Cody Carlton Comes Back to Win TNT 200

Winter took its hold on Richmond, Virginia Saturday night with temperatures in the high teen’s, but inside the Richmond Coliseum the Arena Racing League action was just as hot as ever as defending series champion Cody Carlton returned from his one-race suspension stemming from an altercation at the Scouts 200 back in January. Carlton is now fifth in points trails points leader Camden Testerman by 36 points.

Carlton was forced to the b-main after failing tech before the third practice session, the session that determines whether a driver will be in the a or b main. Officials found that Carlton’s car sat too low which was grounds to send him to the back of the b-main.

 

Out of the cars that did turn a qualifying time during final practice the top five lined up like this:

1. Garrett Manes 7.831 seconds
2. Conner Medeiros 7.887 seconds
3. Robbie Allison 7.945 seconds
4. Howie DiSavino 7.950 seconds
5. Larry Murphy 7.965 seconds

 

The a-main field was set; Garrett Manes in the #1 and Howie DiSavino in the #55 drew starting spots one and two with the rest of the field behind them; #28 Robbie Allison, #11 Conner Medeiros, #17t Camden Testerman, #04 Larry Murphy, #71 Savannah Nickens and #18 Branden Sanders.

Howie DiSavino led the first lap but cautions came early as Savannah Nickens and Branden Sanders tangled up, in turn, two on lap two, causing Sanders to spin and Nickens to lose a piece of her front bumper.

On the restart, DiSavino chose to lineup outside of Garrett Manes but they only turned a lap under green before Nickens and Sanders spun out once again with DiSavino spinning also and going to the rear from third place.

When the race resumed, Manes led Medeiros, Allison, Testerman and Murphy with Medeiros choosing to line up on the outside of Manes. The field finally got a few clean laps and as of lap 10, the top five was identical to the top five on the restart with Manes and Medeiros racing together for first and a .830 second gap back to Robbie Allison. Howie DiSavino ended his a-main when he brought his #55 to the infield on lap 15. From here on out, the race was uneventful and dominated by young Garrett Manes who picked up his first Pro Series victory in Arena Racing in only his 4th Pro Series race after winning multiple Youth Series titles.

The final top five of the a-main was:

1. #1-Garrett Manes
2. #17t-Camden Testerman
3. #11-Conner Medeiros
4. #28-Robbie Allison
5. #04-Larry Murphy

Garrett Manes wins a-main. Photo c/o Nicholas Mastro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was the b-main with the obvious storyline of Cody Carlton trying to weave his way through the field into the top six to advance to the Top Dog race. The b-main, comprised of the 8 slower cars in final practice was made up of #91- John Alford, #27-Cullen Roberts, #74-Jim Grady Jr, #21-Johnny Shonk, #54-Matt Sanders, #07-Shane Zupo, #94-Cody Carlton and #17-John Nickens

Cullen Roberts led the first lap but by lap four, Carlton had already moved up to third. By the time the field worked lap five, Roberts had opened up a .841 second lead over John Alford. Cody Carlton continued weaving his way through the field and took the lead from Roberts on lap 14, only three laps before John Alford and John Nickens spun, in turn, two to bring out the first caution of the b-main.

The field restarted with Carlton leading Roberts, Jim Grady Jr, John Alford and Johnny Shonk who lined up outside of Carlton in the #94. At the halfway point, Carlton had opened up a 2.343-second gap over Roberts and began to lap cars just one lap, later on, lap 26. The field was green until lap 32 when Nickens and Matt Sanders got together, causing Sanders to flip on the backstretch. During this caution, Alford took his car into the infield, ending his night after making contact with the wall a few laps earlier.

The field restarted with Carlton once again leading Roberts, followed by Jim Grady Jr, Johnny Shonk and John Nickens with both Roberts and Shonk electing to line up on the outside. The field stayed green for 10 laps until a caution for debris on lap 40 led to the third caution and negating Carlton’s 2 second lead over Roberts.

The field lined up for the restart, led by Cody Carlton with Cullen Robert, Jim Grady Jr, Johnny Shonk and John Nickens with Roberts, Shonk, and Nickens lining up on the outside. Just four laps later, the fourth and final caution occurred when Shonk and Zupo collided, in turn, three, with Shonk being forced to retire from the race due to his car stalling, in turn, three.

For the final restart, Carlton led Roberts, Grady Jr, Nickens and Sanders with Roberts and Nickens once again opting to line up on the outside. Cody Carlton amassed a 1.706 second lead over Roberts and cruised to another win with 3.825 second separating the entire top five, with all six remaining cars moving on to the Top Dog race

1. Cody Carlton
2. Cullen Roberts
3. John Nickens
4. Jim Grady Jr
5. Matt Sanders
6. Shane Zupo

Cody Carlton wins b-main. Photo c/o Nicholas Mastro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#27-Cullen Roberts and #11-Conner Medeiros lined up first and second for the Top Dog race, followed by #18-Branden Sanders, #28-Robbie Allison, #54-Matt Sanders, #1-Garrett Manes, #74-Jim Grady Jr, #07-Shane Zupo, #17-John Nickens, #71-Savannah Nickens, #94-Cody Carlton, #04-Larry Murphy, #17t-Camden Testerman, rounded out by the #55-Howie DiSavino.

Cautions came early and quick with the first one being on lap two for debris on the backstretch. The field bunched back up and leader Conner Medeiros took the outside, followed by Cullen Roberts, Robbie Allison, Jason Manes and Branden Sanders. Almost as soon as the field went back racing they were stopped when Jim Grady Jr lost the ability to turn his car, hitting the safety barrier and ending his night.

When they restarted, Cody Carlton had already advanced to sixth behind Conner Medeiros, Cullen Roberts, Garrett Manes, Robbie Allison and Branden Sanders. Once again, the green flag wasn’t out for long when, on lap seven, Robbie Allison bounced off of Cullen Roberts on the backstretch, sending Allison into Branden Sanders and causing Sanders to flip forcing Allison and Sanders but not Roberts to go to the back of the field. Arena Racing rules state that if you are involved in a caution you restart in the rear but the officials ruled that Cullen Roberts was not involved so he kept his position. Robbie Allison was running third at the crash and Branden Sanders was fifth. Camden Testerman was also sent to the rear from sixth.

When the field resumed, Conner Medeiros led Cullen Roberts, and Garrett Manes on lap six when the trio attempted to go three wide in turns three and four. When Garrett pulled back up onto the track, the field behind him piled up and Howie DiSavino, after being hit from behind by Robbie Allison who also flipped when Cody Carlton hit ran under him, ended both DiSavino and Allison’s nights. Manes did pull back up onto the track from the pavement, but the fault does not 100% lie with Garrett as there was simply no room behind him for when he did move back up. 90% of people knew he would have to or possibly be black flagged.

The restart following this caution would not be the final one of the night. By time lap 24 came around there was another caution, this time for a spin involving Camden Testerman and Savannah Nickens. Nickens had been holding off Testerman and doing a good job of it but she hit Testerman and spun him, in turn, two causing the final caution of the night.

When the field restarted, Garrett Manes appeared to jump the gun but was pushed from behind causing him to get ahead of leader Conner Medeiros. The officials judged that Manes did jump the gun, causing him to go the rear and killing his chances at his first Pro Series Top Dog win.

In the end, Cody Carlton once again reigned supreme and was the Top Dog for the fourth time this season

1. Cody Carlton
2. Conner Medeiros
3. Camden Testerman
4. Cullen Roberts
5. Larry Murphy
6. Branden Sanders
7. Garrett Manes
8. John Nickens
9. Savannah Nickens
10. Matt Sanders
11. Robbie Allison
12. Howie DiSavino
13. Shane Zupo
14. Jim Grady Jr

After the race, I caught up with Cody and asked him how he won from the back of the pack twice in one night. Carlton responded, “I wasn’t really sure what to make of it, being in the b-main but I just made the best of it and worked my way up to the front without hitting anybody and got a pretty easy win there.” When asked about the Top Dog, Cody said, “I drew like I’ve been drawing all year for the Top Dog. I just kinda went into the Top Dog with the same mindset as I did for the b-main and it worked out pretty well and got the win and that’s what I wanted to do and hopefully we will keep it going.” Cody credits patience with how he was able to come from the back of the pack a plethora of times in the same night. “I don’t try to force anything, I know there’s going be wrecks, I know there’s going to be people getting sent to the rear so I just kinda be patient and once I get up to the top three I really start pushing the issue and if I have to force a move then I’ll force it.”

Cody Carlton Wins Top Dog. Photo c/o Nicholas Mastro

Larry Murphy Wins Scouts 200, Carlton Parked After Altercation

Cody Carlton came into the Arena Racing League Scouts 200 riding a three race Top Dog winning streak but was denied a fourth after being parked following an altercation between him the spotter for the #17t of Camden Testerman resulting from a crash in the a-main between the two drivers which saw the two get into each other in turn four on la. Carlton got out of his car, ran to Testerman’s car on the backstretch and attempted to kick the side of the #17t. Enraged, Carlton then ran up to the spotter stand and threw a punch, resulting in the police separating the two and detaining Cody Carlton before releasing him later during the event. When talking to Camden about what happened all he had to say was “He (Carlton) pushed me down to the concrete and we slid into the wall, Carlton did kick my car and hit my spotter, hopefully, he will cool down.”

Other than this incident, the a-main was somewhat quiet but with a few incidents such as the one involving John Nickens on lap 20 when Nickens lost a wheel and hit the turn four wall hard but still rolling into turn one where he hit the wall once again, dropping debris as he rolled, Nickens was running second at the time of the crash. At the end of the a-main, Camden Testerman won followed by Garrett Manes in only his second week in the Pro Series. Larry Murphy, Howie DiSavino and Savannah Nickens rounded out the top five. Testerman also had the hot lap in the a-main with a time of 7.861 seconds.

The b-main was a little more eventful as Robbie Allison started outside pole and led the first handful of laps until he was got loose while racing Cullen Roberts in the #27 and ended up spinning while working around the #21 of Johnny Shonk who was a lap down.The field restarted with Jim Grady Jr inhis #74 leading the #54 of Matt Sanders, #18 of Branden Sanders, #07 of Shane Zupo and Robbie Allison in the #28. The field would not be green long though, as Allison got into Branden Sanders, causing Sanders to flip in turn two while the field worked lap 23. After this restart, things were calm until Shonk and Allison got together again on lap 38, bringing out the fourth caution. About seven laps after the restart from this most recent caution, the two Sanders cars were involved in a scary incident when Matt Sanders got into Branden Sanders causing Branden to flip his car for the second time and send debris flying on the front stretch. As soon as the green flag flew to restart the race, Johnny Shonk had a flat tire, sending him into Shane Zupo and bringing out what would be the final caution. With five to go the top three cars were Jim Grady Jr, Cullen Roberts and Robbie Allison. As the field took the white flag it looked like Jim Grady Jr was on his way to winning the b-main until Cullen Roberts spun him out coming off turn four to steal the win. Roberts was followed by Grady Jr, Robbie Allison, Matt Sanders and Shane Zupo to round out the top five in the b-main.

 

Finally, the Top Dog race, now down to a 13 car field was ready to begin. The starting lineup was as follows:

1. #55-Howie DiSavino
2. #04-Larry Murphy
3. #91-John Alford  Did Not Start
4. #17-John Nickens  Did Not Start
5. #27-Cullen Roberts
6. #54-Matt Sanders
7. #74-Jim Grady Jr
8. #28-Robbie Allison
9. #17t-Camden Testerman
10. #71-Savannah Nickens  Did Not Start
11. #1-Garrett Manes
12. #07-Shane Zupo
13. #11-Conner Medeiros

 

Cautions in this one came early and often with the first being on lap six when Robbie Allison and Matt Sanders wrecked in turn two, ending what could have been a promising night for  both drivers. The top five on the restart were DiSavino, Roberts, Murphy, Testerman and Manes. Within three laps, DiSavino pulled out to a .866 second lead and on lap 17 with an obviously dominant car, began to lap the field until a caution on that same lap erased his lead. The caution was for a solo spin by Shane Zupo in the #07. Once the field went back green with only seven cars left it did not take long for Garrett Manes to take third from Camden Testerman via the high line of the track but running the high line at this track is a double edged sword as Manes found out on lap 27 when he got a little too high and smacked the wall off turn four.

 

By lap 31, DiSavino had opened up a 1.096 second lead over Cullen Roberts but Roberts slowly brought the lead back as on lap 36, the lead was down to only .763 seconds. The third caution cam on lap 43 when Testerman and Roberts got into each other causing Roberts to go on his side before bringingthe car back down on four wheels. The caution resulted in Roberts and Testerman starting at the rear on the restart, a restart that was led by DiSavino, Manes, Murphy, Medeiros and Grady Jr. The green flag didnt stay out long though, as the same lap they restarted Manes got into DiSavino, putting DiSavino on his side before also collecting Conner Medeiros. This ended the race both Medeiros and DiSavino after DiSavino had led from the green flag and was possibly on route to his first Top Dog win of the season.

 

The green flag came back out for a seven-lap dash to the finish with only five cars left, led by Larry Murphy, Jim Grady Jr, Cullen Roberts and Garrett Manes. In the final dash to the finish, it was all Larry Murphy who scored his first Top Dog win since coming back to Arena Racing last weekend after a seven-year hiatus. After the win I asked Murphy about the win and why he came back he said: “It was basically an itch that needed to be scratched and I’m not getting any younger.” The Italian Stallion, a former Arena Racing League champion also won the a-main last weekend and now wins his first Top Dog race since coming back. 

 

1. Larry Murphy
2. Cullen Roberts
3. Garrett Manes
4. Camden Testerman
5. Jim Grady Jr

 

 

 
Mark my words, Garrett Manes is going to win one of these before the season is over. He has no fear and it shows when he uses the high line, something many drivers in the series do not do. While replacing his father, Jason who is out with a concussion as a result of a crash in the Holiday 200 the youngers Manes has two straight third place finishes in Top Dog races and almost won the a-main tonight.