Halloween Open - Akron, OH
Consolation Heat
Timmy Barnes, Andy Bing, Jamie Eilers, Norm Gibson, Charlie Clayton, Ricky Grimes, Will Thompson, Dick Garrett, Joe Ramage, Tom Gariepy, Jason Ingle, Kenny Rose
Kenny Rose (12th Ides of March, 12th Lobster Nationals, 12th Texas Nationals) was not permitted to take part in the consolation heat as his team was unable to fix up the fuel tank problems that disqualified him from the second heat.
Timmy Barnes (12th Spring Fling Derby, 4th Big Apple Smash Up, 8th Bluegrass Derby) was helpless as the pack descended upon him, striking him six times for an early exit, and Ricky Grimes (3rd Jersey Derby, 3rd Texas, 1st Louisiana Invitational) misses the tenth final out of the past twelve despite only taking a hit each from Thompson and Ramage. Grimes' miss five minutes in was a catastrophic one as he impaled his vehicle into the barriers.
Jamie Eilers was a multiple target of Grimes and Jason Ingle (Tied-5th Lobster, 7th Louisiana, 3rd, Mile High Open) delivered his own double-tap to Eilers but was unable to avoid the five cars around him that initiated contact.
Andy Bing was handed a disqualification in eighth place for his third shot on Gariepy, and Tom Gariepy (1st Wisconsin Invitational, 1st Arkansas Derby, 1st Mile High) still has just ten finals to his name as he misses a third out of the last four (4th Fall Nationals). He attacked Ramage twice, Garrett, Barnes and Thompson once each, but Andy Bing's trio of hits were enough to clean him out, and Charlie Clayton (5th Texas, 6th Ohio Derby, 6th Bluegrass) misses his eighth final out of twelve as Norm Gibson led the charge on him with three hard shots as they dueled hard from the very beginning, locking themselves together for a time in the process.
Jamie Eilers (1st Summer Sizzler, 1st Summer National Derby) misses a fourth straight final for the first time this year as the early assaults he endured finally took their toll, leading to a fatal stall after he rampaged over Gibson with three hits, and Dick Garrett (6th Ides, 5th Seattle) comes agonisingly close to qualification for his first final in sixteen weeks, but the late combination of Gibson and Thompson soon crushed his dreams.
So Will Thompson, Norm Gibson, and Joe Ramage all move on into the twenty-ninth final of the season. The trio combine for forty-three appearances with four wins and seventeen podiums. While Gibson was qualifying for his first final in three weeks by hounding Clayton to ground before moving onto double-tap Garrett, Will Thompson was carving through anything that moved, eventually settling on Garrett himself after re-firing a brief stall.
Joe Ramage has gone pointless in seven straight weeks despite reaching three finals but here he squeaks in after hitting Grimes twice and a plethora of opponents once each, and it all nearly came undone at the end when Dick Garett rocked him good.
Race Result
Q. Norm Gibson
Q. Will Thompson
Q. Joe Ramage
4. Dick Garrett
5. Jamie Eilers
6. Charlie Clayton
7. Tom Gariepy
8. Andy Bing
9. Jason Ingle
10. Rickey Grimes
11. Timmy Barnes
12. Kenny Rose (DNS)
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