By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (March 22, 2010) – Phoenix racer R.J. Johnson has occupied two-thirds of the podium steps over the past two weekends of ASCS Regional racing action in Arizona.
Now, he’ll try for the top spot this Saturday night when the American Sprint Car Series Canyon Region brings wingless ASCS competition back to the Phoenix area with the series debut at Peoria, Arizona’s Canyon Speedway Park.
It marks the first ASCS action in the Phoenix area since last April’s closure of Manzanita Speedway.
Runner-up to Charles Davis, Jr., in last year’s wingless ASCS Canyon Region points, R.J. Johnson was less than a lap away from winning the 2010 season opener at Tucson’s USA Raceway on March 13, only to have Dave Darland snatch the win.
Less than a month from his 23rd birthday, Johnson made a rare winged outing this past weekend and finished a strong third in the ASCS Southwest season opener, which also took place at USA Raceway.
The virtual ASCS Canyon Region points leader entering the weekend, Johnson takes aim on victory lane at Canyon Speedway Park, the semi-banked 3/8-mile clay oval that he conquered on five occasions last year including three times in a Sprint Car and twice in Midget action.
Johnson enters Saturday’s action ranked just ahead of two-time ASCS Canyon Region champion Jeremy Sherman, who snared just one unsanctioned win last year after four consecutive seasons of double-digit win totals. Sherman has posted ten career feature wins at Canyon Speedway Park, with the most recent one nearly five years ago in April of 2005.
After earning Most Improved Driver honors with the ASCS Canyon Region in 2009, 19-year-old Stevie Sussex is next in points, with Josh Pelkey, Charles Davis, Jr., Thomas Ogle, Mike Martin, Ronnie Clark and Andrew Reinbold filling out the current top ten.
Saturday’s ASCS Canyon Region action at Canyon Speedway Park is slated to go green at 7:30 p.m.
Peoria’s Canyon Speedway Park is located 25 miles north of Phoenix on I-17 to Exit 223, then 6.3 miles west. For more information, contact the track at 602-258-7223.
The ASCS Canyon Region is currently slated for 15 overall nights of competition in 2010, including 13 nights in Arizona and a two-night Fourth of July weekend in New Mexico.
In its 19th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing, the American Sprint Car Series brings the best of Sprint Car racing to approximately 100 different tracks throughout 30 states and Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of eleven different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.