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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| R J JOHNSON NIPS SHERMAN AT
CANYON by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 360 Sprint Cars, Mini Sprints, Modified Midgets and Dwarf Cars |
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Lake Pleasant, AZ..July 9...Young R J Johnson's first ASCA wingless 360
sprint car win of the 2005 season came in spectacular fashion as he had to wage
the final two lap duel with point leader Jeremy Sherman several times on
Saturday night at Canyon Raceway. Sherman had won 8 of the first 13 races on the
schedule while Johnson's season best had been a third. Sherman finished second
and Mike Leslie was third. After a second in his heat race, Brandon Shelton won
the mini sprint 600 feature ahead of Adam Milsap and Kyle Norman. Beating
several of the 600s with a 9th place run, Brandon Young paced the modified
midget 250 portion of this race. Doug Welty was the second best 250 back in 15th
place. Dean Riggs beat Brad Hickson in his Arizona Dwarf Car heat race and then
came back to win the feature honors ahead of heat winner Danny Torgerson and
Hickson. Twenty eight cars signed in for the rare ASCA date on the 1/3 mile Canyon Raceway clay oval. Ben Gregg beat Michael Bryan in the dash. The four heat races advanced four cars each into the feature action. Mini sprint graduate Thomas Ogle won heat 1 over Johnson and Jay Ervine. Chris Edwards took a wild ride on the final lap, but scrambled out unhurt. Trey Deane flipped wildily off turn 1 in heat 2, but he was also unhurt. Gregg won this race over Jeff Henry and Andy Reinbold. Yuma's Mike Martin won heat 3 over previous week winner Matt Rossi and Josh Pelkey. Sherman outraced Bryan and Bruce St James in heat 4. Former California midget racer Bobby Boone won the B Main and also advancing to the feature action were double division racer Justin Fisher, Scott Passmore and Seainn Hendricson. Bryan had the pole for the feature action, but Martin raced to an early lead. The first caution came on lap 7. On the restart, Martin lost his steering before taking the green flag as he spun off the top of the track. Bryan was the new leader with Sherman in second. Sherman raced into the lead and Bryan spun for the next yellow flag. Sherman was running a high line while Johnson was climbing through the standings on a low groove effort. Johnson caught Sherman and they traded the top spot several times. After they had taken the white flag, a spin forced a yellow flag and set up a two lap shootout. The first attempt to get those final two laps in was negated by another spin. On the next try, several cars tangled in turn 4 with Ogle and Boone flipping. Henry and Gregg were also collected up. No one was hurt and the red flag dropped to allow the crash scene to be cleaned up. Contact between the two leaders coming to the checkered flag gave third place Leslie a shot, but both Johnson and Sherman kept their cars straight and Johnson won by a nerf bar. Leslie finished third ahead of Nathan High, Reinbold, Fisher, St James, Rossi, Brian Hacker, Martin, Passmore and Henry. Sherman added to his point lead as closest rival Pelkey was 20th. Rossi started the night in third ahead of High and Martin. There were 17 600s and 6 250s but Lance Peterson broke in practice. Fisher beat California's Robby Josett in heat 1 for the 600s as Josh Shipley outraced Nick Aiuto in heat 2. Ashley Robella beat Shelton in heat 3. The lone heat for the 250s went to Young ahead of Welty and Kevin Symington. There were 22 starters in the combined feature and Shelton got the win ahead of Milsap, Norman, Jacob Hawkins, Shipley, Kenny Hilton, Fisher, Josett and the 250 of Young. Aiuto, Garrett Guilkey and Steven Harms rounded out the top 12 and Welty was the second best 250 ahead of Glitz and Symington. The dwarf cars brought a 16 car turnout and Torgerson won heat 1 over Kenny Hodgkins and Cody Borders. Riggs, Hickson and Cam Muldner ran 1-2-3 in heat 2. Riggs then out dueled Torgerson for the feature win as Hickson ran third ahead of Clayton Echols, Dan Yirku, Mario Rozzano, Borders, Scott Winger and Hodgkins. The track has two nights of racing on July 15-16. The dirt modifieds, pure stocks, bombers and figure 8s race on Friday night and the Southwest Dirt Late Models return on Saturday night along with the pure stocks, Arizona Dwarf Cars, Mini Sprint 600s and Modified Midget 250s. Summary Dwarf Car Modified Midget 250 Mini Sprint 600 Wingless 360 Sprint Car |
