Cody Morris
El Paso, Texas (6-8-2012) – Nearly a month shy of his 60th birthday, Phoenix, Arizona’s Rickey Hood battled back into victory lane with a weekend opening win in ASCS Canyon Region action at the inaugural ASCS visit to El Paso Speedway Park.
A whopping forty two teams checked into El Paso Speedway Park for the first ever ASCS event at the southwest Texas 3/8 mile oval.
Starting pole position of the 30 lap Canyon Region main event, Hood led lap one before Buckeye, Arizona’s two time ASCS Canyon Champion and current point leader Charles Davis Jr. battled up from his third row starting spot to take the lap two lead.
The only multiple Canyon Region winner thru the first eight events of the season, Davis successfully fended off ferocious assaults by both Hood and nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico native Rick Ziehl.
A wild battle for the lead ensued, with Hood regaining the lead on the 16th circuit and Jeff Swindell mixing it up with Hood and Davis to make it a three way battle for the point.
But Davis’ poor luck as of late struck again as he tagged Bruce St. James lapped machine while battling for the lead. The resulting caution forced Davis to the tail of the field and created another opportunity for Phoenix native R.J. Johnson to narrow Davis’ Canyon point lead.
Jeff Swindell repeatedly looked to the top side after the restart, but the bottom was just too good and veteran Rickey Hood crossed the finish line to become the seventh ASCS Canyon Region winner in only 9 events.
Swindell settled for runner up honors with Lorne Wofford taking the show position until post race inspection resulted in disqualification. Canyon Region racer Chris Bonneau inherited the third place showing, his best finish yet of the Canyon campaign.
Rick Ziehl settled for fourth at the finish line with Phoenix native R.J. nearly halving his deficit in the Canyon point standings with a fifth place finish after Davis battled back up to 11th.
Justin Quinn and Mike Martin shared Hard Charger honors, each advancing a dozen positions from their initial starting spots.
Jeff Swindell, Tom Ball, Dalten Gabbard, Steve Nix, and Rick Ziehl each earned heat race wins over the 42 car field, with Brian Hosford and R.J. Johnson taking winning transfers in the twin 12 lap B Features.
ASCS Canyon action resumes tomorrow night with the series’ inaugural visit to Las Cruces, New Mexico’s Southern New Mexico Speedway.
ASCS Canyon Region
June 8th, 2012 / Event 9 of 24
El Paso Speedway Park / El Paso, Texas
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 186-Rickey Hood[1]; 2. 1x-Jeff Swindell[7]; 3. 78-Chris Bonneau[2]; 4. 41w-Rick Ziehl[6]; 5. 51-R.J. Johnson[14]; 6. 77-Dalten Gabbard[9]; 7. 32B-Brian Hosford[13]; 8. 93-Justin Quinn[20]; 9. 16x-Tom Ball[4]; 10. 16-Mike Martin[22]; 11. 50-Charles Davis Jr[5]; 12. XXX-Zach Sawyers[16]; 13. 29-Michael Bonneau[11]; 14. 2-Stephen Nix[10]; 15. 7k-Bruce St. James[12]; 16. 74X-Joshua Hodges[18]; 17. 19s-Ronnie Smith[19]; 18. 93t-Jon Taylor[17]; 19. 22b-Bo Baker[21]; 20. 8-Bob Ream Jr[15]; 21. 62-Bill Mitchell[3]; 22. 18-Lorne Wofford[8]
Lap Leaders: Rickey Hood 1, 16-30; Charles Davis Jr. 2-15
B Feature 1
(12 Laps): 1. 32B-Brian Hosford; 2. 8-Bob Ream Jr; 3. 93t-Jon Taylor; 4. 19s-Ronnie Smith; 5. 22b-Bo Baker; 6. 19-Andy Reinbold; 7. 17k-Kyle Danielson; 8. 71-Jesse Baker; 9. 36dd-Matt Ziehl; 10. 99-Chuck Jackson; 11. 9-Jesse Higginbotham; 12. 7-Jason Tanner; 13. 40x-Butch Box; 14. 4-Jerrill Higginbotham; 15. 57-Austin Mansfield
Top 4 advance to A Feature
B Feature 2
(12 Laps): 1. 51-R.J. Johnson; 2. XXX-Zach Sawyers; 3. 74X-Joshua Hodges; 4. 93-Justin Quinn; 5. 16-Mike Martin; 6. 52nm-David Burns; 7. 9x-Robert Herrera; 8. 6JT-Michael Curtis; 9. 56-Mike Wells; 10. 21z-Jason Ziehl; 11. 50x-Jerry Higginbotham; 12. 17-Stephen Spiak; 13. 4x-Cody Mansfield; 14. 29x-Randy Smith; DNS 73-Nicholas Rael
Top 4 transfer to A Feature
Heat 1
(10 Laps): 1. 1x-Jeff Swindell; 2. 7k-Bruce St. James; 3. 32B-Brian Hosford; 4. 74X-Joshua Hodges; 5. 71-Jesse Baker; 6. 4x-Cody Mansfield; 7. 9x-Robert Herrera; 8. 99-Chuck Jackson; 9. 50x-Jerry Higginbotham
Heat 2
(10 Laps): 1. 16x-Tom Ball; 2. 186-Rickey Hood; 3. 56-Mike Wells; 4. XXX-Zach Sawyers; 5. 16-Mike Martin; 6. 17-Stephen Spiak; 7. 21z-Jason Ziehl; 8. 52nm-David Burns; 9. 4-Jerrill Higginbotham
Heat 3
(10 Laps): 1. 77-Dalten Gabbard; 2. 62-Bill Mitchell; 3. 29-Michael Bonneau; 4. 17k-Kyle Danielson; 5. 93t-Jon Taylor; 6. 40x-Butch Box; 7. 7-Jason Tanner; 8. 19-Andy Reinbold
Heat 4
(10 Laps): 1. 2-Stephen Nix; 2. 18-Lorne Wofford; 3. 19s-Ronnie Smith; 4. 8-Bob Ream Jr; 5. 6JT-Michael Curtis; 6. 57-Austin Mansfield; 7. 9-Jesse Higginbotham; 8. 36dd-Matt Ziehl
Heat 5
(10 Laps): 1. 41w-Rick Ziehl; 2. 50-Charles Davis Jr; 3. 78-Chris Bonneau; 4. 71-Jesse Baker; 5. 51-R.J. Johnson; 6. 93-Justin Quinn; 7. 29x-Randy Smith; 8. 73-Nicholas Rael
2012 ASCS Canyon Region Point Standings (top ten):
1. Charles Davis Jr. 1,129; 2. R.J. Johnson 1103; 3. Dalten Gabbard 1054; 4. Rick Ziehl 996; 5. Brian Hosford 984; 6. Chris Bonneau 942; 7. Justin Quinn 934; 8. Bruce St. James 909; 9. Bob Ream Jr. 884; 10. Tie – Mike Bonneau, Andy Reinbold 859