Texas Nationals - Dallas, TX
Heat Two
Ben Hadsell, Randy Tondreau, Dick Garrett, Darryl Lozier, Tom Gariepy, Charlie Clayton, Jess Yates, Rob Remaley, Phillip Ruffin, Bill Malbrough, Leo May, Ed Smith
After half the pack was ejected from heat one in the opening six minutes, the second heat was a full on twelve car rampage for six minutes. There was no shortage of action though with nine hits performed on opponents' blindside and a lock-up of bumpers between Darryl Lozier and Tom Gariepy that almost ended both their events but for a hit from Bill Malbrough separating the two.
After so much carnage between the entire pack it turned into a four minute parade of eliminations where a matter of seconds proved the difference between heading home and going into the final. It all started with three-time finalist Jess Yates (8th Arizona, 7th Jersey, 4th Summer Sizzler) whose five hits on four targets, Ben Hadsell the repeat victim, were largely mistimed and led to his eventual elimination.
Seconds later and the trio of Randy Tondreau, Dick Garrett, and Tom Gariepy were also done for the day. Tondreau (6th Tampa, 10th Seattle, 12th Jersey) beats his previous final-less streak of five when Yates' blindside hit was followed up by a solid strike from Malbrough, and five-time finalist Garrett (5th Seattle) now has just one in his last seven events, this latest failure laregly coming about as a result of his own attacks on the pack.Lastly for this set Wisconsin Invitational champion Gariepy misses a third straight final for the first time since the start of the season when his earlier Siamese twin, Lozier, finished the job.
If that minute was exciting the crowd then the next must have blown their socks off as another six drivers received their marching orders, Rob Remaley (3rd Ides of March, 4th Seattle) going down as the unlucky loser in eighth position as the seventh hit he took after a pair of brief stalls proved too much for the eight-time finalist.
The consolation heat entrants started tumbling down in quick order with Phillip Ruffin breaking down thanks to Remaley's last act; Bill Malbrough fighting both Tondreau and Leo May before his exit came at his own hands on a hit to Lozier; Leo May taking a series of hits from multiple drivers after avoiding a lot of the chaos; and finally Ben Hadsell who was double-tapped by Ed Smith to stop him reaching his fifth final in six events without going through one more heat.
Charlie Clayton can count himself very lucky to have survived a few moments longer and qualify for his fifth final of the year and second in a row after finishing twelfth at the Summer National Derby. Blindsided three times, twice by Malbrough, Clayton managed to just keep moving before Lozier put in the final blow, and it is the Canadian who finishes runner-up and go on to participate in his thirteenth final out of sixteen events. After his lock-up with Gariepy and the finishing shots to both him and Clayton, Darryl Lozier then went head-to-head against Ed Smith who no-one would have predicted could win this fight.
But win he did to not only taking his first heat victory of the season but also qualifies for his debut final.Stalling at the start and just barely re-firing in time to continue the heat Smith found it hard to pin anyone down in the wild contest until the pack started to think and he found he could focus on Hadsell and then Lozier with two hits each.
Race Result
1. Ed Smith
2. Darryl Lozier
3. Charlie Clayton
4. Ben Hadsell
5. Leo May
6. Bill Malbrough
7. Philip Ruffin
8. Rob Remaley
9. Tom Gariepy
10. Dick Garrett
11. Randy Tondreau
12. Jess Yates
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