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CHECKERED FLAG IN TIME FOR MILLER TIME |
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Phoenix, AZ (May 22) Marty Miller and Dustin Cormany scored wire to wire wins in Saturday night’s open wheel doubleheader at Manzanita Speedway. With his right rear tire going flat, the checkered flag for Saturday night’s Arizona Sprint Car Association feature race at Manzanita Speedway came just in time for the 2000 champion Marty Miller. Miller, who had led from the green flag 25 laps earlier, had a slim lead over two time champion Charles Davis, Jr. as they crossed the finish line giving him his second win of the year.
The one third mile track starting taking rubber early and the right rear tires were smoking through and off the turns and some were doing wheelies by the midpoint of the race. Miller was thankful that the checkered flag fell when it did. “I had two holes in the tire, it was completely worn out,” he said in a post race interview. “Charlie was still in good shape and I don’t think I could have held him off another lap”.
Miller shared the front row with Bernie Smith and immediately put his Buckley in front. Smith stayed in second with Josh Pelkey and Jeff Slinkard applying pressure while Davis was working his Smiley/Zoriki machine toward the front from his third row starting berth. He claimed second by the tenth laps but was about 1.35 seconds behind Miller. That changed when a yellow flag for a harmless spin allowed the field to bunch up just as the leaders were encountering traffic. Miller went back to work with Davis staying close. The complexion of the race changed on the 17th lap when J.T.Imperial got airborne and did a series of flips after running over the right rear wheel of another car. He quickly jumped from his Matazal Dirt Works car and looked over the badly damaged car. Also involved in the crash were Mike Martin, Ben Gregg and Nathan High, all of whom were able to rejoin the field.
Eric Wilkins was running sixth at the red flag but had punctured the right rear tire. His crew made the change but the 2002 champion restarted at the end of the pack in 17th. With the new rubber he had the fans attention as he quickly passed three cars but the passes were wiped out when Smith spun and was hit by Willy Gromach. Both cars were through for the night. While Wilkins had the fastest car on the track and drove back to ninth, the battle for the lead heated up as Davis ran nose to tail with Miller. He made a hard charge on the final lap but the night belonged to Miller.
John Pelkey, who had moved into the Total Seal car that had been driven by Joey Moriarity, gave it a good ride and the 1997 champion brought it home in third. Jeff Slinkard was never out of the top five and was fourth at the finish line ahead of six time champion Ricky Johnson. R.J. Johnson was the hard charger of the race as he came from 20th to finish sixth. Behind him were Bugs Norbury, points leader Bob Ream, Jr., Wilkins and Andy Reinbold who notched his first top ten finish of the year.
Davis won his fourth heat race of the year as he was never headed and finished well ahead of Wilkins who started sixth. J.T. Imperial who had earlier won his second trophy dash of the year, was third and Gregg earned the other main event transfer spot. Ricky Johnson led the way in the second heat as he went wire to wire. Miller made a great drive from the third row to take second ahead of Reinbold and Grombach. The third heat produced a first time winner as Smith led Slinkard, Martin and Ream to the checkered flag. Heat number four gave main event berths to fourth starting Steve Sussex, Jr., Pelkey, Chuck Buckman and Nathan High. SUMMARY ASCA SPRINT CARS Main
Event: Lap leaders: laps 1-25 Miller
1st
Heat:
2nd
Heat:
3rd
Heat:
4th
Heat:
Semi
Main:
Trophy
Dash:
UNOFFICIAL ASCA POINTS
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