Firecracker Open - Daytona, FL
Final
Ben Hadsell, Will Murphy, Billy Edgington, Bob Alexander, Randy Tondreau, Darrell Andresen, Andy Bing, Will Thompson, John McCrory, Bobby Gallagher, Reggie Banks, Darryl Lozier
As an alternate driver Bobby Gallagher does not get many opportunities to impress and his first final in eleven weeks ended very quickly as he missed his intended target and the next thing he knew Reggie Banks' car was driving over his own. No injuries were sustained but heat two winner Gallagher (8th Valentine's Day Massacre, 3rd Wisconsin Invitational, 19th Idaho Invitational) is the first man out.
Runner-up to Gallagher in their heat Bob Alexander (6th Arizona Derby, 3rd Lobster Nationals, 9th Texas Nationals) went one better than his rival in the final but he goes pointless for the first time in his five finals, and Ben Hadsell's first appearance in three weeks ended with him in tenth place after Andresen and Bing hammered him into the barrier where he remained until counted out. Hadsell (1st Frostbite Winter Nationals, 3rd Tampa, tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 2nd Texas) will remain in ninth place in the standings at best.
Both men making their debuts in a final will score points with Billy Edgington going down in ninth place after double-tapping Alexander into submission before Will Murphy made hard contact. Eighth place goes to John McCrory who collects a sixth top ten finish in his even finals, a stall leading to his demise, and Darryl Lozier continues to slow down somewhat with a fourth place finish in Texas his best result through the last seven weeks that include two non-qualifications. The championship leader was stopped today by six hits as he battled with Murphy and Thompson.
After six rounds without a final Will Murphy is back to maintain his record of nine finals where he has finished no lower than sixth place and, after taking some heavy fire from the pack that led to a pair of brief stalls, continued on his way to chase Randy Tondreau until Bing came through with a shot he would not recover from.
Darrel Andresen's second top five finish this season comes after his fourth heat victory earlier in the event despite somehow losing track of an attacking Tondreau twice in less than a minute who caught him on the blindside; a feat he replicated with a pair of surprise hits of his own on the Canadian before and after the revenge assault.
The gap at the top closes a little more with Will Thompson improving upon Lozier's result in four out of the last six finals. To start the race Thompson went after the leader ,and would have to take some back from Lozier soon after, but was soon bouncing through the pack to go back and forth with McCrory before settling on Andy Bing with two hits, one a blindside, who had the last laugh by eliminating the second place man in the standings.
There would two surprises to come out of the final three starting with Randy Tondreau who before his fourth final appearance had a best result of sixth at the Tampa Open. His blindside exchanges with Andresen were a source of excitement for the crowd, but he was not afraid to mix it with the big guns either as he laid two hits on Thompson and happily went to war with Bing at the end.
Andy Bing would have been the clear favourite to take his second event victory of the season (Idaho Invitational) but instead had to settle for a second runner-up spot (Seattle Derby) that will still see him improve three places in the rankings to fifth. It was almost a disaster for Bing as his hit on Hadsell resulted in a small fire starting. The marshalls came out and after extinguishing the flames judged that the car was safe to continue, otherwise he would have finished in eleventh for back-to-back pointless finals. He then alternated between hitting Tondreau and taking revenge on Thompson for his blindside hit and was too slow to avoid the final hit of the day.
Without a final until Daytona Reggie Banks goes from zero to twenty (points that is) with a terrific victory where he had to come through the consolation heat to even be here. His confidence was high coming in but after his monster truck impression over Bobby Gallagher to start the final he just went from strength to strength not sticking around in one place for long. Alexander, Lozier twice, McCrory, Tondreau twice and Thompson all took punishment before he finished it off with a second hit on Andy Bing.
Race Result
1. Reggie Banks
2. Andy Bing
3. Randy Tondreau
4. Will Thompson
5. Darrell Andresen
6. Will Murphy
7. Darryl Lozier
8. John McCrory
9. Billy Edgington
10. Ben Hadsell
11. Bob Alexander
12. Bobby Gallagher
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