(October 13, 2007) --- With some of the top sprint car drivers in the country on hand it was still the Davis and Sherman show in the Parker Store 360 Sprint Car Western World Championships Friday night at Manzanita Speedway. Davis and Sherman have run one-two at least eight times this year and it happened again as Davis made an outside pass to take the lead from Sherman with six laps remaining in the 30 lap feature on Manzy’s half mile track. Only two other local drivers finished in the top ten. Mike Leslie was eighth and Matt Rossi finished tenth.

Behind the front running duo were visitors Jon Stanbrough, Cory Kruesman, Jerry Coons, Jr. Bill Rose and Casey Shuman. Jimmy Crawford finished ninth. 

The feature got off to a bad start when Ricky Stenhouse beat Sherman into the first turn but pushed wide and hit the fence. He came off the wall but hit it again exiting the second turn. The 24 car field roared past but Robert Ballou made contact and then Bob Ream, Jr. climbed up on Stenhouse’s car and did a wild series of flips. None of the drivers were injured but their cars were through for the night.

With Stenhouse, the pole sitter, out Davis moved to the inside of the front row alongside Sherman. He beat Sherman into the first turn but bobbled coming off the second turn and Sherman had the lead when the first lap was completed. Davis continued to give chase with Sherman building a 1.95 second advantage but then having it cut to just a half second when they encounter lapped traffic. 

The first yellow flag flew with 22 laps completed for debris on the track. Sherman went back to work but the yellow was out again for Jeremy Reagles blown tire. 

Sherman and Davis were both working the low side of the track as it appeared that the high side was worn out. Both the leaders were smoking their right rear tires. Davis came off the fourth turn just behind Sherman and unexpected took it in on the top side of the firs turn of the 25th lap. The Jim Massey car stuck and Davis roared to the lead. He then pulled away to a 1.36 second win over his arch rival. 

As Davis pulled into the winner’s circle, his right rear tire, worn to the core, went flat. 

The unique format for the Western had the 52 car field divided into six heat races. The points, including passing points, decided the line up for six qualifiying eight lap races. The points were then added again and the top 18 went to the feature with the rest of the field running in two 12 lap semi mains to fill the remaining six positions open in the main event. 

Davis started on the outside of the front row in the first heat race and made it a no contest affair as he came within .02 of a second of the eight lap record held by Chad Boat. Behind Davis were Thomas Ogle, Jeremy Reagles, Boat and Bill Rose. Boat’s sprinter sucked a valve as he crossed the finish line ending his night early. 

Out of state drivers took the top four spots in the second heat with Crawford, Stenhouse, Kruesman and Bo Baker led the way to the checkered flag. Sherman came from last to first in just over one lap and scored the win over Mike Martin, Coons, Nathan High and Ream in the third heat. The third heat was red flagged before a lap was completed when Chris Bonneau bicycled in turn one and did four and a half snap rolls. He walked away from the crash. The fourth heat went to Jeff Henry over Andy Reinbold, Leslie, R.J. Johnson and Brandon Lane. Bryan Swinehart went wire to wire in the fifth heat but was dogged by Bret Mellenbernt, Jesse Hockett and Rossi. Seainn Hendricsen won the final heat over Rusty Calile, Shuman, Mike Bonneau and Shon Deskins. 

The top 36 by points were inverted for the six qualifying races. Robert Ballou posted a wire to wire win over Coons, Leslie, Crawford and Bernie Smith in the first qualifiers. Ricky Stenhouse come from sixth to first in the second race as he beat early leader Marcum, Shuman, Rossi and Ream. The third qualifier went to Bill Rose who led all the way in beating Davis, up from sixth, Hockett, Ogle and Baker. The fourth qualifier was another win for Sherman who secured a front row berth in the feature with a drive from sixth to first. Martin beat Johnson, Lane and Carlile in finishing second. The fifth race went to the ASCS top rookie, Jeremy Reagles, who drove from fifth to take the win over Justin Fisher, High, Taylor and Mellenbernt. Josh Pelkey won the final qualifier over Stanbrough, Kruseman, Deskins and Reinbold.

The top three from each of the two semi mains transferred to the feature. Ballou won the first 12 lapper which was run without incident. Ballou beat Marcum, Swinehart, Reinbold and Mellenbernt. Johnson topped the field in the second semi. Jeff Henry and Bob Ream earned the other main event berths.

360 SPRINT CAR WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS-FRIDAY OCTOBER 12

SUMMARY

Main Event (30 laps) 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Jon Stanbrough 4. Cory Kruesman 5. Jerry Coons, Jr. 6. Bill Rose 7. Casey Shuman 8. Mike Leslie 9. Jimmy Crawford 10. Matt Rossi 11. Jesse Hockett 12. Robert Ballou 13. R.J. Johnson 14. Bobby Marcum 15. Rusty Carlile 16. Thomas Ogle 17. Bryan Swinehart 18. Jeremy Reagles 19. Mike Martin 20. Jeff Henry 21. Ricky Stenhouse 22. Josh Pelkey 23. Bob Ream, Jr. (DNS-Nathan High)

Lap leaders: laps 1-24 Sherman, laps 25-30 Davis

1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Charles Davis, Jr. 2. Thomas Ogle 3. Jeremy Reagles 4. Chad Boat 5. Bill Rose 6. Brandon Lane 7. Scott Pasmore 8. Jody Wirth 9. Dennis Krob (time-2:34.83

2nd Heat: 1. Jimmy Crawford 2. Ricky Stenhouse 3. Cory Kruseman 4. Bo Baker 5. Bobby Taylor 6. Kevin Wolfe 7. Adam Wirth 8. Bruce St. James (time-2:40.62)

3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Mike Martin 3. Jerry Coons, Jr. 4. Nathan High 5. Bob Ream, Jr. 6. Tony Everhart 7. Jesse Dunham 8. Chris Beal 9. Rick Ziehl (time-2:36.33)

4th Heat: 1. Jeff Henry 2. Andy Reinbold 3. Mike Leslie 4. R.J. Johnson 5. Brandon Lane 6. Robert Ballou 7. Luke Icke 8. L.C. Kesterson 9. Chris Bonneau (time-2:41.92)

5th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Bryan Swinehart 2. Jon Stanbrough 3. Jesse Hockett 4. Josh Pelkey 5. Matt Rossi 6. Justin Fisher 7. Bernie Smith 8. Mike Rux, Jr. (no time)

6th Heat: 1. Seainn Hendricsen 2. Rusty Carlile 3. Casey Shuman 4. Mike Bonneau 5. Shon Deskins 6. Bobby Marcum 7. James Aragon 8. Nick Aiuto (time-2:48.06)

1st Qualifier: (8 laps) 1. Robert Ballou 2. Jerry Coons, Jr. 3. Mike Leslie 4. Jimmy Crawford 5. Bernie Smith 6. Mike Bonneau 7. Seainn Hendricsen 8. Mike Rux, Jr. (DNS-Dennis Krob, time-2:46;88)

2nd Qualifier: (8 laps) 1. Ricky Stenhouse 2. Bobby Marcum 3. Casey Shuman 4. Matt Rossi 5. Bob Ream, Jr. 6. Jeff Henry 7. James Aragon (DNS-Bruce St. James, Derek Williams, time-2:46.51)

3rd Qualifier: (8 laps) 1. Bill Rose 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Jesse Hockett 4. Thomas Ogle 5. Bo Baker 6. Chris Beal 7. Scott Pasmore 8. Kevin Wolfe (DNS-Jesse Dunham, no time) 

4th Qualifier: (8 laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Mike Martin 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Brandon Lane 5. Rusty Carlile 6. Jesse Dunham 7. Nick Aiuto 8. Tony Everhart (time-2:45.39)

5th Qualifier: (8 laps) 1. Jeremy Reagles 2. Justin Fisher 3. Nathan High 4. Bobby Taylor 6. Bryan Swinehart 7. Bret Mellenbernt 8. Dennis Krob (time-2:55.27)

6th Qualifier: (8 laps) 1. Josh Pelkey 2. Jon Stanbrough 3. Cory Kruseman 4. Shon Deskins 5. Andy Reinbold 6. Adam Wirth 7. L.C. Kesterson (no time)

1st Semi Main: (12 laps) 1. Robert Ballou 2. Bobby Marcum 3. Bryan Swinehart 4. Andy Reinbold 5. Bret Mellenbernt 6. Bobby Taylor 7. Justin Fisher 8. Mike Bonneau 9. Jesse Dunham 10. Nick Aiuto 11. Jody Wirth 12.

Chris Beal 13. Scott Pasmore (time-4:26.31)

2nd Semi Main: 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Jeff Henry 3. Bob Ream, Jr. 4. Seainn Hendricsen 5. Shon Deskins 6. Bo Baker 7. Brandon Lane 8. James Aragon 9. Dennis Krob 10. Luke Icke 11. Tony Everhart 12. Bernie Smith 13. Adam Wirth 14. Rick Ziehl 15. Kevin Wolfe 16. L.C. Kesterson (no time)