This message was edited on
March 12, 2007 at
12:33:16 PM by ljennings
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...
CHRIS BONNEAU WINS ARIZONA SPRINT CAR OPENER!
Chris Bonneau looked like he is going to be the one to beat this year as he was smooth and fast all night. Paul Norbury Jumped to the early lead at the start to have the start not count do to a mishap on the front straight. The mishap saw Bruce St. James and Keith Rauch make some contact. St. James suffered a flat left rear tire and Rauch came to a stop on the front straight. On the restart, Jerry Pritchitt Jr. spun in turn four to bring out the yellow before a lap could be completed. St James returned to the back of the field along with Rauch. When the race got back started. Norbury took the lead and looked like the car to beat until a power steering pump blew around lap six. That is when Bonneau took the lead.
Working their way from the back of the pack was both St. James and Rauch. Rauch took over second place just past half way, but could not catch Bonneau. The man on the move was Bobby Marcum. He was running anywhere he could put the car, and he was coming to the front. He slipped past Rauch and set his sights on Bonneau. Bonneau and Marcum swapped the lead several times, but each time, Bonneau came out on top. Slowly making their way into the fight was Brain Hacker and Brain Swinehart. Both were smooth and straight on the bottom of the track picking off cars one by one. Hacker was putting on a show by himself with big wheel stands down the front straight.
With two laps to go, Marcum moved in on Bonneau to set up a close finish. Marcum made his move on the last corner as he drove it in hard, but spun off the top of the track and did a 360 spin. St James, Hacker, Swinehart and Rauch all passed Marcum to finish in the top five. Rauch droped from 4th to 5th at the checkered do to running out of fuel.
The race track stayed good all night with both a high and low grove. At the end of the race, no one hard tire wear to speak of. Norburry won the trophy dash over Bonneau. The next race for the Arizona Sprint Cars and the Challenge Cup is March 24th at Canyon Raceway. Check out www.canyonraceway.net .
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