Halloween Open - Akron, OH
Heat Two
Danny Krol, Kenny Rose, Darrell Andresen, Lynne Higgins, Bill Malbrough, Phillip Ruffin, John McCrory, Ricky Grimes, Dick Garrett, Andy Bing, Randy Tondreau, John Ruiz
After finishing runner-up at the Fall Nationals John Ruiz (1st Ides of March, 8th Seattle Derby, 2nd Fall Nationals) is disqualified with only a minute gone by as he struck missed his intended target and flew into the driver's side door of Andy Bing resulting in his sixteenth missed final in the last nineteen, and Danny Krol misses out on his fourth final in six weeks as four shosts did for him while he was hounding Phillip Ruffin.
Ruffin (8th Mile High Open, 5th Hickory Derby, 5th Fall) is unable to make it three finals in a row as Krol, Higgins and Malbrough all bring two hits upon him, and Randy Tondreau (6th Tampa Open, 3rd Firecracker Open, 7th Alamo Derby) sees his final-less streak hit seven straight events after Andy Bing rocked him twice in retaliation for a very early hit while the Canadian moved on to attack Kenny Rose.
Thirteen-time finalist Lynne Higgins (4th Arkansas Derby, 3rd Bluegrass Derby), who had enjoyed seven appearances during the past nine weeks, only took five hits against, with two coming from Dick Garrett back-to-back, but they all swiftly came one after another to put her down in eighth spot.
That means Darryl Lozier's replacement driver for week Kenny Rose joins Dick Garrett, Ricky Grimes and Andy Bing in the consolation heat as they all combined for twenty-five hits with Rose taking a DQ due to a loose fuel line, Garrett a sitting duck while stalled, Grimes strking Garrett four times, and Bing surviving two stalls while under heavy assault.
John McCrory, heading into his twelfth final on the back of ten hits with four of them connecting with Grimes, and Bill Malbrough finally, in event twenty-nine, making his final debut with eight hits, four of them landing on McCrory, both had to settle for a shared runner-up spot as Malbrough's final hit did it for both of them.
After striking McCrory and then landing four consecutive shots on Malbrough to soften both of them up, Darrell Andresen claims his seventh heat win of the season to earn his twelfth final appearance of the season, but just his second in the past seven tries. Starting out by riding a hard blindsider from Krol, Andresen got his revenge after striking Ruiz, then doing the same on Higgins after she snuck in an unexpected hit. Grimes and Malbrough took one hit each before the rampaging finale began.
Race Result
1. Darrell Andresen
2. Bill Malbrough
2. John McCrory
4. Andy Bing
5. Ricky Grimes
6. Dick Garrett
7. Kenny Rose
8. Lynne Higgins
9. Randy Tondreau
10. Phillip Ruffin
11. Danny Krol
12. John Ruiz
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