Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby, Standings

Will Thompson stands tall after two derbies, his victory in Arizona leapfrogging him over both Ben Hadsell and Jamie Eilers as both men failed to reach the final. Sam Harbin, Darryl Lozier and Will Murphy all enter the standings after their top four finishes, and both Darrell Andresen and Rob Remaley join Thompson in the exclusive group who scored in both finals; Matt Welliver also made it to the finals but finished eleventh both times.

Name	Pts
Will Thompson	36
Ben Hadsell	21
Jamie Eilers	15
Sam Harbin	15
Darryl Lozier	12
Will Murphy	11
Scott Hutchens	10
Darrell Andresen	8
Lynne Higgins	8
Randy Corson	8
Rob Remaley	6
Bob Alexander	5
Steven Redden	5
Charlie Clayton	4
Jess Yates	3
Danny Krol	2
John Ruiz	2

Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby, Final

Arizona Derby - Mesa, Arizona
Final
Jess Yates, Lynne Higgins, Darrell Andresen, Matt Welliver, Sam Harbin, Will Murphy, Dayyrl Lozier, Rob Remaley, Bob Alexander, John Ruiz, Will Thompson, Andy Bing

The final of the Arizona Derby started off with Darrell Andresen and Jess Yates being hit four times so it was no surprise that they were among the first drivers out. The first to exit however was Andy Bing who was unable to prepare his car so soon after the consolation heat, stalling at the start.  

Matt Welliver made a hit on each of the three aforementioned drivers before he was eliminated in eleventh when Bob Alexander hit him so hard he traveled up and over Welliver's vehicle, and it was this group, which also included John Ruiz and Rob Remaley, that stuck to each other until all seven were out of the final.

Lynne Higgins finished in the top five after an early battle with Yates before a stall nearly took her out, but she regrouped and attempted to repay the favour shown by Lozier in their earlier heat when the Canadian went all out in the final minutes to wipe out Higgins. Darryl Lozier did end up stalling out of the derby but not before Will Murphy, who was happy to hit Ruiz and Remaley three and two times respectively early on, was eliminated.

The race then came down to Will Thompson, who finished fourth at Frostbite, and Sam Harbin. Harbin will need to be quick to learn to keep his head on a swivel as he was blindsided three times while lining up his own targets. This certainly contributed to his eventual second place result but Thompson was good for his win as he survived what looked like a race-ender at the hands of Alexander, but carried on and mostly focused his assault on Andresen and then Higgins.

Race Result
1. Will Thompson
2. Sam Harbin
3. Darryl Lozier
4. Will Murphy
5. Lynne Higgins
6. Bob Alexander
7. Rob Remaley
8. Jess Yates
9. John Ruiz
10. Darrell Andresen
11. Matt Welliver
12. Andy Bing

Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby, Consolation Heat

Arizona Derby - Mesa, Arizona
Consolation Heat
Bambi Rogers, Bob Alexander, Jason Ingle, Tommy Miller, Leo May, Ricky Grimes, Chris Henton, Ben Hadsell, Reggie Banks, Norm Gibson, Andy Bing

The consolation heat lasted less than eight minutes as a group of six drivers all capitulated inside the space of a minute. Prior to the mass exodus Frostbite winner Ben Hadsell was rampaged by Bambi Rogers before she too was eliminated, and Norm Gibson stalled out immediately.

The big incident of the heat came when Tommy Miller was disqualified when his hit on Leo May was deemed unfair and resulted in the loss of May himself when his car caught fire. Reggie Banks was a target throughout the heat even as he tried to extricate himself from a barrier and his favourite victim Chris Henton was blindsided twice to put him down. Jason Ingle was the final driver who would fail to reach the final.

The three who progress on to the final kept out of each others way for the most part but Andy Bing became focused on Bob Alexander towards the end while Jess Yates put in the finishing hits on both Grimes and Henton.

Race Result
Q. Bob Alexander
Q. Jess Yates
Q. Andy Bing
4. Jason Ingle
5. Chris Henton
6. Leo May
7. Reggie Banks
8. Ricky Grimes
9. Tommy Miller
10. Bambi Rogers
11. Norm Gibson
12. Ben Hadsell

Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby, Heat 3

Arizona Derby - Mesa, Arizona
Heat 3
Randy Tondreau, Will Murphy, Ed Smith, Phillip Ruffin, Andy Bing, Will Thompson, Jason Ingle, Steven Redden, Norm Gibson, Bill Malbrough, John Ruiz, Bob Alexander

Another exciting heat in Arizona as only three drivers fell by the wayside in the opening seven minutes. Steven Redden and Bill Malbrough both stalled out early on, the latter not even moving from his start position, and Randy Tondreau was left down in tenth after he was hit five times out of a total ten collisions.

There were plenty of vehicles that stalled in the heat but the remaining drivers all refired their engines in the end so all other eliminations were down to good old fashioned crash and bang. This was especially true for the eighth and ninth placed drivers Phillip Ruffin and Ed Smith who drew competitors to them like magnets with Smith heavily contributing to the downfalls of both Tondreau and Ruffin.

These two exits started a chain of five eliminations in less than three minutes as Bob Alexander was blindsided by John Ruiz and Norm Gibson became the favourite target of the pack. The fifth place man Jason Ingle hit no less than six different drivers during the heat but found a willing partner in Frostbite's fourth place finisher Will Thompson, coming off second best in that contest to end outside of the automatic qualification spots.

The final four would make the derby last another few minutes with Murphy and Ruiz finishing off Andy Bing after he had gone hard at the pair of them throughout the heat. The climax saw Thompson go first. He had stalled four times only to go on and reach the final but not before he was blindside by Murphy, and John Ruiz had a trio of stalls himself before his final collision with Murphy stopped him for good. And to keep the stalling theme going Will Murphy came close on two occasions to being counted out in the heat.

Race Result
1. Will Murphy
2. John Ruiz
3. Will Thompson
4. Andy Bing
5. Jason Ingle
6. Norm Gibson
7. Bob Alexander
8. Phillip Ruffin
9. Ed Smith
10. Randy Tondreau
11. Steve Redden
12. Bill Malbrough

Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby, Heat 2

Arizona Derby - Mesa, Arizona
Heat 2
Darryl Lozier, John McCrory, Joe Ramage, Lynne Higgins, Tommy Miller, Dick Garrett, Bambi Rogers, Sam Harbin, Randy Corson, Ricky Grimes, Reggie Banks, Don Davis

The second heat featured two replacement drivers and both female competitors and there wasn't nearly as long to wait for the first drivers to fall out as John McCrory was swiftly disqualified for his roughhouse hit on Ramage, and Don Davis had a very brief cameo stalling at the start.

Randy Corson had a lucky touch as the four cars he initiated contact with all made at least the consolation heat, but the attention received from Sam Harbin proved too much ending his race in tenth one spot ahead of Ramage whose earlier incident started a chain of problems to all but guarantee his early demise.

The final driver who would miss out on further action in Mesa would be Dick Garrett who stalled out, resulting in Bambi Rogers, Reggie Banks, Rickey Grimes and Tommy Miller making their way into the consolation heat with Miller getting stuck and Rogers' car catching fire.

Lynne Higgins, who refired from a stall to finish off Rogers, Banks and Miller, was fiercely pursued by eventual heat winner Darryl Lozier, hitting her four times in quick succession. Lozier then survived an onslaught from Harbin to take the two points.

Race Result
1. Darryl Lozier
2. Sam Harbin
3. Lynne Higgins
4. Tommy Miller
5. Rickey Grimes
6. Reggie Banks
7. Bambi Rogers
8. Dick Garrett
9. Joe Ramage
10. Randy Corson
11. Don Davis
12. John McCrory

Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby, Heat 1

Arizona Derby - Mesa, Arizona
Heat 1
Timmy Barnes, Matt Welliver, Leo May, Tom Gariepy, Jess Yates, Chris Henton, Darrell Andresen, Rob Remaley, Ben Hadsell, Jamie Eilers, Charlie Clayton, Bobby Gallagher

The first heat started out with all twelve drivers involved in a barnstorming affair for over five minutes before the runner-up at Frostbite, Jamie Eilers, was eliminated. He had focused a lot of his attention on Clayton and May while trying unsuccessfully to avoid the pressure coming from Yates and Andresen.

Charlie Clayton and Tom Barnes wiped each other out with the former taking it from all sides and the latter being a three-time target for Leo May, and Tom Gariepy stalled after chasing Yates while avoiding the rest of the pack.

While Gariepy was unlucky in the way his derby ended, replacement driver Bobby Gallagher, who was not shy about hitting anyone, had even less luck after he was denied a place in the consolation heat, ruled out just seconds before May and Chris Henton were eliminated. May had Jess Yates as his nemesis and Henton survived two stalls but was overly aggressive in his approach, causing more damage to himself than others. They will enter the second chance race along with Yates and Frostbite winner Ben Hadsell as they crushed each other hard.

The three who would go on into the final were soon one as Rob Remaley was double-teamed, the attacks leaving Welliver stalled and a sitting duck for Darrell Andresen to finish off and claim his second heat win in two derbies.

Race Result
1. Darrell Andresen
2. Matt Welliver
3. Rob Remaley
4. Ben Hadsell
5. Jess Yates
6. Chris Henton
7. Leo May
8. Bobby Gallagher
9. Tom Gariepy
10. Timmy Barnes
10. Charlie Clayton
12. Jamie Eilers

Controlled Chaos - Arizona Derby Preview

The season leaves the ice of Edmonton and heads down to the desert of Mesa for the Arizona Derby and three drivers have not made the trip. Bill Edgington sustained a neck injury in the opening minute of the season forcing him to miss the next eight events, and both Danny Krol and Scott Hutchins have had to skip Arizona as they finalise sponsorship deals.

Bobby Gallagher has been drafted in to replace the injured Edgington while Don Davis and Tommy Miller have limited action ahead of them with the financial victims due back for the next event.