GERCHMAN TAKES CLOSE MODIFIED FEATURE AT HAVASU 95 SPEEDWAY

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 11/27/2007

Chris Gerchman roared out his front row starting position and won the November 24th ASA Modified feature at the Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City-Arizona. The local driver led all 50 laps but he did not have an easy time en route to collecting the winner's share from a double points night. For the entire 50 laps Gerchman's rear view mirror was filled with the presence of Billy Johanneck.

From the very beginning it was apparent that the ASA Modifieds were going to put on a clinic that featured door to door racing all through the field much to the delight of the capacity crowd in the grandstands. While there were caution flags in this race, eight of them to be exact, there were mostly for minor single car spins and the field was quickly returned to green flag racing.

At the halfway point in the race Gerchamn found himself having to deal with the rather serious issue of lapped traffic. Making the situation even more intense was the presence of Johanneck who was right on his bumper just waiting for the race leader to get bottled up so he could make a charge for the lead. It was at this point when the race leader caught a break from a member of his family. David Gerchman Jr went spinning wildly through turn four to bring out the yellow flag. It would turn out to be the first of three times the young San Diego driver took a ride on the Havasu 95 Speedway's merry go round. But for Chris Gerchman the perfectly timed yellow flag allowed him to restart the race with nothing but asphalt in front of him.

Under green flag conditions again Gerchman and Johanneck made quick work of separating themselves from the rest of field to resume their private battle. On lap 42 Johanneck decided he was tired of marking time behind the race leader's bumper and made an inside move, coming off of turn two, for the lead. It was what the capacity crowd had been waiting for but unfortunately the door to door battle had a short life span. One lap later Jimmy Muller's spin on the backstretch brought out the yellow caution flag. The ensuing restart only lasted one lap when Gerchman Jr's turn two spin brought out another yellow flag. The next restart didn't quite make a full lap when Muller went around again in turn four.

That set up a green-white-checker finish. Gerchman pulled off the badly needed great restart and dropped his car to the bottom line of the track. He finished out the final three laps with Johanneck literally glued to his rear bumper. Chris Weiss, Jeff Gibson and David Gerchman Sr followed the race leaders under the checkers to complete the top five. After thanking his team and sponsors in victory lane, the very happy race winner said "this win has been way too long in coming. I've been needing a win at this track for so long time I can't even begin to tell you about it."

In the preliminary events Muller and Johanneck won the heat races while veteran, and family patriarch, Larry Gerchman won the trophy dash.

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