From Lonnie Wheatley
TUCSON, Ariz. (September 4, 2011) – Stevie Sussex had a Labor Day weekend he won’t soon forget.
Sussex entered the weekend winless in 43 previous Sunoco Fuel ASCS Canyon Region feature starts. By the time Sunday night’s checkered flag flew, the 20-year-old from Laveen, AZ, had reeled off three “A” Main feature wins in as many tries over the course of two nights.
After rallying from nine rows deep to win Saturday’s opening leg of the Hank Arnold Memorial, Sussex completed a sweep of the Arnold Memorial on Sunday night and then finished off the weekend by winning the makeup feature from July 3 for good measure.
Working hard to win his first feature from deep in the field a night earlier, Sussex started both Sunday night features from the front row outside.
In the Hank Arnold Memorial finale, Carson Ditsch and Sussex led the feature field to the green flag with Sussex racing on to a sweep of the event in front of current ASCS Canyon Region points leader Jeremy Sherman, who charged from 16th.
Sussex and Sherman were chased to the stripe by defending series champion Charles Davis, Jr., with Rick Ziehl and Nathan High rounding out the top five. Josh Pelkey was sixth, with Andrew Reinbold, Brian Hosford, Mike Martin and Brandon Lane completing the top ten.
In the nightcap makeup feature event from the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Sussex was once again on the front row with Chris Bonneau starting from the pole after a flip in the first feature with Bruce St. James.
Sussex completed the rare weekend trifecta over two nights by beating Davis, Jr., to the stripe, while High raced from tenth to claim the show position. Sherman and Ronnie Clark rounded out the top five.
Martin, Bonneau and Ziehl topped Sunday night’s heat races.
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Canyon Region Results from USA Raceway:
First Heat (10 Laps): 1. 16-Mike Martin, 2. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 99-James Aragon, 4. 7k-Bruce St. James, 5. 62-Nathan High, 6. 9-Ryan Linder, 7. 74x-Joshua Hodges.
Second Heat (10 Laps): 1. 78-Chris Bonneau, 2. 96-Carson Ditsch, 3. 12-Josh Pelkey, 4. 6-Ronnie Clark, 5. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 6. 21-Jeremy Sherman, 7. 32b-Brian Hosford.
Third Heat (10 Laps): 1. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 2. 1-Stevie Sussex, 3. 68-Bryan Swinehart, 4. 93-Justin Quinn, 5. 16x-Jeremy Huebner, 6. 51-R.J. Johnson, 7. 27n-Nick Aiuto.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1-Stevie Sussex, 2. 21-Jeremy Sherman, 3. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 4. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 5. 62-Nathan High, 6. 12-Josh Pelkey, 7. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 8. 32b-Brian Hosford, 9. 16-Mike Martin, 10. 9-Ryan Linder, 11. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 12. 96-Carson Ditsch, 13. 68-Bryan Swinehart, 14. 93-Justin Quinn, 15. 6-Ronnie Clark, 16. 16x-Jeremy Huebner, 17. 78-Chris Bonneau, 18. 7k-Bruce St. James, 19. 99-James Aragon. DNS:
Makeup “A” Feature from July 3 (22 Laps – Shortened from 30 Laps by curfew): 1. 1-Stevie Sussex, 2. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 62-Nathan High, 4. 21-Jeremy Sherman, 5. 6-Ronnie Clark, 6. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 7. 32b-Brian Hosford, 8. 9-Ryan Linder, 9. 7k-Bruce St. James, 10. 93-Justin Quinn, 11. 16-Mike Martin, 12. 78-Chris Bonneau, 13. 9s-Brandon Lane (DNS), 14. 8-Bob Ream, Jr. (DNS), 15. 51-R.J. Johnson (DNS).
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Canyon Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Jeremy Sherman 1,836, 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 1,742, 3. R.J. Johnson 1,540, 4. Andrew Reinbold 1,500, 5. Ronnie Clark 1,460, 6. Bruce St. James 1,391, 7. Mike Martin 1,354, 8. Josh Pelkey 1,322, 9. Ryan Linder 1,279, 10. Brian Hosford 1,278.