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Peter Murphy Wins Bandit/VRA Grand Slam Series Opener!
By Gary Costa
Hanford, CA – April 13, 2008…Frank Dias' Kings Speedway was host of Round #1 of the 4-race Bandit/VRA Grand Slam non-wing Sprint car series.
A great crowd was met with beautiful weather, and a stellar 36-car-field packed the Kings Speedway pits.
There would be no qualifying this evening, as a pill draw would determine heat race starting spots.
The main event cars rolled onto the racing surface for driver introductions and the intensity in the drivers' eyes could be seen. They then readied themselves for 30-laps of elbows up racing.
Jeff Gardner and John Iturriria paced the 24-car starting field. When the green flag flew drivers quickly went to work, with Gardner jumping out in the lead.
Defending Bandit/VRA champion, Greg Taylor was carrying the #1 on his car, and for good reason. He was charging from his 3rd starting spot, in his Wesco International, Taylor Oil Field Trucking and Crane Maxim. On lap-6, the Ventura, CA driver made a move on Gardner in 1 & 2. They ran side-by-side down the backstretch, but Gardner was able to hold the lead. Taylor then made a beautiful move on lap-8 to take the top spot.
The hotly contested event was slowed on lap-11 when Steve Conrad from Quartz Hill, CA looped in turn-1.
Peter Murphy from Clovis, CA was up on the wheel in the #21 Tarlton and Son, Inc Maxim and moved into 3rd at this point via his 8th place starting spot. Iturriria went to the pits while idling around the track under the yellow. A tough break for him as he was running in the 3rd position at the time.
Reseda, CA. masher, Kevin Kierce was making moves and thrilling the fans in his #2s as he had his mashing the gas, and moving forward from his 18th starting spot.
Taylor and Stockton, CA driver Johnathon Henry brought us down to the green flag once again, but Murphy was relentless, and on lap-12 wrestled the lead away from Taylor.
Taylor was doing all that he could to reel in Murphy, but it was to no avail, as Murphy made no mistakes and led the rest of the way to pick up Round #1 of the Grand Slam series. Henry filled out the top-3 in his brand new Ellis chassis.
"I'm stoked to win this race", A jubilant Murphy stated after the win. "The track had a top and a bottom. Blaine Steele and Paul Baines have this car really nailed down"
In 10-lap Heat race competition the top-4 would transfer to the main event. Justyne Hamblin won Heat #1 from her 3rd starting spot. Main event winner, Peter Murphy picked up Heat #2 after starting 8th. Fighting for position, Rusty Carlile took a vicious series of flips down the back straightaway. Thankfully he was okay after the rough ride. Heat #3 was taken by 3rd place main event finisher Johnathon Henry. Tipton, CA. shoe, Danny Faria was making an outside move going into turn-3 but the car biked and he also rode out a rough flip. He was also okay. Heat #4 was won by Steve Conrad who led wire-to-wire.
Semi #1 was won by Richard Vander Weer, while Semi #2 was won by Kevin Kierce.
Quotes from the weekend:
"I took the ride of my life" – Rusty Carlile after his nasty flip.
"I don't need a boyfriend, I have a race car" – Justyne Hamblin after being asked if she had a boyfriend by announcer Dave Munoz.
"We won Bakersfield last year, and I'm the defending Grand Slam champion. Yes, I will be there and I'm looking forward to it" - Greg Taylor boldly stated when asked if he will be at Bakersfield Speedway for Round #2 of the series.
"This is my first time here, and we ran well. This is only our 2nd race this year, and I'm really happy" – Johnathon Henry on his 3rd place finish.
"I wasn't happy that we didn't qualify. But if that's how they run it, that's how they run it. There's no use crying about it" – Peter Murphy stated after his win.
"Who in the heck is in that white car, he's on the gas!" – Writer Norm Bogan exclaimed about Wes Gutierrez.
"Can you imagine how big 360 non-wing Sprint car racing could be if the promoters worked together?" – Sprint car and Midget veteran Dwayne Marcum speaking in regards to the nice car count.
Round #2 for the Grand Slam Series will be June 28th at Bakersfield Speedway. Peter Murphy will be taking a mere 6 point lead over Greg Taylor, heading into Bakersfield's race.
MAIN EVENT 30-LAPS -1.) PETER MURPHY 2.) GREG TAYLOR 3.) JOHNATHON HENRY 4.) JUSTYNE HAMBLIN 5.) KEVIN KIERCE 6.) CLARK TEMPLEMAN III 7.) RICK HENDRIX 8.) BRANDON THOMSON 9.) KEVIN BARNES 10.) ALBERT POMBO 11.)JONATHAN LOGAN 12.) MICHAEL FACCINTO 13.) CHRIS WAKIM 14.) JOHN NIGGLI 15.) JUSTIN KIERCE 16.) DAVE KNOTT 17.) DENNIS RODRIGUUEZ 18.) WES GUTIERREZ 19.) JOHN ITURRIRIA 20.) JEFF GARDNER 21.) RICHARD VANDER WEER 22.) ADAM FRITH-SMITH 23.) RICKY KIRKBRIDE 24.) STEVE CONRAD
HEAT RACE #1 – 1.) JUSTYNE HAMBLIN 2.) WES GUTIERREZ 3.) BRANDON THOMSON 4.) DENNIS RODRIGUEZ 5.) RICHARD VANDER WEER 6.) JOHN NIGGLI 7.) JARED LITTLE 8.) ALBERT POMBO 9.) STEVEN WILLIAMS
HEAT RACE #2 – 1.) PETER MURPHY 2.) JOHN ITURRIRIA 3.) KEVIN BARNES 4.) JONATHAN LOGAN 5.) T.J. SMITH 6.) MICHAEL FACCINTO 7.) JERRY WISE, JR. 8.) NEWT PRICE 9.) RUSTY CARLILE
HEAT RACE #3 -1.) JOHNATHON HENRY 2.) JEFF GARDNER 3.) RICKY KIRKBRIDE 4.) CLARK TEMPLEMAN III 5.) JACE VANDER WEER 6.) DAVE KNOTT 7.) JUSTIN KIERCE 8.) RICHARD McCORMICK 9.) DANNY FARIA, JR.
HEAT RACE #4 – 1.) STEVE CONRAD 2.) GREG TAYLOR 3.) RICK HENDRIX 4.) CHRIS WAKIM 5.) ADAM FRITH-SMITH 6.) JAYSON MAY 7.) JEFF CULVER 8.) RICK EBERHARDT 9.) KEVIN KIERCE
SEMI #1 – 1.) RICHARD VANDER WEER 2.) ALBERT POMBO 3.) DAVE KNOTT 4.) JOHN NIGGLI 5.) JUSTIN KIERCE 6.) RICHARD McCORMICK 7.) JARED LITTLE 8.) JACE VANDER WEER 9.) STEVEN WILLIAMS (DNS) 10.) DANNY FARIA, JR. (DNS)
SEMI #2 – 1.) KEVIN KIERCE 2.) MICHAEL FACCINTO 3.) T.J. SMITH 4.) ADAM FRITH-SMITH 5.) JAYSON MAY 6.) NEWT PRICE 7.) RICK EBERHARDT 8.) JERRY WISE, JR. 9.) JEFF CULVER 10.) RUSTY CARLILE (DNS)
BANDIT/VRA GRAND SLAM TOP-10 IN POINTS AFTER ROUND #1
1. PETER MURPHY-120
2. GREG TAYLOR-114
3. JOHNATHON HENRY-112
4. JUSTYNE HAMBLIN-110
5. RICK HENDRIX-100
6. CLARK TEMPLEMAN III-100
7. BRANDON THOMSON-98
8. KEVIN BARNES-96
9. KEVIN KIERCE-92
1O. JONATHAN LOGAN-90
All of us from the Bandit/VRA Sprint car Grand Slam Series would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you fantastic fans and sponsors. We thank you, for your support in the series!
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