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This Saturday was a
great racing night. The weather turned a bit on the cool side
and had most people wishing they had brought jackets, me included.
I survived though with all of the good racing keeping my adrenaline
going. I have to take my hat off to the Manzanita Speedway
crew for keeping the show going and getting us out at a decent hour.
Thanks to Keith and Ladd Hall for keeping the show going with no
downtime. Because I keep forgetting to wear a watch, I can
only guess at the time we got done, but my guess is somewhere around
11:00pm. I had time to go into the pits, talk to Bob Ream
about his great drive and talk to Jeff and Cindy Henry and their
crew and was in the car ready to go home at around 11:30-11:40pm.
The Midget Main was unreal. It came down to a 2 car battle
with Amy Mahris ( I hope I spelled her name right) and Justin Fisher
with Justin beating Amy. It was a great race and watching Amy
run right up there reminded me of Denise Bennet and Kara
Hendricks.... neither of which ever let the boys get the best of
them. David Rosales was third. It was a tough battle for
all of the competitors and a great race won by Justin. Good
Job Justin. Justin was doing the "double duty"
tonight not only running a midget but also running his sprint car.
I was really impressed to see a this young man do so well . I
think he has a bright future. RJ Johnson was there and he made
the main, but after being tagged (THIS IS MY OPINION from what I saw
coming out of turn 2) by Mike Leslie, RJ slowed immediately down and
was unable to restart. The main event was really entertaining.
On one yellow flag, car #34 and car #7, Doug Elliot flipped and Doug
did about 3 barrel rolls and one time when he landed his front end
came off of his car and ended up on the 1/2 mile track in turn 4.
Both drivers were ok.
The Mini Sprints really put on a great show as well. It wasn't
follow the leader and there was a lot of passing going on. The
winner was #33 Thomas Ogle, 2nd place was #42Danny Mathes , 3rd
place was #3 Jeff Gressler, 4th place was #10 Scott Passmore and
fifth was #21 Tim Ogle. Scott Passmore did just as his name
suggests and he passed more cars than anyone to get June's Best
Passing Job Award. I wish I had an award to give him because
he showed a lot of patience and really used his head because there
were a lot of incidents in front of him as he started in 15th
position. He moved 11 spots forward and really was smooth.
My hat's off to the local Channel 3 newsman.
The ASCA Sprint Main was...... well to put it mildly, a strange one.
Lots of strange things kept happening to the leaders and forcing
them to drop out. First off Eric Wilkins was leading and then
he broke and took his car off the track and onto the 1/2 mile track
so he wouldn't cause a yellow. Thank you Eric, from this fan's
point of view. Then Charles Davis, Jr. got a flat tire and
wasn't able to get it changed in time before the green flag flew.
Mike Boat made his 2003 debut and his car is really good looking but
he too had some bad luck in the main event. But my hat is off
to the man who made it 3 in a row for himself, Marty Miller.
He ran over at Perris Auto Speedway last weekend with the VRA and
won there, and then comes home again to take the main. Jeremy
was right there as was Bob Ream, Jr. but for the sprint car main,
the bottom groove really wasn't working so it made it hard to pass.
Doesn't mean they didn't try. Bob would go in down low and try
to slide up in front of either Marty or Jeremy but just couldn't
hold the speed or get the bite he needed to keep the pass.
When Marty passed Jeremy, I thought that they were going to hit but
somehow they didn't touch and Marty kept the lead. Congrats to
all the drivers.
There was a flip though. Kinda freaky if you ask me. It
was in the 3rd heat race on the start. Nathan High got crossed
up and everyone got around him. Jeff Henry went on the high
side as someone else (sorry, my eyes were on Jeff) went on the low
side. When the other car got around #3 at the same time Jeff
did, it seemed to me (THIS IS MY OPINION HERE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED.
THIS IS NOT FROM EITHER OF THE DRIVERS INVOLVED.) that Jeff got
pinched off and ended up going up the k-rail on the back chute and
flipped over. When I saw Jeff after the race, he said he was
ok; just a slight headache, but the car looked like it needed some
repairs. It looked to me like the front axle had been changed
and I overheard them talking about the rear end needing either
repairs or to be replaced. When I asked if they would be out
next week to run the 1/2 mile, Jeff seemed to think that he would
be. I'm sure if it's at all possible the Steve Coury Pontiac
Buick GMC/ABC Body Shop/B & R Automotive/Adirondack Chimney
Service/Larry's Carpet/Maxima Racing Oils/abcmotorsports.com sprint
car will be back out.
I have to take time to thank those racers that have really welcomed
me to ASCA sprint car racing. Bob Ream, Jr. has been a big help to
me and a BIG Thank you to you Bullet. Jeff Henry, his wife
Cindy and his whole crew have welcomed me with open arms and I have
to thank you too. After a couple of weeks of emailing back and
forth, I finally got to meet Cindy Henry and it was a pleasure.
Cindy, thank you for introducing me to Scott Passmore. Scott,
it was a pleasure to have met you too. I feel so lucky to have
been welcomed here in the Arizona area and the support I get from
the racers makes it all worth while for me.
I can't wait until next weekend when the ASCA takes to the 1/2 mile
track for the first time this year. I wonder if the guys who
ran the 1/2 mile last weekend with SCRA will have an advantage over
the other competitors. It is going to be the ASCA sprints on
the 1/2 mile with the Modifieds on the small track. I love
modifieds and I can't wait to see them run. If you have a
chance be sure to make it to Manzanita next weekend. There
will be some great racing on both tracks next weekend for sure.
That's all for this week from Arizona. Make sure you keep
smiling cuz it makes people wonder what the heck you've been up to.
:)
Also, feel free to email me with comments, complaints or suggestions
at ASCAJune@aol.com
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