The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Final
John Ruiz, Jamie Eilers, Chris Henton, Will Thompson, John McCrory, Tommy Miller, Joe Ramage, Lynne Higgins, Norm Gibson, Bambi Rogers, Darryl Lozier, Ben Hadsell
The debut of Tommy Miller was very short lived as he came in to his first ever final over-excited and slammed straight into the drivers' door of Lynne Higgins, and John Ruiz's (9th Arizona Derby, 1st Ides of March, 8th Seattle Derby) first final after being absent in the previous ten ends with him taking home no points after five hits, two from John McCrory, put him down in twelfth.
Bambi Rogers (6th Arkansas Derby) would also take nothing away from her work in The Bryan Family Open event as she went straight for the top dog in Darryl Lozier, hitting him four times but was put down by Norm Gibson who came looking for revenge after she caught him unawares previously.
Lynne Higgins reaches the five-oh in points with a tenth place finish in Milwaukee to give the four-time fifth place girl ten points in the last two events, elimination today coming in the eighth minute of a twelve minute final at the hands of Thompson delivering the seventh against her.
In his previous three events Darryl Lozier (1st Tampa Open, Jersey Derby, Big Apple Smash Up) has finished 10th, 7th and then failed to qualify for the final, not winning any of the last ten events with a single top five finish in that time, and the heat one winner has backed this up with a lowly ninth position that came largely thanks to Rogers' relentless assault.
Darrell Andresen (4th Indy Nationals, 5th Firecracker Open, 5th Arkansas Derby) was out right behind the championship leader after Ben Hadsell rounded out a three-way attack by pushing him into the barriers where he would end his fourth final in a row in eighth place.
John McCrory (3rd Seattle, 5th Indy Nationals, tied-4th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) is able to close in on Andresen by a point, his hit on that opponent his final act before eventually slowing to a halt, and Jamie EIlers started a frantic finale where five cars were eliminated in the last four minutes. Eilers (1st Summer Sizzler, 1st Summer National Derby) only took three hits while delivering seven, including a blindside attack on Hadsell after avoiding an attempt at a surprise attack from the latter.
That and a second attack later on from Eilers damaged his vehicle enough that a hit on Ramage condemned Ben Hadsell to his exit but he enjoys a fifth top-five finish this season. Hadsell (1st Frostbite, tied-2nd Summer National, 2nd Texas Nationals) had previously gone for Ramage twice, giving knocks to Gibson and Andresen in between.
Chris Henton (5th Summer National) backs up his runner-up finish last week with a fourth spot here as the Spring Fling Derby winner saw off little challenge from the pack while he mowed down the opposition with nine hits, two each going to McCrory and Thompson, but Ramage was the one who eventually caught up to him to crash him against the wall.
A sixth podium place in his nine finals gives Norm Gibson another bump up the standings. Starting with a hit on Lozier he then had his revenge on Rogers who caught him on his blindside before avoiding another surprise hit, hitting Thompson and then stalling. It was touch and go for a while whether or not he would re-fire but he found success and repeated the avoid hit-hit Thompson tactic only for Ramage to return for a second time and lay him clean out.
Will Thompson, whose only event win this season came in the second week in Arizona, struck Joe Ramage just once throughout the final but the latter's fourth attack on Thompson decided who would take the victory and five extra points. Thompson can be content to even get this far as he suffered a fire at the beginning of the consolation heat to take eleven shots in the final before the twelfth pushed him to within six points of Darryl Lozier.
Joe Ramage himself is now only 12.5pts back of the leader with his second event victory this year, the first coming in his first final in the Valentine's Day Massacre. That win started a run of five straight finals, three of ending in runner-up spot, but he would have just one appearance (11th Indy Nationals) in the next nine weeks before another runner-up finish in the SidelineStrategy.com Derby put him back on track. Two more absences and then this victory that comes from a slow start where Higgins caught him by surprise and then he was almost caught out again straight after.
Race Result
1. Joe Ramage
2. Will Thompson
3. Norm Gibson
4. Chris Henton
5. Ben Hadsell
6. Jamie Eilers
7. John McCrory
8. Darrell Andresen
9. Darryl Lozier
10. Lynne Higgins
11. Bambi Rogers
12. John Ruiz
13. Tommy Miller
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