

pics by Terry Shaw TKA Photography
Kiley Fellers, the pre-race favorite in the Mini Sprint Car Nationals, won the 20 lap feature Friday night at Manzanita Speedway after taking the lead with eight laps remaining and then holding off former champion Dustin Cormany. Mike Dunn, who does most of his racing in Northern Arizona, went wire to wire in winning the 20 lap feature in the Dwarf Car Nationals.
Fellers, the 2008 mini sprint champion, started on the outside of the third row and was patient as he passed the five cars that started up front. Dalton Gabbard, the Arizona modified midget champion lead twice for a total of six laps but dropped to fourth at the finish line behind Jan Ballard. Matt Jackson led six laps but failed to finish.
Fellers took up the chase after Gabbard, who had led the first three laps, reclaimed the lead from Jackson on the 10th lap and Fellers moved into second. The two battled for three laps before Fellers finally made an inside pass on the 13th lap. However he was not home free as Cormany, the driving champion in 2004, was on the move from his fifth row start and kept the pressure on Fellers all the way to the checkered flag where he trailed by only two car lengths. Jan Ballard slipped past Gabbard on the final lap for the third position. Behind Gabbard was Austin Quick . Rounding out the top ten were Kurt Stults, Dennis Parks, Garrett Guilkey, Brandon George and J.D. Bernal.
Josh Castro beat Fellers and Jackson in the first of four heat races. The second heat went to Cormany over Ballard and Gabbard. . Stults went wire to wire in beating Quick and Guilkey in the third heat. Paul Martin edged Parks and Jory Higginbothom in the final heat.
The top six drivers in each of the two "B" mains earned their way into the feature. Bernal took the lead from Katherine Aragon midway through the first 12 lap race and the young lady hung on for second ahead of B.J. Arntz. Other main event qualifiers were Grant Gavagnon, Geno Thomas and Cliff Cormany.
Guilkey won the second "B" as he outdistanced Justin Quinn, Pat Wing, Jim Mattison, Robbie Britton and Brian O’Donnell.
Dunn started the Dwarf Car feature from the second row but had the lead when the first lap was completed. The race was slowed by several yellow flags and that allowed the field to close on the leader. However Dunn was withstood all challenges but needed a wake up call late in the race when Pat Henesey pulled alongside. Henesey, winner of the 2004 Nationals, came out of the seventh row to finish second ahead of Chad Stewart, Brian Stehr and Jesse Patterson. Rounding out the top ten were Jake Jones, Clifford Lee, Ryan Irish, Brian Comley and Chris Snyder.
The top two finishers in each heat went directly to the feature with the rest of the field ran two "B" mains with the top seven from each joining the main event field. Casey Cain was a popular winner in the first eight lap heat as he drove the Vallone Family car to a win over Ryan Henesey. The second heat went to Lee over Stewart. In the third heat Mike Dunn showed his power as ran away from the field. Butch Dunn took second. Ryan Anderson snared the fourth heat with a late pass on John Stafford. The final heat went to Aaron Jones with Steve Kapaun in second.
The first "B" went to the pole sitter Brian Stehr over Matt Decker, Mike Williams, Mike Bracy, Gareld Hardy, Benny Tufts and Jerry Hartnett. Drivers transferring through the second "B" were two time driving champion Chris Snyder, Pat Henesey, Comley, Kevin Cain, Patterson, Irish, Comley and Jake Jones.
SUMMARY
MINI SPRINT CAR NATIONALS
Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Kiley Fellers 2. Dustin Cormany 3. Jan Ballard 4. Dalton Gabbard 5. Austin Quick 6. Kurt Stults 7. Dennis Parks 8. Garrett Guilkey 9. Brandon George 10. J.D. Bernal 11. Grant Gavagnon 12. Justin Quinn 13. Geno Thomas 14. Cliff Cormany 15. B.J. Arntz 16. Jim Mattison 17. Katherine Aragon 18. Pat Wing 19. Paul Martin 20. Robbie Britton 21. Jory Higginbothom 22. Brian O’Donnell 23. Matt Jackson 24. Josh Castro
Lap leaders: laps 1-3 Gabbard, laps 4-9 Jackson, laps 10-12 Gabbard, laps 13-20 Fellers
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Josh Castro 2. Kiley Fellers 3. Matt Jackson 4. Katherine Aragon 5. J.D. Bernal 6. B.J. Arntz 7. Travis Keesler 8. Mark Miller (time: 2:00.03)
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Dustin Cormany 2. Jan Ballard 3. Dalton Gabbard 4. Grant Gavagnon 5. Tyler Keesler 6. Geno Thomas 7. Cliff Cormany 8. Ken Caskey 9. Jacob Hawkins (time: 1:58.63)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Kurt Stults 2. Austin Quick 3. Garrett Guilkey 4. Ronnie Smith 5. Justin Quinn 6. Brian O’Donnell 7. Brandon George 8. Robbie Britton (no time)
4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Paul Martin 2. Dennis Parks 3. Jory Higginbothom 4. Jim Mattison 5. Chris Perpa 6. Mike Visser 7. Josh Shipley 8. Pat Wing (time: 2:03.19)
1st "B" Main: (12 laps) 1. J.D. Bernal 2. Katherine Aragon 3. B.J. Arntz 4. Grant Gavagnon 5. Geno Thomas 6. Cliff Cormany 7. Ryan Walter 8. Ken Caskey 9. Tyler Keesler 10. Travis Keesler 11. Mark Miller (no time)
2nd "B" Main: (12 laps) 1. Garrett Guilkey 2. Justin Quinn 3. Pat Wing 4. Jim Mattison 5. Robbie Britton 6. Brian O’Donnell 7. Jacob Hawkins 8. Ronnie Smith 9. Chris Perpa 10. Mike Visser 11. Mark Miller (no time)
DWARF CAR NATIONALS
Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Mike Dunn 2. Pat Henesey 3. Chad Stewart 4. Brian Stehr 5. Jesse Peterson 6. Jake Jones 7. Clifford Lee 8. Ryan Irish 9. Brian Comley 10. Chris Snyder 11. John Stafford 12. Tim Cotherman 13. Butch Dunn 14. Kevin Cain 15. Benny Tufts 16. Jerry Hartnett 17. Casey Cain 18. Matt Decker 19. Mike Bracy 20. Randy Anderson 21. Ryan Henesey 22. Gareld Hardy 23. Steve Kapaun 24. Mike Willaims
Lap leaders: laps 1-20 Mike Dunn
1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Casey Cain 2. Ryan Henesey 3. Brian Stehr 4. Robert Ostrom 5. Fred Difenbaugh 6. Gareld Hardy 7. Brian Comley 8. Chris Goodin 9. Jeremy Dentler (no time)
2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Clifford Lee 2. Chad Stewart 3. Kevin Cain 4. Jesse Patterson 5. Denny Dowty 6. Randy Haugen 7. Heather Henesey 8. Helen Henesey 9. Johnny Nelson (time: 2:41.56)
3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Mike Dunn 2. Butch Dunn 3. Matt Decker 4. Jerry Hartnett 5. Jake Jones 6. Eddie O’Neill 7. Jeffrey Schoeb 8. Deniel Lamm 9. Rick Kochanowski-DNS (time: 2:37.91)
4th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Randy Anderson 2. John Stafford 3. Chris Snyder 4. Pat Henesey 5. Mike Williams 6. John Ogden 7. Benny Tufts 8. Tom Peck 9. Melanie Williams (time: 2:40.04)
5th Heat: (8 laps) 1. Aaron Jones 2. Steve Kapaun 3. Tim Cotherman 4. Mike Bracy 5. Ryan Irish 6. Ryan Gilliland 7. Todd Bennett 8. Ken Caskey (no time)
1st "B" Main: (12 laps) 1. Brian Stehr 2. Matt Decker 3. Mike Williams 4. Mike Bracy 5. Gareld Hardy 6. Benny Tufts 7. Jerry Hartnett 8. Heather Henesey 9. Ryan Gilliland 10. Tom Peck 11. Melanie Williams 12. Robert Ostrom 13. Denny Dowty 14. Eddie O’Neill 15. Johnny Nelson DNS
2nd "B" Main: (12 laps) 1. Chris Snyder 2. Pat Henesey 3. Brian Comley 4. Kevin Cain 5. Jesse Patterson 6. Ryan Irish 7. Jake Jones 8. Helen Henesey 9. Ken Caskey 10. Randy Haugen 11. John Ogden 12. Fred Difenbaugh 13. Jeffrey Schoeb 14. Todd Bennett 15 Johnny Nelson DNS)