By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (April 25, 2011) – The wingless wonders of the Sunoco Fuel ASCS Canyon Region are set for two full nights of racing action this weekend as they take to the 3/8-mile Canyon Speedway Park clay oval for the inaugural Canyon Clash presented by Ellis Racing.
The Clash gets under way on Friday night with a full card of heats and feature action, then concludes with another full, separate card of heats and feature events on Saturday night. The Friday portion of the Canyon Clash was added as a makeup date for the April 9 rainout, while the Saturday date was included on the original schedule.
While the Sunoco Fuel ASCS Canyon Region has offered up three different feature winners in as many events thus far in 2011, two-time series champion Jeremy Sherman is out to the early lead in the championship points chase by virtue of finishing no worse than second so far.
Hailing from Surprise, AZ, Sherman posted his first win under the ASCS Canyon banner at Canyon Speedway Park on March 26 and has recorded runner-up finishes in the two feature events completed at Tucson’s USA Raceway.
While Sherman beat Ronnie Clark and Bob Ream, Jr., to the stripe in the only series event at CSP thus far in 2011 for his 29th career ASCS Canyon win, R.J. Johnson picked off his ninth career series win in the season opener at USA on March 12 and then Josh Pelkey picked off his first career ASCS triumph in the most recent series action at USA on April 16.
Sherman carries a 43-point advantage over Phoenix contender Johnson into the weekend double, with two-time and reigning series champion Charles Davis, Jr., of Buckeye, AZ, another dozen points back in third as he looks for his first win of the season. Davis topped two of five ASCS Canyon events at CSP in 2010, with Johnson winning the other three.
Perennial ASCS Canyon contender Andrew Reinbold enters the weekend just 13 points behind Davis in fourth, with Tucson’s Ronnie Clark rounding out the current top five. The balance of the current top ten in points includes Peoria’s Pelkey, Glendale’s Bob Ream, Jr., Matt Rossi, Waddell’s Thomas Ogle and Peoria’s Dalten Gabberd.
Twenty different drives have taken in each of the initial three events of the season with another half-dozen taking in at least two of the three events.
Racing action goes green at Canyon Speedway Park on both Friday and Saturday night.
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 Sunoco Fuel ASCS Canyon Region brings the best of wingless Sprint Car racing action to fans in Arizona with 19 scheduled nights of competition at Tucson’s USA Raceway and Peoria’s Canyon Speedway Park.
The 2011 season marks the 20th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, with approximately 200 nights of competition at tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.