This message was edited on
November 07, 2006 at
02:18:56 PM by ljennings
SHERMAN WINS MANZY'S WESTERN WORLD By: Robert Mayson
PHOENIX, AZ, October 27, 2001 -- Bud Kaeding dominated all but the final lap of the 34th running of the NAPA Auto Parts / Budweiser Western World Championships at Keith Hall's Manzanita Speedway. Kaeding's last lap misfortune gave hometown favorite Jeremy Sherman the only break he needed to drive the Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightliners No. 7 Stealth to a $12,500 victory.
Sherman becomes the fifth driver from the state of Arizona to win the Western World. Led by now Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA) President Ron Shuman (with five victories), Arizona drivers have now managed to keep the bulk of Hall's purse within their state 12 times.
Once considered the second jewel on sprint car racing's "Triple Crown," this year's Western World Championships again showed the resurgence of non-winged sprint car racing. Reminiscent of "The Western's" glory days during the 70's, drivers from seven different states and Australia were represented for this year's edition. Since the first Western World in 1969, members of Sherman's family have competed in the majority of these events. Until today, none has tasted victory in the state's biggest sprint car race.
"This is just awesome. To have your name listed with the guys that have won this race is just phenomenal," Sherman said. "My uncle (Larry Clark) and my stepfather (Dave Ellis) have tried to win this race, and to be the first one to win it out of my family is pretty special...it's the highlight of my career."
By virtue of their preliminary night wins, Sherman and Bud Kaeding shared the front row for the 40 lap finale. Kaeding won a ceremonial coin toss last night and chose the inside row. Despite some second-guessing from some Manzy veterans, Kaeding's decision proved to be the right one and he took the lead on the opening lap as Sherman, Rip Williams, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Cory Kruseman followed.
As Kaeding pulled away from the field, Kruseman was on the move early trying to nail down the SCRA owners title for Harlan Willis. By the end of the ninth circuit, Kruseman was up to third and was within striking distance of Sherman after a pair of caution flags. Williams began fade to about this time after a rock wedged under his throttle. Williams' problems continued on lap 18 after he tangled with Charles Davis, Jr. and Rickie Gaunt on the back-straight and they all came to a stop. Of the cars involved, only Gaunt was able to restart.
Kaeding again sped away on the restart as Kruseman passed Sherman for second in turn two. Working the bottom groove, Kruseman caught Kaeding on lap 22. Kaeding withstood the challenge and temporarily assumed Kruseman's line in turns three and four. Riding the turn two cushion two laps later, Kruseman slipped wide exiting the corner and smacked the wall. For the moment, it looked like luck was on Kruseman's side after the yellow simultaneously waved for Mike Spencer, who stopped on the racing surface with a flat right rear tire.
"He was just pushing it to the limit," Sherman said of Kruseman's encounter with the wall. "He runs hard and he got up above the cushion and hit the wall pretty good. He came down across the track after he hit the wall and I did everything I could to keep from hitting him."
Kruseman's second chance was, however, short-lived after his right rear tire gave way two laps from the finish sending him into the wall exiting turn four. Mike Kirby, who was running fifth at the time, also lost a tire and joined Kruseman in the work area. Even with some visible damage, Kruseman returned and earned enough points to give Willis his first SCRA title.
With his once insurmountable lead erased, Kaeding held back Sherman's run on the restart. Having already accepted the white flag, Kaeding drove smoothly into turn one only to have his car veer suddenly into the fence causing him to flip. Kaeding climbed from his mount and collapsed on the race track, not from injury, but from the utter disbelief that a front end failure had cost him a certain victory.
By SCRA rule, the restart reverted back to lap 38. With the Mike Wall / Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply No. 37 Avenger driven by Tony Jones now behind him, Sherman knew he still had his work cut out for him.
"I was just hoping they'd throw the checkered because I didn't want to run those last two laps," Sherman smiled. "My guys came over to me on the red (flag for Kaeding) and said if you just run two consistent laps and hold the car on the bottom of the track for the restart, we'll be fine."
Hoping to duplicate his father's (Bubby Jones) 1976 Western World victory, Jones tried to build momentum on the restart to set up for some last lap heroics. Regrettably, Jones would lose any chance of keeping Sherman from winning his second Non-Winged World Championship (NWWC) race in as many nights after he pushed in turn two. Jones did manage to keep the NAPA Auto Parts No. 12 Stealth, driven by Coons, back in the third spot. J.J. Yeley started his night by piloting the GT Racing / ABC Sand & Rock No. 76 Twister to a C-Main victory. Transferring from the B-Main, Yeley eventually finished fourth in the A-Main. John Scott was forced to take the same path as Yeley to get to the finale. Scott went on to win the TW Metals Hard Charger Award with his 23rd to 7th place run. ###
34th RUNNING OF THE NAPA AUTO PARTS / BUDWEISER WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SCRA RACE #39 / NWWC #9 - MANZANITA SPEEDWAY, PHOENIX, AZ 10/27/01
C-MAIN (15 Laps) 1. J.J. Yeley, 2. Tom Downing, 3. Bobby Graham, 4. John Scott, 5. Steve Cushman, 6. Brad Noffsinger, 7. Mike Hinrichsen, 8. Jon Stanbrough, 9. Bill Rose, 10. Paul Beregszaszy, 11. Jordan Hermansader, 12. Lance Gremett, 13. Eric Rossi
JB ENTERPRISE B-MAIN (20 Laps *New Track Record: 7:05.33) 1. Bob Ream, Jr., 2. Tony Elliott, 3. J.J. Yeley, 4. Tyler Walker, 5. Rickie Gaunt, 6. Brian Venard, 7. John Scott, 8. Mike Spencer, 9. Brad Noffsinger, 10. Jack DeArmond, Jr., 11. Bobby Graham, 12. Ricky Johnson, 13. Andy Forsberg, 14. Steve Venard, 15. Mark Nation, 16. Ronnie Clark, 17. Tom Downing, 18. Keith Williamson, 19. Steve Cushman, 20. Peter Murphy, 21. Derek Davidson, 22. Randi Miller
WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (40 Laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman, 2. Tony Jones, 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., 4. J.J. Yeley, 5. Steve Ostling, 6. Tyler Walker, 7. John Scott, 8. Danny Sheridan, 9. Rickie Gaunt, 10. Mike Kirby, 11. Troy Rutherford, 12. Cory Kruseman, 13. Richard Griffin, 14. Rodney Argo, 15. Brian Venard, 16. Marty Wilcox, 17. Bud Kaeding, 18. Tony Elliott, 19. Bob Ream Jr., 20. Mike Spencer, 21. Charles Davis Jr., 22. Rip Williams, 23. Adam Mitchell, 24. Levi Jones LAPS LED: Bud Kaeding 1-38, Jeremy Sherman 39-40
NON-WINGED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (NWWC) Points standings Richard Griffin 488 Cory Kruseman 465 Mike Kirby 436 Troy Rutherford 416 Steve Ostling 381 Rickie Gaunt 353 Rip Williams 331 Charles Davis, Jr. 314 John Scott 311 Danny Sheridan 301 Bob Ream, Jr. 290 Mike English 248 Troy Cline 227 Adam Mitchell 202 Lance Gremett 173 Brian Venard 158 Ronnie Clark 147 Mike Spencer 144 George Gervais 142 Casey Shuman 131 Tony Jones 127 Tony Elliott 123 Kevin Doty 121 Glenn Crossno 92 Hank Winter 89 Mike Hinrichsen 88 Tony Everhart 39 Kevin Frisbie 20 Josh Davis 11
SCRA POINT STANDINGS
1. 45 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 38 2512 2. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 36 2196 3. 4 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 38 2139 4. 5 Mike Kirby Lomita CA 37 1963 5. 83 John Scott Hesperia CA 38 1880 6. 5X Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 38 1723 7. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 38 1718 8. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 37 1630 9. 91A Mike English Norwalk CA 36 1461 10. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Chandler AZ 37 1373 11. 92 Danny Sheridan Santa Maria CA 37 1327 12. 37 Tony Jones Corona CA 26 1275 13. 19 Rodney Argo Gardena CA 30 1019 14. 2IJ Troy Cline Santa Clarita CA 19 870 15. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 33 755 16. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 38 751 17. 16 Michael Hinrichsen (R) Lakeside CA 38 648 18. 7 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 15 645 19. 69 Jarrett Chaney Clovis CA 21 616 20. 44 Mike Spencer (R) Temecula CA 36 594 21. 14 Bobby Graham Riverside CA 29 583 22. 17 Greg DeCaires Elk Grove CA 20 577 23. 33 Ronnie Clark (R) Tucson AZ 37 524 24. 47 Brian Venard Tustin CA 29 507 25. 8 Bob Ream Jr Glendale AZ 13 478 26. 9 George Gervais Mira Loma CA 23 426 27. 12X Casey Shuman Tempe AZ 19 419 28. 12 Jordan Hermansader Long Beach CA 23 374 29. 57 Hank Winter Tucson AZ 24 360 30. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 19 359 31. 25 Gary W. Howard Fontana CA 19 357 32. 15 Marc Hart Ventura CA 16 271 33. 24 Jack DeArmond, Jr. Corona CA 28 265 34. 12A Jerry Coons, Jr Tucson AZ 5 238 35. 84 Alex Grigoreas Chino CA 13 234 36. 2 Tony Elliott Kokomo IN 5 192 37. 76 J.J. Yeley Phoenix AZ 5 187 38. 16X Jimmy May Ventura CA 11 170 39. 3N Mark Nation Los Olivos CA 15 165 40. 7T Greg Taylor (R) Ojai CA 8 150 41. 95 Keith Williamson Pomona CA 18 141 42. 38 Glenn Crossno (R) Alta Loma CA 32 136 43. 6X Kevin Doty Milan IL 5 121 44. 0 Peter Murphy Sidney AU 6 121 45. 43 Kevin White Anaheim CA 9 108 Point Standings as of: 10/27/01
2001 SCRA OWNERS POINTS
1. 45 Harlan Willis Ojai CA 2451 2. 50 Ron Chaffin Madera CA 2304 3. 4 Jack Gardner, Jr Orange CA 2093 4. 5 M&B Racing Lomita CA 2028 5. 83 John Scott Mtrsprts Hesperia CA 1880 6. 3 Sharon Jory Villa Park CA 1718 7. 7 Mark Priestley Yorba Linda CA 1603 8. 94 Joe Morales Tucson AZ 1373 9. 29 Fischer Mtrspts Irvine CA 1328 10. 92 Tom/Lauri Sertich Huntington Bch CA 1327 11. 19 Don Argo El Segundo CA 1019 12. 12 Bill Pratt El Monte CA 927 13. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 755 14. 85 Bob Gremett San Marcos CA 751 15. 48 Gene Cowherd Torrance CA 680 16. 16 Lake Mtrsprts.. Lakeside CA 634 17. 69 Martin Chaney Clovis CA 616 18. 44 Hal Engstrom Valley Center CA 594 19. 14 Linda Lancaster Las Vegas NV 583 20. 17 Mike Hasebe Hanford CA 577 21. 33 Hank Winter Tucson AZ 574 22. 11 Troy Cline Santa Clarita CA 568 23. 8 Brat Racing Glendale AZ 478 24. 21 Dave Ellis Phoenix AZ 460 25. 47 Buster Venard. Tustin CA 457 26. 9 George Gervais Mira Loma CA 426 27. 6 Lake Mtrsprts Lakeside CA 413 28. 2 Jack Gardner Jr. Orange CA 390 29. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 359 30. 25 Jim Ruth Riverside CA 357 31. 37 Mike Wall Glen Avon CA 308 32. 138 Tanya Winter Tucson AZ 296 33. 15 Marc Hart Ventura CA 271 34. 24 Jack DeArmond, Sr. Corona CA 265 35. 84 Jack Keene Corona CA 255 36. 38 Carol Crossno Alta Loma CA 187 37. 95 Keith Williamson Pomona CA 141 38. 87 John Ball San Diego CA 124 39. 82 Rhonda Hillberg Whittier CA 116 40. 76 G.T. Racing Phoenix AZ 111 41. 43 Kevin White Anaheim CA 108 42. 34 Bill/Lida Lloyd Orange CA 98 43. 49 George Glover Thousand Palms CA 97 44. 90 Tom Downing Huntington Bch CA 80 45. 36 Larry Brown Bakersfield CA 71
|