From Lonnie Wheatley
PEORIA, Ariz. (October 22, 2010) – Albuquerque’s Derrik Ortega hadn’t made a Sprint Car start all year. The 19-year-old knocked the rust off in short order though by kicking off Canyon Speedway Park’s Hall of Fame Classic weekend with a strong drive to victory lane in Friday night’s 25-lap winged ASCS Southwest Region main event atop the semi-banked, 3/8-mile clay oval.
A Rocky Mountain Regional champion two years ago, Ortega took his fourth career American Sprint Car Series Regional feature win by racing to the stripe from the pole starting position after 17-year-old Dalten Gabbard broke a wing slider midway through the feature event.
While Ortega took the checkered flag aboard the family-owned No. 35, Gabbard held on for runner-up honors with two-time ASCS Southwest champion and current points leader Rick Ziehl taking the show position.
Calvin Landis was fourth and John Gaston rallied from 18th to round out the top five with the balance of the top ten including J.T. Imperial, R.J. Johnson, Lance Norick, Wes Wofford and Mike Rux, Jr.
Joshua Williams, Gabbard and Joshua Hodges topped Friday night’s heat race action.
The wingless forces of the ASCS Canyon Region take to Canyon Speedway Park on Saturday night to put the wraps on the Hall of Fame Classic weekend.
ASCS Southwest Region Results from Canyon Speedway Park:
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 41-Joshua Williams, 2. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 3. 20s-Kyle Sager, 4. 79-Calvin Landis, 5. 97-Stevie Sussex, 6. 22-Mike Rux, Jr., 7. 22j-John Gaston.
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 77d-Dalten Gabbard, 2. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 3. 19-Wes Wofford, 4. 90-Lance Norick, 5. 61x-Chuck Buckman, 6. 61-Chuck Jackson, 7. 57x-Steve Stone.
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 2. 15-R.J. Johnson, 3. 35-Derrik Ortega, 4. 44k-Koty McGullam, 5. 57x-Jesse Stone, 6. 20az-Marty Wilcox, 7. 77-Colt Treharn.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 35-Derrik Ortega, 2. 77d-Dalten Gabbard, 3. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 4. 79-Calvin Landis, 5. 22j-John Gaston, 6. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 7. 15-R.J. Johnson, 8. 90-Lance Norick, 9. 19-Wes Wofford, 10. 22-Mike Rux, Jr., 11. 61x-Chuck Buckman, 12. 61-Chuck Jackson, 13. 20s-Kyle Sager, 14. 44k-Koty McGullam, 15. 41-Joshua Williams, 16. 57x-Steve Stone, 17. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 18. 97-Stevie Sussex. DNS: 77-Colt Treharn, 57-Jesse Stone, 20az-Marty Wilcox.
ASCS Southwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Rick Ziehl 1,600 2. Calvin Landis 1,503, 3. John Gaston 1,448, 4. Joshua Hodges, 1,382, 5. Joshua Williams 1,323, 6. Steve Stone 1,298, 7. Koty McGullam 1,229, 8. J.T. Imperial 1,071, 9. Lance Norick 970, 10. Mike Rux, Jr. 912.