By Windy McDonald

Phoenix, AZ (March 26, 2005) Bob Ream, Jr., the 1998 Arizona Sprint Car Association champion, came back from a dismal performance in the March 12 season opener at Manzanita Speedway to lead all 25 laps in Saturday night's feature on Manzy's one third mile track. Ream had failed to qualify for the feature in the opener and his lack of scoring big gave him a front row starting berth with the top eight drivers by point average who made the feature by transferring through their heat races were inverted for the race.

Ream started alongside pole sitter Jeff Henry and had the lead going into turn one. He survived challenges from Mike Leslie and then Josh Pelkey to net the win over the top 20 drivers out of the 35 car field.
 

Pelkey, the '97 champion, started fifth and was about two car lengths back at the finish. Jeremy Sherman, winner of the season opener was involved in a midrace crash that eliminated Leslie and Seainn Hendricsen, but was able to continue from the rear of the field. He managed to drive back to a third place finish. Sherman started in the fourth row and with passing at a premium, was hoping to keep Ream in sight. He had moved into the top five when the crash occurred and then started at the rear of the field in 17th. A yellow flag allowed him to stay close but he needed at least one more caution period to challenge for the lead.

The top four had three former champions as Marty Miller, the 2000 titlist, came from 14th to take fourth ahead of Nathan High who started 18th. Rounding out the top ten were Mike Martin, Brian Hacker, Bernie Smith, Jay Ervine and Shon Deskins.

"The Bullet" drove the low line on the track which, for most of the field, proved to be the quickest.

The track was lightning fast in the preliminary races as the times were near the existing track records.

High got started on a winning note as he beat Pelkey, Ream and Miller in the Arizona Race Mart trophy dash. His time of 59.81 was just a second slower than the mark held by Charles Davis, Jr.

Ream beat Jeff Henry, Davey Bateman and Deskins in the first heat and was clocked in at under two minutes for the eight lapper.

The second heat went to Hendricsen who was better than Pelkey, Matt Rossi and Miller. The third heat had Brian Hacker going wire to wire with Cole Houser, Bernie Smith and rookie Art Garcia getting the other main event berths.

Scott Pasmore ran strong and appeared to be a shoo in to make the feature but was hit from behind while running second and he spun. Nathan High suffered damage to his car and failed to finish.

The fourth and final heat race had Jeremy Sherman lined up in the second row and he wasted little time in getting by Mile Leslie for the win. Leslie was second, Martin third and Andy Reinbold fourth.

Jay Ervine used a win in the 15 lap semi main to earn his way into the feature. He scored the win and Ben Gregg, High and Bobby Boone took the other three transfer spots.

ARIZONA SPRINT CAR ASSOCIATION SPRINTS

Main Event: 1. Bob Ream, Jr. 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Jeremy Sherman 4. Marty Miller 5. Nathan High 6. Mike Martin 7. Brian Hacker 8. Bernie Smith 9. Jay Ervine 10. Shon Deskins 11. Cole Houser 12. Bobby Boone 13. Jeff Henry 14. Davey Bateman 15. Ben Gregg 16. Andy Reinbold 17. Seainn Hendricsen 18. Art Garcia 19. Mike Leslie 20. Matt Rossi

Lap leaders: laps 1-25 Bob Ream, Jr.

1st Heat: 1. Bob Ream, Jr. 2. Jeff Henry 3. Davey Bateman 4. Shon Deskins 5. Bobby Boone 6. Willy Grombach 7. Ashley Corey 8. Tim Beal 9. Brad Donahue (8 laps, Time: 1:59.78)

2nd Heat: 1. Seainn Hendricsen 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Matt Rossi 4. Marty Miller 5. Jay Ervine 6. Thomas Ogle 7. Chris Bonneau 8. Jimmy Drinan 9. Drew Starck (Time: 2:04.54)

3rd Heat: 1. Brian Hacker 2. Cole Houser 3. Bernie Smith 4. Art Garcia 5. Johnny Williams, Jr. 6. Chris McArthur 7. Scott Pasmore 8. Nathan High

4th Heat: 1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Mike Leslie 3. Mike Martin 4. Andy Reinbold 5. Ben Gregg 6. Chuck Buckman 7. Michael Mundy 8. Bryan Hosford

Semi Main: 1. Jay Ervine 2. Ben Gregg 3. Nathan High 4. Bobby Boone 5. Chris McArthur 6. Tim Beal 7. Scott Pasmore 8. Michael Mundy 9. Drew Starck 10. Willy Grombach 11. Brad Donahue 12. Ashley Corey 13. Johnny Williams, Jr. 14. Chris Bonneau 15. Thomas Ogle 16. Michael Bonneau

Arizona Race Mart Trophy Dash: 1. Nathan High 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Bob Ream, Jr. 4. Marty Miller (4 laps, Time: 59.81)

(Photo Courtesy of Terry Shaw)