From Lonnie Wheatley
El Paso, TX — (July 20, 2012) — A little Lady Luck on your side is never a bad thing, as current ASCS 305-ci Sprint Car points leader John Carney II can attest to after Friday night’s 25-lap series debut at El Paso Speedway Park.
Carney II, an El Paso native, and Alamogordo, New Mexico’s Lorne Wofford diced for the point much of the way before lapped traffic got the best of Wofford in the final rounds, opening the door for Carney’s fourth series win of the year.
Wofford and Carney II led the feature field to the green flag from the front row with Wofford jumping into the early lead only to have Carney II battle past in turns three and four on the second lap to take command.
Wofford returned the favor a half lap later and held the point as traffic came into play by the eighth round. With Carney II moving in to challenge on multiple occasions, Wofford was up to the task and opened up some breathing room with a bold move around a pack of four lapped cars on the 16th round.
With more traffic looming though, Carney II closed in again and was able to take advantage when a lapped car nearly sent Wofford into the turn four wall exiting turn four on the 22nd lap. Wofford stopped with front end damage in turn two for the night’s only caution among the Sprint Car ranks and settled for an 18th place finish.
With lapped cars in play, Carney II raced on to the stripe easily over the final three rounds to take the $1,200 score. While Dylan Harris made a late charge to cross the stripe second, a jump on the restart and resulting penalty relegated him to fourth in the final rundown behind runner-up Rickey Hood, who advanced from 13th, and third-place Derek Drown from eighth.
Kyle McCutcheon rounded out the top five, with Kyle Sager, Cesar Fuentes, Curt Barnett, Joe Alvarado and Don Grable completing the top ten.
Alvarado, Fuentes and McCutcheon topped Friday night’s heat races.
Action continues for the ASCS 305-ci Sprint Cars on Saturday night at Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, NM.
El Paso Speedway Park ASCS 305-ci Sprint Car Results:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 36-Joe Alvarado, 2. 18-Lorne Wofford, 3. 186-J.R. Patton, 4. 224-John Carney II, 5. 1x-Rickey Hood, 6. 148-Don Grable, 7. 3d-Don Reynolds.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 27-Cesar Fuentes, 2. 74b-Derek Drown, 3. 1m-Dylan Harris, 4. 43-Curt Barnett, 5. 9-Robert Herrera, 6. 05-Billy Briley, 7. 56-Mike Wells.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 12m-Kyle McCutcheon, 2. 9k-Kyle Sager, 3. 98-Jerry Gonzales, 4. 131-Royal Jones, 5. 52-Aaron Quijano, 6. 99-Chuck Jackson.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 224-John Carney II, 2. 1x-Rickey Hood, 3. 74b-Derek Drown, 4. 1m-Dylan Harris, 5. 12m-Kyle McCutcheon, 6. 9k-Kyle Sager, 7. 27-Cesar Fuentes, 8. 43-Curt Barnett, 9. 36-Joe Alvarado, 10. 148-Don Grable, 11. 9-Robert Herrera, 12. 186-J.R. Patton, 13. 05-Billy Briley, 14. 98-Jerry Gonzales, 15. 3d-Don Reynolds, 16. 99-Chuck Jackson, 17. 131-Royal Jones, 18. 18-Lorne Wofford, 19. 52-Aaron Quijano, 20. 56-Mike Wells (DNS).