From Lonnie Wheatley
TUCSON, Ariz. (September 17, 2011) – Johnny Herrera put a stop to Rick Ziehl’s recent run of winged Sprint Car domination at USA Raceway by charging to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest feature event atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.
In the process, the second-ranked Lucas Oil ASCS National championship contender from Albuquerque reeled off his ninth consecutive win in as many stand-alone Southwest Regional events dating back to the early portion of 2010.
Working forward from the sixth starting position, Herrera took the lead away from Calvin Landis on the 12th circuit after Charles Davis, Jr., paced the initial four laps from the pole position. Herrera went on to lead the final half of trace aboard the Wesmar-powered Mesilla Valley Transport/Champion Oil No. 45x Maxim for his sixth overall ASCS feature win of the year.
Herrera took the checkered flag ahead of Landis, with Kyle McCutcheon in the show position. After winning the last four ASCS Southwest events at USA Raceway dating back to May, current series points leader Ziehl settled for fourth with Joshua Hodges rounding out the top five.
Davis, Jr., was sixth, with J.T. Imperial, Dalten Gabbard, Joshua Williams and Marty Wilcox completing the top ten.
Landis, Hodges and McCutcheon topped heat race action.
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Region Results from USA Raceway:
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 79-Calvin Landis, 2. 56-Steve Stone, 3. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 4. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 5. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 6. 11T-Steve Lohn, 7. 55T-Brent McKee.
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 2. 57x-Marty Wilcox, 3. 41-Joshua Williams, 4. 77-Dalten Gabbard, 5. 27-Perry McMillan, 6. 15c-Joey Chester.
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 2. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 3. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 4. 7k-Bruce St. James, 5. 90-Lance Norick, 6. 43-Rick Eckert.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 79-Calvin Landis, 3. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 4. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 5. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 6. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 7. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 8. 77-Dalten Gabbard, 9. 41-Joshua Williams, 10. 57x-Marty Wilcox, 11. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 12. 56-Steve Stone, 13. 15c-Joey Chester, 14. 7k-Bruce St. James, 15. 90-Lance Norick 16. 55T-Brent McKee, 17. 11T-Steve Lohn, 18. 43-Rick Eckert. DNS: 27-Perry McMillan.
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Points (Top 10): 1. Rick Ziehl 1,809, 2. Calvin Landis 1,627, 3. Dalten Gabbard 1,509, 4. Kyle McCutcheon 1,501, 5. Joshua Williams 1,490, 6. Lance Norick 1,465, 7. Steve Stone 1,323, 8. Jordan Stetson 1,225, 9. Joey Chester 1,223, 10. Joshua Hodges 1,212.