Part Three
Will Thompson, Darryl Lozier, Joe Ramage, Chris Henton, Ben Hadsell, John McCrory, Matt Welliver, Steven Redden, Darrell Andresen,
The twenty-large pack is down to ten with championship lead Will Thompson still there along with Darryl Lozier (-6pts) and Chris Henton (-38.5pts). Two of these men were delighted to see the disqualification flag come down on Will Thompson as the derby driver with more finals than anyone else (24) struck the driver's door of his longtime rival Darryl Lozier. With hits on Gibson (2), Yates, McCrory, Harbin, Andresen and Hutchins, that contact with Lozier was just their second coming together an nets Thompson two points to extend his lead in the standings marginally. /6
This means a finish of seventh or better would see Lozier win via the tiebreak of most derby wins or outright on points. The twenty-two time finalist who has missed three straight appearances and taken just one good result (4th Hickory Derby) in the past nine events started out on a bad note by stalling and only just re-firing again. Gibson was his first target before he went at Thompson. Gariepy, Andresen and Ramage were next on his hit list but a blindsider from Andresen added to the other nine hits he rode and the title was all but decided on the Thompson hit as the disqualified attacker takes the championship, leading to much anger from the Lozier camp.
There was still a mathematical chance that Joe Ramage could claim victory on the year but nothing short of a win would get it done. After striking Hadsell and smartly avoiding an attack on his blindside Ramage narrowly avoided receiving his own DQ orders on a rough hit to Eilers. He returned to Eilers, with a clean hit this time, before moving through the pack once more to lay on a total of seven hits. The end came as part of the recent chain as Lozier's final act of hitting Ramage was the deciding shot for the fifteen-time finalist in his fourth straight appearance.
In his fourteenth final, fourth in eleven weeks, Ben Hadsell takes his third top seven finish in the past five events after delivering seven hits, three of those landing on McCrory and another two on Murphy. Taking only four hits Hadsell was a tough man to pin down and it was his own challenges that ultimately put him down in seventh.
But not before ensuring the demise of John McCrory as Hadsell's late double-tap left him stranded for Harbin and Andresen to finish off with the eighth and ninth hits again McCrory. A late miss was also part of the reason the fourteen-time finalist went down, but takes a top six finish for the fifth time in his last five appearances.
Form Guide
10th Will Thompson: 4-1-4-/-5-/-7-10-9-/-5-10-9-2-6-T7-/-7-4-/-2-/-/-T11-10-7-8-/-1-7-5-10
9th Darryl Lozier: /-3-1-6-4-/-4-15-6-1-1-T5-8-/-7-4-/-10-7-/-9-1-/-/-11-10-4-12-/-/-/-9
8th Joe Ramage: /-/-/-1-7-2-2-2-/-/-/-11-/-/-/-/-/-2-/-/-1-/-11-/-14-/-12-/-12-5-3-8
7th Ben Hadsell: 1-/-3-/-/-/-/-6-/-/-10-9-/-9-T2-2-/-/-10-/-5-/-/-/-13-/-/-1-6-/-/-7
6th John McCrory: /-/-9-11-/-/-/-/-3-/-/-/-5-/-/-6-/-T4-8-12-7-/-2-/-/-/-6-/-2-T1-/-6
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