From Lonnie Wheatley
Peoria, AZ — (February 2, 2013) — R.J. Johnson put a stop to Bryan Clauson’s stranglehold on Canyon Speedway Park victory lane by topping Saturday afternoon’s 30-lap Winter Challenge USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast non-wing Sprint Car feature event.
Defending his home turf, Johnson’s $2,000 triumph put a four-race Clauson win streak dating back to last November’s Western World Championships by taking the checkered flag in the Weiler Farms/Pecon Builders No. 51 after Clauson blew a right rear tire on the white flag while challenging for the point.
While Johnson bested the Sprint Car ranks, Ryan Roath became the third different IMCA Modified feature winner in as many Winter Challenge events as Bo Partain and Dustin Cormany both backed up Friday night feature wins in Pure Stock and Mini Sprint action, respectively.
Starting from the front row outside, Sherman led all 30 laps but had to fend off challenges from Clauson along the way before edging third-starter Jon Stanbrough at the line. Ryan Bernal advanced from 11th claim the show position, with Charles Davis, Jr., and Josh Pelkey rounding out the top five.
Ryan Roath raced from the 21st starting position to take IMCA Modified honors in front of William Gould, with George Fronsman, 12th-starter Jesse Sobbing and 14th-starter D.J. Wood rounding out the top five.
Bo Partain topped the Pure Stocks from the pole position for the second time in row with Ty Weidner and Chris McCurdy, Jr., next across the stripe, with Dustin Cormany racing off the front row outside to take the Micro Sprint checkered flag ahead of Josh Shipley and Dennis Carrier.
Canyon Speedway Park’s Winter Challenge concludes with Saturday night’s $5,000-to-win event for the USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast non-wing Sprint Cars along with the IMCA Modifieds, Pure Stocks and Micro Sprints at 7:00 p.m.
Canyon Speedway Park
Winter Challenge Saturday afternoon, February 2, Results:
USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Non-Wing Sprint Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 7k-Bruce St. James, 3. 97-Mike Martin, 4. 29-Bud Kaeding, 5. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 6. 6-Ronnie Clark, 7. 13-Glen Brace, 8. 74-Colby Copeland.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 77m-Jeremy Sherman, 2. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 3. 51-R.J. Johnson, 4. 12-Josh Pelkey, 5. 1az-Stevie Sussex, 6. 32b-Brian Hosford, 7. 55-Tony Everhart, 8. 88-Jace Vander Weerd.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 77-Robert Ballou, 2. 20-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 48-Thomas Ogle, 4. 21-Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. 45-Jason Grady, 6. 53-Tom Lee, 7. 16x-Mike Visser.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 16b-Bryan Clauson, 2. 73-Ryan Bernal, 3. 10-Richard Vander Weerd, 4. 3x-Jimmy Crawford, 5. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 6. 20L-Matt Lundy, 7. 28-Mark Morin.
First “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 10-Richard Vander Weerd, 2. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 3. 74-Colby Copeland, 4. 3x-Jimmy Crawford, 5. 1az-Stevie Sussex, 6. 6-Ronnie Clark, 7. 20L-Matt Lundy, 8. 55-Tony Everhart, 9. 53-Tom Lee.
Second “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 45-Jason Grady, 2. 88-Jace Vander Weerd, 3. 32b-Brian Hosford, 4. 97-Mike Martin, 5. 48-Thomas Ogle, 6. 16x-Mike Visser, 7. 13-Glen Brace, 8. 28-Mark Morin, 9. 19-Andrew Reinbold (DNS).
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 51-R.J. Johnson, 2. 20-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 73-Ryan Bernal, 4. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 12-Josh Pelkey, 6. 77-Robert Ballou, 7. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 8. 10-Richard Vander Weerd, 9. 21-Kevin Thomas, Jr., 10. 74-Colby Copeland, 11. 7k-Bruce St. James, 12. 1az-Stevie Sussex, 13. 45-Jason Grady, 14. 97-Mike Martin, 15. 32b-Brian Hosford, 16. 16b-Bryan Clauson, 17. 77m-Jeremy Sherman, 18. 29-Bud Kaeding, 19. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 20. 88-Jace Vander Weerd, 21. 3x-Jimmy Crawford, 22. 48-Thomas Ogle.
IMCA Modifieds:
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45-Ryan Roath, 2. 60-William Gould, 3. 41-George Fronsman, 4. 99c-Jesse Sobbing, 5. 52w-D.J. Wood, 6. 5j-Tyrone Yazzi, 7. 78-Steve Stultz, 8. 71-Tyler Mecl, 9. 5m-Anthony Madrid, 10. 00-Cory Sample, 11. 74-Garrett Funk, 12. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 13. L8-Bryan Schultz, 14. 44-Jason Noll, 15. 1x-Don Earvin, 16. 18-Bill Meyer, 17. 51-Joey Moriarty, 18. 7-Marlyn Seidler, 19. 3x-Jason Briese, 20. 12d-Scott Drake, 21. 10m-Jeremy Mills, 22. 4tw-Tim Ward.
Pure Stocks:
“A” Feature: 1. 75c-Bo Partain, 2. Z28-Ty Weidner, 3. 23jr-Chris McCurdy, Jr., 4. 90-Lee Morrell, 5. 17-Harland Morehart, 6. 25-Steve Duffy, 7. 92-Ryan Ruiz, 8. 28-Richard Mandell, 9. 6x-Michael Wrightsman, 10. 5m-Doug Meeks, 11. 24-Doug Meeks, Jr., 12. 6-Wes Meeks.
Micro Sprints:
“A” Feature: 1. 14-Dustin Cormany, 2. 45-Josh Shipley, 3. 2-Dennis Carrier, 4. 6-Dave Van Ess, 5. 00-Kenny Hilton, 6. 32-Jacob Hawkins, 7. 55-Greg Pritts, 8. 5k-Kyle Shipley, 9. 12-David Tardiff, 10. 53-Joe Pitts, 11. 41-Colton Hardy, 12. 101-Jim Branum, 13. 50-Cliff Cormany.