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Peter Murphy Clinches 2008 Bandit Series Championship With Win! By Peter "the pretty good"

Popular Peter Murphy from Clovis wrapped up the 2008 Bandit Series Sprint Car Championship at Santa Maria Speedway September 6^th with his record setting 10^th victory of the season.  With three point's races left, Murphy is on the cusp of clinching track titles at Kings Speedway and Santa Maria Speedway to go with the Bandit-VRA Grand Slam Challenge Series title he claimed in August.  Four championships in one season are a feat to remember and one that will be difficult for anyone to repeat anytime soon.  To clinch this title with a win is a fitting tribute to a driver and a team with the fire in the belly to earn championships. 

Murphy demonstrated his experience with this win as he started eighth on the field with tough competitors in front and behind the Tarlton and Son owned black twenty-one.    He survived wrecks in front of him and used several yellow flags to his advantage and set up rookie Tyler Schmidt for the crowd pleasing victory.  A boisterous crowd cheered as track announcer Jim Pluhar interviewed the new champion in victory lane while cameras flashed and his two man crew grinned from ear to ear and high fived each other and fellow competitor's congratulations.  

He win did not look like a sure thing as five of the first six starting positions were headed by a sterling group of ultra fast and talented rookie drivers. The race lasted just one lap when leading rookie contender Richard VanderWeerd, who started right in front of Murphy, collected the turn one wall and flipped out of the race.  That left rookies Jared Little, T.J. Smith, Tyler Schmidt, Jace VanderWeerd and veteran Jayson May to do battle on the restart with Murphy.  The race picked up intensity as Smith battled Little and Schmidt for the point, resulting in the very aggressive Schmidt making hard contact with Smith battling into turn three on the 5th circuit.  The resulting pile up affected the race from that point on.  Smith, Little, and Davey Knott, were all knocked out of the race while "the professor" Jeff Culver was collected and although restarted, succumbed to the damage to his Stinger chassis just two laps later as he tangled with Rick Eberhardt on the 7^th lap.

As Schmidt led the field he used gamesmanship on the restarts and defensive driving techniques to keep his lead while fending off ferocious challenges from veteran Jayson May over the next ten laps until the field was halted on lap 17 for Bill Jones flip.  Remarkably, Jones ride suffered light damage and was quickly repaired by his Ron Menane and James Herrera led crew and never missed a lap.  On the restart, Schmidt again created a stir as he worked some restart tactics that met with the ire of Bandit officials and fellow competitors, which were discussed with the talented and heady rookie on the very next break in the action which last a mere lap. 

Albert Pombo brought out the red flag for his devastating front straight flip on lap 18.  After suffering a flat left front tire, Pombo was on the move catching the contending pack just prior to the lap 17 red flag. Setting up for an end of race charge "Fast Albert" slid up off of turn 4 and collected the wall which set up a violent wreck reminiscent of Greg Porte's nasty flip at the July Grand Slam event.  Albert climbed from the badly torn up car shaken but not stirred and worried that his great season has ended prematurely as he gazed at the heap of steaming carnage. 

With a more orderly restart May reapplied the pressure to young Tyler who protected the low line while Murphy proved to be the master of racing where they ain't.  Using the high line, Murphy crept next to May and took the second position while may battled back.  Murphy then used the stealth powers of his stealthy black Tachi Casino Maxim to tip toe around the learned Schmidt before he was detected and had the pass headed off on the 25^th time around the well prepared and racy 1/3 mile clay oval. 

J-May was not done and still put pressure on Schmidt to the end for an unsatisfying third place finish.  Rusty Carlile in an attempt to move around Jace VanderWeerd in the "2Fast" car as the white flag waved slammed the front straight wall and popped his right rear tire and literally slid to sixth place after the opportunistic Justyne Hamblin confiscated fifth place from the wounded green South West Contractors 51 Bullet.

SPINTECH MUFFLERS heat 1 went to Tyler Schmidt in a feature preview with fast time qualifier Murphy and May earning the pass to the feature with time while Pombo, Knott and Eberhardt had to line-up on time after the invert draw.  The next heat was the STAINLESS STORAGE SOLUTIONS Heat 2 where versatile Hanford warrior Jared Little led Carlile and Smith to the checkers while Hamblin missed the timed transfer pass and Culver was unable to make the call and did not start.  The EXTREME MUFFLERS Heat 3 was won by rapid Richard VanderWeerd while Jace VanderWeerd comfortably raced their way into the feature while Bandit Veteran Josh "T.L."  Davis handily made the transfer with a struggling DeMott and Bill Jones trailing out of contention. 

Next up for the Bandit Series is the Kings Speedway Championship point's finale before the last two events point's races at the Santa Maria Speedway.  We'll see you all this week-end at the lightning fast 3/8 Mile Kings Speedway in Hanford California this week-end.  

BANDIT RESULTS SANTA MARIASPEEDWAYSEPTEMBER 6^th, 2008

(16 Cars) Qualifying Results: VMAC Quick-time award  21Peter Murphy, 13.809; 51 Rusty Carlile, 13.858; 10 Richard VanderWeerd, 13.939; 8M Jayson May, 13.943; 8 Justyne Hamblin, 13.955; 2F Jace VanderWeerd, 14,015; 49 Tyler Schmidt, 14.121; 14 T.J. Smith, 14.248;  35D Steve DeMott, 14.275; 35 Albert Pombo, 14.337; 25 Jared little, 14.394; 98D Josh Davis, 14.483; 28 Davey Knott, 14.565; 71C Jeff Culver, 14.588; 16J Bill Jones, 16.642; 4 Rick Eberhardt, 16.793

SPINTECH MUFFLERSHeat 1: Schmidt; Murphy; May; A. Pombo; Knott; Eberhardt

STAINLESS STORAGE SOLUTIONS Heat 2: Little; Carlile; Smith, Hamblin; Culver

EXTREME MUFFLERS Heat 3: R. VanderWeerd; J. VanderWeerd; Davis; Pombo; Jones

30 Lap Feature (w/ starting pos.): Murphy (8); Schmidt (3); May (5); J. VanderWeerd (4); Hamblin (10); Carlile (7); DeMott (11); Jones (14); Pombo (12); Eberhardt (15); Culver (16); Smith (2); Little (1); Knott (13); Davis (9); R. VanderWeerd (6)

iTi Performance Motorsports Award: Peter Murphy           

BR Motorsports Rookie-of-the Race: Tyler Schmidt

KaedingPerformanceCenter Award: Tyler Schmidt

Wow, that was a bit harsh! As a spectator I thought Tyler Schmidt did a great job holding the lead for as long as he did. He has done nothing but progress week after week. Yes, there was an incident that may have been avoided, but what about the many other crashes during the race? Since you are in charge of writing the articles you really should give credit where credit is due and report the information unbiased. You should have a more positive attitude toward the drivers in order to promote them. I must say that the portrayal of bad sportsmanship on the front straightaway after the race by one of the other drivers was uncalled for. You seemed to leave that out. I think the frontrunners all did an incredible job and it made for a good, clean race. Great Job Peter Murphy!

I think Schmidt ran a race to win and should be given the credit of running well and holding off a vetran driver for 25 laps. Great job to the young Bandito from Hollister and also, great job Peter Murphy.

Glad you read the article Kity Kat 8 and Eyetalian. As a fellow paisano and race fan I thank you both.

Tyler did a great job, no where do I see saying otherwise or in your opinion I should have stated that Tyler did a great job? Hard contact was made. Tyler did try his best to give himself every advantage on the restarts even to the point of pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable. He was warned and corrected his actions which was all of the right things to do on everybodies part wasn't it?

Over the past several weeks Tyler and his dad Ty have done a great job on their budget to support the Bandit Series and make races. The 49 team has steadily improved through out the season. Tyler is aggressive and a good driver and in no way did I say or imply he was otherwise. Tyler is improving his qualifying and been solid in running his heat races. Tyler surely will be in the winners circle sooner rather than later.

Now what I will comment on is typically and generically, young aggressive racers occassionally have incidents that they learn and grow from or they are not racing for long. They also need to balance their aggression with their on track relationships. Most racers race people the way they percieve they are raced. All racers have to learn their boundaries and limitations- thats a life lesson isn't it?

At the last race at Kings Speedway, the majority of the racers entered were rookies or second year drivers and the race was won by a rookie. Richard VanderWeerd won a race earlier in the year and nearly won another at Kings. I am so proud of and impressed by the young drivers that compete in this series. Not only how they race but who they are as people. Tyler, Richard, Jace, T.J., Justine, Ricky, and the others not named are all good people and the sport is going to benefit whether they stay with the Bandit Series or race any where else. Count second year racers like Justyne, Michael F. and Adam the future for sprint car racing is bright in California and maybe beyond don't you think?

It was a great race and we look forward to the last points race at Kings.

One thing all seem to be agreement about is "great job, Peter Murphy".

Peter, congratulations from your biggest (tallest) fan on locking the championship.

You are a class act.

sns