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| Press Release |
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MURPHY
RETURNS TO WINNER'S CIRCLE |
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HANFORD, CA - August 26, 2006... Four and a half months seems like an eternity when you haven't won a main event and that's what Peter Murphy was experiencing when he buckled up for the 30-lap feature at Hanford's King Speedway Saturday night. His last SCRA 360 c.i. Main event victory occurred way back on April 8th at Chowchilla. But that's all behind the Clovis resident after he ran away from a strong field of 20 competitors. Tooling the Tom Tarlton owned, Tachi Palace sponsored No. 21 sprinter, Murphy out-powered pole sitter Jonathan Logan and grabbed the early lead, one that he wouldn't relinquish throughout the event. However, Murphy had to get the jump on Logan three times as Aaron Chaney brought out the first of two immediate yellows after making contact with another car and jumping up and riding down the front stretch retaining wall when the green was unfurled. Start number two was aborted before a lap was completed when Andy Ferris tangled with a competitor in turn four bringing out the caution flag once again. Three's a charm and Murphy once again grabbed the lead and steadily negotiated the smooth 3/8-mile surface, building a 100 yard lead over Richard Brace, Richard Harvey and Logan until another yellow was display on lap 17 when Nate Ziegler spun in turn three. After the restart, only a handful of laps were completed when another incident, involving Brace and Albert Pombo, brought out the final caution of the evening. Brace and Pombo bumped together sending his car (Brace's) onto two wheels and almost over. Fortunately, the car landed on all fours but was through for the night. With Harvey now on Murphy's tail for the restart, the No. 21 machine picked up where it left off, leaving the field behind. Harvey was now left to fend off hometown favorite Chad Boespflug and the two put on a whale of a battle for the screaming, partisan fans, passing each other five times in three laps until Harvey prevailed. When the checkers were finally displayed, Murphy was comfortably ahead with Harvey out-distancing Boespflug by four car lengths and Logan another four lengths back. Garrett Ishii, abandoning his wing and making his first start with SCRA, was an impressive fifth. Rounding out the top-ten were Ferris in his repaired car, Kevin Barnes, Brian Schuler, Pombo and Burt Foland. Earlier in the evening, Derrick Hearron captured Heat No. 1
while Steven Williams took the checkers in Heat No. 2 after a wild race.
Williams and Ferris started in the rear and were battling when they entered turn
three. Williams collected Ferris whose car flipped twice before coming to a
rest. After the restart, Williams came from the back to gain the victory. Murphy
took top honors in the Heat No. 3 and recorded quick qualifying time of 15.447.
Logan captured the Dash. |
