Arkansas Derby - Little Rock, AR
Heat One
Reggie Banks, John McCrory, Will Thompson, Andy Bing, Darrell Andresen, Will Murphy, Billy Edgington, Ben Hadsell, Charlie Clayton, Randy Tondreau, Norm Gibson, Bambi Rogers
With five members of the top ten present in the opening heat it came as a surprise to many that only one of them would automatically qualify for the final and two would fail to even make it as far as the consolation heat.
Since winning the opening round of the season in Edmonton Ben Hadsell has gone to finish third once (Tampa Open) and runner-up twice (Summer National Derby, Texas Nationals) with all nine of his final appearances ending with him no lower than tenth and all of this puts him in ninth place in the standings. But today it's a third missed final in four weeks since his back-to-back second place finishes thanks to a tough hit on Clayton that resulted in him picking up a DQ.
Charlie Clayton (7th Frostbite, 5th Texas, 8th Louisiana Invitational) never recovered from the rough-housing he received and was soon demolished by the pack, and Reggie Banks coming off an event win in his final debut stalled at the start was counted out.
There will be no threat to Darryl Lozier at the top of the tree this week as Will Thompson goes down in ninth place, the Arizona Derby winner and points collector in all fifteen of his finals took a beating from John McCrory and Billy Edginton who struck him twice each before he was disqualified for a hit on Will Murphy, and then Edgington gets wedged in a tight spot and misses out on a chance for his second ever final in as many weeks.
Norm Gibson was all over Bambi Rogers throughout the heat striking her four times, the second of which locked them together briefly, and his elimination came after Randy Tondreau freed the cars and bumped him again for good measure, and Will Murphy looked dead in the water after stalling in the latter stages of the race but Andy Bing took it upon himself to finish the job before the count-out.
John McCrory also moves on into the consolation heat and he was allowed to sit there in a stalled vehicle unmolested and wait for his marching orders after attacking Thompson twice, and he is joined by Darrell Andresen who battled with McCrory for a short time before Bing once again took advantage and eliminated a helpless and stranded opponent.
After the two first timers last week in Banks and Edgington, Bambi Rogers is going in to her first ever final after finishing third in heat one. A missed shot at the start catapulted her into the contact with Gibson that locked them up before Tondreau came barging in a minute later and then she too was happy to go after McCrory with a double-tap prior to Bing's blindside attack and Tondreau's two-hit assault to finish her off.
Andy Bing and Randy Tondreau were guaranteed to take part in their twelfth and fifth finals respectively but they would both have to share the points for winning a heat as they went full-on straight at each other to end it. Bing did not just attack drivers when they were helpless as he struck Murphy twice and Andresen three times in all, suffering a couple of short stalls himself. Tondreau was more liberal with his hits but he did make contact twice in quick succession on both Gibson and Rogers, also having to survive a stall and in his case it was a long one that if not re-fire would have ended his heat in seventh.
Race Result
1. Andy Bing
1. Randy Tondreau
3. Bambi Rogers
4. Darrell Andresen
5. John McCrory
6. Will Murphy
7. Norm Gibson
8. Billy Edgington
9. Will Thompson
10. Reggie Banks
11. Charlie Clayton
12. Ben Hadsell
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