FELLERS, CUZICK, OLNEY AND EATWELL TAKE MANZANITA MAINS

Source: Windy McDonald
Date: 08/04/2008

Daren Olney won a drag race to the checkered flag and edged Dominique Askren for the win in Saturday night’s Hon-Dah Casino factory stock car feature at Manzanita Speedway. It marked Olney’s first ever feature race win. Olney started in the second row but trailed Askren and Jody Henderson until the closing laps. Henderson, who lead a total of four laps including the next to last lap before giving way to both Askren and Olney finished third.

Twenty-two cars took the green flag but several crashes and mechanical problems side lined numerous cars and only slightly over half of the field took the checkered flag. Behind the top three were Matt Martinez who picked up only five points on the points leader Bobby Taylor who finished fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Lyle Askren, Jr., Bobby Erdman, Joe Peterson, Steve Shumaker and Paul Arseneau. Askren had problems in the trophy dash, scratched from his heat race and then came from 22nd to finish a strong sixth.

Martinez started off the evening with a win in the trophy dash and then ran third in the second heat race behind Henderson and Dan Pearson. Taylor gained back one of the four points Martinez won in the dash but lost two points to Martinez in the feature.

Dominique Askren gave the #4 car a great ride as he led the first lap, dropped back and then reclaimed the lead on the fourth lap before yielding to Henderson who had led the second and third lap. However Olney was applying the pressure and took the lead for the first time and stayed there for his win.

Dominique won the first eight lap heat race as he held off Ron Poe, Shumaker, Mark Millan and Ruben Solares, Jr. Behind the top three in the second heat were Bob Millan and Jeff Dixon. Olney, who has showed marked improvement the past few weeks came out of the second row to beat Taylor, Erdman, Kenneth Terry and Arseneau in the final heat.

Kiley Fellers continued his march to a possible first driving championship as he scored his eighth mini sprint car win of the year which was also his third straight victory. He started fourth, moved up to third and then dropped back to fifth before making a final charge. He passed a faltering Josh Shipley for third then made a pass on the new leader Paul Martin with two laps remaining as he increased his points lead over Shipley. Martin was unhappy with the pass and some heated words were exchanged after the race. Martin had his best finish of the year with his second place finish over Josh Castro who entered the race ranked second in points finished third. Former champion Dustin Cormany started seventh and finished fourth ahead of the defending champion Kyle Shipley. Rounding out the top ten were Dennis Parks, Dennis Carrier, Pat Wing, Duane Adams and Josh Shipley.

Fellers increased his huge points lead which had him 405 points ahead of Castro and was an even 500 points ahead of Josh Shipley. Only three mini sprint races have been run without the wings and Fellers has won all three. He now has the next five races without wings, three at Manzy and two at Show Low.

Fellers also won his heat race as he came out of the third row and again Martin finished second. Cormany was third, Brian Hacker fourth and Tyler Keesler fifth. The second heat went to Josh Shipley over Brandon George, Castro, Parks and Adams. In the final heat Kurt Stults showed his power with a drive from third to beat Justin Quinn, Kyle Shipley, Mike Visser and Matt Deskins.

Cliff Cormany won the semi main where the top eight finishers transferred to the feature. Jeff Greszler took second ahead of Wing, Kelly and Ryan Walter.

Brandon George won the four lap trophy dash as he won over Kyle Shipley, Quinn, Travis Keesler, Tyler Keesler and Josh Shipley.

The Arizona modlite feature was a back and forth exchange for the lead with Andy Eatwell leading the final five laps after taking the lead from Steve Moriarity. Chris Rhein, making his first start in the modlites, led the first lap and finished third. Eatwell led laps 2-4 then Moriarity took over before yielding to Eatwell who won his second feature of the year. Eatwell plays the role of a vagabond as he has driven a couple other cars but both his wins have come in the Mark Pray modlite.

Chris Shafer came home in fourth ahead of Dan Kelly. The rest of the top ten, in order, were Scott Korkosz, Patrick Stevens, Gary Mooney, Geoff Mooney and Clayton Echols.

Eatwell also won the first heat race with a drive from fifth to beat Echols, Rhein and Scott Gannett. The second heat went to Moriarity over Greg Loper, Jeremy Sherman, Chase Shafer and Tom Graham.

Taylor Cuzick led all 15 laps in the Desert Dwarf Car feature but was under pressure from Chris Snyder, the defending champion and current points leader in the final laps. Randy Johnson finished third ahead of Steve Davis and Todd Bennett. Rounding out the top ten were JJ LeMoine, Troy Wilkinson, Chad Stewart, Kevin Stalbaum and Eddie O’Neill.

Snyder won the first heat race after starting in the front row with Brian Stehr second ahead of Davis, LeMoine and Jesse Patterson. The second heat went to Steve Kapaun who held off Rat Stafford, Bennett, Mike Visser and O’Neill. The final heat to Stalbaum who led all eight laps. Johnson finished a close second and Wilkinson was third ahead of Stewart and Jerry Hartnett

Chuck Vallone won the four lap trophy dash for six cars. Robert Ostrom was second and Rat Stafford took third.

Susie Wood easily won the lady stocks eight lap feature with Amber Taylor second and Amanda Madrid third.

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