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KAPLAN REPEATS IN SCRA 360 SPRINT SHOW
By Dan Fleisher
HANFORD, CA --- Like the chewing gum slogan, “Double your trouble, double your fun,” Ryan Kaplan raced to an impressive, hard fought SCRA 360 wingless Sprint car victory, making it a double with back-to-back victories in the young season. And, he accomplished the win without the trouble portion. As a matter of fact, the 21 year-old Chico, CA resident dominated the evening by recording quick-time, winning his heat and finishing a strong third in the Dash, racing from his sixth starting position in the short six-lap event. With his early successes, the burning question of the day is: “Will Kaplan think about joining SCRA on a full-time basis and vacate his USAC Midget ride?”
Kaplan started in row two of the feature and followed Peter Murphy and Davey Pombo for a short three laps before working his way into contention for the lead. He diced with Murphy in a spirited duel before taking the lead on lap seven and led the remainder of the 30-lap feature on the super-quick 3/8th-mile Kings Speedway track. While Murphy trailed by half a straight-away at one time, he narrowed the lead and made a vain attempt for victory with only three laps remaining. Heading into turn one, Murphy closed the gap to two car-lengths but that was as close as the transplanted Australian could get.
Murphy followed Kaplan to the line while pole-sitter Pombo outlasted Daniel Hood for third after the two diced for much of the race. Hood jumped into the third spot as early as lap three but bounce out of the groove a few times, loosing positions in the making, only to regain them with a concerted effort. Rusty Carlile finished fifth after starting fifth.
One of the great stories of the evening was recorded by 16 year-old female sensation Justyne Hamblin, who finished sixth after “racing” from her 17th starting position. While the majority of fans were witnessing the Kaplan/Murphy and Pombo/Hood battles, they missed the methodical moves of the rookie as she passed car after car to record her first top-10 of the year, earning the “Hard Charger” award. Rounding the top-10 were defending series champion Jonathan Logan, Richard Harvey Jr., John Iturriria and Brian Schuler.
Harvey’s eight-place finish was another story in its self. The wily veteran was involved in an incident when rookie Adam FithSmith lost his steering and came to a stop on the track. Harvey, with no place to go, careened into the prone FithSmith flipping him over. FithSmith was uninjured but Harvey’s machine suffered two flat tires and a bent brake rotor. After quick repairs, Harvey rejoined the fray at the back of the pack and worked his way back to an impressive top-ten finish.
Heat race wins were recorded by the aforementioned Kaplan, Hood and Murphy.
RESULTS:
Qualifying: #6 Ryan Kaplan 15.160, #33 Daniel Hood 15.794, #21 Peter Murphy 15.794, #11 Kiwi Alexander 16.086, #51t Jeff Gardner 16.123, #51 Rusty Carlile 16.123, #38 Davey Pombo 16.190, #32 Jonathan Logan 16.241, #98 Richard Harvey 16.261, #71g Garrett Ishii 16.293, #71m Jesse Mack 16.439, #77s Brian Schuler 16.577, #9 John Niggli 16.613, #36 John Iturriria 16.776, #0 Ron Tjaarda 16.810, #8 Justyne Hamblin 16.929, #28 Dave Knott 16.948, #17s Jimmy Riddle 17.362, #62 Adam FithSmith 17.748, #36b Kevin Barnes 19.441, #14 Kevin Borges N/T.
HEAT #1-10 Laps
Kaplan, Pombo, Alexander, Ishii, Niggli, Hamblin, Fithsmith
HEAT #2-10 Laps
Hood, Knott, Iturriria, Logan, Mack, Gardner, Barnes DNF
HEAT #3-10 Laps
Murphy, Harvey, Carlile, Schuler, Tjaarda, Riddle, Borges, DNF
DASH-6 Laps
Pombo, Murphy, Kaplan, Hood, Carlile, Alexander, DNF
MAIN-30 Laps
Kaplan, Murphy, Pombo, Hood, Carlile, Hamblin, Logan, Harvey Jr., Iturriria, Schuler, Gardner, Ishii, Tjaarda, Niggli, Mack, Barnes, Knott, Alexander, Borges, FithSmith, Riddle
POINT STANDINGS AFTER TWO EVENTS:
Ryan Kaplan 149, Davey Pombo 139, Peter Murphy 136, Rusty Carlile 118, Daniel Hood 109, Richard Harvey Jr. 100, Jonathan Logan 89, Justyne Hamblin, 86, Jeff Gardner 86, Kiwi Alexander, 83, Brian Schuler 83, John Itturriria 79, Jesse Mack 62, John Niggli 60, Tony Thomas 37, Garrett Ishii 36, Tony Everhart 32, Dave Knott 28, Ron Tjaarda 27, Kevin Barnes 21, Steven Williams 19, Kevin Borges 15, Adam FithSmith 13, Jimmy Riddle 11, Myles Bishop 8
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