Idaho Invitational - Boise, ID
Final Part Two
Andy Bing, Will Murphy, Will Thompson, Joe Ramage, Lynne Higgins, Leo May, Rob Remaley, Tom Gariepy, Jamie Eilers, Ben Hadsell
Before their eliminations Steven Redden and Chris Henton were very keen to get out at Will Thompson, who himself was rabid in his pursuit of Joe Ramage, but they were part of seven car conglomerate that would ultimately end his day in tenth place. Thompson (4th Frostbite, 1st Arizona, 4th Tampa, 5th Ides of March, 7th Spring Fling) will surely drop from his second spot in the standings but he, along with Darryl Lozier, lead the way with six finals in eight events to start the year.
Rob Remaley will claw his way over Sam Harbin in the standings with a ninth place finish after suffering a major stall in his fifth final of the year, all top ten finishes, but he will feel rather unlucky as he avoided a lot of attention.
Lynne Higgins will also leapfrog a rival in Chris Henton going toe to toe with Andy Bing and having to contend with a lot of attention from Leo May. With three fifth place finishes this year (Frostbite, VDM, Sping Fling) and a tenth in Tampa Higgins is just short of being a true contender for the championship.
Runner-up in both the Frostbite and Ides of March derbies Jamie Eilers finishes seventh in Idaho. A number of stalls left him vulnerable to a sustained attack from Will Murphy, and Eilers managed to make just three hits in ten minutes of action.
Ben Hadsell, in his first final since winning Frostbite and finishing third in Tampa, collects five points for his day's work. Things started well as he laid hits on several drivers while avoiding a lot of heat but his luck turned when, after re-firing a stall for the second time, he missed two targets in quick succession and was blindsided by Andy Bing.
Tom Gariepy jumps over Lozier in the standings, thanks in part to his hit that finished off Hadsell, but a pair of blindside shots from Henton and Murphy did a lot of damage that prevented him from doing better than fifth place. This was his third final in five events, finishing joint second at VDM and winning the Wisconsin Invitational where he picked up nearly all his points.
Leo May had no chance to win another heat in Boise but he leads all drivers with three heat victories to his name. He has converted all of them into points (7th Tampa, 10th Ides, 4th Wisconsin) and picked up another nine here to place him above Ben Hadsell; Joe Ramage putting in a lot of damage late on to finish him off.
A second straight third place finish, and fifth in the top four, for Will Murphy puts him level with Lozier in the standings but he is still looking for his first derby win. Starting the season with a fourth at Frostbite, 2nd in Arizona and fourth in Tampa, Murphy would miss the next two finals before getting onto the podium at Spring Fling and then Idaho. A late battle with Andy Bing proving an opponent too far.
That left championship leader Joe Ramage and Andy Bing who only just made the cut to be here. Both were in their fifth final but while Ramage had a win at Valentine's Day Massacre, a seventh at Ides of March and back-to-back runer-up places in Wisconsin and Spring Fling, Bing had a best result of seventh place at VDM. His other results were twelfth in Arizona and Tampa, eighth in Wisconsin.
There was only one real interaction between the two before the end when Bing laid out a hit on his opponent nine minutes in. An early stall for Bing almost saw him counted out but he was able to re-fire and get stuck in, Tom Gariepy a driver he would chase down to the end. For his part Ramage was also happy to attack Gariepy before he started his onslaught on Leo May. One final coming together decided things and we have an eighth different event winner in Andy Bing that shoots him up the standings into the top ten.
Race Result
1. Andy Bing
2. Joe Ramage
3. Will Murphy
4. Leo May
5. Tom Gariepy
6. Ben Hadsell
7. Jamie Eilers
8. Lynne Higgins
9. Rob Remaley
10. Will Thompson
11. Darrell Andresen
12. Sam Harbin
13. Randy Corson
14. Steven Redden
15. Darryl Lozier
16. Dick Garrett
17. Chris Henton
18. John Ruiz
19. Bobby Gallagher
20. Scott Hutchins
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