The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Heat Two
Bob Alexander, Dick Garrett, Will Murphy, Leo May, Tom Gariepy, Timmy Barnes, Jess Yates, Bill Malbrough, Bambi Rogers, Lynne Higgins, John McCrory, Ben Hadsell
The opening salvo of hits included Ben Hadsell's journey over the top of Dick Garrett to take him out of the contest. Garrett (6th Ides of March, 7th Wisconsin Invitational, 5th Seattle Derby) was uninjured but misses an eleventh final in the last twelve.
Shortly after the restart nine-time finalist Will Murphy, who is also going through a lean spell of one final in nine weeks, was disqualified for a hit to the driver's side door of Leo May, but those would be the only eliminations in the first five minutes of the heat.
While going through the pack hitting five different vehicles, Bob Alexander (6th Arizona Derby, 3rd Lobster Nationals, 9th Texas Nationals) was being hounded by Tom Gariepy and Ben Hadsell with each man doubling up on the tenth place finisher, and after Tommy Miller's success in the first heat Bill Malbrough is the lone driver who has yet to qualify for a final as his battles with May and John McCrory took their toll.
Timmy Barnes (12th Spring Fling Derby, 4th Big Apple Smash Up) extends his final-less streak to ten weeks thanks to a group assault by Gariepy, Hadsell and Lynne Higgins, but Jess Yates makes it into the consolation heat, just able to outlast Barnes who delivered a double-tap to him earlier in the contest.
Lynne Higgins will also take part in the consolation heat as she looks for back-to-back finals for the first time since the Idaho Invitational, her dismissal coming with a lenghty stall she re-fired before going at Bambi Rogers and Timmy Barnes with a pair of shots on each. She is joined by the Arkansas Derby winner Tom Gariepy who avoided a lot of early trouble while attacking Alexander and Barnes before the pack converged upon him, and Leo May who hopes to avoid missing three straight finals for the third time in recent week, early blindside hits from McCrory and Gariepy eventually dragging him down.
After her final debut last week where she finished in sixth place Bambi Rogers goes back-to-back after laying on nine hits to five opponents, two each to May and Higgins with three on McCrory, but a final attack from May set her up for Hadsell to clean up and end her heat in third.
And it was the final act of Rogers that then caused a catastrophic stall in the engine of John McCrory who was bouncing around between Hadsell, Malbrough and Higgins prior to the stoppage he would not recover from. However, it is a ninth final for McCrory with a fourth in as many weeks.
With this win Ben Hadsell has matched Darrell Andresen's feat of four heat victories this season and will feature in his tenth final of the year. As previously noted Hadsell began the heat with an up-and-over that took Garrett out and he followed that up with two hits on Alexander to help remove him. Hits on Higgins, Barnes, Yates, Gariepy, and Rogers twice took him to his second final in three events.
Race Result
1. Ben Hadsell
2. John McCrory
3. Bambi Rogers
4. Leo May
5. Tom Gariepy
6. Lynne Higgins
7. Jess Yates
8. Timmy Barnes
9. Bill Malbrough
10. Bob Alexander
11. Will Murphy
12. Dick Garrett
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