by Windy McDonald
(September 29) Jeremy Sherman and Charles Davis, Jr. ran side by side and nose to tail for the final half of Saturday nights American Sprint Car Series Buddy Taylor Memorial Race main event on Manzanita Speedway's half mile track with lapped traffic finally making the difference.
Davis took the lead from Chris Bonneau on the 13th lap and Sherman got by for second a lap later. Davis held Sherman at bay until they encountered heavy traffic on the 24th lap and a slower car held up Davis allowing Sherman to take control. He then held off Davis for his 11th win of the season and the seventh time Davis, a three time winner, has finished second. Bonneau hung on for third ahead of Jeff Henry and Shon Deskins. Rounding out the top ten were Bill Rose, Matt Rossi, Bob Ream, Jr., Mike Leslie and Brandon Lane.
Davis, who crashed hard a week ago when his steering wheel came off on his qualifying run, started on the pole in the rebuilt car and made it look easy in coming from the third row to finish ahead of the field which was cut short when three cars failed to answer the call. The top four went to the main event. They were, in order, Deskins, Henry and Ream. Mike Martin had problems in hot laps and scratched for the night. Chad Boat also had a problem in the hot laps as did Matt Rossi. They missed the heat but ran in the semi.
Sherman had a front row starting berth in the second eight lapper and he, too, scored a runaway win. Behind him were Lane, Justin Fisher and Chris Beal.
Josh Pelkey led the way to the checkered flag in the third heat with Bernie Smith, Brian Swinehart and Jeremy Reagles in pursuit. The final heat put Bill Rose, Bonneau, Mike Rux, Jr. and Leslie in the feature.
With 16 positions filled in the main event a13 car field took the green flag in the 10 lap semi with eight more main event berths to be filled. Nick Aiuto went wire to wire to take the win with fellow rookie Bobby Taylor taking second. Andy Reinbold was third ahead of Nathan High, Seainn Hendricsen and Adam Wirth.
The best race in the semi was for the final two transfer spots with Chad Boat holding off Matt Rossi. After the checkered flag it appeared that Boat slowed and Rossi made contact which sent the youngster flipping. Rossi's crew repaired his car but Boat's night, as far as the sprint cars, was ended.
Lane won the pole dash to determine the line up for the first four rows in the feature with Bonneau taking second. The rest of the field, in order, were Pelkey, Davis, Sherman, Fisher, Deskins and Rose.
The ASCA runs their final point race at Manzanita October 5 but have two other races on the road.
BOAT FIRED UP AFTER A NIGHT OF TOUGH LUCK AND WINS MIDGET FEATURE.
Chad Boat ended a frustrating night with a drive from tenth to first in the midget car 20 lap main event on the one third mile track. Boat had his sprint car quit in hot laps and he failed to run a heat race. He then tagged the semi and qualified for the main event but was crashed on the cool off lap. Even his midget had given the 15 old driver a problem as it quit while he was leading his heat.
He walked away from his crashed sprint car and climbed into the Billy Boat owned midget. He had finished last in his heat when his car quit while he was leading and that had him lined up in the fifth row for the start of the feature. He quickly moved through the field and took the lead from Stevie Sussex on the ninth lap. He pulled away to a two and a half second lead but a yellow flag allowed Nathan high to make up the difference. With only six laps remaining, "Little Bit" pulled away from the two time winner and took the checkered flag two seconds ahead of High with Sussex finishing third. Brendan Higgins crossed the finish line in fourth and Michael Marfia was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Terry Goodwin, Darin Fala, Ken Perry, James Tash and Adam Young.
Sussex beat Goodwin, Fala, Paul Norbury and Boat in the first heat. The second heat went to High over Young, Higgins, Marfia, Tash and Perry. Norbury won the trophy dash.
SUMMARY
AMERICAN SPRINT CAR SERIES-1/2 MILE TRACK
Main Event: (30 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Chris Bonneau 4. Jeff Henry 5. Shon Deskins 6. Bill Rose 7. Matt Rossi 8. Bob Ream, Jr. 9. Mike Leslie 10. Brandon Lane 11. Andy Reinbold 12. Seainn Hendricsen 13. Nathan High 14. Nick Aiuto 15. Bobby Taylor 16. Adam Wirth 17. Justin Fisher 18. Brian Swinehart 19. Mike Rux, Jr. 20. Bernie Smith 21. Chris Beal 22. Josh Pelkey 23. Jeremy Reagles (DNS-Chad Boat)
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. Shon Deskins 3. Jeff Henry 4. Bob Ream, Jr. 5. Adam Wirth (DNS-Chad Boat, Matt Rossi, Steve Sussex--time-2:40.56)
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Brandon Lane 3. Justin Fisher 4. Chris Beal 5. Nick Aiuto 6. Andy Reinbold 7. Derek Williams 8. Kevin Wolfe (time-2:39.32)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Bernie Smith 3. Brian Swinehart 4. Jeremy Reagles 5. Bobby Taylor 6. Nathan High 7. Mike Bonneau 8. Jody Wirth (time-2:37.72)
4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Bill Rose 2. Chris Bonneau 3. Mike Rux, Jr. 4. Mike Leslie 5. Seainn Hendricsen 6. Jesse Dunham (DNS-Mike Martin-time-2:38.59)
Semi Main: (10 laps) 1. Nick Aiuto 2. Bobby Taylor 3. Andy Reinbold 4. Nathan High 5. Seainn Hendricsen 6. Adam Wirth 7. Chad Boat 8. Matt Rossi 9. Mike Bonneau 10. Derek Williams 11. Kevin Wolfe 12. Jesse Dunham 13. Jody Wirth. (time-3:21.22)
Pole Dash: ( 6 laps) 1. Brandon Lane 2. Chris Bonneau 3. Josh Pelkey 4. Charles Davis, Jr. 5. Jeremy Sherman 6. Justin Fisher 7. Shon Deskins 8. Bill Rose (time-1:59.31)
ARIZONA MIDGET RACING ASSOCIATON-1/3 MILE TRACK
Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Chad Boat 2. Nathan High 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Brendan Higgins 5. Michael Marfia 6. Terry Goodwin 7. Darin Fala 8. Ken Perry 9. James Tash 10. Adam Young 11. Mike Welker 12. Paul Norbury
1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Stevie Sussex 2. Terry Goodwin 3. Darin Fala 4. Paul Norbury 5. Chad Boat (DNS-Adam Young)
2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Nathan High 2. Mike Welker 3. Brendan Higgins 4. Michael Marfia 5. James Tash 6. Ken Perry
Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Paul Norbury 2. Ken Perry 3. Stevie Sussex 4. Terry Goodwin (time-1:08.40)
