Alamo Derby - San Antonio, TX
Consolation Heat
Tom Gariepy, Will Thompson, Jess Yates, Phillip Ruffin, Ben Hadsell, Will Murphy, Andy Bing, John McCrory, Ricky Grimes, Scott Hutchins, Tommy Miller, Sam Harbin
Thirteenth in his final debut last week, Tommy Miller is quickly out of the consolation heat this time around as the start is delayed to examine his battery mount where officials declared it improperly fitted and he was removed from the field.
Sixteen-time finalist Will Thompson (2nd Summer Sizzler, 2nd Bryan Family Open) did get away at the start but did not last a minute as John McCrory went up and over the Arizona Derby winner, and Scott Hutchins (1st Seattle Derby, 2nd Big Apple Smash Up, 2nd Lobster Nationals) has just two finals in the last eight rounds, both third place finishes, as Ruffin, McCrory and Grimes converge on him for the fifth, sixth and seventh hits on Hutchins in the opening three minutes.
Sam Harbin (2nd Arizona, 6th Spring Fling Derby, 6th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) suffered little interference but the blindside hit by Gariepy pushed him towards Andy Bing and Grimes to knock him out in ninth, and then the Louisiana Invitiational winner Ricky Grimes (3rd Jersey Derby, 3rd Texas Nationals) was cleaned out by McCrory after a hit from Jess Yates did a lot of damage.
After blindsided Thompson in retaliation for a hit, Phillip Ruffin (9th Ides of March, 8th Smash Up) also suffered the wrath of Yates as he was twice a victim for his opponent before ten-time finalist Ben Hadsell (1st Frostbite Winter Nationals, tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 2nd Texas) lost a war with John McCrory, finishing in sixth position.
Andy Bing, winner of both the Idaho Invitational and Indy Nationals, only delivered five hits in eight minutes but his final shot resulted in a disqualification as he clearly struck the driver's side door of Will Murphy, denying him a thirteenth final appearance this season.
The final elimination was that of John McCrory who, after barely avoiding a devastating hit in heat one, went up and over Will Thompson at the start of the consolation heat as part of his six hits on five vehicles. Twice he attacked Hadsell in a real battle between the two of them but his end came sandwiched between Gariepy and Murphy.
Tom Gariepy now has seven finals to his name but two event wins and just one finish outside of the top five (11th Indy) sees him heading into the final in San Antonio looking to improve on his eighth position in the standings. Starting on Sam Harbin with two hits Gariepy would miss another target, and miss badly, to damage his car badly enough that he relied on a lot of luck to get as far as he did, but he only took three hits all heat.
Jess Yates reaches his first final in eight rounds and this will be just his fourth appearance all season, taking four hits while laying a pair on both Hadsell and Ruffin, and Will Murphy makes it ten finals on the year, matching Yates with a heat-high of seven hits delivered. Murphy is in just his second final in ten weeks after qualifying for eight out of the first twelve.
Race Result
Q. Tom Gariepy
Q. Jess yates
Q. Will Murphy
4. John McCrory
5. Andy Bing
6. Ben Hadsell
7. Phillip Ruffin
8. Ricky Grimes
9. Sam Harbin
10. Scott Hutchins
11. Will Thompson
12. Tommy Miller
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