The Ohio Derby - Cincinnati, OH
Heat One
Jess Yates, Charlie Clayton, Darryl Lozier, Will Murphy, Danny Krol, Randy Corson, Chris Henton, Reggie Banks, Tom Gariepy, Darrell Andresen, Bob Alexander, Randy Tondreau
Randy Corson (5th Frostbite, 5th Tampa Open, 6th Alamo Derby) struck Chris Henton twice, Andresen and Yates once each, before the five hits against him took their toll, and, despit currently sitting fifth in the standings, Tom Gariepy (1st Wisconsin Invitational, 1st Arkansas Derby) is still without back-to-back final appearances with his hit on Corson his only real contribution before he stalled out.
Jess Yates (7th Jersey Derby, 4th Summer Sizzler, 3rd Alamo Derby) sabotaged his own cause early on when he missed his target and crunched into the wall before the pack took him apart, and four-time event winner and championship leader Darryl Lozier gives the rest of the field hope again by missing out on a sixth final this year, his third absence in seven week. While spreading the pain around with five hits on as many opponents Lozier took some very heavy hits in reply, two of which came from Reggie Banks, and he ends his heat in ninth place.
The streak ends at five finals in a row for Darrell Andresen (4th Indy Nationals, 5th Firecracker Open, 5th Arkansas Derby), his vehicle not holding up to the nine points on contact it participated in, six of which were initiated by Andresen himself, but his loss is Bob Alexander's gain as he creeps into the consolation heat after he and Randy Tondreau took each other out in a brutal battle. Alexander took it to his rival three times while Tondreau came back with a vicious hit on the blindside in between stalling and assaulting Lozier and Clayton with two hits on each.
Will Murphy survived until the eighth hit against him as he tried to take out both Clayton and Banks with a pair of shots on both, the pack descending upon him rapidly at the end with Clayton leading the charge on two hits, and Chris Henton just misses out on an automatic place in the final as Danny Krol finishes the job started by blindside hits from Murphy and Alexander.
Starting out with a stall and then a bad miss that catapulted him into a barrier, Danny Krol then takes his frustration out on five opponents with seven shots finding their mark; Clayton and Murphy taking two. It's back-to-back appearances for Krol after missing five straight and he now makes his way into a seventh final this season.
Reggie Banks was battered in the first half of the ten minute heat as five of the seven hits on him were in the opening four minutes. Surviving that pressure Banks helped get Lozier out of the way with two hits, the latter causing a brief stall, and then battling with Clayton for the heat victory on his way to a third final of the year; all of them coming in the last five weeks.
Charlie Clayton moves above the Firecracker Open champion Banks for the time being after earning his second heat victory this season. Stalling at the start Clayton re-fired and went on to bounce through the pack before settling on Will Murphy, hitting him thrice and badly missing on a fourth attempt. His car was obviously well prepared as his excursion into the wall added to the nine hits he had to take, Murphy, Krol, Banks and Tondreau all coming back for a second shot, but resilience was the word of the day for Clayton who makes it eight finals on the year.
Race Result
1. Charlie Clayton
2. Reggie Banks
3. Danny Krol
4. Chris Henton
5. Will Murphy
6. Randy Tondreau
7. Bob Alexander
8. Darrell Andresen
9. Darryl Lozier
10. Jess Yates
11. Tom Gariepy
12. Randy Corson
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