by Windy McDonald                                               Photo by Terry Shaw

(November 8)   The 40 lap main event for the USAC sprint cars on Manzanita Speedway’s half mile track Saturday night had the standing room only crowd on its feet as the battle was all up front. Tracy Hines started on the pole and kept the Tony Stewart Racing sprinter out front for 28 laps before he slowed and Jessie Hockett took over. However the lead was like a hot potato as Kevin Swindell took the lead after Hockett led two laps. Two laps later Hockett was back in front but his car, which was running only on seven cylinders, virtually exploded while working the 38th lap and was engulfed in flames. Hockett was not injured.

Swindell, who had been swapping the lead with Hockett on practically every turn, then, just as he did Friday night, brought the Tom Rolfe car home out front. His father, Sammy, has two Western World championship and is now only one ahead of his son.

The battle for the lead was, for the most part, a four car battle as Jerry Coons, Jr., Levi Jones and Dave Darland were close to the leaders. Coons finished only two car lengths behind Swindell with Jones third and Darland fourth. In addition to Coons two other Arizona drivers had top ten finishes. Jeremy Sherman finished fifth and 16 year old Chad Boat, also from Phoenix, was sixth. Then came Hines, Brad Sweet, Shane Cottle and Cole Whitt.

USAC opened the final night of the 41st Western World Championships with the 15 lap "D" main which placed the top ten finishers in the "C" feature. Chris Windom beat Cody Williams into the first turn but flipped while working the second lap. He was not injured. Bobby Marcum the took over and led two laps but blew and engine and turned the lead over to Williams who lead nine laps before Matt Mitchell took over and led the final two laps. Williams finished second ahead of Alan Ballard, J.T. Imperial and Damion Gardner.

The 20 lap "C" main put eight drivers into the "B" feature and the entire 24 car field let it hang out in an effort to get to the big money event. Robert Ballou led 18 laps and appeared to have a win but Brady Short had different ideas and made a high line pass at the white flag and took the win. Ballou, was second ahead of J.J. Yeley, Brett Burdette, Kyle Hirst, Johnny Herrera, Nathan High and Tyler Brown.

Those who qualified for the 20 lap "B" main had their work cut out as only 12 main event berths were open. Darren Hagen had the pole but led only one lap before Dustin Morgan took over. The race was clean until a yellow came out on the 12th lap when Yeley’s car burst into flames. The fire was quickly extinguished and the race resumed with Morgan still out front. He stayed there until the checked flag with Chad Boat in second, Hagen third, Charles Davis, Jr. fourth and Nic Faas fifth.

For the third straight night Hockett topped the field in the 360 main event. "The Rocket’ started on the pole and went wire to wire and beat Sherman, Casey Shuman, Nathan High and Andy Reinbold. Finishing out the top ten were Mike Leslie, Brady Bacon, Bobby Marcum, R.J. Johnson and Johnathon Henry.

Shon Deskins ran over a wheel on Davis’ sprinter and did a number of flips in turn three while working the ninth lap. Davis later had contact with the car driven by Gary Taylor and both ended up in the front straightaway wall and neither car could continue.

The top eight finishers in each of two 12 lap "B" mains transferred to the feature. R. J. Johnson found the fast groove and drove out of the fifth row to take the win over Henry, Nick Aiuto, Justin Grant, Thomas Ogle, Bo Baker and Jon Stanbrough. Marcum topped the field in the second "B" as he held off Deskins, Bugs Norbury, Brady Bacon, Mike Martin, Josh Pelkey, Jeremy Reagles and Jesse Dunham.

NAPA AUTO PARTS/BUDWEISER/PARKER STORE WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

USAC SPRINTS-1/2 MILE TRACK

Main Event: (40 laps) 1. Kevin Swindell 2. Jerry Coons, Jr. 3. Levi Jones 4. Dave Darland 5. Jeremy Sherman 6. Chad Boat 7. Tracy Hines 8. Brad Sweet 9. Shane Cottle 10. Cole Whitt 11. Darren Hagen 12. Dustin Morgan 13. Bud Kaeding 14. Brett Burdette 15. Mike Spencer 16. Danny Sheridan 17. Brady Bacon 19. R.J. Johnson 20. Charles Davis, Jr. 21. Shane Hmiel 22. Thomas Meseraull 23. Jesse Hockett 24. Damion Gardner 25. Tony Jones 26. Nic Faas 27. J.J. Yeley 28. Rick Ziehl

Lap leaders: laps 1-28 Hines, laps 29-30 Hockett, laps 31-32 Swindell laps 34-36 Hockett, laps 37-40 Swindell

"B" Main (20 laps) 1. Morgan 2. Boat 3. Hagen 4. Davis 5. Faas 6. Hmiel 7. Meseraull 8. Johnson 9. Burdette 10. Sheridan 11. Bacon 12. Ziehl 13. Blake Miller 14. Casey Shuman 15. Bill Rose 16. Brady Short 16. 17. Johnny Herrera 18. Seth Wilson 19. Kyle Hirst 20. Hunter Scheurenberg 21. Nathan High 22. Tyler Brown 23. Robert Ballou 24. J.J. Yeley

"C" Main; (20 laps) 1. Short 2. Ballou 3. Yeley 4. Burdette 5. Hirst 6. Herrera 7. High 8. Brown 9. Chris Bonneau 10. Matt Mitchell 11. Andy Reinbold 12. Cole Carter 13.

Bret Mellenberndt 14. J.T. Imperial 15. Tony Jones 16. Mike Leslie 17. Cody Williams 18. Ronnie Smith 19. Bob Ream, Jr. 20. Alan Ballard 21. Jeff Bland, Jr. 22. Jon Stanbrough

"D" Main: (15 laps) 1. Mitchell 2. Williams 3. Ballard 4. Imperial 5. Gardner 6. Leslie 7. Carter 8. Gary Taylor 9. Bonneau 10. Jon Stanbrough 11. Bobby Marcum 12. Chris Windom

DISCOUNT TIRE AMERICAN SPRINT CAR SERIES-1/3 MILE TRACK

Main Event: (30 laps) 1. Jessie Hockett 2. Jeremy Sherman 3. Casey Shuman 4. Nathan High 5. Andy Reinbold 6. Mike Leslie 7. Brady Bacon 8. Bobby Marcum 9. R.J. Johnson 10. Johnathon Henry 11. Mike Martin 12. Jon Stanbrough 13. Josh Pelkey 14. Bugs Norbury 15. Thomas Ogle 16. Bo Baker 17. Nick Aiuto 18. Zach Sawyers 19. Jeremy Reagles 20. Jesse Dunham 21. Gary Taylor 22. Charles Davis, Jr. 23. Shon Deskins 24. Jesse Baker

1st "B" Main: (20 laps) 1. Johnson 2. Henry 3. Aiuto 4. J. Baker 5. Ogle 6. B. Baker 7. Sawyers 8. Stanbrough 9. Bill Rose 10. Bobby Taylor 11. Seainn Hendricsen 12. Brian O’Donnell 13. Steve Sussex 14. Bob Ream, Jr. 15. Rex Calderwood 16. Michael Bryan 17. Stevie Sussex 18. Larry Carter.

2nd "B" Main: (20 laps) 1. Marcum 2. Deskins 3. Norbury 4. Bacon 5. Martin 6. Pelkey 7. Reagles 8. Dunham 9. Ken Caskey 10. Rick Johnson 11. Bryan Swinehart 12. Leland Michael 14. Derek Williams 15. Art Mankel 16. Justin Grant 17. Carson Ditsch

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