Arkansas Derby - Little Rock, AR
Consolation Heat
Will Murphy, Norm Gibson, Jess Yates, Ricky Grimes, John McCrory, John Ruiz, Dick Garrett, Darrell Andresen, Ed Smith, Matt Welliver, Danny Krol, Steven Redden (DNS)
For the second week in a row there will be eleven cars at the start of the consolation heat due to injuries sustained in an earlier heat. This time it is nine-time finalist Steven Redden who misses out and looks likely to miss more time in the next couple of weeks.
Unlike last week though this second chance race lasted longer, almost double the time at twelve minutes compared to seven last time out. There were three eliminations in the opening minutes with Danny Krol (4th Jersey Derby, 3rd Summer Sizzler) taking big hits from Murphy and Grimes to put him down in eleventh, and Matt Welliver (6th Big Apple Smash Up, tied-7th Texas Nationals, 1st SidelineStrategy.com Derby) re-firing from an early stall only to have Ed Smith finish his quadruplet of hits for an early exit.
After Jess Yates (8th Arizona Derby, 7th Jersey, 4th Sizzler) was double teamed by Murphy and McCrory after taking two blindside shots from Ricky Grimes, it was Grimes (3rd Jersey, 3rd Texas, 1st Louisiana Invitational) who turned his attentions onto McCrory but could take no more when Andresen was all over him.
Ed Smith (11th Texas) had eliminated four drivers in one event but was once again to miss out on another final, Andresen again the enforcer, and the next three eliminations brought the heat to an abrupt climax starting with Dick Garrett (6th Ides of March, 5th Seattle Derby) missing a tenth final our of eleven thanks to John McCrory taking full advantage of his opponent being stuck.
John Ruiz makes it ten in a row without a final appearance as the Ides of March champion a hit from seven different drivers but his real mistake was missing a target and crashing into the wall. The final man out was Will Murphy, the nine-time finalist's sixth place finish last week at the Firecracker Open his only appearance in eight rounds; elimination came at the wheels of Andresen as he sat helpless and stalled.
Norm Gibson bounces back from his failure last week to make it eight finals in ten weeks, but a miss and a blindside hit against him almost put him down before he could start on his eight hit heat with McCrory and Ruiz earning double trouble.
John McCrory hits an eighth final of the year and it is the first time he has made three in a row. He managed this feat by also missing a target and taking it twice to Ruiz, also avoiding a hit on his blindside.
Darrell Andresen is 4.5pts behind McCrory in the standings but he still has one more final by matching his rival with a third straight final. A brilliant performance with eleven hits on five opponents saw him through by laying some of the hits onto the best prepared cars of Ruiz, Grimes and Garrett, the latter two earning two shots along with Smith, Murphy and Gibson as all three qualifiers came from heat one.
Race Result
Q. Norm Gibson
Q. John McCrory
Q. Darrell Andresen
4. Will Murphy
5. John Ruiz
6. Dick Garrett
7. Ed Smith
8. Ricky Grimes
9. Jess Yates
10. Matt Welliver
11. Danny Krol
12. Steven Redden (DNS)
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