Thanksgiving Derby - Pasadena, CA
Heat One
Matt Welliver, Darryl Lozier, Dick Garrett, Will Murphy, Jason Ingle, Chris Henton, Steven Redden, John McCrory, Andy Bing, Darrell Andresen, Rob Remaley, Reggie Banks
With everyone heavily involved throughout the first heat, no one competitor taking more shots than their opponents, it took over four minutes for the first casualty and that was Matt Welliver (1st Summer National Derby, 2nd Golden Gate Invitational, 3rd Fall Nationals) who was forced to leave early due to a minor injury he picked up in a collision with Reggie Banks.
Quickly following that Darrell Andresen (4th Indy Nationals, 5th Firecracker Open, 5th Arkansas Derby) was double-teamed by Bing and Remaley, then Darryl Lozier (1st Tampa Open, Jersey Derby, Big Apple Smash Up, Alamo Derby) continues to fade away since his last victory as a stall caused by Chris Henton's hit forces him to miss a third straight final to leave him with ten points picked up in nine weeks.
There was a lull in the eliminations, but certainly not the carnage, after the dismissal of Dick Garrett (6th Ides of March, 7th Wisconsin Invitational, 5th Seattle Derby, 7th Indy) who was double-tapped by Andy Bing to take him out of a final for the eighteenth straight time, and the clock ticked from six minutes to ten before another flurry of exits occurred.
Along with Chris Henton who was the only one of this group to continue there were four back-to-back hits on Rob Remaley (3rd Ides, 4th Seattle, Tied-4th Summer National) that took him out in eighth place, taking his final-less streak to thirteen weeks, but also saw his other three attackers - Steven Redden, John McCrory, Andy Bing - all follow him out immediately after. Redden was forced to re-fire several stalls; McCrory smartly avoided two blindside attempts while striking Bing twice; and then Andy Bing tagged seven cars nine times with Garrett and Remaley suffering through a pair each.
Joining them in the consolation heat and missing an automatic place in the final is Will Murphy (2nd Tampa, 3rd Spring Fling, 3rd Idaho Invitational, 3rd Big Apple) who balanced the seven hits he took with ten he delivered with three striking Banks. A small fire halted proceedings and, after two shots on Jason Ingle, finally succumbed to the damage he had endured.
After surviving that late assault Jason Ingle then makes his way into his twelfth final with his third back-to-back. His nine hits were all well placed with a pair on both Garrett and Remaley, but in the end he was unable to escape the attentions of Chris Henton who qualifies for the fifteenth time, just missing out on a fourth heat victory.
Henton, who makes it ten finals out of twelve, was forced into the wall by Remaley at the very start of the heat, freeing himself with the help of a hit by Andresen and then getting down to work. Landing ten hits on eight opponents, and only taking four in return, Henton was keenest to get at Ingle with a hat-trick of shots on him.
Despite a final miss that left him wide open to attack Reggie Banks is into his sixth final of the year, and second out of the last six weeks, as Henton's final blow did more damage to the attacker than it's victim. Andresen, Bing and Remaley all took shots from Banks after he too started in the scenery off a double-attack by Bing and Garrett. A blindside from Murphy then led into attacks on Redden and Ingle before John McCrory became his main focus prior to the finale where he claimed his debut heat victory.
Race Result
1. Reggie Banks
2. Chris Henton
3. Jason Ingle
4. Will Murphy
5. Andy Bing
6. John McCrory
7. Steven Redden
8. Rob Remaley
9. Dick Garrett
10. Darryl Lozier
11. Darrell Andresen
12. Matt Welliver
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