September 5, 2009

Run What U Brung victory goes to Peter Murphy      

by Harlan Osborne
PETALUMA, Calif. (September 5) - It wasn’t hard to spot Australian native Peter Murphy at Petaluma Speedway’s fourth annual Run What U Brung wingless sprint car show last Friday night. The man from down under finished on top in qualifying, his heat, and the 30-lap A-main to steal the spotlight and reap the winner’s reward of $2500 for his performance.

A total of 29 wingless sprints, most of them of the fuel-injected variety along with seven entries sporting carburetors, competed for top honors, with Murphy, who started fourth and grabbed the lead with nine laps remaining, holding off USAC/CRA driver Blake Miller by less than one second at the checkered flag to win the prestigious event. Arvo Backholm’s seventh place finish earned the Santa Rosa driver a $300 bonus as the highest finishing carbureted entry.

The competition was stiff in the 22-car feature, with four-time Civil War champion Andy Forsberg starting in the front row next to Rohnert Park’s Brandon Davis, who finished the 2009 All-Pro season with two straight wins, and Jason McIntosh and Murphy starting in the second row. Forsberg jumped into the lead at the start and was into lapped traffic just seven laps into the race, with Davis, Murphy and McIntosh close behind. Davis was through after 11 laps after his motor “just quit”, lifting Murphy into the runner-up spot. Forsberg remained flawless until Lap 21 when, in lapped traffic, his car rubbed against a down car causing enough damage to end Forsberg’s night. The down car also brushed against Murphy’s bending a drag link and flattening his left front tire. Despite the “slight handicap” Murphy was able to pilot his Tommy Tarlton & Son-sponsored Maxim to the victory over Miller, who’d started ninth and took over second place from McIntosh in the closing laps.

“In open ground I couldn’t keep up (with Forsberg), but in traffic I was better. He got together another car, which bounced into me. My boys said to stay out there and hang on. The flat tire made it extremely hard to steer so I stayed on the bottom the rest of the way,” said Murphy, after the race.

Miller pocketed $1500 for second place, McIntosh earned $1000 for third, Mark Mackay netted $750 for fourth, and 11th starting Eric Rossi took home $500 for fifth. Josh Ford, Backholm, David Press, Bill Macedo, and Billy Aton rounded out the Top 10.

Tony Richards led the final two laps of the 12-lap B-main to earn a transfer spot to the feature along with Keith Shipherd, Sparky Howard, TJ Smith, and Jim Van Lare. Joining Murphy as heat winners were Macedo, Dustin Baxter, and Miller.

In the final points race of the season for the All-Pro Series Mini Stocks Jon Kirby snatched the lead from Kimberly Hartman on the seventh lap and held on to snap Kenny Drew’s three-race winning streak and earn his first triumph of the season.

Despite finishing sixth, just the second time in nine races he’s finished outside the top-five this year, native Petaluman Drew clinched his first track championship. A five-time feature winner in 2009, and runner-up to his father, Larry Drew’s championship season in 2008, Drew reversed last year’s final standings, dropping his father to second place, with a superb season. He joins a short list of second generation drivers who’ve followed their father’s tire tracks to a Petaluma Speedway championship and the first to do it in the Mini Stocks. “I finally got my championship,” beamed the 21-year-old Drew. “That was my whole plan this season. Beating my dad is the best feeling in the whole world.”

In the 20-lap feature, Kimberly Hartman finished a season-high second behind Kirby, followed by Danny Wagner, Erica Reid, Larry Drew, Kenny Drew, Harvey Balestrini Jr., Stan Devore, Paddy Bobby, and Annie Stahr.

In the Dwarf Car feature, John Peters held off a determined bid by All-Pro points leader Mark Ramirez to capture his second victory of the season. Ramirez climbed from the last row of the eight-car field to second place in just six laps but couldn’t advance past Peters who took charge on Lap 5. Finishing a distant third was Sonny Calkins, followed by John Gomes, Richard Klinetobe, Bryan Mashburn, Scooter Gomes, and Mark Tillinger.

Results for September 4
Run What U Brung

WINGLESS SPRINTS
Fast time—Peter Murphy 14.197.
Heat 1—Murphy; Arvo Backholm; Floyd Alvis; Eric Rossi; Keith Shiperd; Shawn Arriaga; TJ Smith; Sparky Howard.
Heat 2—Billy Macedo; James Sweeney; Jason McIntosh; David Press; Tony Richards; Timmy DeCarlo; Norm Johns.
Heat 3—Dustin Baxter; Billy Aton; Brandon Davis; Josh Ford; Scotty Dupont; Randy Lathrop; Ford Cook.
Heat 4—Blake Miller; Devon Ostheimer; Marc Mackay; Andy Forsberg; Jim Van Lare; Tom Dupont; Rick Sharp.
B-Main—Richards; Shipherd; Howard; Smith; Van Lare; T. Dupont; S. Dupont; Arriaga; DeCarlo; Lathrop.
A-Main—Murphy; Miller; McIntosh; Mackay; Rossi; Ford; Backholm; Press; Macedo; Aton; Howard; Ostheimer; Alvis; Richards; Smith; T. Dupont; Forsberg; Shipherd; Baxter; Sweeney; Davis; Van Lare.

DWARF CARS
Heat 1—Sonny Calkins; Mark Tillinger; John Peters; Scooter Gomes.
Heat 2—Mark Ramirez; Bryan Mashburn; John Gomes; Richard Klinetobe.
Main—Peters; Ramirez; Calkins; J. Gomes; Klinetobe; Mashburn; S. Gomes; Tillinger.

MINI STOCK
Heat 1—Keith Benson; Jon Kirby; Stan Devore; Harvey Balestrini Jr.; Danny Wagner; Larry Drew; John Moore; Annie Stahr.
Heat 2—John Veeninga; Kenny Drew; Paddy Bobby; Kimberly Hartman; Erica Reid; Eden McCormick; Jason Weaver.
Main—Kirby; Hartman; Wagner; Reid; L. Drew; K. Drew; Balestrini; Devore; Bobby; Stahr; Moore; Benson; Veeninga; McCormick; Weaver.