Controlled Chaos - Halloween Derby Standings

After missing out this week due to a slight injury, making it five pointless rounds out of the last seven, Darryl Lozier's lead is now a slender six points after Will Thompson claimed his second event victory in Akron, and Scott Hutchins is just half a point back after back-to-back eighth place finishes.

Halloween Open runner-up John McCrory moves on up as does third place Jess Yates but both men remain entrenched in the middle of the standings. Tom Gariepy and Andy Bing keep hold of their top five positions with Joe Ramage (12th) and Norm Gibson (10th) making little noise; Chris Henton also misses out on making a splash by failing to qualify  for the final for the second straight time since making eight in a row.

Name	Pts	Derby Wins	Heat Wins
Darryl Lozier	165.5	4	4
Will Thompson	159.5	2	5
Scott Hutchens	159	2	4
Tom Gariepy	138.5	3	1
Andy Bing	136	4	3
Joe Ramage	121	2	1
Norm Gibson	119.5	2	1
Chris Henton	118	1	3
Ben Hadsell	110.5	2	5
Jamie Eilers	102	2	3
Will Murphy	102		2
Matt Welliver	81.5	1	4
John McCrory	77.5		1
Lynne Higgins	72		4
Leo May	70		3
Danny Krol	62	1	4
Steven Redden	61.5		1
Darrell Andresen	57		7
Jess Yates	50		3
Sam Harbin	50		1
Ricky Grimes	49	1	2
John Ruiz	48	1	3
Rob Remaley	45.5		2
Randy Corson	35		2
Charlie Clayton	32		2
Jason Ingle	30.5		2
Bobby Gallagher	27		2
Philip Ruffin	27		2
Dick Garrett	27		1
Don Davis	25		2
Ed Smith	24		2
Reggie Banks	22	1
Bob Alexander	22		2
Randy Tondreau	22		1
Timmy Barnes	14		1
Bambi Rogers	14		1
Kenny Rose	2		1
Billy Edgington	2
Tommy Miller	0
Bill Malbrough	0

Controlled Chaos - Halloween Derby Final

Halloween Derby - Akron, OH
Final
Ben Hadsell, Ed Smith, Norm Gibson, Jess Yates, John McCrory, Bambi Rogers, Scott Hutchins, Will Thompson, Darrell Andresen, Matt Welliver, Bill Malbrough, Joe Ramage

It took less than two minutes for Joe Ramage (1st Valentine's Day Massacre, 1st Bryan Family Open) to fall by the wayside in his twelfth final thanks to Ben Hadsell's massive hit, and, while he lasted until the sixth minute, Bill Malbrough's final debut ended when his gas tank was judged to be unsecured just as he had re-fired a long stall caused by Ed Smith's attentions.

Norm Gibson (1st Lobster Nationals, Tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 1st Texas Nationals, 2nd Louisiana Invitational) was nearly finished as soon as he started with a fire needing to be extinguished as soon as the green light came on. As a result it didn't take much to wipe him out as Bambi Rogers slid into him to end his day in tenth, giving Gibson his first point in three weeks.

Darrel Andresen's (4th Indy Nationals, 5th Firecracker Open, 5th Arkansas Derby) seventh heat victory ends with another top ten finish, only failing to score in two of his thirteen appearances this year. Taking on Malbrough before Matt Welliver caught him unawares Andresen then went to take on  McCrory but that shot bounced him into the barriers where he would remain.

With championship leader Darryl Lozier out for the week it was missed opportunity when Scott Hutchins (1st Seattle, 2nd Big Apple, 2nd Lobster, 1st Bluegrass Derby), in his fifth consecutive final, only managed to take home three points for finishing eighth. An early stall was saved and followed by attacks on Welliverand Hadsell, but a blindsider from Rogers set him up nicely for Jess Yates to finish off.

It took seven hits to bring down the co-winner of heat three Ed Smith (7th Ohio Derby, 4th Mile High Open, 7th Bluegrass) as Hadsell and Welliver smashed him around with three hits a piece, and Ben Hadsell (1st Frostbite, Tied-2nd Summer National, 2nd Texas, 1st Fall Nationals) suffered from his own attacks on Yates, Rogers and Welliver after only taking four hits and avoiding much of the trouble.

A top five finish for Bambi Rogers (6th Arkansas, 11th Bryan Family Open) came after she too suffered only four hits against, delivering seven of her own on six different opponents, and Matt Welliver (1st SidelineStrategy.com Derby, 2nd Golden Gate Invitational, 3rd Fall) claims his fourth top four finish in seven weeks after winning the battles with Smith and Rogers; both targets making up five of his seven hits.

Jess Yates (4th Summer Sizzler, 3rd Arkansas, 5th Bluegrass) has finishedno worse than eighth, with four finishes coming in the top five four times this year, but sadly for him has only qualified for eight finals. This, his second podium, came with six hits against and six delivered as a stall midway through the thirteen minute final halted his positive progress and left him open to the pack.

His executioner for the day was runner-up John McCrory (3rd Seattle, Tied-4th SidelineStrategy.com, 2nd Ohio) who, in just his second final in six weeks, was standing still more than he was moving as situations that left him stalled or stuck frequently occurred. He was embedded into the barriers three minutes in after Thompson and Andresen forced him through, but after long stay he was able to free himself. Four of his six hits came after this event but a late miss sent him back to the scenery where he stalled for the round winner to pick his spot.

Will Thompson (1st Arizona, 2nd Sizzler, 2nd Bryan Family) takes his second event win of the year and ninth top five finish in his twenty-first final, jumping him up into second place in the standings half a point ahead of Hutchins and six points back of Lozier.

Only eight hits delivered in the final Thompson judged them well to cause minimal damage to himself, but even then a vicious strike from Jess Yates upset his vehicle enough to stop for a moment. A near miss with the wall and a narrowly avoided blindside attempt, either connecting would have surely spelt disaster, came next before he rammed McCrory for the killer blow. That was his second attack on the runner-up with Andresen also taking two attacks; Gibson, Hadsell,and Welliver made up the rest of the hits.

Race Result
1. Will Thompson
2. John McCrory
3. Jess Yates
4. Matt Welliver
5. Bambi Rogers
6. Ben Hadsell
7. Ed Smith
8. Scott Hutchins
9. Darrell Andresen
10. Norm Gibson
11. Bill Malbrough
12. Joe Ramage

Controlled Chaos - Halloween Open, Consolation Heat

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)

Controlled Chaos - Halloween Open, Heat Three

Halloween Open - Akron, OH
Heat Three
Will Murphy, Charlie Clayton, Rob Remaley, Bob Alexander, Bambi Rogers, Ed Smith, Don Davis, Jason Ingle, Matt Welliver, Reggie Banks, Will Thompson, Jamie Eilers

The final heat saw no early exits and it wasn't until four minutes in that Rob Remaley (3rd Ides of March, 4th Seattle Derby, Tied-4th Summer National Derby) took his fifth hit against for the first elimination, forcing him to miss an eleventh straight final, and then quickly afterwards Bob Alexander (6th Arizona Derby, 3rd Lobster Nationals, 9th Texas Nationals) received the same treatment to leave him without a point in thirteen weeks despite a pair of final appearances.

Another back-to-back elimination occurred two minutes later when Reggie Banks (1st Firecracker Open, 10th Ohio Derby, 10th Fall Nationals) was swarmed over by Ingle and Welliver after two blindside hits from Will Thompson, and then Will Murphy (2nd Tampa, 3rd Spring Fling Derby, 3rd Idaho Invitational, 3rd Big Apple Smash Up) receives a double-tap from Clayton to leave him with three finals in the past seventeen events. This after starting the season with eight appearances in the first thirteen.

Don Davis (2nd Jersey Derby, 7th Summer Sizzler, 9th Arkansas Derby), in for the injured Billy Edgington, produced one attack, that striking the vehicle of Jamie Eilers, with the rest of his heat re-firing a stall, extricating himself from the barriers and warring with Jason Ingle, a battle he would ultimately lose.

Davis' loss by finishing eighth is the gain of Clayton, Ingle, Thompson and Eilers with Clayton stalling, re-firing and then pulling out with a fire. Ingle attacked both Remaley and Alexander twice each as part of his seven hits delivered while Will Thompson started strongly with seven consecutive hits before a pair of misses and a stall continued to leave him open to the pack. The final consolation heat entrant, Jamie Eilers, could not earn an automatic final place after Matt Welliver forced him into the barriers and continued to assault his prone opponent.

Welliver had to end up settling for third place, taking him to his twelfth final this year and fifth appearance in seven, but he was seconds away from not getting anywhere near that accolade due to stalling at the very start and barely getting the engine re-fired in time. Davis and Thompson both took a single shot off of him but Banks took a pair and Eilers three in a row before Ed Smith charged in to wipe out Welliver.

For the second heat running there was a tiebreak situation but this time the points were shared as Bambi Rogers, reaching her first final in eight weeks and third all time, was involved in a unique tie with Ed Smith, entering his fifth final of the year.

Rogers was on form with ten hits and only a late shot by Smith stopped her in her tracks by causing a fatal stall, Smith, who was struck twice early on by his final opponent, doubled up on Davis, Murphy and Thompson as he landed eleven hits on the pack but in the end a rut in the torn-up arena pushed him offline and he somehow missed a stalled Rogers and crashed into the wall. Circumstances got a little stranger still as the officials were just counting out Bambi when Ed made contact, resulting in a tied heat win.

Race Result
1. Ed Smith
1. Bambi Rogers
3. Matt Welliver
4. Jamie Eilers
5. Will Thompson
6. Jason Ingle
7. Charlie Clayton
8. Don Davis
9. Will Muprhy
10. Reggie Banks
11. Bob Alexander
12. Rob Remaley

Controlled Chaos - Halloween Open, Heat Two

Halloween Open - Akron, OH
Heat Two
Danny Krol, Kenny Rose, Darrell Andresen, Lynne Higgins, Bill Malbrough, Phillip Ruffin, John McCrory, Ricky Grimes, Dick Garrett, Andy Bing, Randy Tondreau, John Ruiz

After finishing runner-up at the Fall Nationals John Ruiz (1st Ides of March, 8th Seattle Derby, 2nd Fall Nationals) is disqualified with only a minute gone by as he struck missed his intended target and flew into the driver's side door of Andy Bing resulting in his sixteenth missed final in the last nineteen, and Danny Krol misses out on his fourth final in six weeks as four shosts did for him while he was hounding Phillip Ruffin.

Ruffin (8th Mile High Open, 5th Hickory Derby, 5th Fall) is unable to make it three finals in a row as Krol, Higgins and Malbrough all bring two hits upon him, and Randy Tondreau (6th Tampa Open, 3rd Firecracker Open, 7th Alamo Derby) sees his final-less streak hit seven straight events after Andy Bing rocked him twice in retaliation for a very early hit while the Canadian moved on to attack Kenny Rose.

Thirteen-time finalist Lynne Higgins (4th Arkansas Derby, 3rd Bluegrass Derby), who had enjoyed seven appearances during the past nine weeks, only took five hits against, with two coming from Dick Garrett back-to-back, but they all swiftly came one after another to put her down in eighth spot.

That means Darryl Lozier's replacement driver for week Kenny Rose joins Dick Garrett, Ricky Grimes and Andy Bing in the consolation heat as they all combined for twenty-five hits with Rose taking a DQ due to a loose fuel line, Garrett a sitting duck while stalled, Grimes strking Garrett four times, and Bing surviving two stalls while under heavy assault.

John McCrory, heading into his twelfth final on the back of ten hits with four of them connecting with Grimes, and Bill Malbrough finally, in event twenty-nine, making his final debut with eight hits, four of them landing on McCrory, both had to settle for a shared runner-up spot as Malbrough's final hit did it for both of them.

After striking McCrory and then landing four consecutive shots on Malbrough to soften both of them up, Darrell Andresen claims his seventh heat win of the season to earn his twelfth final appearance of the season, but just his second in the past seven tries. Starting out by riding a hard blindsider from Krol, Andresen got his revenge after striking Ruiz, then doing the same on Higgins after she snuck in an unexpected hit. Grimes and Malbrough took one hit each before the rampaging finale began.

Race Result
1. Darrell Andresen
2. Bill Malbrough
2. John McCrory
4. Andy Bing
5. Ricky Grimes
6. Dick Garrett
7. Kenny Rose
8. Lynne Higgins
9. Randy Tondreau
10. Phillip Ruffin
11. Danny Krol
12. John Ruiz

Controlled Chaos - Halloween Open, Heat One

Halloween Open - Akron, OH
Heat One
Sam Harbin, Steven Redden, Chris Henton, Randy Corson, Jess Yates, Joe Ramage, Ben Hadsell, Norm Gibson, Leo May, Timmy Barnes, Scott Hutchins, Tom Gariepy

Eight-time finalist Randy Corson (5th Frostbite, 5th Tampa Open, 6th Fall Nationals) had mere seconds to enjoy the opening heat as he was sandwiched by Steven Redden and Chris Henton, then, after qualifying for his first final in eleven weeks at the Fall Nationals, Redden (Tied-2nd Valentine's Day Massacre, 6th Wisconsin Invitational, 3rd Indy Nationals) charged into the driver's side door of Ben Hadsell to earn himself a DQ result.

Leo May (4th Wisconsin, 4th Idaho Invitational, 2nd Indy) was struck seven times in his five minutes of action, Sam Harbin's blindside launching him straight into Norm Gibson for the killer blow, and Harbin (2nd Arizona Derby, 5th Ohio Derby, 2nd Mile High Open) misses his fifth consecutive final, and fifteenth out of eighteen, when Gibson joined in on the onslaught that was being laid down by Tom Gariepy.

Chris Henton's (1st Spring Fling Derby, 2nd Arkansas Derby, 2nd Bluegrass Derby, 2nd Hickory Derby) run of eight straight finals ended in Bristol and he misses out again, Ben Hadsell smashing into him after Henton missed and careened into the wall, but Norm Gibson (1st Lobster Nationals, Tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 1st Texas Nationals, 2nd Louisiana Invitational) needed  seven shots to take him down as he survives long enough to reach the consolation heat in his quest for a first final in three weeks.

Joe Ramage warred with Gibson, Harbin and May; Timmy Barnes was blindsided by both Yates and Henton; and Tom Gariepy delivered nine hits to seven opponents as all three join the consolation heat.

With only five finals before today Jess Yates makes it three in the last eight with eleven hits to his credit, including a blindsider to Barnes and Hutchins, while riding eight against him as Gariepy, Hutchins and Henton who made a return visit.

After delivering the final blow to Yates, Ben Hadsell went one-on-one with Scott Hutchins as they prepared for their thirteenth and fifteenth finals respectively. The winner of the most recent event Hadsell, only his second final in seven weeks, was nearly done in early here as he smacked Gibson twice before Sam Harbin forced him into the barriers where he barely escaped the tight squeeze in time.

For Hutchins, who had to ride nine hits throughout, he was content in doubling up on Yates and Gariepy with Henton, Barnes and Hadsell also taking attacks. It was Hadsell who got in on his final opponent first with three quick hits with the final two coming after a retaliation that left Hutchins stranded against the wall, helplessly waiting for the end to be delivered as Hadsell takes his fifth heat win of the year.

Race Result
1. Ben Hadsell
2. Scott Hutchins
3. Jess Yates
4. Tom Gariepy
5. Timmy Barnes
6. Joe Ramage
7. Norm Gibson
8. Chris Henton
9. Sam Harbin
10. Leo May
11. Steven Redden
12. Randy Corson

Controlled Chaos - Halloween Open Preview

With Darryl Lozier clinging on to top spot in the standings it is a bad time to miss out with an injury as the knock he picked up in Bristol last time out keeps him on the sidelines for the twenty-ninth event.

His nearest rival Scott Hutchins sits 9.5pts back of the leader and has a tough task in heat one as he goes against five other members of the top ten: Tom Gariepy, Joe Ramage, Norm Gibson, Chris Henton and the winner of the Fall Nationals Ben Hadsell.

Heat two contains Andy Bing and his closest competitor in the heat is Lynne Higgins who currently sits in thirteenth place, and in heat three both Will Thompson and Jamie Eilers lead the way.