Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Consolation Heat
Billy Edgington, Dick Garrett, Bambi Rogers, Ed Smith, Joe Ramage, John Ruiz, Jess Yates, Norm Gibson, Jason Ingle, Scott Hutchins, Leo May, Bill Malbrough
The opening four minutes of action led to a string of eliminations throughout the second half of the consolation heat. Seattle Derby winner and eleven-time finalist Scott Hutchins (2nd Big Apple Smash Up, 2nd Lobster Nationals) is at risk of dropping outside of the top five with an eighth missed final in his last ten events after he stalled at the start, and Bambi Rogers (6th Arkansas Derby, 11th Bryan Family Open) was struck six times as she only initiated contact twice on Yates before blindsiding Ingle.
Bill Malbrough, dlivering two of those hits on Rogers and taking six himself, was foiled in his continued quest to qualify for his first ever final when he became entangled with the car of Leo May. It was a brief encounter before Norm Gibson smashed them free, but that hit finished the job on Malbrough.
He missed the first four finals of the year before qualifying for four out of five, but now Dick Garrett (6th Ides of March, 7th Wisconsin Invitational, 5th Seattle) has just one final to his credit (7th Indy Nationals) in the past fifteen rounds thanks to poor decision making on his hits as he only took three shots against in his six minutes of action, and John Ruiz (9th Arizona Derby, 1st Ides of March, 8th Seattle) continues his own frustrating run of bad form with a single final (12th Indy) in fourteen weeks; his war on two fronts against Yates and Ramage too much to handle.
Then double-event winner (Valentine's Day Massacre, Bryan Family Open) Joe Ramageblows his chance to move in on championship leader Darryl Lozier, who will be absent from the final here in Denver, as the seven hits he took, three of which came from Ed Smith, left him stalled and easy pickings for the coup de grace by Ingle.
Jess Yates (7th Jersey Derby, 4th Summer Sizzler, 3rd Alamo Derby) only rode four hits while delivering eight hits on five drivers with Ruiz taking three and Edgington two. Two of the hits against him were inside the first two minutes, but Gibson's thundering charge wiped him clean out in fifth place.
Six weeks without a final now Leo May (4th Wisconsin, 4th Idaho Invitational, 2nd Indy) had a little luck on his side by not staying attached to Bill Malbrough upon his elimination. The luck would not hold out though as, with just four cars remaining, his rival trio descended upon him while he fought to re-fire a stalled engine.
Ed Smith makes it back-to-back finals, his third appearance of the year, thanks to a heat-leading ten hits on seven opponents, three of them landing on Ramage, and he is joined by Norm Gibson who, with six solid shots here, qualifies for the eleventh time, fourth out of the last five, despite suffering a near-fatal stall at the very start of the heat.
The final qualifier for the twenty-fourth final this season is Jason Ingle who makes it nine finals on the year, but this will be his first appearance in six weeks. Somehow starting out with a miss on Hutchins who had barely moved before he stalled, he then had to re-fire from a stall only to take a surprise hit by Rogers. Making contact with Hutchins at the second attempt, followed by another miss, Ingle bounced through Ramage and Gibson before laying on the killer blow to May.
Race Result
Q. Ed Smith
Q. Norm Gibson
Q. Jason Ingle
4. Leo May
5. Jess Yates
6. Joe Ramage
7. John Ruiz
8. Dick Garrett
9. Bill Malbrough
10. Billy Edgington
11. Bambi Rogers
12. Scott Hutchins
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