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MURPHY NO LONGER BRIDESMAID
By Dan Fleisher
HANFORD, CA --- After finishing as a “bridesmaid” three times this season, Peter Murphy donned the tuxedo as he turned the tables on Davey Pombo and captured SCRA’s 360 wingless Sprint car main event at Hanford’s (CA) Kings Speedway. For the past two events, Murphy trailed Pombo to the checkers but it was vice-versa this week as Pombo followed the Australian born transplant to the line. Murphy had previously finished second to Ryan Kaplan back in March.
When starter Lee Jaskowiak displayed the green, Dean Alexander bolted into the lead from his second-row starting position as the pack entered the first turn, followed by pole sitter Rusty Carlile. Pombo and Murphy started their perennial battle in the third and forth positions until the next lap when Murphy decided it was time to make his run. He passed Pombo on lap two, Carlile on lap four, and set-sail for Alexander.
The leaders started lapping traffic on the seventh go-round which helped set up the lead change. On lap 11, Murphy used his vast experience of lapping slower cars to take command and was never headed from that point forward. Meanwhile, Pombo, worked his way around Carlile on lap 10 and jumped into the runner-up spot a short lap later. He closed the gap to only two lengths on lap 14, and then was able to bunch up to Murphy’s rear bar when the only yellow of the evening was displayed for Adam Frith-Smith’s spin in turn four.
The stage was set for another of this duo’s season-long battles as the green was re-displayed but Murphy had other ideas. He promptly pulled away by five lengths and used heavy traffic to keep Pombo at bay. At the line, Murphy was 10-lengths to the good. Alexander was a distant but strong third ahead of Carlile and Jesse Mack, who worked diligently from his 10th starting position to round out the top-five. Jeff Gardner was next followed by a pair of teenagers, 16-year-old rookies Jac VanderWeerd, and 17-year-old John Niggli, with Garrett Ishii and Albert Pombo coming home ninth and tenth. After his outstanding performance last week, Niggli followed up with another strong showing as he qualified sixth fastest and transferred to the Dash with a close, strong third-place finish in his heat.
Veteran Richard Harvey was struggling during the 30-lap main and couldn’t understand why his car wasn’t handling. After a close inspection by crew chief Jason Yount, it was discovered that the right front king pin was about to fall out. Another lap could have proved disastrous. Harvey was credited with 12th in-between friends Jonathan Logan and rookie Myles Bishop, who coincidently, was driving Harvey’s former machine.
Rookie Michael Faccinto, making his Sprint car debut, not only stayed out of trouble, he started last and drove his Tom Tarlton owned car (teammate with Murphy) to a credible 14th-place finish ahead of Kevin Barnes. Justyne Hamblin was vying for a top-ten finish when she tangled with another car after receiving the white flag. She came to a stop in turn one as Murphy was receiving the checkers and dropped to 16th. However, she was outstanding in her heat race as she ran away and hid from the competition, winning by a third of a lap. Hamblin wasn’t the only female phenom to run the program as Heidi Tresler, who participates at Ventura Raceway on a regular basis, made her SCRA debut.
Tresler started the main in the back row, stayed out of trouble and moved over proficiently when the leaders came up to lap her. She finished 18th behind John Iturriria while Frith-Smith finished last after his spin.
Other heat winners included Barnes and Ishii while Carlile became the first three-peat winner of the season when he captured the Riddle Enterprises Passing Masters Dash ahead of Pombo and Alexander.
RESULTS:
QUALIFYING:
#11 Dean Alexander 14.856
#21 Peter Murphy 15.181
#38 Davey Pombo 15.214
#51t Jeff Gardner 15.391
#51 Rusty Carlile 15.461
#9 John Niggli 15.570
#32 Jonathan Logan 15.589
#7 Myles Bishop 15.640
#35 Albert Pombo 15.717
#98 Richard Harvey Jr. 15.782
#10 Jace VanderWeerd 15.859
#71g Garrett Ishii 15.936
#71m Jesse Mack 16.002
#2x Herman Klein 16.049
#62 Adam Frith-Smith 16.111
#98 Justyne Hamblin 16.122
#36b Kevin Barnes 16.136
#21t Michael Faccinto 16.669
#36 John Iturriria 16.776
#3 Heidi Tresler 17.397
EXTREME MUFFLER HEAT #1-10 Laps:
Hamblin, Alexander, Mack, Gardner, Logan, Iturriria, Harvey DNF
KAEDING PERFORMANCE/KEIZER WHEELS HEAT #2-10 Laps:
Barnes, Carlile, Murphy, VanderWeerd, Bishop, Tresler, Klein DNF
SPIN TECH MUFFLER HEAT #3-10 Laps:
Ishii, D. Pombo, Niggli, A. Pombo, Faccinto, Frith-Smith
RIDDLE ENTERPRISES DASH-6 Laps
Carlile, D. Pombo, Alexander, Murphy, Gardner, Niggli DNS
KEIZER RACING WHEELS, ALTERNATIVE SWITCHWEAR, BR MOTORSPORTS, MATT & GLASS, STINGER CHASSIS, WELD WHEELS / RACING OPTICS/AWARDS & SIGNS
MAIN-30 Laps
Murphy, D. Pombo, Alexander, Carlile, Mack, Gardner, VanderWeerd, Niggli, Ishii, A. Pombo, Logan, Harvey, Bishop, Faccinto, Barnes, Hamblin, Iturriria, Tresler, Frith-Smith
CURRENT POINT STANDINGS, TOP 20
Davey Pombo 369
Peter Murphy 357
Kiwi Alexander 282
Rusty Carlile 272
Jeff Gardner 245
Jonathan Logan 224
Richard Harvey Jr.202
John Niggli 202
Justyne Hamblin 199
Ryan Kaplan 190
Garrett Ishii 141
Brian Schuler 128
Kevin Barnes 119
Jesse Mack 118
Daniel Hood 109
Myles Bishop 102
John Iturriria 98
Jace VanderWeerd 83
Adam Frith-Smith 74
Albert Pombo 69
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