By Lonnie Wheatley
PEORIA, Ariz. (February 1, 2014) – Richard Vander Weerd put a halt to Dave Darland’s Winter Challenge dominance by taking the $5,000 winner’s share in Saturday night’s USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Car 30-lap finale atop the 1/3-mile Canyon Speedway Park clay oval.
The Visalia, CA, racer denied Darland his fourth victory in the six race series by taking the lead before the midway point and then holding off the Indiana shoe in the final rounds.
While Vander Weerd claimed Sprint Car honors, Nebraska’s Jesse Sobbing broke the Ricky Thornton, Jr., stranglehold on IMCA Modified victory lane, Ty Warner scored another Pure Stock win, Jacob Hawkins picked off his second Micro Sprint win and Bo Partain topped the Renegades.
After winning three of the initial five rounds of Winter Challenge action, Darland led the Sprint Car feature field to the flag from the pole position and led the early rounds before Vander Weerd raced into the lead after starting fourth.
Vander Weerd weathered a pair of late cautions to secure the win ahead of Darland with Josh Pelkey claiming the show position to rank as the only driver to finish among the top ten in all six Winter Challenge features.
Charles Davis, Jr., raced from 12th to snare fourth behind the lead trio with New Mexico’s Josh Hodges rounding out the top five. Shon Deskins climbed from 14th to sixth with R.J. Johnson, Nic Faas, 17th-starter Brady Bacon and 19th-starter Stevie Sussex completing the top ten.
Gunning for a fifth consecutive IMCA Modified feature win in Winter Challenge action, Ricky Thornton, Jr., took the green flag from the front row outside only to eventually finish second to fifth-starter Jesse Sobbing. Sobbing and Thornton, Jr., crossed the stripe ahead of Tim Ward, 16th-starter Bryan Schultz and Jay Foster.
Ty Warner raced from fifth to snare his third Winter Challenge win in Pure Stock action ahead of Joe Vlasity and Speedway Madrid, Jacob Hawkins posted his second Micro Sprint feature win in as many nights by crossing the stripe ahead of Tyler Seavey and Pat Wing while Bo Partain bested Virgil McArthur and Johnny Madrid in Renegade action.
Next up at Canyon Speedway Park is the Copper on Dirt on February 28 and March 1 featuring USAC/CRA Sprint Cars, USAC West Coast Midgets, IMCA Modifieds and West Coast Late Models vs. CDM Late Models.
Canyon Speedway Park
Winter Challenge Round Six Results:
USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10-Richard Vander Weerd, 2. 74x-Josh Hodges, 3. 73-Nic Faas, 4. 88-Jace Vander Weerd, 5. 99-Brady Bacon, 6. 4-Stevie Sussex, 7. 111-Ryan Bernal.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1x-Dave Darland, 2. 51-R.J. Johnson, 3. 74-Colby Copeland, 4. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 92-Mitch Mack, 6. 83-Michael Woodruff, 7. 21x-Casey Shuman.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 0k-Kenny Perkins, 2. 5-Tye Mihocko, 3. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 4. 02-Matt Rossi, 5. 16-Mike Martin, 6. 0-Will Perkins, 7. 55nm-David Dykes.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 12-Josh Pelkey, 2. 17m-Mike Colegrove, 3. 20-Shon Deskins, 4. 2x-Josh Shipley, 5. 57x-James Aragon, 6. 45-Jason Grady, 7. 11c-Michael Curtis.
“B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 16-Mike Martin, 3. 4-Stevie Sussex, 4. 11c-Michael Curtis, 5. 57x-James Aragon, 6. 45-Jason Grady, 7. 83-Michael Woodruff, 8. 55nm-David Dykes, 9. 92-Mitch Mack, 10. 0-Will Perkins. DNS: 21x-Casey Shuman, 111-Ryan Bernal.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 10-Richard Vander Weerd, 2. 1x-Dave Darland, 3. 12-Josh Pelkey, 4. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 74x-Josh Hodges, 6. 20-Shon Deskins, 7. 51-R.J. Johnson, 8. 73-Nic Faas, 9. 99-Brady Bacon, 10. 4-Stevie Sussex, 11. 0k-Kenny Perkins, 12. 11c-Michael Curtis, 13. 45-Jason Grady, 14. 17m-Mike Colegrove, 15. 16-Mike Martin, 16. 5-Tye Mihocko, 17. 02-Matt Rossi, 18. 74-Colby Copeland, 19. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 20. 57x-James Aragon, 21. 88-Jace Vander Weerd, 22. 2x-Josh Shipley.
IMCA Modifieds:
First Heat: 1. 10m-Jeremy Mills, 2. 4tw-Tim Ward, 3. 88c-Chris Olexicwiez, 4. 39-Scott Eaton, 5. L8-Bryan Schultz, 6. 75jr-Chaz Baca, Jr., 7. 8c-Chad Anderson, 8. 8-Nate Warren.
Second Heat: 1. 45-Ryan Roath, 2. 90.5-Tommy Fain, 3. 5m-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 4. 19-Jay Foster, 5. 44-Jason Noll, 6. 198-Cody Miller, 7. 87-Clifton Maggard, 8. 40jr-Bubba Stafford.
Third Heat: 1. 99c-Jesse Sobbing, 2. 10o-Stacy Mills, 3. 37-Mike Jergens, 4. W5-Jesse Williamson, 5. 222-Larry Hood, 6. 21r-Riley Simmons, 7. 65-Tim Palmer.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 99c-Jesse Sobbing, 2. 5m-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 3. 4tw-Tim Ward, 4. L8-Bryan Schultz, 5. 19-Jay Foster, 6. W5-Jesse Williamson, 7. 45-Ryan Roath, 8. 88c-Chris Olexicwiez, 9. 44-Jason Noll, 10. 222-Larry Hood, 11. 37-Mike Jergens, 12. 21r-Riley Simmons, 13. 8c-Chad Anderson, 14. 8-Nate Warren, 15. 198-Cody Miller, 16. 75jr-Chaz Baca, Jr., 17. 39-Scott Eaton, 18. 40jr-Bubba Stafford, 19. 65-Tim Palmer, 20. 87-Clifton Maggard, 21. 10m-Jeremy Mills, 22. 10o-Stacy Mills, 23. 90.5-Tommy Fain.
Pure Stocks:
First Heat: 1. 15-Speedy Madrid, 2. 90-Ty Warner, 3. 07-Terry Hill, 4. 20x-Michael Huffman, 5. 22x-Richard Veralrud, 6. Z28-Jason Schwader, 7. 27T-John Todd, 8. 40sr-Jeff Stafford.
Second Heat: 1. 84-Mike Goodwin, 2. 68v-Joe Vlasity, 3. 28-Bo Partain, 4. 5m-Zack Madrid, 5. 17-Harland Morehart, 6. 15m-Andrew Marshall, 7. 25-Steve Duffy.
“A” Feature: 1. 90-Ty Warner, 2. 68v-Joe Vlasity, 3. 15-Speedy Madrid, 4. 84-Mike Goodwin, 5. 40sr-Jeff Stafford, 6. 07-Terry Hill, 7. 5m-Zack Madrid, 8. 25-Steve Duffy, 9. 17-Harland Morehart, 10. 22x-Richard Veralrud, 11. Z28-Jason Schwader, 12. 15m-Andrew Marshall, 13. 27T-John Todd, 14. 20x-Michael Huffman, 15. 28-Bo Partain.
Renegades:
First Heat: 1. 3d-Bo Partain, 2. 47-Virgil McArthur, 3. 9-Paul O’Connor, 4. 57a-Tate Allen, 5. 16-Glen Branham, 6. 17-Kurt Kesselring, 7. 77-Mike Laramee, 8. 13m-Johnny Madrid, 9. 19-Mark Rogers, 10. 76-Keith Seitzer, 11. 2-Joshua McClelland.
“A” Feature: 1. 3d-Bo Partain, 2. 47-Virgil McArthur, 3. 13m-Johnny Madrid, 4. 9-Paul O’Connor, 5. 17-Kurt Kesselring, 6. 77-Mike Laramee, 7. 76-Keith Seitzer, 8. 16-Glen Branham, 9. 57a-Tate Allen, 10. 2-Joshua McClelland, 11. 19-Mark Rogers.
Micro Sprints:
First Heat: 1. 2-Dennis Carrier, 2. 41-Tyler Seavey, 3. 41h-Colton Hardy, 4. 24-Pat Wing, 5. 45-Brandon Selph, 6. 18-Travis Sellers, 7. 6-Dave Van Ess, 8. 32-Brandon Hacker.
Second Heat: 1. 12-Jacob Hawkins, 2. 77-Aaron Miller, 3. 94-Cassie Klenkie, 4. 4-Mike Visser, 5. 42-Kenny Hilton, 6. 29-Paul Martin.
“A” Feature: 1. 12-Jacob Hawkins, 2. 41-Tyler Seavey, 3. 24-Pat Wing, 4. 41h-Colton Hardy, 5. 77-Aaron Miller, 6. 29-Paul Martin, 7. 42-Kenny Hilton, 8. 4-Mike Visser, 9. 94-Cassie Klenkie, 10. 6-Dave Van Ess, 11. 18-Travis Sellers, 12. 45-Brandon Selph, 13. 32-Brandon Hacker, 14. 2-Dennis Carrier.