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Vehicles going sideways, fires under the hood and a ton of bumping.
Just a typical Factory Stock race at Havasu 95 Speedway Saturday, where “Jumbo” John Thorpe came out on top.
“My last race, I went from 21st to 5th. That’s tough to do in just 12 laps. This time, in front the whole way, I could race the way I wanted, without worrying about traffic. I just ran the line I wanted,” Thorpe said.
While Thorpe had the lead throughout the entire 12-lap main event, he still had to contend with a pair of spinouts and one re-start following the fire in Rich Zirges’ car. The re-start allowed Thor Conley and Mike Harris to get right on Thorpe’s bumper for the restart but Thorpe was able to keep the low line through the turns and hold for the win.
“It’s so much fun to be here,” Thorpe said. “And we’re all buddies, we help each other out.”
In the JJ&B Late Model Series 50-lap feature race Ron Daniel had the early lead over Austin Murphy and Danny Gay, but Gay wasted no time and by turn three of the first lap had nosed ahead of Murphy to grab second.
Gay continued to apply pressure to Daniel, with the two men driving side-by-side for four of the first six laps until a caution forced the field to line up and move Daniel to the front.
That didn’t stop Gay — as soon as the green flag came out for the re-start, Gay shot low and took the lead. Gay held on, extending the lead to as much as eight car lengths for the bulk of the race until an accident in lap 43 brought out the yellow flag. Track officials bunched the top six drivers in front of the lapped traffic and Daniel made one last try to recapture the lead. But Gay held on to the take the checkered.
Standing on front of his smoking vehicle following the race, Gay said he was worried the car wouldn’t hold on through the final caution.
“In the past that’s happened before, where the car heats up during a stop. I saw smoke coming in (this time) and said ‘let’s go!’ But the car held up and it ended OK,” Gay said.
Chip Campbell helped himself inch closing to the points lead in ASA Street Stocks racing, finishing third Saturday behind Mike Sutterfield and Ralph Adams. Adams had the lead through the first seven laps of racing until Sutterfield was able to inch past to claim first. Adams and Campbell then went two-wide for second and lapped traffic creating a block, which Campbell was able to use to slide under for second.
But Adams was able to use the same maneuver in lap 17 to recapture second, moving Campbell to third. Campbell came into Saturday’s race tied for second in the points standing, just 18 behind leader Rick Layman.
In Legends racing, points leader Connor Kassik had the pole position at the start but couldn’t hold off a challenge by Tim Gewecke. Gewecke himself couldn’t hold on either as Broc “Bam Bam” Murphy and Jimmy Hanson then shot past to take the two leader spots. The pair raced two-wide until the first turn on lap 15 when Murphy moved into first.
“The car was hooked up today, it was on rails,” said Murphy. “And Jimmy gave a great race. Woo, it was fast.”
In Bandoleros racing, Alex Morgan won his second main event in a row, racing past Tommy Kelley and Shelby Orozco for the win. And in Bandos B racing, Dakota Steffan took the checkered flag over Tyler Carlo.
Click Here for Full Results.
Racing resumes at Havasu 95 Speedway on April 19, when beach attire gets $2 knocked off the entry fee. The speedway, at SARA Park, will also play host to special event on April 12, the Sunset at the Speedway Car Show.
Online at http://www.havasu95speedway.com/.
Credit:
David Bell - Today's News-Herald |
