Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open Standings

Tom Gariepy's victory in Denver places him third in the standings, thirty points back of the leading Lozier who, along with the rest of the top six bar the heat winner Will Thompson, failed to take any points home. Will Murphy joins the one-hundred point club with his top five finish, and the other podium finishes in Sam Harbin and Jason Ingle take strides forward thanks to their big point hauls.

Name	Pts	Derby Wins	Heat Wins
Darryl Lozier	155.5	4	4
Will Thompson	129.5	1	4
Tom Gariepy	125.5	3
Joe Ramage	121	2	1
Andy Bing	116	3	3
Scott Hutchens	113	1	3
Norm Gibson	108.5	2	1
Will Murphy	102		2
Jamie Eilers	98	2	3
Ben Hadsell	83.5	1	4
Chris Henton	77	1	2
Leo May	70		3
Steven Redden	57.5		1
John McCrory	57.5		1
Lynne Higgins	56		3
Darrell Andresen	52		6
Sam Harbin	50		1
Matt Welliver	45.5	1	3
Rob Remaley	45.5		2
Ricky Grimes	44	1	2
Danny Krol	31		3
Jason Ingle	30.5		2
Jess Yates	30		2
John Ruiz	29	1	2
Randy Corson	28		2
Bobby Gallagher	27		2
Charlie Clayton	27		2
Dick Garrett	27		1
Don Davis	25		2
Bob Alexander	22		2
Randy Tondreau	22		1
Reggie Banks	21	1
Ed Smith	15		1
Timmy Barnes	11		1
Philip Ruffin	10		1
Bambi Rogers	5
Kenny Rose	2		1
Billy Edgington	2
Tommy Miller	0

Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open Final

Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Final
Lynne Higgins, Phillip Ruffin, Tom Gariepy, Norm Gibson, Chris Henton, Ed Smith, Will Murphy, Jason Ingle, Jamie Eilers, Matt Welliver, Will Thompson, Sam Harbin

There would be no teamwork between title rivals Will Thompson (1st Arizona Derby, 2nd Summer Sizzler, 2nd Bryan Family Open) and Norm Gibson (1st Lobster Nationals, 1st Texas Nationals), both men with twenty-eight finals and fifteen top five finishes between them, as the former struck the latter off the start causing a fire in both cars. The drivers were ok but this means, outside of Thompson's win in heat one, no-one inside the top six of the standings will collect any points this week.

While this was going on Jamie Eilers (1st Sizzler, 1st Summer National Derby) stole a point simply because the officials counted him out for a stall after the first two eliminations, and Lynne Higgins, who has finished fifth four times with a season best fourth place at the Arkansas Derby, takes her leave after a second shot from Harbin, this coming just before Murphy finished the job Higgins had started on Phillip Ruffin (9th Ides of March, 8th Big Apple Smash Up).

Matt Welliver (6th Smash Up, 1st SidelineStrategy.com Derby, 4th Ohio Derby), who is in back-to-back finals for the rest time since the start of the season where he took three eleventh place finishes in a row, began his journey to a seventh place finish with a nifty move to avoid a hit before striking Ruffin Three hits against him almost took him out in tenth spot, but he was able to persevere and tackle  harbin twice before Gariepy took full advantage of him stalling.

Chris Henton (1st Spring Fling Derby, 2nd Arkansas) continues his fine form with points in each of the last five rounds, elimination coming here thanks to Gariepy's four attacks, and Will Murphy (2nd Tampa Open, 3rd Spring Fling, 3rd Idaho, 3rd Smash Up) makes it eleven top six finishes out of eleven finals after laying on six hits with Smith nailing him with a hat-trick for the elimination in revenge for an earlier blindside shot.

Ed Smith (11th Texas, 7th Ohio) only got in five hits in his eight minutes of action, but only took three in reply. A hit on Higgins was followed up by a one-two punch on his blindside from Murphy and Welliver, the former earning all of his attention to essentially take them both out.

A season high finish for Jason Ingle (9th Spring Fling, tied-5th Lobster, 7th Louisiana) was rather uneventful as he was involved in only seven collisions, with two of his four hits connecting with Murphy, and ended in third place thanks a stalling and then being pushed into the barriers where Harbin finished him off.

Sam Harbin, who struck Welliver and Smith either side of a double-attack on Higgins, almost stalled out in ninth place before managing to re-fire and take on Gariepy and Ingle. Harbin (6th Spring Fling, 6th SidelineStrategy.com Derby, 5th Ohio) taks his second runner-up finish of the year (Arizona) after proving to be popular with three of his opponents as Welliver's two shots led straight into another pair from Henton which then resulted in Gariepy doubling up on him to take his victory.

A third win of the season and second in five games, Tom Gariepy (tied-2nd Valentine's Day Massacre, 2nd Alamo) adds to his Wisconsin Invitational and Arkansas Derby crowns, moving him up the standings into third place. Only Welliver took one shot from him, Henton (4) and Harbin (2) were where his focus lay as he also worked hard to avoid being hit, taking just three shots in the ten minutes final.

Race Result
1. Tom Gariepy
2. Sam Harbin
3. Jason Ingle
4. Ed Smith
5. Will Murphy
6. Chris Henton
7. Matt Welliver
8. Phillip Ruffin
9. Lynne Higgins
10. Jamie Eilers
11. Norm Gibson
11. Will Thompson

Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open, Consolation Heat

Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Consolation Heat
Billy Edgington, Dick Garrett, Bambi Rogers, Ed Smith, Joe Ramage, John Ruiz, Jess Yates, Norm Gibson, Jason Ingle, Scott Hutchins, Leo May, Bill Malbrough

The opening four minutes of action led to a string of eliminations throughout the second half of the consolation heat. Seattle Derby winner and eleven-time finalist Scott Hutchins (2nd Big Apple Smash Up, 2nd Lobster Nationals) is at risk of dropping outside of the top five with an eighth missed final in his last ten events after he stalled at the start, and Bambi Rogers (6th Arkansas Derby, 11th Bryan Family Open) was struck six times as she only initiated contact twice on Yates before blindsiding Ingle.

Bill Malbrough, dlivering two of those hits on Rogers and taking six himself, was foiled in his continued quest to qualify for his first ever final when he became entangled with the car of Leo May. It was a brief encounter before Norm Gibson smashed them free, but that hit finished the job on Malbrough.

He missed the first four finals of the year before qualifying for four out of five, but now Dick Garrett (6th Ides of March, 7th Wisconsin Invitational, 5th Seattle) has just one final to his credit (7th Indy Nationals) in the past fifteen rounds thanks to poor decision making on his hits as he only took three shots against in his six minutes of action, and John Ruiz (9th Arizona Derby, 1st Ides of March, 8th Seattle) continues his own frustrating run of bad form with a single final (12th Indy) in fourteen weeks; his war on two fronts against Yates and Ramage too much to handle.

Then double-event winner (Valentine's Day Massacre, Bryan Family Open) Joe Ramageblows his chance to move in on championship leader Darryl Lozier, who will be absent from the final here in Denver, as the seven hits he took, three of which came from Ed Smith, left him stalled and easy pickings for the coup de grace by Ingle.

Jess Yates (7th Jersey Derby, 4th Summer Sizzler, 3rd Alamo Derby) only rode four hits while delivering eight hits on five drivers with Ruiz taking three and Edgington two. Two of the hits against him were inside the first two minutes, but Gibson's thundering charge wiped him clean out in fifth place.

Six weeks without a final now Leo May (4th Wisconsin, 4th Idaho Invitational, 2nd Indy) had a little luck on his side by not staying attached to Bill Malbrough upon his elimination. The luck would not hold out though as, with just four cars remaining, his rival trio descended upon him while he fought to re-fire a stalled engine.

Ed Smith makes it back-to-back finals, his third appearance of the year, thanks to a heat-leading ten hits on seven opponents, three of them landing on Ramage, and he is joined by Norm Gibson who, with six solid shots here, qualifies for the eleventh time, fourth out of the last five, despite suffering a near-fatal stall at the very start of the heat.

The final qualifier for the twenty-fourth final this season is Jason Ingle who makes it nine finals on the year, but this will be his first appearance in six weeks. Somehow starting out with a miss on Hutchins who had barely moved before he stalled, he then had to re-fire from a stall only to take a surprise hit by Rogers.  Making contact with Hutchins at the second attempt, followed by another miss, Ingle bounced through Ramage and Gibson before laying on the killer blow to May.

Race Result
Q. Ed Smith
Q. Norm Gibson
Q. Jason Ingle
4. Leo May
5. Jess Yates
6. Joe Ramage
7. John Ruiz
8. Dick Garrett
9. Bill Malbrough
10. Billy Edgington
11. Bambi Rogers
12. Scott Hutchins

Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open, Heat Three

Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Heat Three
Norm Gibson, Sam Harbin, Andy Bing, Ed Smith, Bill Malbrough, Jason Ingle, Jamie Eilers, Chris Henton, Darrell Andresen, Tommy Miller, Danny Krol, Reggie Banks

Reggie Banks (1st Firecracker Open, 11th Alamo Derby, 10th Ohio Derby) is unable to keep his good form going where he has qualified for three finals in the five events, but a rush by Eilers, Miller, and Krol, the latter deciding matters with an up-n-over, put paid to his hopes very early on.

After taking the high road on Banks, Danny Krol (8th Ides of March, 4th Jersey Derby, 3rd Summer Sizzler) took a double-tap from Bill Malbrough before he experienced his own devastating Pack Attack as Bing, Ingle, and Andresen all get their licks in.

The cycle continues with Darrell Andresen (4th Indy Nationals, 5th Firecracker, 5th Arkansas Derby) laying on the finishing blow just prior to his own demise, this coming courtesy of five attackers swarming him, and Tommy Miller (13th Bryan Family Open) stalled out in ninth place before another group of three cars could tear him apart.

Andy Bing, winner of last week's event and two others in the Idaho Invitational and Indy Nationals rounds, was part of the clique that helped eliminate the first three drivers, but he would miss out on further action when Sam Harbin shunted him hard and caused a minor injury. It was enough to make him pull out of the Mile High Open but it is not enough to keep him out of future events.

Bill Malbrough moved on from his assault on Krol and struck both Miller and Ingle before Chris Henton inadvertently went into him, bouncing both men off course where they then missed their targets. Colliding with the wall, whereas Henton merely grazed it, Malbrough had Henton to thank for freeing him but only managed one more hit, on Norm Gibson, before Ed Smith steamed in as he did for his first hit of the heat and took him down.

Joing Malbrough in the second chance race after a heat-ending fire will be Ed Smith, Jason Ingle blindsiding him before he too was eliminated after delivering ten hits on nine cars when Henton forced him awkwardly into Norm Gibson. The final entrant into the consolation heat is Norm Gibson who was helplessly stalled when Jamie Eilers charged at him, rolling over his victim's car.

After attacking both Henton and Eilers at the very start of the heat, Scott Hutchins joined them at the end for a the final trio. Suffering a small fire after the aforementioned opening Hutchins, entering his twelfth final this year, was allowed to continue where he went after Miller twice before Gibson caught him unawares. Hits on Ingle and Bing, coupled with the six shots he took, helped him on his way to a stall, but a successful re-firing led to one last go at Eilers before Henton came back for seconds to finish the job.

Jamie Eilers, delivering a total of eleven hits, and Chris Henton, bringing it on nine occasions, both move into their tenth finals but would have to be content with a share of the spoils as neither man could win the heat outright. Eilers was keen on targeting Ed Smith and Darrell Andresen early on, but later, after a brief period stuck in the barriers, was more than happy to put his efforts into hitting Henton.

Henton on the other hand suffered an early stall after hitting Bill Malbrough and, upon re-firing his engine, hit both Ingle and Andresen before missing his next target and careening into Malbrough and then finishing him off as reported earlier. Ingle, Gibson, and Harbin twice were his next ports of call before a final showdown with Eilers where they cleanly took each other out.

Race Result
1. Jamie Eilers
1. Chris Henton
3. Sam Harbin
4. Norm Gibson
5. Jason Ingle
6. Ed Smith
7. Bill Malbrough
8. Andy Bing
9. Tommy Miller
10. Darrell Andresen
11. Danny Krol
12. Reggie Banks

Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open, Heat Two

Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Heat Two
Leo May, Bob Alexander, Phillip Ruffin, Timmy Barnes, John Ruiz, Lynne Higgins, Matt Welliver, John McCrory, Joe Ramage, Charlie Clayton, Ricky Grimes, Scott Hutchins

As in the first heat it's sequel was a mass of carnage for the opening minutes as everyone was in full flight for five minutes before Bob Alexander (6th Arizona Derby, 3rd Lobster Nationals, 9th Texas Nationals) was DQ'd for the gas tank that had come loose, knocked askew by Scott Hutchins, a carbon copy of the opening of heat one.

Hutchins was hit twice in the opening minute, first by Alexander and then by Timmy Barnes (12th Spring Fling Derby, 4th Big Apple Smash Up) who went on to barely survive a disastrous miss that catapulted him into a barrier, and then stalled out.

Ricky Grimes (3rd Jersey Derby, 3rd Texas) was eliminated in tenth place causing him to miss a seventh consecutive final since winning the Louisiana Invitational. Carrying the torch in a crusade upon Hutchins, hitting his rival three times in a row, his comeuppance came when he was bounced from Lynne Higgins, to Phillip Ruffin, then to Joe Ramage.

With back-to-back finals in the past fortnight Charlie Clayton (7th Frostbite, 5th Texas, 6th Ohio Derby) misses out on his chance have three appearances in a row for the second this season after delivering six good shots, Ramage again finishing up what someone else had started, this time John McCrory with a blindside hit, and then after Ramage caused a long stall early on McCrory (3rd Seattle Derby, tied-4th SidelineStrategy.com Derby, 2nd Ohio) goes on to miss just his third final in the past nine as he was struck twelve times, Welliver (5) and Ruffin (4) relentless in their victimisation.

Leo May was everywhere he didn't want to be with stalls and situations where he was stuck and he finished his contest by crashing into the wall, but he does move into the consolation heat along with Joe Ramage, who had ten hits on seven cars, John Ruiz, who finished off Ramage when he could actually move, suffering as he did with three stalls, and finally Scott Hutchins; this last driver taking nine hits with three a piece from Welliver and Grimes.

Lynne Higgins makes it ten finals on the year by finishing third, her fourth in a five week span, after bouncing through the pack during the first half of the fourteen minute heat and then, after freeing her car from a sticky position against the wall, went all-out on Welliver with four hits. Her attention upon her rival was so keen that she forgot about Phillip Ruffin who was happy to take her down.

With eleven hits on four vehicles Matt Welliver, who took eight shots from the pack himself, was solely focused on one task at a time. Starting with a hat-trick on John McCrory, who he would return to for another two shots later on, Welliver, heading to his eighth final, stuck Hutchins with a good shot, the first of three on that target. Joe Ramage would also take a double-attack but the final effort was a hit to the car of Ruffin who was able to turn around and win the heat on his twelfth hit of the day.

It nearly went very wrong minutes before for Phillip Ruffin as he missed a target and barely scraped the barrier he was heading for. If not saved this incident could have resulted in Ruffin finishing fifth. As it was he takes his debut heat victory and enters just his third final this season, the first appearance he will make in thirteen weeks. Timmy Barnes was attacked twice then, after single hits to McCrory, Ruiz, Grimes and May, he returned to John McCrory with another three hits to wipe him out. Ruiz suffered his wrath once more and, after that miss, struck Higgins to knock her down in third place, finishing off with his first shot to Welliver.

Race Result
1. Phillip Ruffin
2. Matt Welliver
3. Lynne Higgins
4. Scott Hutchins
5. John Ruiz
6. Joe Ramage
7. Leo May
8. John McCrory
9. Charlie Clayton
10. Ricky Grimes
11. Timmy Barnes
12. Bob Alexander

Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open, Heat One

Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Heat One
Bambi Rogers, Will Murphy, Dick Garrett, Ben Hadsell, Randy Tondreau, Billy Edgington, Jess Yates, Tom Gariepy, Randy Corson, Darryl Lozier, Steven Redden, Will Thompson

Randy Tondreau (6th Tampa Open, 3rd Firecracker Open, 7th Alamo Derby) started out in a rampancy, just moving to the side in order to hit an adjacent Billy Edgington at the very start, and then blindsiding Ben Hadsell twice in quick succession before he was called off by the race officials and disqualified for and unsecured tank.

That would be the only elimination through the first six minutes, but it was not the only dramatic event as Steven Redden was clobbered by Darryl Lozier at the start resulting in a fire that was quickly extinguished. With all this going on there was some real action happening on track with Hadsell taking his two shots from Tondreau while Edgington hounded Rogers, and Lozier went from Redden to Yates all while the pack squeezed the standings leader.

One of those individuals who were out to take down Lozier was Randy Corson. Corson (5th Frostbite, 5th Tampa, 6th Alamo), who also struck Edgington, Thompson and Murphy, was triple-teamed in the third minute of heat one by Murphy, Garrett and Hadsell to set him off on an unsaveable path to eleventh.

Frostbite Winter Nationals champ Ben Hadsell (3rd Tampa, tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 2nd Texas Nationals) stalled after his contribution, thanks in no small part to Tondreau's swift attack early on, and then Darryl Lozier, the four-time event winner (Tampa, Jersey Derby, Big Apple Smash Up, Alamo) and championship leader went down in ninth place after taking seven hits, two each from Gariepy and Corson, while the Canadian tackled Redden, chased Jess Yates for another two hits, and then finished off with a shot on Rogers before finally striking Redden once more.

And it is that final hit which prevented Steven Redden (tied-2nd Valentine's Day Massacre, 3rd Indy Nationals) from at least reaching the consolation heat. Redden, who misses his seventh straight final due to injuries and missed opportunities, was lucky enough to keep moving after his fire, but was rather inept throughout the rest of his heat with just three hits in eight minutes, with a miss and a period where he circled the track looking to avoid any contact.

Bambi Rogers, survivour of a stall and double-hitter of both Gariepy and Murphy, moves into the consolation heat along with Billy Edgington who stalled out after blindsiding Thompson twice either side of a double-tap on Rogers.  

Jess Yates barely survived a long stall early doors to tackle Thompson (2), Gariepy (2) and Edgington (1) with hits, and finally Dick Garrett lost out on a final battle with Will Murphy after his heat-leading ninth hit connected with an opponent. Hadsell and Yates were repat customers for Garrett, but he only struck Murphy once early on in retaliation to a shot from his rival who was not so forgiving, hitting him two more times at the end to finish the job.

Tom Gariepy marches on to his eighth final despite being a victim of eight hits and a pair of stalls. Part of the wrecking crew that took apart Darryl Lozier, Gariepy then had a back-and-forth battle with Thompson who won out with three hits to one at the end.

Will Murphy, in his eleventh final but just his third in the last twelve weeks, all three coming in the past six rounds, also went to war with Thompson only to come away with runner-up position. With eight hits on four vehicles, with four on Garrett and two on Yates, the ninth place man in the standings did a good job avoiding trouble, taking just five hits throughout.

By eliminating three of his final four opponents Will Thompson takes his fourth heat win of the year and will take part in a final where Darryl Lozier will be absent for just the third time this year. Taking eight hits, two of them surprise attacks by Edgington, Thompson threw his weight around with eight shots of his own. His luck was there also as he missed a target on one occasion but no harm was done, and he suffered a stall he was able to re-fire quickly.

Race Result
1. Will Thompson
2. Will Murphy
3. Tom Gariepy
4. Dick Garrett
5. Jess Yates
6. Billy Edgington
7. Bambi Rogers
8. Steven Redden
9. Darryl Lozier
10. Ben Hadsell
11. Randy Corson
12. Randy Tondreau

Controlled Chaos - Mile High Open Preview

Rob Remaley remains the lone absentee but the nine-time finalist is one week closer to his return in four weeks; Tommy Miller continues to deputise in his place.

Five of the top ten, including championship leader Darryl Lozier, go together in heat one. Will Thompson, Tom Gariepy, Will Murphy, and Ben Hadsell are the others who will be looking to bounce back after all five have missed at least one final recently.

Heat two has Joe Ramage who, after winning the Alamo Derby, has zero points in the last two weeks despite qualifying for the final in Cincinnati. Scott Hutchins also goes here and he has just two finals, both third place finishes, in the past nine weeks.

Finally the winner of The Ohio Derby Andy Bing is in heat three along with Norm Gibson, who has three finals in the past month and is 7.5pts back of Bing, and Jamie Eilers, who has failed to qualify for five finals out of the last eight events.