(March 15)Local drivers Jeremy Sherman and R.J. Johnson finished one-two in Saturday night’s USAC/CRA sprint car main event at Manzanita Speedway. Sherman, a three time Arizona sprint car champion, edged closer to join the short list of drivers who have scored at least 100 main event wins as he notched his 97th victory, his second of the year. Only five drivers have broken into the 100 wins list and Sherman will undoubtedly join them before the 2008 season ends.

Mike Spencer was the third driver across the finish line and moved to within five points of points leader Cory Kruseman who did not race. Tyler Brown finished fourth and Jesse Hockett was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Casey Shuman, Blake Miller, Nic Faas, Garrett Hansen and Thomas Ogle.

Danny Sheridan fought a smoking car all evening and led the first two laps before retiring with a sick engine. Sherman then took control but was pressured by Johnson before pulling away for a 2.61 second advantage at the checkered flag.

Attrition was high as only 14 of the 22 starters were still running at the end of the race. The only yellow flag of the night fell on the sixth lap when Charles Davis, Jr. coasted to a stop. He was running second at the time. Others who succumbed to mechanical problems after strong runs included two time national champion Levi Jones, Mike Leslie, Rickie Gaunt, Chad Boat and Rick Ziehl.

The top five from each of the three ten lap heat races secured the top 15 berths in the feature with the top eight by qualifying times inverted at the front of the field. That put Sheridan and Sherman in the front row with Brown and Johnson in row two.

The track was exceptionally fast throughout the entire show and Blake Miller turned in the second fastest lap ever when he tripped the clock at 18.348 which was just a tick of the clock off the record of 18.301 set by Levi Jones in 2005. Jones was the second quickest at 18.630. Nine drivers qualified in the 18 second bracket.

Ziehl led the way in the first heat with Brown, Leslie, Davis and Nathan High in pursuit. The second heat was won by Boat who led all ten laps with Sherman, Hockett, Jones and Shuman trailing. The final heat went to Faas over Sheridan, Spencer, Johnson and Ogle.

Johnson pulled double duty and won the AMRA midget 15 lap feature. He took the lead on the 8th lap when Jesse Hockett had mechanical problems ending his run. Terry Goodwin finished second, Michael Marfia was third ahead of Brenden Higgins and Jeff Perry. Robert Marfia was second at the white flag but spun out in turn two and failed to finish.

The short field ran two eight lap heat races. Johnson beat Hockett, Higgins, Robert Marfia and Goodwin in the first heat. Marfia beat Johnson, Goodwin, Hockett and Cole Peard in the second one.

AMRA MIDGETS (1/3 Mile Track)

Main Event: (15 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Terry Goodwin 3. Michael Marfia 4. Brenden Higgins 5. Jeff Perry 6. Eric Young 7. Cole Peard 8. Robert Marfia 9. Jesse Hockett (time-4:05.38)

Lap leaders: laps 1-7 Hockett, laps 8-15 Johnson

1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson 2. Jesse Hockett 3. Brenden Higgins 4. Robert Marfia 5. Terry Goodwin 6. Cole Peard 7. Eric Young 8. Jeff Perry 9. Michael Marfia 10. Dale Daly (time-2:15.35)

2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Robert Marfia 2. R.J. Johnson 3. Terry Goodwin 4. Jesse Hockett 5. Cole Peard 6. Brenden Higgins 7. Michael Marfia 8. Eric Young 9. Jeff Perry 10. Dale Daly (time-2:07.84)