From Lonnie Wheatley
TUCSON, Ariz. (August 21, 2010) – Dalten Gabbard made the most of his winged Sprint Car debut by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap American Sprint Car Series Southwest Region feature event at USA Raceway.
A rookie contender with the wingless ASCS Canyon Region, the 17-year-old donned wings for the first time and charged past R.J. Johnson for the lead on the ninth circuit en route to victory lane aboard the Arizona Heat Trucking No. 77d.
Gabbard beat Johnson to the stripe to give non-wing regulars a one-two finish versus the wingers, with Calvin Landis, J.T. Imperial and Joshua Williams rounding out the top five.
Ronnie Clark paced the initial seven circuits of the main event before Johnson and then Gabbard led the way.
John Gaston and Imperial topped Saturday night’s heat race action.
ASCS Southwest Region Results from USA Raceway:
Heat One: 1. 22j-John Gaston, 2. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 3. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 4. 22-Mike Rux, Jr., 5. 6-Ronnie Clark, 6. 44k-Koty McGullam, 7. 55-Don Sink. DNS: 90-Lance Norick, 9. 11T-Steve Lohn.
Heat Two: 1. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 2. 15-R.J. Johnson, 3. 77d-Dalten Gabbard, 4. 41-Joshua Williams, 5. 79-Calvin Landis, 6. 57x-Steve Stone, 7. 5a-Thomas Ogle, 8. 27-Perry McMillan. DNS: 7az-Bobby Collister.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 77d-Dalten Gabbard, 2. 15-R.J. Johnson, 3. 79-Calvin Landis, 4. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 5. 41-Joshua Williams, 6. 57x-Steve Stone, 7. 22-Mike Rux, Jr., 8. 5a-Thomas Ogle, 9. 44k-Koty McGullam, 10. 55-Don Sink, 11. 22j-John Gaston, 12. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 13. 27-Perry McMillan, 14. 6-Ronnie Clark. DNS: 74x-Joshua Hodges, 7az-Bobby Collister, 11T-Steve Lohn, 90-Lance Norick.
ASCS Southwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Rick Ziehl 1,055, 2. John Gaston 1,020, 3. Calvin Landis 979, 4. J.T. Imperial 949, 5. Joshua Hodges 904, 6. Steve Stone 878, 7. Joshua Williams 849, 8. Koty McGullam 809, 9. Kaylene Verville 665, 10. Mike Rux, Jr. 592.