From Dick Jordan
R.J. Johnson of Phoenix, Ariz. capped his 2013 USAC Southwest Sprint Car championship with a victory in last Friday’s “Western World Championships” opener at Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz. He finished eighth in Saturday night’s 30-lap finale at Peoria but finished the season with a 122-point cushion over runner-up Charles Davis Jr.
Davis struggled through the Peoria races, failing to land a “top-10” finish, but took the runner-up point spot by 141 points over third-place Mike Martin.
Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Ind. was the star of last weekend’s Peoria spectacular, taking both Friday and Saturday’s Southwest and West Coast Special Event Sprint features. He drove the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Chevy Performance/Curb Records Beast/Kistler and led wire-to-wire to win Friday’s 30-lap prelim over Tracy Hines, Jon Stanbrough, Chad Boespflug and Kevin Thomas Jr.
Saturday, Clauson passed Johnson on lap four and led the rest of the 30-lap race to beat Brady Bacon, Boespflug, Dave Darland and Hines. The win completed a $20,000 night for him as he also swept to victory with a last-lap pass in the Midget feature. The wins brought his 2013 USAC victory total to 22, which puts him second all-time in terms of single-season USAC Wins. J.J. Yeley set the all-time mark of 24 in 2003.
Johnson led all 30 laps Thursday in the Bill Michaels Kodiak Products/Beal’s Auto Body Sherman/Marcum Ford to beat Bacon, Jerry Coons Jr., Darland and Aaron Reutzel.
FINAL 2013 USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:1-R.J. Johnson-1,273, 2-Charles Davis Jr.-1,151, 3-Mike Martin-1,010, 4-Shon Deskins-893, 5-Ronnie Clark-893, 6-Josh Pelkey-797, 7-Andy Reinbold-795, 8-Brian Hosford-669, 9-Bruce St. James-644, 10-Mike Bonneau-626.