This message was edited on
July 08, 2008 at
01:58:23 PM by Pete Curto
Greg Taylor Sends Heavyweight Message at Santa MariaJuly 5th, 2008
By Peter the Pretty Good
Defending Grand Slam and Ventura Racing Association champion Greg Taylor sent a heavyweight message about the upcoming Grand Slam of Santa Maria. Don't count him out! Starting 8th and heavyweights Peter Murphy, Danny Sheridan, Dan Faria, Davey Pombo, Derek Buckley and Greg Porte starting ahead of him, Taylor still powerfully dominated the Bandit Series feature event! Passing cars high and low and then brilliantly manipulating lapped traffic to keep runner-up "Hollywood" Dan Faria at bay to claim the 30 lap feature at the ultra fast high-banked 1/3 mile clay oval.
The heavyweight moniker fits with the high quality of the non-winged floating around these days. That is especially true with the joint effort Bandit-VRA Grand Slam, and the huge rivalry between Bandit star Peter Murphy and VRA power Greg Taylor vying to claim the title of the first two-time Champ of the fourth Grand Salami season. Sprint car racing studs Sheridan, Pombo and Porte are multiple time champions each and VRA standouts like Josh Ford, Bruce Douglass and Derek Buckley are joined by accomplished stars like Faria and Greg Bragg lookout!
Danny "Showtime" Sheridan had many competitors psyched out when fastest transferring driver Greg Porte pulled a four pill putting the hot USAC/CRA star on the pole. Sheridan was fresh off a USAC/CRA dominating evening; he set fast time, dominated his heat race before demoralizing his competition. He found the Bandit race much more of a challenge than the night before. The draw put VRA shoe Derek Buckley on the outside of the front row and Bandit dominator in the 3 hole and fast timer Porte on the outside 2nd row. But the fears did not lessen when Sheridan pulled the Kittle Brothers machine into the work area with a fuel line issue while the feature was pushing off. That moved Murphy to the pole, Sheridan to the tail and the ever powerful fellow heavyweight Davey Pombo into the vacated inside 3rd row starting spot.
When the green flag flew the top quartet battled with Buckley leading Murphy in the early laps before the reliable Tarlton machine sputtered off of turn 2 and then stopped off of turn 4with a flat tire. When the green flag was un-ferruled Buckley slid backward as Taylor, Porte, Pombo and Faria moved to the front and Murphy and Sheridan started charging from the rear. Reportedly, the legendary Bandito Sheridan is the most dangerous when charging from the rear.
Without the benefit of many cautions and virtually no cars dropping from contention, every position was contested for and not relinquished without a fight. Greg Bragg used his experience to trade his 11th starting spot for a 5th place finish mostly with some great passes during the final laps after a lap 27 caution bunched the field for the final time. The last lap moves shuffled Albert Pombo and Wes Gutierrez back to a 7th and 8th place finishes as the opportunistic Murphy slipped in for 6th. The last caution was not much help to the 2nd running Faria as a lapped car provided a buffer for the tough veteran Taylor.
All of the action was spread around the track as only one car dropped from the twenty-one starters, as the Richard VanderWeerd steed lost power on the 20th circuit while charging forward from his 18th starting spot. That left some of the starters scrambling forward with a good read on the set-up and a few lapped cars to negotiate that mis-read the conditions. Thirteen of the strong contingent was on the lead lap at the checker's and twenty were still on hard the hammer. This night will go down as one of the strongest nights of the season. The fans were treated to a great driving lesson from Murphy who recovered what would be a horrible night to salvage a sixth place finish after steadily negotiating traffic and moving forward. And despite Sheridan's two stops he worked his way forward to a well earned but highly disappointing 10th place finish.
Davey Pombo missed transferring from his heat and was relegated to the VMAC B Main, but didn't miss the opportunity to reclaim his qualifying time and won the event by several lengths over the orange 8M of Taft's favorite son, Racin' Jayson May in the shortened event. Nine starters were competing for four transfer spots but the opening laps had 3rd starting Adam Frith-Smith spin in turn three and collect up Steve DeMott, Bill Jones and Jared Little. Little was the only car to restart of those wrecked when the race was restarted. Nine cars were quickly reduced to six. When Livermore's Rick Eberhardt had a steering failure and stopped on the front straight the event was checkered and all of the remaining five moved to the A- Feature.
The Heat races went well during the nice coastal evening before the marine layer threatened to blur the clear night sky following the VMAC B Main. The rest of the program was hustled without intermission leaving teams scurrying to prepare the cars for the feature.
The SPINTECH MUFFLERS heat one was taken by fast timer Greg Porte who charged straight to the lead and never looked back. Visiting VRA regular Bruce Douglass followed Porte to a transfer Jace VanderWeerd and Rusty Carlile in his beautiful new ride earning passes to the A Main.
STAINLESS STEEL STORAGE SOLUTIONS heat 2 went to the business like "Hollywood Dan" as he bolted from 5th to 1st in short order to demonstrate the fast way around the oval to Lompoc teacher Jeff Culver. Pressuring Culver was the intimidating black 21 of Murphy as he tried every trick to no avail as the 71C withstood the rear assault. Justyne Hamblin headily cruised to the final transfer strategically behind the duels ahead of her.
The EXTREME MUFFLERS heat 3 was won by fast Albert Pombo over the Dennis McCowan 11 piloted by Visalia's Bragg and the Fresno barnstormer Kevin Barnes. Making a fight over the final transfer was Hollister rookie Tyler Schmidt verses Ojai veteran Derek Buckley, with Dean Buckley's boy making a smooth and calculated pass up high as every effort to slip underneath was met with a chop and a block to earn the final transfer.
BR MOTORSPORTS heat 4 didn't disappoint either. Taylor blitzed his way from 5th starting spot to pass Sheridan before he could get his momentum up and claim the win. Rookie leadfoot Richard VanderWeerd was a strong 3rd with fellow rookie stand-out Wes Gutierrez making the A-Feature.
Final notes: Overall the night was filled with great racing action but amazingly it might have been even stronger. One huge what if was the veteran charger Josh Ford who broke a motor qualifying. He is very experienced on the Santa Maria clay and always at or near the front. He will be back this next week-end with his USAC midget in an all open wheeled event. The other what if came in the form of racing veteran star and fan favorite Troy Rutherford who was planning on giving the Bandits what for but got tangled in a wreck the night before destroying his ride and his week-end.
One sure sign that you are good…when you have your second worse result of an entire season, and it is a sixth place finish. Twice this season Peter Murphy had problems at Santa Maria and had to restart a feature at the rear. The first one he charged up to a 3rd place result when Richard VanderWeerd won at the tracks opener and then this last week-ends charge to 6th ; and beat his closest points rival in the process- extending his already bountiful lead. This is what a magical championship season looks like. Take a close look- this is historical and legend in the making!
A great example of turning a miserable night around was Hanford's former 600 mini-sprint star Jared Little. They struggled through the whole evening with his potent Olsen motor. Various motor problems have plagued the promising rookie this season and forced them to miss events. Jared, his upbeat and dedicated dad and an un-named crew member worked and toiled to start at the rear of the B Main. All looked the darkest when he got drawn into someone else's mess on the opening lap! They got restarted and were battling for the final transfer when the race was called early due to the casualty rate. Jared managed a broad grin when he found out transferred to the A Feature. Arguably, this team with worked the hardest to earn their right to race. Starting scratch on the field he steadily and methodically passed his way to a 16th place result. This is one of those nights for them when the Little team won. Little will be back next week-end and competing for wins before too long.
Tipton's Dan Faria has sat out many races due to business commitments but has made the most of his last two outings with impressive 2nd place results at Bakersfield coming from 13th position to nearly winning and then this strong performance. Hollywood Dan as he is affectionately known due to his spectacular take-no-prisoners style. Nobody can ever challenge his bravado and skill with or without a top wing on his car, yet he is one of the cleanest and most fun drivers on the circuit.
Greg Porte has let everyone know that he is back in a loud and clear manner with his freshened ride. Porte is going to be a factor throughout the remainder of the season. The Pombo/Iturriria combination has fallen short so far after impressive efforts. Once they get the bugs worked out they are sure from going from the lower podium to the top in short order. And Rusty Carlile, after mediocre results following a frightening wreck during race 2, brought out his spanking new and beautiful white and green number 51 Bullet chassis racer. Once the new suspension is figured out watch out for the John Goldman wrenched machine to open some eyes.
Next week is back at Santa Maria in an all open wheeled spectacular. More to follow…
BANDIT RESULTS – Santa MariaSpeedway, July 5th 2008
QUALIFYING (26 Cars): Fast Time 3G Greg Porte, Atascadero, 13.747;
21 Peter Murphy, Clovis, 13.908; 76 Derek Buckley, Ojai, 13.959; 18 Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria, 13967; 27 Davey Pombo, Kerman, 14.015; 17V Dan Faria, Tipton, 14.33; 35A Albert Pombo, Fresno, 14.102; 1 Greg Taylor, Ojai, 14.137; 51 Rusty Carlile, Bakersfield, 14.165; 8 Justyne Hamblin, Visalia, 14.207; 11 Greg Bragg, Visalia, 14.208; oo7 Wes Gutierrez, Gilroy, 14.265; 88V Jace VanderWeerd, Visalia, 14.370; 71C Jeff Culver, Lompoc, 14.372; 36B Kevin Barnes, Fresno, 14.408; 8M Jayson May, Taft, 14.439; 31 Bruce Douglass, Ventura, 14.475; 62 Adam Frith-Smith, Fresno, 14.475; 49 Tyler Schmidt, Hollister, 14.584; 10 Richard VanderWeerd, Visalia, 14.715; 7L Mike Larson, Santa Maria, 14.768; 35D Steve DeMott, Santa Maria, 15.000; 4 Rick Eberhardt, Livermore, 15.205; 25 Jared Little, Hanford, N/T; 16J Bill Jones, Santa Maria, N/T; 73 Josh Ford, Oxnard, N/T;
SPINTECH MUFFLERS Heat 1: Porte; Douglass; J. VanderWeerd; Carlile; D. Pombo; Larson; Ford (DNS)
STAINLESSSTEEL STORAGE SOLUTIONS Heat 2: Faria; Culver; Murphy; Hamblin; Frith-Smith; DeMott; Jones
EXTREME MUFFLERS Heat 3: A. Pombo; Bragg; Barnes; Buckley; Schmidt; Eberhardt
BR MOTORSPORTS Heat 4: Taylor; Sheridan; R. VanderWeerd; Gutierrez; May; Little (DNS)
VMAC "B" FEATURE: D. Pombo; May; Schmidt; Larson; Little; Eberhardt; Frith-Smith; DeMott; Jones
"A" FEATURE: Taylor; Faria; Porte; D. Pombo; Bragg; Murphy; A. Pombo; Gutierrez; Carlile; Sheridan; Hamblin; May; Buckley; Barnes; J. VanderWeerd; Little; Culver; Larson; Schmidt; Douglass; R. VanderWeerd
Thanks Santa MariaSpeedway Scorers and Officials, Bandit Series Staff and especially Joe...
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