9. Shuman 10. St. James 11. Swinehart 12. Smith 13. Slinkard 14. Hendricsen 15. Wirth 16. Sherman 17. Johnson 18. Beal 19. Martin (DNS-Sussex) Lap leaders: lap 1 Henry, laps 2-6 Davis, laps 7-28 Henry, laps 29-30 Hockett AMRA MIDGETS 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Nathan High 3. Alex Bowman 4. Shannon McQueen 5. Dennis Carrier 6. Rick Shuman 7. Joey Fabozzi (DNS-Ken Caskey) (Time: 2:00.06) 2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jeff Slinkard 2. Johnathon Henry 3. Sean Dodenhoff 4. Terry Goodwin 5. Stevie Sussex 6. Larry Gibson 7. Mike Lapp (no time) Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Johnson 2. High 3. McQueen 4. Slinkard 5. Bowman 6. Henry 7. Carrier 8. Shuman 9. Dodenhoff 10. Goodwin 11. Fabozzi 12. Lapp 13. Sussex 14. Caskey (DNS-Gibson) Lap leaders: laps 1-3 Johnson, lap 4 Henry, laps 5-20 Johnson MINI SPRINTS (Incomplete finishes) 1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Josh Shipley 2. Paul Martin 3. Eric Welker 4. Jim Mattison 5. Tyler Yarra (No time) 2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Brandon George 2. Dustin Cormany 3. Cliff Cormany 4. Pat Wing 5. Dallas Caldwell (Time-1:27.92, New track record) 3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Justin Quinn 2. Mike Visser 3. Travis Keesler 4. Tyler Dean 5. Larry Gibson (no time) Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Kurt Stults 2. George 3. Visser 4. Keesler (Time-1:02.02) Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Shipley 2. George 3. Stults 4. D. Cormany 5. Martin 6. Wing 7. Travis Keesler 8. Visser 9. Deane Lap Leaders: laps 1-20 Shipley |
