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Herrera, Foster and Davis take Sat. nite features at Manzanita Speedway
by Windy McDonald
APRIL 4. 2009 --- Johnny Herrera stretched his record for most consecutive wins to 16 as he made it look easy in winning the American Sprint Car Series winged sprint car feature Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway. The New Mexico driver came out of the fourth row, took the lead from the defending American Sprint Car Series, Southwest Region champion Rick Ziehl on the 12th lap and only several yellow flags allowed the field to stay close. Ben Gregg made a late charge after spinning on the first lap and had to come from the back of the 20 car field to nail down second. Mike Martin finished third ahead of Derick Ortega and Kaylene Verville. Rounding out the top ten were Bernie Smith, Ronnie Clark, Ziehl, Cody Cambeasy and John Gaston. Herrera’s win was his fourth in Arizona with the rest of his wins recorded in neighboring states.
Ziehl gave an indication of things to come when he blistered the one third mile track with an ultra
fast eight lap record in winning his heat race. However his 1:49.72 clocking, an average of 12.84 seconds per lap for an average of 93.458 m.p.h. fell short in the feature as Herrera was just a little quicker and when Ziehl bicycled in turn two on the 11th lap Herrera slipped past and took the win.
The 31 car sprint car field ran four eight lap heats with the top 16 in points from the heats going directly to the 25 lap feature. Verville led the way in the first heat with Clark, Martin and Chuck Buckman in pursuit. The second heat went to Steve Stone over Joshua Hodges, Herrera and Gregg. The third heat went to Ziehl who beat Charles Davis, Jr., Bobby Chester and Steve Martin. The top four in the final heat were Derrik Ortega, Daniel Hutto, Smith and Joshua Williams.
The feature was halted when Jessica Van Dyke flipped three and a half times on the first lap of the feature. Although her car was virtually destroyed she walked away from the crash with no serious injuries.
The top four in the 10 lap, 15 car semi filled the field. Andy Reinbold made a late pass to take the win over Gaston, Cambeasy and John Van Horn.
Jay Foster took the lead at the midpoint of the Arizona Modlite 15 lap feature and held off early leader Mike Ryan for his first modlite win. Foster started seventh, took the lead on the seventh lap and was not seriously challenged thereafter. Troy Korkosz finished third, John Priest fourth and Steve Bender was fifth. Behind the top five were Mike Strobl, Casey Cain, Ken Young, Nicky Escobedo and Mike Muelebrock.
Heat races went to Escobedo, Bender and Ryan. Trailing Escobedo were Cain, Geoff Mooney and Young. Bender went wire to wire in beating Doug Borders, Foster and Robert King, Jr. Priest, Scott Gannett and Strobl were chasing Ryan in the final heat.
The closest race of the night was the Desert Dwarf Car 15 lap feature. Jesse Patterson started on the pole and built several good leads only to give up ground for several caution periods. Steve Davis made a last ditch effort in the final turn, pulled even with Patterson and then won a drag race to the checkered flag. His winning margin was virtually a dead heat as Davis finished less than two feet ahead of Patterson who was seeking his first ever win. J.J. LeMoine drove from his 18th starting position to take third ahead of Eddie O’Neill and Randy Johnson. The top ten, in order, were Steve Kapaun, Aaron Jones, Chad Stewart, Todd Bennett and Fred Defibaugh.
The 35 car field ran four heat races with Patterson beating Defibaugh, Davis and Brian Stehr in the first heat; Sandy Matthew came out of the forth row in beating O’Neill, Gary Tucker and Jeffrey Schoeb in the second heat: The third heat went to Daniel Lamm who proved to be better than Kevin Cain, Matt Decker and Stewart taking the win. The final heat was won by Johnson who beat Kapaun, Paul Taylor and Mike McGrellis. The top four in the semi were John Ogden, JJ LeMoine, Jones and Jim Gemmell. Brian Dervage won the four lap trophy dash.
SUMMARY
ASCS WINGED SPRINT CARS
Main Event: (25 laps) 1. Johnny Herrera 2. Ben Gregg 3. Mike Martin 4. Derrik Ortega 5. Kaylene Verville 6. Bernie Smith 7. Ronnie Clark 8. Rick Ziehl 9. Cody Cambeasy 10. John Gaston 11. Charles Davis, Jr. 12. Billy Chester 13. Andy Reinbold 14. Joshua Hodges 15. Daniel Hutto 16. John Van Horn 17. Chuck Buckman 18. Joshua Williams 19. Steve Martin 20. Jessica Van Dyke
Lap leaders" laps 1-6 Van Horn, laps 7-11 Ziehl, laps 12-25 Herrera
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Kaylene Verville 2. Ronnie Clark 3. Mike Martin 4. Chuck Buckman 5. John Gaston 6. Chuck Jackson 7. Jordon Stetson 8. Bobby Chester (no time)
2nd Heat: 1. Steve Stone 2. Joshua Hodges 3. Johnny Herrera 4. Ben Gregg 5. Cody Cambeasy 6. Andy Reinbold 7. Ron Katz 7. Bud Rowe 8. Bobby Collister (no time)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Rick Ziehl 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Bobby Chester 4. Steve Martin 5. Koty McGullam 6. Jessica Van Dyke 7. Steve Cushman 8. Jesse Baker (time: 1:49.72, track record)
4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Derrik Ortega 2. Daniel Hutto 3. Bernie Smith 4. Joshua Williams 5. John Van Horn 6. Steve Lohn 7. T.K Lindhal (time: 1:54.09)
:Semi Main: (10 laps) 1. Andy Reinbold 2. John Gaston 3. Cody Cambeasy 4. John Van Horn 5. Steve Cushman 6. Steve Lohn 7. Chuck Jackson 8. Bud Rowe 9. Jordan Stetson 10. T.K. Lindahl 11. Bobby Collister 12. Jessica Van Dyke 13. Ron Katz 14. Koty McGullam 15. Jesse Baker (no time)
ARIZONA MODLITES
Main Event: (15 laps) 1. Jay Foster 2. Mike Ryan 3. Troy Korkosz 4. John Priest 5. Steve Bender 6. Geoff Mooney 7. Travis Meulebrock 8. Ken Young 9. Nicky Escobedo 10. Casey Cain 11. Sid Mattila 12. David Viss 13. Tom Kuncis 14. Kelly Ryan 15. Hayden Bender 16. Bryan Miller 17. Geoff Mooney 18. Rick Gamble 19. K.J. Goodwin 20. Scott Gannett 21. Doug Borders 22. David Viss
Lap leaders: lap 1-2 Geoff Mooney, laps 3-6 Ryan. laps 7-15 Foster
1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Nicky Escobedo 2. Travis Muelebrock 3. Geoff Mooney 4. Ken Young 5. Troy Korkosz 6. Sid Mattila 7. Tony Hinsley 8. Hayden Bender 9. Brian Dervage ((no time)
2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Steve Bender 2. Doug Borders 3. Jay Foster 4. Robert King, Jr. 5. K.J. Goodwin 6. David Wiss 7. Kelly Ryan 8. Tom Kuncis (no time)
3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Mike Ryan 2. John Priest 3. Scott Gannett 4. Mike Strobl 5. Travis Muelebrock 6. Rick Gamble 7. Bryan Miller 8. Tom Graham (no time)
Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Brian Dervage 2. Hayden Bender 3. Troy Korkosz 4. Jay Foster 5. Scott Gannett 6. Kelly Ryan (time: 1:21.03)
DESERT DWARF CARS
Main Event: (15 laps) 1. Steve Davis 2. Jesse Patterson 3. JJ LeMoine 4. Eddie O’Neill 5. Randy Johnson 6. Steve Kapaun 7. Aaron Jones 8. Chad Stewart 9. Todd Bennett 10. Fred Defibaugh 11. Denny Dowty 12. Ryan Irish 13. Mike McGrellis 14. Robert Ostrom 15. John Ogden 16. Jim Gemmell 17. Gary Tucker 18. Jeffrey Schoeb 19. Paul Taylor 20. Kevin Cain 21. Brian Stehr 22. Daniel Lamm 23. Matt Decker 24.Sandy Matthews
Lap leaders: laps 1-14 Patterson, lap 15 Steve Davis
1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Jesse Patterson 2. Fred Defibaugh 3. Steve Davis 4. Brian Stehr 5. John Ogden 6. Denny Dowty 7. Rick Godsey 8. Carl Moser 9. Marco Zaragosa (Time: 2:02.91)
2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Sandy Matthews 2. Eddie O’Neill 3. Gary Tucker 4. Jeffrey Schoeb 5. Barbara Stafford 6. Jeremy Dentler 7. Nick Williams 8. Jim Gemmell (no time)
3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Daniel Lamm 2. Kevin Cain 3. Matt Decker 4. Chad Stewart 5. John Mathers 6. Ryan Irish 7. Jerry Hartnett 8. Brian Swartz (time: 2:04.56)
4th Heat: (6 laps) 1. Randy Johnson 2. Steve Kapaun 3. Paul Taylor 4. Mike McGrellis 5. Aaron Jones 6. Todd Bennett 7. JJ LeMoine 8. Rat Stafford (2:04.18)
Semi Main: (8 laps) 1. John Ogden 2. JJ LeMoine 3. Aaron Jones 4. Todd Bennett 5. Denny Dowty 6. Ryan Irish 7. Jim Gemmell 8. Robert Ostrom 9. Rat Stafford 10. Carl Moser 11. Nick Williams 12. Brian Swartz 13. Barbara Stafford 14. Marco Zaragosa 15. Rick Godsey 16. Jeremy Dentler
Trophy Dash: 1. John Mathers 2. Rick Godsey 3. Daniel Lamm 4. Gary Tucker 5. Jerry Hartnett 6. Robert Ostrom (time: 1:22.35)
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