Arkansas Derby - Little Rock, AR
Final
Tom Gariepy, Bambi Rogers, Chris Henton, Jamie Eilers, John McCrory, Don Davis, Lynne Higgins, Darrell Andresen, Scott Hutchins, Andy Bing, Norm Gibson, Randy Tondreau
John McCrory (3rd Seattle Derby, 5th Summer Sizzler, tied-4th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) must have been feeling pretty confident early on after catching Jamie Eilers on the blindside, but the officials halted the final to inspect the eight-time finalist and found his gas tank to be illegal, resulting in McCrory's disqualification.
Andy Bing was rough-housed by five different opponents and the winner of both the Idaho Invitational and Indy Nationals events fails to pick up a point, the fifth time in his twelve appearances, and Randy Tondreau (6th Arizona Derby, 10th Seattle) follows up his third place last week at the Firecracker Open with a solitary point in Little Rock after he had Eilers lead a charge against him.
Don Davis (12th Valentine's Day Massacre, 2nd Jersey Derby, 7th Sizzler) went at Bambi Rogers twice but his poor hits led to self-inflicted pain and he was finished off soon after by Darrell Andresen and Chris Henton. Jamie Eilers (1st Sizzler, 1st Summer National Derby) was next out in eight position after his attack on Tondreau, taking seven hits in under five minutes as Henton double-taps him at the start but it is Scott Hutchins who closes the deal.
An untimely miss cost Norm Gibson any improvement on seventh place, the five-time podium finisher and winner of the Texas Nationals flew past his intended target and crashed awkwardly into Tom Gariepy before Hutchins wheeled around to take a second shot at him and end another opponent's final.
The final debut of Bambi Rogers began with a short stall and ended with a top six finish despite the fact only managed to strike Tondreau and Hutchins and took a pair of hits from both Gariepy and Davis, and it is back-to-back fifth place finishes for Darrell Andresen who only had one (4th Indy Nationals) in his previous eight finals; dismissal coming in a Higgins-Hutchins sandwich.
Lynne Higgins' second final in twelve events brings about her best result of the season after finishing fifth on four other occasions, Chris Henton bringing it to her with three hits in quickfire fashion, and that left the three automatic qualifiers from heat two competing for the win.
The winner of that heat was Scott Hutchins (1st Seattle, 2nd Big Apple Smash Up, 2nd Lobster Nationals) who had missed four of the previous five finals (3rd Louisiana Invitational) but a third place here bumps him into second place in the standings, half a point above Will Thompson who failed to get out of heat one. Eight hits on eight different vehicles told the story for Hutchins as he was happy to go at anyone, and it was the same when he was the victim as all five of the shots on his car came from separate drivers.
Two hits on Eilersm one each on Davis and Rogers, then a hat-trick of shots on Higgins made him a strong contender but Chris Henton (1st Spring Fling Derby, 10th Sizzler, 5th Summer National) finished runner-up in both the heat and final as his remaining opponent finished the event with three hits to Henton's one at the very end.
Tom Gariepy (tied-2nd VDM, 1st Wisconsin Invitational) is back in the top seven among the standings with his second event victory this season and first points haul in ten weeks, reversing the order from that second heat where he finished third behind Henton and the winner Hutchins. He had to be alert at the off when he turned his head just in time to avoid a sneaky hit but after that he went on to lay nine hits on five opponents, only taking four in return. Rogers and Andresen were doubled up before Gariepy hit Henton three times, not allowing his opponent much chance to turn around and retaliate.
Race Result
1. Tom Gariepy
2. Chris Henton
3. Scott Hutchins
4. Lynne Higgins
5. Darrell Andresen
6. Bambi Rogers
7. Norm Gibson
8. Jamie Eilers
9. Don Davis
10. Randy Tondreau
11. Andy Bing
12. John McCrory
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