Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open Standings

With Darryl Lozier suffering a bad run of form where he has one top five finish (4th Texas Nationals) in the past nine weeks, a ninth spot in Milwaukee was not what he needed. This result allowed Will Thompson to move within six points after his third top two finish this year, and a further 6.5pts back is The Bryan Family Open winner Joe Ramage.

Scott Hutchins loses out two places in the standings by failing to qualify out of the consolation heat by one place and Andy Bing, also absent after entering the second chance race, is usurped in fifth place by Norm Gibson and his third place finish.

Name	Pts	Derby Wins	Heat Wins
Darryl Lozier	133.5	3	3
Will Thompson	127.5	1	3
Joe Ramage	121	2	1
Scott Hutchens	113	1	3
Norm Gibson	98.5	2	1
Andy Bing	96	2	3
Jamie Eilers	96	2	2
Tom Gariepy	90.5	2
Will Murphy	86		2
Ben Hadsell	83.5	1	4
Leo May	70		3
Chris Henton	60	1	1
Steven Redden	57.5		1
Lynne Higgins	50		2
Darrell Andresen	47		5
Rob Remaley	45.5		2
Ricky Grimes	44	1	2
John McCrory	42.8		1
Matt Welliver	31.5	1	2
John Ruiz	29	1	2
Danny Krol	28		2
Bobby Gallagher	27		2
Dick Garrett	27		1
Don Davis	25		2
Sam Harbin	25
Randy Corson	23		2
Bob Alexander	22		2
Jason Ingle	20.5		2
Reggie Banks	20	1
Jess Yates	20		2
Charlie Clayton	18		1
Randy Tondreau	18		1
Timmy Barnes	11		1
Philip Ruffin	5
Bambi Rogers	5
Kenny Rose	2		1
Ed Smith	2		1
Billy Edgington	2
Tommy Miller	0

Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open Final

The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Final
John Ruiz, Jamie Eilers, Chris Henton, Will Thompson, John McCrory, Tommy Miller, Joe Ramage, Lynne Higgins, Norm Gibson, Bambi Rogers, Darryl Lozier, Ben Hadsell

The debut of Tommy Miller was very short lived as he came in to his first ever final over-excited and slammed straight into the drivers' door of Lynne Higgins, and John Ruiz's (9th Arizona Derby, 1st Ides of March, 8th Seattle Derby) first final after being absent in the previous ten ends with him taking home no points after five hits, two from John McCrory, put him down in twelfth.

Bambi Rogers (6th Arkansas Derby) would also take nothing away from her work in The Bryan Family Open event as she went straight for the top dog in Darryl Lozier, hitting him four times but was put down by Norm Gibson who came looking for revenge after she caught him unawares previously.

Lynne Higgins reaches the five-oh in points with a tenth place finish in Milwaukee to give the four-time fifth place girl ten points in the last two events, elimination today coming in the eighth minute of a twelve minute final at the hands of Thompson delivering the seventh against her.

In his previous three events Darryl Lozier (1st Tampa Open, Jersey Derby, Big Apple Smash Up) has finished 10th, 7th and then failed to qualify for the final, not winning any of the last ten events with a single top five finish in that time, and the heat one winner has backed this up with a lowly ninth position that came largely thanks to Rogers' relentless assault.

Darrell Andresen (4th Indy Nationals, 5th Firecracker Open, 5th Arkansas Derby) was out right behind the championship leader after Ben Hadsell rounded out a three-way attack by pushing him into the barriers where he would end his fourth final in a row in eighth place.

John McCrory (3rd Seattle, 5th Indy Nationals, tied-4th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) is able to close in on Andresen by a point, his hit on that opponent his final act before eventually slowing to a halt, and Jamie EIlers started a frantic finale where five cars were eliminated in the last four minutes. Eilers (1st Summer Sizzler, 1st Summer National Derby) only took three hits while delivering seven, including a blindside attack on Hadsell after avoiding an attempt at a surprise attack from the latter.

That and a second attack later on from Eilers damaged his vehicle enough that a hit on Ramage condemned Ben Hadsell to his exit but he enjoys a fifth top-five finish this season. Hadsell (1st Frostbite, tied-2nd Summer National, 2nd Texas Nationals) had previously gone for Ramage twice, giving knocks to Gibson and Andresen in between.

Chris Henton (5th Summer National) backs up his runner-up finish last week with a fourth spot here as the Spring Fling Derby winner saw off little challenge from the pack while he mowed down the opposition with nine hits, two each going to McCrory and Thompson, but Ramage was the one who eventually caught up to him to crash him against the wall.

A sixth podium place in his nine finals gives Norm Gibson another bump up the standings. Starting with a hit on Lozier he then had his revenge on Rogers who caught him on his blindside before avoiding another surprise hit, hitting Thompson and then stalling. It was touch and go for a while whether or not he would re-fire but he found success and repeated the avoid hit-hit Thompson tactic only for Ramage to return for a second time and lay him clean out.

Will Thompson, whose only event win this season came in the second week in Arizona, struck Joe Ramage just once throughout the final but the latter's fourth attack on Thompson decided who would take the victory and five extra points. Thompson can be content to even get this far as he suffered a fire at the beginning of the consolation heat to take eleven shots in the final before the twelfth pushed him to within six points of Darryl Lozier.

Joe Ramage himself is now only 12.5pts back of the leader with his second event victory this year, the first coming in his first final in the Valentine's Day Massacre. That win started a run of five straight finals, three of ending in runner-up spot, but he would have just one appearance (11th Indy Nationals) in the next nine weeks before another runner-up finish in the SidelineStrategy.com Derby put him back on track. Two more absences and then this victory that comes from a slow start where Higgins caught him by surprise and then he was almost caught out again straight after.

Race Result
1. Joe Ramage
2. Will Thompson
3. Norm Gibson
4. Chris Henton
5. Ben Hadsell
6. Jamie Eilers
7. John McCrory
8. Darrell Andresen
9. Darryl Lozier
10. Lynne Higgins
11. Bambi Rogers
12. John Ruiz
13. Tommy Miller

Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open, Consolation Heat

The Bryan Family Open
Consolation Heat
Jess Yates, Matt Welliver, Lynne Higgins, Andy Bing, Will Thompson, Leo May, John Ruiz, Scott Hutchins, Jason Ingle, Phillip Ruffin, Ton Gariepy

An eight minute dash began with just eleven drivers thanks to the tie for third place in heat three, and it started with a bang when Will Thompson's car caught fire but he was allowed to continue.

The first elimination came when Phillip Ruffin (9th Ides of March, 8th Big Apple Smash Up) was slammed around by four opponents inside the opening two minutes, and Jess Yates (8th Arizona Derby, 7th Jersey Derby, 4th Summer Sizzler) also took four shots from different drivers; Tom Gariepy with the finishing blow.

 Leo May (4th Wisconsin Invitational, 4th Idaho Invitational, 2nd Indy Nationals) misses a sixth final out of the last eight events after Andy Bing's hit caused a stall, and Tom Gariepy (tied-2nd Valentine's Day Massacre, 1st Wisconsin Invitational) cannot follow up his victory in Little Rock, Arkansas as six of the pack went out of their way to take him out in eighth place.

Jason Ingle (tied-5th Lobster Nationals, 7th Louisiana Invitational) has not missed atthree finals in a row since before he qualified seven times in twelve weeks, but his five hits in the heat, two of which struck Hutchins, were not enough to see him through here.

The ending went from six competitors to three in the space of a minute starting with the elimination of SidelineStrategy.com Derby winner Matt Welliver (6th Big Apple Smash Up, tied-7th Texas Nationals) who only took four hits but it was the final two from Ruiz and Hutchins that did the lion's share of damage.

Then quick as a flash Andy Bing (1st Idaho Invitational, 1st Indy Nationals) was eliminated by two hits from Lynne Higgins, and then Scott Hutchins shambles along after his own encounter with Higgins until he stopped altogether.

That puts Lynne Higgins into back-to-back finals for the third time this year, her eighth final overall, after finishing a season-high fourth in Arkansas, her progress coming in Milwaukee came at a minimal cost as she was only struck twice, both times by Will Thompson who also moves on.

Thompson makes it sixteen finals on the year and with second place Scott Hutchins out in fourth place it is the ideal time to retake second place while he attempts to catch up on Darryl Lozier at the top of the standings. Once the officials gave him the green light to continue from his fire a brief stall nearly took him out anyway, but he went on to strike Higgins twice and Ruiz four times as all three go through.

John Ruiz has missed ten finals in a row after qualifying for three straight and he had to fight through not just Thompson's rampancy but also a long stall midway through that would have taken him out long ago in order to reach his sixth final this season.

Race Result
Q. Lynne Higgins
Q. Will Thompson
Q. John Ruiz
4. Scott Hutchins
5. Andy Bing
6. Matt Welliver
7. Jason Ingle
8. Tom Gariepy
9. Leo May
10. Jess Yates
11. Phillip Ruffin

Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open, Heat Three

The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Heat Three
Billy Edgington, Chris Henton, Jamie Eilers, Ricky Grimes, John Ruiz, Scott Hutchins, Randy Tondreau, Darrell Andresen, Danny Krol, Matt Welliver, Ed Smith, Joe Ramage

The longest heat of the round lasted sixteen minutes and the first elimination didn't come until the seventh minute of action when Ricky Grimes (3rd Jersey Derby, 3rd Texas Nationals) misses his fourth final since winning the Louisiana Invitational thanks to a double-bump from Jamie Eilers causing a fatal stall.

Ed Smith (11th Texas) stalled himself early on but re-fired only to crash into a wall when he missed his intended target, Krol, Welliver and Ruiz all pouncing on their prone opponent, and then Danny Krol (8thIdes of March, 4th Jersey, 3rd Summer Sizzler)was pushed offline by Chris Henton and suffered the worst when he collided with Welliver.

A single hit on Henton was all Billy Edgington (9th Firecracker Open) had to show for his seven minutes as he had to suffer through a lot of engine problems before finally succumbing to them, then Randy Tondreau fails to make it three finals in a row as he took himself out of any further action this week when his ninth hit of the heat struck Eilers. Tondreau's best performance was a fortnight ago in Daytona where he finished third.

John Ruiz and Scott Hutchins go down in seventh and sixth respectively to march on into the consolation heat, Eilers for Ruiz and a fire for Hutchins ended their quests, and Matt Welliver joins them as despite a pair of misses he struck Smith thrice and Ramage twice before Eilers and Andresen made up for their opponent avoiding a lot of the early traffic.

A collision between Chris Henton and Jamie EIlers made the officials job tough and it was dicided that they finished joint third, so barring injury there will be thirteen entrants going into this week's final with eleven drivers competing in the consolation heat. Both men had been going back and forth throughout the heat as they combined for twenty-three hits on ten different cars; John Ruiz taking five of them and Henton, qualifying for his sixth final, winning the personal battle between them by striking Eilers, ninth final upcoming, four times to two.

That left Darrell Andresen and Joe Ramage dusting it up for the two points a heat victory will get you. The only contact they had with each other prior to the finale was when Ramage hit Andresen five minutes in after avoiding a hit on his blindside and barely re-firing from a long stall. While Ramage went on to tackle Edgington twice and Henton three times, his final opponent was happy to take on all-comers before he suffered his own stall that threatened to cut his heat short. But he also managed to re-fire and was focused on Scott Hutchins for three shots before another stall nearly took him out in fifth place and a sneak attack on Ramage with his victim's attention committed to Henton decided the result.

Joe Ramage qualifies for just his third final in thirteen, but it's two in four after his runner-up finish at the SidelineStrategy.com Derby, and Darrell Andresen is back to bring the sole occupier of most heat victories with five as he heads into his tenth final, this his fourth in a row.

Race Result
1. Darrell Andresen
2. Joe Ramage
3. Chris Henton
3. Jamie Eilers
5. Matt Welliver
6. Scott Hutchins
7. John Ruiz
8. Randy Tondreau
9. Billy Edgington
10. Danny Krol
11. Ed Smith
12. Ricky Grimes

Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open, Heat Two

The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Heat Two
Bob Alexander, Dick Garrett, Will Murphy, Leo May, Tom Gariepy, Timmy Barnes, Jess Yates, Bill Malbrough, Bambi Rogers, Lynne Higgins, John McCrory, Ben Hadsell

The opening salvo of hits included Ben Hadsell's journey over the top of Dick Garrett to take him out of the contest. Garrett (6th Ides of March, 7th Wisconsin Invitational, 5th Seattle Derby) was uninjured but misses an eleventh final in the last twelve.

Shortly after the restart nine-time finalist Will Murphy, who is also going through a lean spell of one final in nine weeks, was disqualified for a hit to the driver's side door of Leo May, but those would be the only eliminations in the first five minutes of the heat.

While going through the pack hitting five different vehicles, Bob Alexander (6th Arizona Derby, 3rd Lobster Nationals, 9th Texas Nationals) was being hounded by Tom Gariepy and Ben Hadsell with each man doubling up on the tenth place finisher, and after Tommy Miller's success in the first heat Bill Malbrough is the lone driver who has yet to qualify for a final as his battles with May and John McCrory took their toll.

Timmy Barnes (12th Spring Fling Derby, 4th Big Apple Smash Up) extends his final-less streak to ten weeks thanks to a group assault by Gariepy, Hadsell and Lynne Higgins, but Jess Yates makes it into the consolation heat, just able to outlast Barnes who delivered a double-tap to him earlier in the contest.

Lynne Higgins will also take part in the consolation heat as she looks for back-to-back finals for the first time since the Idaho Invitational, her dismissal coming with a lenghty stall she re-fired before going at Bambi Rogers and Timmy Barnes with a pair of shots on each. She is joined by the Arkansas Derby winner Tom Gariepy who avoided a lot of early trouble while attacking Alexander and Barnes before the pack converged upon him, and Leo May who hopes to avoid missing three straight finals for the third time in recent week, early blindside hits from McCrory and Gariepy eventually dragging him down.

After her final debut last week where she finished in sixth place Bambi Rogers goes back-to-back after laying on nine hits to five opponents, two each to May and Higgins with three on McCrory, but a final attack from May set her up for Hadsell to clean up and end her heat in third.

And it was the final act of Rogers that then caused a catastrophic stall in the engine of John McCrory who was bouncing around between Hadsell, Malbrough and Higgins prior to the stoppage he would not recover from. However, it is a ninth final for McCrory with a fourth in as many weeks.

With this win Ben Hadsell has matched Darrell Andresen's feat of four heat victories this season and will feature in his tenth final of the year. As previously noted Hadsell began the heat with an up-and-over that took Garrett out and he followed that up with two hits on Alexander to help remove him. Hits on Higgins, Barnes, Yates, Gariepy, and Rogers twice took him to his second final in three events.

Race Result
1. Ben Hadsell
2. John McCrory
3. Bambi Rogers
4. Leo May
5. Tom Gariepy
6. Lynne Higgins
7. Jess Yates
8. Timmy Barnes
9. Bill Malbrough
10. Bob Alexander
11. Will Murphy
12. Dick Garrett

Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open, Heat One

The Bryan Family Open - Milwaukee, WI
Heat One
Charlie Clayton, Phillip Ruffin, Jason Ingle, Norm Gibson, Andy Bing, Randy Corson, Sam Harbin, Tommy Miller, Darryl Lozier, Kenny Rose, Reggie Banks, Will Thompson

A frantic opening five minutes saw three vehicles bear the brunt of the hits with Andy Bing, Charlie Clayton, Sam Harbin and Kenny Rose taking a combined twenty-four shots in that time, but it was Randy Corson (5th Frostbite, 5th Tampa Open, 8th Spring Fling Derby) who would miss his eighth final in a row after stalling out.

That was the start of four eliminations as Sam Harbin (2nd Arizona Derby, 6th Spring Fling, 6th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) was the victim of six hits, Charlie Clayton (7th Frostbite, 5th Texas Nationals, 8th Louisiana Invitational) took seven before he went down, and Reggie Banks (1st Firecracker Open) only took four but his blindside attack on Rose did him more harm than his target, but his hit on Will Thompson was deemed unfair and resulted in his disqualification.

Kenny Rose has three finals to his name, where he finished twelfth in all of them, and just misses out on a fourth as the alternate driver when, after hitting Clayton twice to help bring him down, stuttered then stopped on that aforementioned blindside hit; the seventh upon him with Tommy Miller striking him three times.

Andy Bing scrapes through to the consolation heat after laying six hits on five opponents, Harbin the recipient of two, before Norm Gibson came at him for a fourth time to finish what he started. Jason Ingle took four shots from Phillip Ruffin, all in quick succession,to drop him in sixth. Joining them in the second chance race are Will Thompson and Phillip Ruffin as the former was eliminated by the latter before Ruffin exited at the hands of Darryl Lozier.

Norm Gibson qualifies for his ninth final in eleven rounds; not bad for someone who failed to reach a single final in the first ten weeks. With Andy Bing the victim of three out of Gibson's first four hits, a pair of brief stalls either side of contact with Rose delayed his assault before he eventually brought down his rival. The five-time podium finisher then focused his attacks on Will Thompson that went a long way to putting him away, but a surprise hit from Tommy Miller was enough to end Gibson's hopes for a second heat victory this year.

That left the alternate driver battling against the champion elect. Miller was quick to get onto Lozier but a neat piece of driving made him miss and opened him up for the title leader to put away, but at least Tommy Miller can now he say he is a finalist as he qualifies for his first ever appearance with ten hits to his credit, three of which went to fellow alternate Kenny Rose.

It is a third heat win of the year and a sixteenth final appearance for Darryl Lozier but he could have easily missed out altogether as, with just four drivers eliminated, Lozier suffered a fire that brought the contest to a halt. After deliberation the officials declared the vehicle safe to continue, so on he went to deliver ten hits of his own with six different competitors feeling the heat before a hat-trick of shots on Ruffin and the coup de grace on Miller decided matters.

Race Result
1. Darryl Lozier
2. Tommy Miller
3. Norm Gibson
4. Phillip Ruffin
5. Will Thompson
6. Jason Ingle
7. Andy Bing
8. Kenny Rose
9. Reggie Banks
10. Charlie Clayton
11. Sam Harbin
12. Randy Corson

Controlled Chaos - The Bryan Family Open Preview

Bill Malbrough returns after a successful sponsorship deal was closed last week, meaning Don Davis returns to the alternate rotation after his ninth place finish in Little Rock, but Steven Redden returns to the sidelines with another injury. He is replaced by Kenny Rose for the next fortnight.

The pack returns to Wisconsin this week and championship leader Darryl Lozier goes in heat one hoping to improve upon his recent form where he has missed two of the last four finals and had a best result of fourth (Texas Nationals) in his last nine events. He has third place man in the standings Will Thompson for company and he has also missed two of four finals and just four top five finishes in the last seventeen rounds; Thompson started 4th-1st-4th this season. Andy Bing and Norm Gibson are also involved in the first heat and they have four wins and four runner-up finishes between them.

Heat two sees the Arkansas Derby winner Tom Gariepy go up against Will Murphy and Ben Hadsell who, after making one final in eight and four weeks respectively, sit ninth and tenth in the standings.

The final heat has Scott Hutchins, who moved into second place in the standings after a third place finish last week; Joe Ramage who remains fourth despite just two finals (11th Lobster Nationals, 2nd SidelineStrategy.com Derby) in the last twelve; and Jamie Eilers whose eighth place in the Arkansas Derby was his second appearance in the five weeks since his back-to-back wins in the Summer Sizzler and Summer National Derby.