• Foot mended, Goben conquers Sunset for first PHRA win

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    AKunas
    Published on 05-18-2010 08:43 AM
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    Foot mended, Goben conquers Sunset for first PHRA win
    Andrew Kunas

    BANKS, Ore. - The night the PHRA dwarf cars closed their 2009 season at Willamette Speedway last October, Clay Goben was involved in a crash and came out of it with a broken foot. It wasn’t exactly how one would like to end the season, but Goben has more than made up for it since with a pair of strong runs to open the 2010 season, including winning his first career PHRA dwarf car main event Saturday at Sunset Speedway Park.

    The Portland driver, 53 years young, came up from the eighth starting position and took the lead from Aloha, Ore.’s Ronnie Gilmore Jr. on the 18th circuit of the 30-lap main event, and withstood last race challenges by Gilmore and Hillsboro, Ore. drivers Dave Cantu and Mike Chadwick to score a victory in his No. 88 machine and become the PHRA’s second first-time winner in as many races to start the season.

    Gilmore, who has challenged for but is still pursuing his first win, started inside the second row but made a bold move with his Suzuki-powered car on the inside exiting Turn 2 of the tiny ¼-mile red clay oval, going three-wide with two other cars down the back stretch and then emerged out of Turns 3 and 4 as the leader. The fourth-starting Cantu, who won his first PHRA main event on May 1st at Madras Speedway, caught Gilmore and passed him for the lead on Lap 7.

    Cantu led a number of laps, but never gained much ground on Gilmore, this while Goben was racing into the Top 5. Gilmore motored back past Cantu for the lead on Lap 17, but lost the lead on the following lap when his car got out of shape exiting Turn 4, allowing Goben to sneak by on the bottom for the lead.

    Goben and Gilmore pulled away for a time, while Cantu found himself in a very tight five-way battle for the third position with Jim Pavel, the father and son duo of Henry Corbin II and defending PHRA champion Henry Corbin III and Mike Chadwick, who had made his way back through the field after an earlier accident. Despite the close quarters and slower cars in the mix, the group raced clean and it was Cantu and Chadwick at the head of that pack of cars eventually.

    Goben had put a pair of lapped cars between himself and Gilmore, but a late yellow flag in the closing laps put Gilmore and the rest of field back up behind his bumper. Gilmore made a run to Goben’s outside on the front stretch on the last restart, but Goben clung to the bottom of the track and managed to stay ahead and hold on for the victory.

    Chadwick made a big run in the last laps to finish second and Cantu also got around Gilmore at the end to finish third. Corbin II and Corbin III, both out of Molalla, Ore. finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Jim Pavel, also out of Molalla, was seventh. Gresham, Ore. driver Charles Millar, Portland’s Jim Fischer and Hillsboro’s Eric Bergquist rounded out the Top 10.

    Tristan Wood of Columbia City, Ore. won the 15-lap B-Main event, taking Sam Larson, Kyle Thompson, Brian Hicks, Dave Lewis and Leo Hachler with him to the A-Main. Thompson was victorious in the B-Dash and Corbin III won the A-Dash despite thick fumes coming out his car’s Kawasaki power plant. The A-Dash, four laps in length, featured the heat race winners: Corbin III, Chadwick, Cantu and Gilmore.

    Goben again earned Hard Charger honors, this time sharing it with Leo Hachler, who also advanced seven positions from his original starting spot in the B-Main. Goben’s victory on Saturday backed up his run from 15th to fourth in the season opener at Madras Speedway.

    The next event for the Pacific Hardtop Racing Association is Saturday, May 22nd when the PHRA makes the first of four visits to Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. followed by the first of two visits to Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.. The PHRA will return to Sunset Speedway Park on Saturday, June 19th, with two more visits coming on July 10th and September 18th.

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    PHRA Dwarf Cars
    Sunset Speedway Park
    Banks, OR
    May 15, 2010

    UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

    24 cars

    Heat 1 (6 laps): 1. 89 Henry Corbin III, 2. 68 Eric Bergquist, 3. 00 Jim Pavel, 4. 10 Dean Hicks, 5. 75 Leo Hachler, 6. 73 Dave Lewis. First three finishers transfer to A-Main.

    Heat 2 (6 laps): 1. 24 Mike Chadwick, 2. 77 Brad Hicks, 3. 33 Ron Love, 4. 76 Brian Hicks, 5. 7 Savannah Larson, 6. 2 Gary Sause. First three finishers transfer to A-Main.

    Heat 3 (6 laps): 1. 63 Dave Cantu, 2. 90 Henry Corbin II, 3. 81 Charles Millar, 4. 40 Kyle Thompson, 5. 72 Todd Peterson, 6. 16 Robert O’Neil. First three finishers transfer to A-Main.

    Heat 4 (6 laps): 1. 69 Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 2. 88 Clay Goben, 3. 3 Jim Fischer, 4. 57 Tristan Wood, 5. 48 Sam Larson, 6. 11 Rich Holbert. First three finishers transfer to A-Main.

    B-Dash (4 laps): 1. 40 Kyle Thompson, 2. 72 Todd Peterson, 3. 76 Brian Hicks, 4. 10 Dean Hicks, 5. 57 Tristan Wood.

    A-Dash (4 laps): 1. 89 Henry Corbin III, 2. 63 Dave Cantu, 3. 69 Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 4. 24 Mike Chadwick.

    B-Main (15 laps): 1. 57 Tristan Wood, 2. 48 Sam Larson, 3. 40 Kyle Thompson, 4. 76 Brian Hicks, 5. 73 Dave Lewis, 6. 75 Leo Hachler, 7. 10 Dean Hicks, 8. 72 Todd Peterson, 9. 7 Savannah Larson, 10. 11 Rich Holbert, DNS - 2 Gary Sause, 16 Robert O’Neil. First six finishers transfer to A-Main.

    A-Main (30 laps): 1. 88 Clay Goben, 2. 24 Mike Chadwick, 3. 63 Dave Cantu, 4. 69 Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 5. 90 Henry Corbin II, 6. 89 Henry Corbin III, 7. 00 Jim Pavel, 8. 81 Charles Millar, 9. 3 Jim Fischer, 10. 68 Eric Bergquist, 11. 33 Ron Love, 12. 57 Tristan Wood, 13. 73 Dave Lewis, 14. 75 Leo Hachler, 15. 48 Sam Larson, 16. 76 Brian Hicks, 17. 40 Kyle Thompson, 18. 77 Brad Hicks.

    Lap leaders (unofficial) - 1-6: Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 7-16: Dave Cantu, 17: Ronnie Gilmore Jr., 18-30 Clay Goben.

    Hard Charger: +7 by Clay Goben, 8th to 1st, and Leo Hachler, 21st overall (9th in B-Main) to 14th.

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    PHRA Dwarf Cars
    Upcoming events

    May 22 - Cottage Grove Speedway - Cottage Grove, OR
    June 12 - Grays Harbor Raceway - Elma, WA
    June 19 - Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR
    July 10 - Sunset Speedway Park - Banks, OR
    July 30 - Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, OR
    July 31 - Madras Speedway - Madras, OR
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