From Lonnie Wheatley, image courtesy of Terry Shaw
TUCSON, Ariz. (March 13, 2010) – The Discount Tire Co. ASCS Canyon Region kicked off the 2010 season in dramatic style with Dave Darland making a last-lap pass of R.J. Johnson to win Saturday night’s 25-lap main event at USA Raceway.
For the Triple Crown champion driver from Indiana with more than 200 career feature wins, the victory aboard the BRAT Racing/Parker Motorsports No. 8 marked his first under the ASCS banner.
Darland stole the win from Johnson, who had checked out on his ASCS Canyon Region rivals aboard Bill Michaels’ No. 77m entry. Even when the yellow flag flew with five laps remaining, Johnson still had a handful of cars separating himself from Darland and company.
Darland took to the top side of the 3/8-mile oval though, disposed of the lapped cars in short order and then raced around Johnson in the upper reaches of turns one and two on the final circuit to snare the victory.
Johnson settled for runner-up honors rather than collecting his third career ASCS Canyon Region win, with two-time series champion Jeremy Sherman taking the show position.
Stevie Sussex rallied from the 18th starting position to claim fourth, with Josh Pelkey rounding out the top five in his debut aboard the ABC Body Shop No. 12 machine.
Defending series champion Charles Davis, Jr., was sixth, with Thomas Ogle, Mike Martin, Ronnie Clark and Andrew Reinbold completing the top ten.
Davis, Pelkey and Sherman topped heat race action for the 27-car field, with Brian Hosford winning the “B” Main.
(Terry Shaw photos)
Discount Tire Co. ASCS Canyon Region Results from USA Raceway:
Heat Winners: 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 12-Josh Pelkey, 3-Jeremy Sherman.
“B” Feature: 1. 32b-Brian Hosford, 2. 62-Stevie Sussex, 3. 27h-Jeremy Huebner, 4. 0-Darrin Bolton, 5. 93-Justin Quinn, 6. 2g-Terry Goodwin, 7. 90-Lance Norick, 8. 6c-Rex Calderwood, 9. 82-Sean Teeters, 10. 96-Carson Ditsch. DNS: 20z-Rick Ziehl.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 8-Dave Darland, 2. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 3. 3-Jeremy Sherman, 4. 62-Stevie Sussex, 5. 12-Josh Pelkey, 6. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 7. 48-Thomas Ogle, 8. 16-Mike Martin, 9. 6-Ronnie Clark, 10. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 11. 32b-Brian Hosford, 12. 11-Seainn Hendricsen, 13. 11g-Garrett Guilkey, 14. 7-Eugene Thomas, 15. 5x-Jody Wirth, 16. 9-Brandon Lane, 17. 77-Dalten Gabbard, 18. 78-Chris Bonneau, 19. 0-Darrin Bolton, 20. 27h-Jeremy Huebner.
Discount Tire Co. ASCS Canyon Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Dave Darland 150, 2. R.J. Johnson 142, 3. Jeremy Sherman 135, 4. Stevie Sussex 130, 5. Josh Pelkey 125, 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 122, 7. Thomas Ogle 119, 8. Mike Martin 116, 9. Ronnie Clark 113, 10. Andrew Reinbold 110.