SidelineStrategy.com Derby - St Louis, MO
Final
Darryl Lozier, Rob Remaley, Darrell Andresen, Jason Ingle, Leo May, Will Thompson, Matt Welliver, Joe Ramage, Norm Gibson, Andy Bing, Sam Harbin, John McCrory
There is no gain this week for Andy Bing, the winner of the Idaho Invitational and Indy Nationals stalls out at the very start in his tenth final of the year. Darrell Andresen (4th Indy) would go pointless for the second time in his seven final appearances; elimination coming in the fourth minute of action when Rob Remaley finished off what five other drivers had started.
A minute later and there was hope for the whole roster when Darryl Lozier, starring in his fourteenth final, picked up a single point for his tenth place finish courtesy of four hard hits as he tried to hunt down Leo May, and Jason Ingle ends the day with a ninth place finish, giving him his ninth and tenth points in the past two weeks that double his points total on the year.
Leo May (4th Wisconsin, 4th Idaho, 2nd Indy), in back-to-back finals for the third time, makes it eight out of eight finals where he has finished inside the top ten and his demise came after a tussle with Will Thompson that slowed his car to a crawl, leaving him open to attack.
Will Thompson becomes the third competitor to pass the one-hundred point mark and moves back into second place thanks to the absent Scott Hutchins who went out in a blaze during heat three. Thompson has one event win (Arizona) in his fourteen finals but hits the top seven for a tenth time after surviving an early stall and going on to create a nuisance of him himself with four hits on as many opponents.
Sam Harbin's first final in seven weeks ends with his first set of points in eleven and third haul this season after runner-up spot in Arizona and a sixth place finish at the Spring Fling Derby.. After having to go through the consolation heat you he was enjoying some good fortune with Andy Bing and Darryl Lozier both catching him unawares to leave him stranded. Somehow he got moving again and delivered a blindside shot of his own on Norm Gibson but that ended Harbin's day in sixth.
Rob Remaley had struck John McCrory with his first act of the final but until he blindsided McCrory in the eighth minute to eliminate the pair of them there had been no interaction in the interim. McCrory (3rd Seattle, 5th Indy, 6th Texas), in his sixth final, grabs his fifth top five finish and ended up completely focused on Joe Ramage laying two quick, hard hits on his vehicle, and Remaley (3rd Ides of March, 4th Seattle) ends his ninth final with six hits on four drivers; McCrory and Ingle receiving extra attention. This collision, which resulted in the fifth and sixth cars catching fire in St Louis, may have consequences beyond this event with Rob Remaley needing to be removed on a stretcher.
Norm Gibson is really moving up the rankings with a fifth podium finish and fourth in as many weeks. The champion of both the Lobster Nationals and Texas Nationals was not shy about mowing through the pack, yet it was a driver he had not hit, Matt Welliver, who blindsided him and put him out of action.
And after hitting Ramage either side of a stall, then Harbin and Remaley, Matt Welliver had his favourite target in Joe Ramage standing between him and a debut win. Ramage had let his rival's attention go unpunished, instead choosing to hit a variety of cars before first Gibson with a blindside shot, and then McCrory with three hits required him to gain some revenge.
Welliver was first to renew their acquaintance and that was enough to settle the matter with Ramage taking his fourth runner-up finish of the season in just his second appearance in ten weeks (11th Lobster) to move the Idaho Invitational victor joint third in the standings. That means Matt Welliver, whose previous best result was sixth at the Big Apple Smash Up and followed five weeks later by a joint-seventh in Texas, becomes the thirteenth derby winner in the eighteenth round.
Race Result
1. Matt Welliver
2. Joe Ramage
3. Norm Gibson
4. Rob Remaley
4. John McCrory
6. Sam Harbin
7. Will Thompson
8. Leo May
9. Jason Ingle
10. Darryl Lozier
11. Darrell Andresen
12. Andy Bing
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