Mile High Open - Denver, CO
Heat One
Bambi Rogers, Will Murphy, Dick Garrett, Ben Hadsell, Randy Tondreau, Billy Edgington, Jess Yates, Tom Gariepy, Randy Corson, Darryl Lozier, Steven Redden, Will Thompson
Randy Tondreau (6th Tampa Open, 3rd Firecracker Open, 7th Alamo Derby) started out in a rampancy, just moving to the side in order to hit an adjacent Billy Edgington at the very start, and then blindsiding Ben Hadsell twice in quick succession before he was called off by the race officials and disqualified for and unsecured tank.
That would be the only elimination through the first six minutes, but it was not the only dramatic event as Steven Redden was clobbered by Darryl Lozier at the start resulting in a fire that was quickly extinguished. With all this going on there was some real action happening on track with Hadsell taking his two shots from Tondreau while Edgington hounded Rogers, and Lozier went from Redden to Yates all while the pack squeezed the standings leader.
One of those individuals who were out to take down Lozier was Randy Corson. Corson (5th Frostbite, 5th Tampa, 6th Alamo), who also struck Edgington, Thompson and Murphy, was triple-teamed in the third minute of heat one by Murphy, Garrett and Hadsell to set him off on an unsaveable path to eleventh.
Frostbite Winter Nationals champ Ben Hadsell (3rd Tampa, tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 2nd Texas Nationals) stalled after his contribution, thanks in no small part to Tondreau's swift attack early on, and then Darryl Lozier, the four-time event winner (Tampa, Jersey Derby, Big Apple Smash Up, Alamo) and championship leader went down in ninth place after taking seven hits, two each from Gariepy and Corson, while the Canadian tackled Redden, chased Jess Yates for another two hits, and then finished off with a shot on Rogers before finally striking Redden once more.
And it is that final hit which prevented Steven Redden (tied-2nd Valentine's Day Massacre, 3rd Indy Nationals) from at least reaching the consolation heat. Redden, who misses his seventh straight final due to injuries and missed opportunities, was lucky enough to keep moving after his fire, but was rather inept throughout the rest of his heat with just three hits in eight minutes, with a miss and a period where he circled the track looking to avoid any contact.
Bambi Rogers, survivour of a stall and double-hitter of both Gariepy and Murphy, moves into the consolation heat along with Billy Edgington who stalled out after blindsiding Thompson twice either side of a double-tap on Rogers.
Jess Yates barely survived a long stall early doors to tackle Thompson (2), Gariepy (2) and Edgington (1) with hits, and finally Dick Garrett lost out on a final battle with Will Murphy after his heat-leading ninth hit connected with an opponent. Hadsell and Yates were repat customers for Garrett, but he only struck Murphy once early on in retaliation to a shot from his rival who was not so forgiving, hitting him two more times at the end to finish the job.
Tom Gariepy marches on to his eighth final despite being a victim of eight hits and a pair of stalls. Part of the wrecking crew that took apart Darryl Lozier, Gariepy then had a back-and-forth battle with Thompson who won out with three hits to one at the end.
Will Murphy, in his eleventh final but just his third in the last twelve weeks, all three coming in the past six rounds, also went to war with Thompson only to come away with runner-up position. With eight hits on four vehicles, with four on Garrett and two on Yates, the ninth place man in the standings did a good job avoiding trouble, taking just five hits throughout.
By eliminating three of his final four opponents Will Thompson takes his fourth heat win of the year and will take part in a final where Darryl Lozier will be absent for just the third time this year. Taking eight hits, two of them surprise attacks by Edgington, Thompson threw his weight around with eight shots of his own. His luck was there also as he missed a target on one occasion but no harm was done, and he suffered a stall he was able to re-fire quickly.
Race Result
1. Will Thompson
2. Will Murphy
3. Tom Gariepy
4. Dick Garrett
5. Jess Yates
6. Billy Edgington
7. Bambi Rogers
8. Steven Redden
9. Darryl Lozier
10. Ben Hadsell
11. Randy Corson
12. Randy Tondreau
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