By Lonnie Wheatley
TUCSON, Ariz. (October 1, 2011) – Joshua Hodges snared his first American Sprint Car Series feature win of the year by topping Saturday night’s 25-lap Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest feature event at USA Raceway.
The Tijeras, NM, 16-year-old worked forward from the sixth position en route to his third career ASCS Regional triumph aboard the Wesmar-powered Hodges Automotive/Napa Auto Parts/Benic Enterprises No. 74x Maxim.
Hodges beat three-time and reigning ASCS Southwest champ Rick Ziehl to the stripe, with Washington’s Logan Forler climbing from tenth to claim the show position. Kyle Sager raced from 15th to fourth, with Kyle McCutcheon rounding out the top five to give New Mexico drivers four of the top five positions.
Dalten Gabbard was sixth, with Charles Davis, Jr., Lance Norick, Steve Stone and Perry McMillan completing the top ten.
Hodges, Gabbard and Ziehl topped heat race action.
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Region Results from USA Raceway:
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 2. 79-Calvin Landis, 3. 57x-Steve Stone, 4. 15c-Joey Chester, 5. 9k-Kyle Sager. DNS: 1x-J.T. Imperial.
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 77-Dalten Gabbard, 2. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 2L-Logan Forler, 4. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 5. 22-Mike Rux, Jr., 6. 41w-Joshua Williams.
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 2. 11T-Steve Lohn, 3. 55T-Brent McKee, 4. 27-Perry McMillan, 5. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 6. 90-Lance Norick (Disqualified; nose wing too far forward).
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 2. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 3. 2L-Logan Forler, 4. 9k-Kyle Sager, 5. 5-Kyle McCutcheon, 6. 77-Dalten Gabbard, 7. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 8. 90-Lance Norick, 9. 57x-Steve Stone, 10. 27-Perry McMillan, 11. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 12. 15c-Joey Chester, 13. 55-Brent McKee, 14. 11T-Steve Lohn, 15. 22-Mike Rux, Jr., 16. 79-Calvin Landis. DNS: 41w-Joshua Williams, 1x-J.T. Imperial.
Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Points (Top 10): 1. Rick Ziehl 1,951, 2. Calvin Landis 1,725, 3. Dalten Gabbard 1,631, 4. Kyle McCutcheon 1,626, 5. Lance Norick 1,581, 6. Joshua Williams 1,555, 7. Steve Stone 1,436, 8. Joshua Hodges 1,362, 9. Jordan Stetson 1,333, 10. Joey Chester 1,329.