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Davis, Grossenbacher and Shutz win Sat. nite features at Manzanita Speedway by Windy McDonald |
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MARCH 21, 2009--- It was not a typical night of racing Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway. Jeremy Sherman who had failed to finish a race in his previous 39 starts was again in the pits when the checkered flag fell. Kurt Stultz was leading but was spun out by a car that had been black flagged at least three times so was given his position back, Charles Davis got his first ASCS main event win since July 26, 2008, a near riot in the pits caused a yellow flag in the sprint car and four lap records were broken in both the Modlites and Mini Sprints Davis, Jr. came out as the American Sprint Car Series, Canyon Region points leader as he led the first two laps in the 30 lap feature and then moved out front again with 12 laps remaining. The win was his 62nd in the Arizona Sprints. Jeremy Sherman led from laps three through seventeen but was tapped while lapping cars and was placed at the rear of the field along with Rex Calderwood who made contact with the leader. It appeared that Sherman got pay back on Calderwood as he spun him before another lap was completed. Sherman also spun and then a near riot occurred as pit crews and drivers staged a brawl at the scene of the accident. The track at the scene of the crash had the track blocked as numerous fights raged between Sherman’s crew and those on Calderwood’s team. It was not known what fines and/or suspensions were levied against the participants. Both cars were taken to the pits and were through for the night. Davis, who was a close second before the fireworks erupted, held off a hard charge from R. J. Johnson and Mike Spencer, a former USAC/CRA champion, for the win. Bob Ream, Jr. returned to the racing scene to be part of the final races bfore the track closes and ran a strong race for fourth ahead of Nathan High. Rounding out the top ten were Stevie Sussex, Johnathon Henry, Jeff Slinkard, Brian Swinehart and Bernie Smith. Spencer drove the Phoenix based Rex Foster car and was the hard charger of the night with a drive from 13th to third. The 31 car field ran four heat races with wins going to Bobby Taylor, Claderwood, Henry and Sherman. The top four in points through the running of the heats made the feature and the top four from the semi filled the 20 car field for the feature. Zach Sawyer, Steve Conrad, Slinkard and Beal earned the transfer positions. The night’s only serious crash in the sprint cars came with six laps completed when Josh Pelkey ran over the left rear wheel on Calderwood’s car and did a series of end over end flips. He was not injured. Bud Grossenbacher led all 15 laps in the Southwest Modlite feature race as he turned the tables on Steve Moriarity. Moriarity beat Bud in the season opener and then finished second Saturday night. While the front running duo were dueling for the lead Tony Martin stayed close and finished third ahead of Chris Shafer and Art Garcia. The rest of the top ten, in order, were A.J. Martin, Nick Gann, Adam Echeter, Josh Witwiski and Ton Hinsley. Nicky Escobedo broke the four lap record that was set by Ty Warner June 23rd 2006. That mark of 1:11.13 was elipsed by Escobedo’s run at 1:10.56. Escobedo came back out to win the first heat. The second heat went to Grossenbacher and Tony Evans beat the field in the third heat. Kurt Stultz received a favorable decision from the officials that led him to a win in the Arizona Mini Sprints. Stultz was well out front when he was taken out by a car that had been black flagged at least three times but refused to pull in. The officials took that into consideration and placed him back at the front. He then pulled away and held off Austin Quick and former champions Dustin Cormany and Brandon George for the win. Ken Caskey came out of the seven row to finish fifth and earn the hard charger of the race after starting in the seventh row. Rounding out the top ten were Travis Keesler, Tyler Dean, Pat Wing, Tyler Ybarra and Cliff Cormany. Dustin Cormany broke the four lap record of 1:00.00 that he had set on April 7, 2007 when he stopped the clock at 59.79 in winning the trophy dash. However he was beaten by Brandon George in the first heat. The second heat was won by Stults over Quick. SUMMARY ASCS SPRINT CARS Main Event (30 laps) 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. R.J.; Johnson 3. Mike Spencer 4. Bob Ream, Jr. 5. Nathan High 6. Stevie Sussex 7. Johnathon Henry 8. Jeff Slinkard 9. Brian Swinehart 10. Bernie Smith 11. Ronnie Clark 12. Steve Conrad 13. Andy Reinbold 14. Tim Beal 15. Bobby Taylor 16. Thomas Ogle 17. Rex Calderwood 18. Jeremy Sherman 19. Zach Sawyer 20. Josh Pelkey Lap leaders: laps 1-2 Davis, laps 3-17 Sherman, laps 18-30 Davis 1st Heat (8 laps) 1. Bobby Taylor 2. Brian Swinehart 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Mike Spencer 5. Jeff Slinkard 6. Steve Conrad 7. Bruce St. James 8. Tim Beal (time: 2:00.31) 2nd Heat (8 laps) 1. Rex Calderwood 2. Andy Reinbold 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Ryan Linder 5. Bernie Smith 6. John Brinkley 7. Ken Caskey (time: 1:59.72) 3rd Heat (8 laps) 1. Johnathon Henry 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Charles Davis, Jr. 4. Derek Williams 5. Ronnie Clark 6. Art Mankel 7. Mike Martin 8. Chuck Jackson (time: 1:57.53) 4th Heat (8 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Bob Ream, Jr. 3. Nathan High 4. Zach Sawyer 5. Thomas Ogle 6. Jesse Stone 7. Larry Clark (no time) Semi Main (10 laps) 1. Zach Sawyer 2. Steve Conrad 3. Jeff Slinkard 4. Tim Beal 5. Ryan Linder 6. John Brinkley 7. Ken Caskey 8. Derek Williams 9. Chuck Jackson 10. Jesse Stone 11. Bruce St. James 12. Art Mankel (no time) SOUTHWEST MODLITE Main Event: (15 laps) 1. Bud Grossenbacher 2. Steve Moriarity 3. Tony Martin 4. Chris Shafer 5. Art Garcia 6. A.J. Martin 7. Nick Gann 8. Adam Echter 9. Josh Witwiske 10. Tony Hinsley 11. Tom Kuncis 12. Tom Stone 13 Mike Martin 14. Mark Hammill 15. Davis Viss 16. Cody Taylor 17. Nicky Escobedo 18. Brian Regan 19. Brett Billett 20. Lexus Gann 21. Bryan Miller 22. Tony Evans 23. Landon Cling Lap leaders: laps 1-15 Grossenbacher 1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Nicky Escobedo 2. Steve Moriarity 3. Tom Kuncis 4. Brett Billett 5. Tony Hinsley 6. Mark Hammill 7. Brian Regan (time:1:49.30) 2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Bud Grossenbacher 2. Chris Shafer 3. Tom Kuncis 4. Brett Billett 5. Byran Miller 6. Nick Gann 7. Cody Taylor 8. Landon Cling (time: 1:48.16) 3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Tony Evans 2. Tony Martin 3. Mike Martin 4. Josh Witwiski 5. Tom Stone 6. Adam Echter 7. Lexus Gann (no time) Trophy Dash (4 laps) 1. Nicky Escobedo 2. Brett Billett 3. Chris Shafer 4. Landon Cling (time: 1:10.44) ARIZONA MINI SPRINTS Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Kurt Stults 2. Austin Quick 3. Dustin Cormany 4. Brandon George 5. Ken Caskey 6. Travis Keesler 7. Tyler Dean 8. Pat Wing 9. Tyler Ybarra 10. Cliff Cormany 11. Larry Gibson 12. Eric Welker 13. Mike Visser 14. Tyler Keesler Lap leaders: laps 1-2 Quick, laps 3-20 Stults 1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Brandon George 2. Dustin Cormany 3. Cliff Cormany 4. Mike Visser 5. Pat Wing 6. Tyler Ybarra 7. Travis Keesler 8. Ken Caskey 9. Tyler Keesler (2:01.05) 2nd Heat (8 laps) 1. Kurt Stults 2. Austin Quick 3. Tyler Dean 4. Eric Welker 5. Dallas Caldwell 6. Larry Gibson 7. Katherine Aragon (no time) Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Dustin Cormany 2. Brandon George 3. Mike Visser 4. Travis Keesler (time: 59.78, New Track Record) |
