The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Heat Three
Billy Edgington, Chris Henton, Jamie Eilers, Ricky Grimes, John Ruiz, Scott Hutchins, Randy Tondreau, Darrell Andresen, Danny Krol, Matt Welliver, Ed Smith, Joe Ramage
The longest heat of the round lasted sixteen minutes and the first elimination didn't come until the seventh minute of action when Ricky Grimes (3rd Jersey Derby, 3rd Texas Nationals) misses his fourth final since winning the Louisiana Invitational thanks to a double-bump from Jamie Eilers causing a fatal stall.
Ed Smith (11th Texas) stalled himself early on but re-fired only to crash into a wall when he missed his intended target, Krol, Welliver and Ruiz all pouncing on their prone opponent, and then Danny Krol (8thIdes of March, 4th Jersey, 3rd Summer Sizzler)was pushed offline by Chris Henton and suffered the worst when he collided with Welliver.
A single hit on Henton was all Billy Edgington (9th Firecracker Open) had to show for his seven minutes as he had to suffer through a lot of engine problems before finally succumbing to them, then Randy Tondreau fails to make it three finals in a row as he took himself out of any further action this week when his ninth hit of the heat struck Eilers. Tondreau's best performance was a fortnight ago in Daytona where he finished third.
John Ruiz and Scott Hutchins go down in seventh and sixth respectively to march on into the consolation heat, Eilers for Ruiz and a fire for Hutchins ended their quests, and Matt Welliver joins them as despite a pair of misses he struck Smith thrice and Ramage twice before Eilers and Andresen made up for their opponent avoiding a lot of the early traffic.
A collision between Chris Henton and Jamie EIlers made the officials job tough and it was dicided that they finished joint third, so barring injury there will be thirteen entrants going into this week's final with eleven drivers competing in the consolation heat. Both men had been going back and forth throughout the heat as they combined for twenty-three hits on ten different cars; John Ruiz taking five of them and Henton, qualifying for his sixth final, winning the personal battle between them by striking Eilers, ninth final upcoming, four times to two.
That left Darrell Andresen and Joe Ramage dusting it up for the two points a heat victory will get you. The only contact they had with each other prior to the finale was when Ramage hit Andresen five minutes in after avoiding a hit on his blindside and barely re-firing from a long stall. While Ramage went on to tackle Edgington twice and Henton three times, his final opponent was happy to take on all-comers before he suffered his own stall that threatened to cut his heat short. But he also managed to re-fire and was focused on Scott Hutchins for three shots before another stall nearly took him out in fifth place and a sneak attack on Ramage with his victim's attention committed to Henton decided the result.
Joe Ramage qualifies for just his third final in thirteen, but it's two in four after his runner-up finish at the SidelineStrategy.com Derby, and Darrell Andresen is back to bring the sole occupier of most heat victories with five as he heads into his tenth final, this his fourth in a row.
Race Result
1. Darrell Andresen
2. Joe Ramage
3. Chris Henton
3. Jamie Eilers
5. Matt Welliver
6. Scott Hutchins
7. John Ruiz
8. Randy Tondreau
9. Billy Edgington
10. Danny Krol
11. Ed Smith
12. Ricky Grimes
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