From Lonnie Wheatley
Peoria, AZ — (March 1, 2013) — Noblesville, Indiana’s Bryan Clauson is most assuredly finding Canyon Speedway Park’s 1/3-mile oval to his liking, as he stormed to victory lane in both USAC/CRA Sprint Car and USAC Western Midget action in Friday night’s Sixth Annual Copper on Dirt opener.
While Clauson topped both the Sprint Car and Midget features, Don Shaw raced from five rows deep to best the West Coast Late Model ranks with Jason Noll victorious in IMCA action.
Clauson had reached victory lane in five of his six most recent feature starts at CSP before tacking on two more in Friday night’s Copper on Dirt prelim.
Starting from sixth after establishing a quick time of 13.728 second in USAC/CRA Sprint Car qualifying, Clauson worked his way forward aboard Mike Martin’s No. 16b entry to take the lead away from Nic Faas midway through the 30-lapper after Hunter Schuerenberg paced the initial nine rounds.
Clauson went on to post the win in front of Faas with Bud Kaeding filling out the podium in third. Damion Gardner was fourth in his debut aboard the Alexander racing team as a teammate to Faas, with five-time and reigning series champion Mike Spencer in fifth. Charles Davis, Jr., rallied from 18th to sixth, with 15th-starter Ryan Bernal, Matt Mitchell, Schuerenberg and 21st-starter Cody Williams completing the top ten.
In the 25-lap USAC Western States Midget main event, Clauson raced from fifth to take the lead away from pole starter Ronnie Gardner on the seventh circuit en route to victory lane aboard the Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian No. 39. Kyle Larson chased Clauson to the stripe, with R. Gardner, 12th-starter Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu rounding out the top five.
Don Shaw rallied from the tenth starting position to win the West Coast Late Models main event in front of pole starter Tony Torte with Nick Bartels, Garrett Alberson and defending series champion Clay Daly filling out the top five.
Jason Noll made the most of his pole starting position by winning the IMCA Modified main event in front of Mark Stewart, with Anthony Madrid, Jay Foster and D.J. Wood rounding out the top five.
The Sixth Annual Copper on Dirt concludes at Canyon Speedway on Saturday night with racing action featuring USAC/CRA Sprint Cars, USAC Western States Midgets, West Coast Late Models and IMCA Modifieds going green at 7:00 p.m.
Canyon Speedway Park
Sixth Annual Copper on Dirt Preliminary Results:
USAC/CRA Sprint Cars:
Qualifying: 1. Bryan Clauson, 16B, Martin-13.728; 2. Bud Kaeding, 29, Bowman-14.030; 3. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-14.074; 4. Damion Gardner, 4a, Alexander-14.145; 5. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-14.194; 6. Nic Faas, 4, Alexander-14.223; 7. Joshua Hodges, 74X, Hodges-14.224; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 8, Ream-14.224; 8. David Cardey, 92, Sertich-14.274; 10. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-14.330; 11. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-14.384; 12. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-14.418; 13. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-14.420; 14. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-14.425; 15. Ryan Bernal, 73, Ford-14.503; 16. Brody Roa, 91, BR-14.594; 17. Bruce St. James, 7K, St. James-14.598; 18. Charles Davis Jr., 4G, Cook-14.601; 19. J.J. Yeley, 11, Yeley-14.632; 20. Cory Kruseman, 7, Priestley-14.675; 21. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-14.790; 22. Seth Wilson, 1x, Wilson-14.793; 23. James Aragon, 94, Aragon-14.829; 24. David Bezio, 37x, Bezio-14.904; 25. Andrew Reinbold, 19, Underwood-14.936; 26. Michael Curtis, 11c, Brett-15.244; 27. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-15.330.
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 91-Brody Roa, 2. 4a-Damion Gardner, 3. 16b-Bryan Clauson, 4. 16-Mike Martin, 5. 3-Rip Williams, 6. 1x-Seth Wilson, 7. 11-J.J. Yeley, 8. 19a-Andrew Reinbold, 9. 74x-Joshua Hodges.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 51-R.J. Johnson, 2. 8-Hunter Schuerenberg, 3. 2-Austin Williams, 4. 66-Rickie Gaunt, 5. 7x-Cory Kruseman, 6. 29-Bud Kaeding, 7. 7k-Bruce St. James, 8. 11c-Michael Curtis, 9. 94-James Aragon.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 4g-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 92-David Cardey, 3. 73-Ryan Bernal, 4. 37-Matt Mitchell, 5. 50-Mike Spencer, 6. 4-Nic Faas, 7. 44-Cody Williams, 8. 55-Tony Everhart, 9. 37x-David Bezio.
“B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 2. 11-J.J. Yeley, 3. 4-Nic Faas, 4. 29-Bud Kaeding, 5. 7k-Bruce St. James, 6. 19a-Andrew Reinbold, 7. 44-Cody Williams, 8. 55-Tony Everhart, 9. 1x-Seth Wilson, 10. 11c-Michael Curtis, 11. 94-James Aragon, 12. 37x-David Bezio.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 16b-Bryan Clauson, 2. 4-Nic Faas, 3. 29-Bud Kaeding, 4. 4a-Damion Gardner, 5. 50-Mike Spencer, 6. 4g-Charles Davis, Jr., 7. 73-Ryan Bernal, 8. 37-Matt Mitchell, 9. 8-Hunter Schuerenberg, 10. 44-Cody Williams, 11. 91-Brody Roa, 12. 66-Rickie Gaunt, 13. 2-Austin Williams, 14. 7x-Cory Kruseman, 15. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 16. 7k-Bruce St. James, 17. 92-David Cardey, 18. 37x-David Bezio, 19. 3-Rip Williams, 20. 16-Mike Martin, 21. 11-J.J. Yeley, 22. 51-R.J. Johnson, 23. 19a-Andrew Reinbold.
USAC Western Midgets:
Qualifying: 1. Rico Abreu, 67, Kunz-14.097; 2. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-14.
First Heat: (8 laps) 1. 11-Troy Rutherford, 2. 68-Ronnie Gardner, 3. 67-Rico Abreu, 4. 51-R.J. Johnson, 5. 67k-Riley Emmel, 6. 7-Alex Sewell, 7. 35-Scott Pierovich. DNS: 1az-Stevie Sussex. NT
Second Heat: (8 laps) 1. 39-Bryan Clauson, 2. 15-David Prickett, 3. 39x-Dillon Welch, 4. 37-Trey Marcham, 5. 32-Casey Shuman, 6. 45-Kody Swanson, 7. 05-Jake Swanson. NT
Third Heat: (8 laps) 1. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 2. 71-Kyle Larson, 3. 71k-Christopher Bell, 4. 67w-Tyler Thorson, 5. 2-Rick Shuman, 6. 22a-Terry Goodwin, 7. 72-Ryan Bernal. NT
“A” Feature: (25 laps) 1. 39-Bryan Clauson, 2. 71-Kyle Larson, 3. 68-Ronnie Gardner, 4. 71k-Christopher Bell, 5. 67-Rico Abreu, 6. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 7. 32-Casey Shuman, 8. 35-Scott Pierovich, 9. 45-Kody Swanson, 10. 05-Jake Swanson, 11. 51-R.J. Johnson, 12. 37-Trey Marcham, 13. 39x-Dillon Welch, 14. 67k-Riley Emmel, 15. 67w-Tyler Thorson, 16. 2-Rick Shuman, 17. 11-Troy Rutherford, 18. 22a-Terry Goodwin, 19. 15-David Prickett, 20. 1az-Stevie Sussex, 21. 7-Alex Sewell. DNS: 72-Ryan Bernal. NT
West Coast Late Models:
First Heat: 1. 91T-Tony Torte, 2. 32b-Clay Daly, 3. 42s-Don Shaw, 4. 91p-Jason Papich, 5. 16b-Randy Brown, 6. 81b-Bud Grossenbacher, 7. 12-Dave Deatz.
Second Heat: 1. 8p-Lonnie Parker, Jr., 2. 91w-Kenny Wallace, 3. 43-Garrett Alberson, 4. 10-Mike Babane, 5. 77-Bill Bartels, 6. C9-Chad Radenbach.
Third Heat: 1. 27-Nick Bartels, 2. 11x-Steve Drake, 3. 5m-Anthony Madrid, 4. 28-John Cornell, 5. 00-Jeff Manka, 6. 81-Mike Stadel.
“A” Feature: 1. 42s-Don Shaw, 2. 91t-Tony Torte, 3. 27-Nick Bartels, 4. 43-Garrett Alberson, 5. 32b-Clay Daly, 6. 5m-Anthony Madrid, 7. 91w-Kenny Wallace, 8. 8p-Lonnie Parker, Jr., 9. 91p-Jason Papich, 10. 10-Mike Babane, 11. 28-John Cornell, 12. 81-Mike Stadel, 13. 11x-Steve Drake, 14. 16b-Randy Brown, 15. 12-Dave Deatz, 16. 77-Bill Bartels, 17. 00-Jeff Manka, 18. 81b-Bud Grossenbacher, 19. C9-Chad Radenbach.
IMCA Modifieds:
First Heat: 1. 111-Logan Drake, 2. 5m-Anthony Madrid, 3. 9-Ken Schrader, 4. 16-Matt Ratcliffe, 5. 3-Jim Collinsworth, 6. $-Cody Center, 7. 8-Nate Warren, 8. 4r-Ross Statham.
Second Heat: 1. 59-Mark Stewart, 2. 78-Steve Stultz, 3. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 4. 3x-Jason Briese, 5. 33jr-Paul French, Jr., 6. 39-Derek Huggins, 7. 03-Travis Martineau.
Third Heat: 1. 52w-D.J. Wood, 2. 44-Jason Noll, 3. 09-Jay Foster, 4. 87-Clifton Maggard, 5. 37-Nathan Tanquary, 6. 12-Guy Norton, 7. 41-George Fronsman.
“A” Feature: 1. 44-Jason Noll, 2. 59-Mark Stewart, 3. 5m-Anthony Madrid, 4. 09-Jay Foster, 5. 52w-D.J. Wood, 6. 111-Logan Drake, 7. 78-Steve Stultz, 8. 3-Jim Collinsworth, 9. 16-Matt Ratcliffe, 10. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 11. 12-Guy Norton, 12. 39-Derek Huggins, 13. $-Cody Center, 14. 33jr-Paul French, Jr., 15. 8-Nate Warren, 16. 4r-Ross Statham, 17. 87-Clifton Maggard, 18. 03-Travis Martineau, 19. 3x-Jason Briese, 20. 41-George Fronsman, 21. 37-Nathan Tanquary, 22. 9-Ken Schrader.