By Bryan Hulbert
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (November 24, 2018) Adding his first career ASCS Southwest Regional victory to his list of accolades, California’s Colby Copeland held off a fierce D.J. Netto to pick up $5,000 in the third annual Copper Classic at Arizona Speedway. Copeland is the 52nd different winner in ASCS Southwest Regional competition.
Falling to second on the opening revolution to Michael Kofoid who shot the cushion to the race lead, Copeland raced back to the point on Lap 2. Just pulling into traffic, the first caution of the A-Feature came on Lap 7 for debris.
Restarting with a slower machine as a buffer over Kofoid, the lapped traffic worked to Copeland’s favor as the driver of the No. 5c moved to just over a half-second lead before racing back into traffic with 16 laps to run.
With D.J. Netto retaking second on Lap 15, the No. 88 was on Copeland in a matter of seconds as the leader tagged the back of the No. 22 of Jesse Baker trying to put him a lap down. Taking advantage, Netto dove for the lead through the third and fourth turns, but too wide off the fourth turn, Copeland turned under and reclaimed the top spot.
Rebuilding his run, Netto again went for the slide a couple laps later but would meet the same result as the caution flew shortly after for Justin Sanders who rolled to a stop while running fifth. Back under power, the Californians were locked in a battle for the lead with the No. 88 going for the point in turn three, then again, in turn, one, with both coming up shy.
With the lead in hand, Copeland again pulled to just over a half-second advantage before the red lights came on working Lap 28 as Robbie Price who took a hard ride in the first and second turns. Robbie was unharmed.
Back to the last fully completed lap, the green flew with three laps to go with Michael Kofoid and D.J. Netto swapping the runner-up spot through turns one and two. Racing back around the No. 8 of Kofoid, Netto dropped to the deck in turn three and again went for the slide on Copeland, but just like before the slide would be answered as Copeland raced by and opened it up to 0.821 seconds of breathing room.
D.J. Netto in second was joined on the podium by Roger Crockett who grabbed away the show position off the final turn. Michael Kofoid would settle for fourth with Hunter Schuerenberg moving up from 13th to fifth.
John Carney II crossed sixth with Tanner Carrick, Garen Linder, Justyn Cox, and Rick Ziehl completing the top-ten. With the top-ten finish, Rick Ziehl clinched his 10th ASCS Southwest Regional Championship; winning by 36 points over Jesse Baker.
The ASCS Southwest Region is working on the 2019 lineup. All updates will be posted to http://www.ascsracing.com.
For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the Regional Tours that make up ASCS Nation, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
ASCS Southwest Region
Arizona Speedway – Queen Creek, Ariz.
3rd annual Copper Classic (Final Night)
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Car Count: 30
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Justin Sanders, [1]; 2. 2-Dobmeier Mark, [2]; 3. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [3]; 4. 1-Robbie Price, [4]; 5. 57-Jarrett Martin, [5]; 6. 7X-Colt Treharn, [7]; 7. 45-Jeff Lowery, [6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Buddy Kofoid, [2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [1]; 3. 5V-Justyn Cox, [4]; 4. 131-Royal Jones, [3]; 5. 22B-Jesse Baker, [6]; 6. 69-Blake Carrick, [5]; 7. 50S-Rocky Silva, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2B-Billy Chester III, [2]; 2. 01-John Carney, [1]; 3. 33X-Hunter Schuerenberg, [5]; 4. 91-Casey Buckman, [4]; 5. 7M-Mason Keefer, [7]; 6. 67-Brian Thomas, [3]; 7. 7-Joshua Shipley, [6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [2]; 2. 22L-Garen Linder, [1]; 3. 53-Jack Dover, [5]; 4. 74-Colton Hardy, [4]; 5. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [3]; 6. 17K-Kyle Danielson, [6]; 7. (DNF) 5-Brian Boswell, [7]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [2]; 2. 91-Casey Buckman, [3]; 3. 57-Jarrett Martin, [4]; 4. 131-Royal Jones, [1]; 5. 7X-Colt Treharn, [7]; (DNS) 45-Jeff Lowery, ; (DNS) 7-Joshua Shipley, ; (DNS) 7M-Mason Keefer,
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 1-Robbie Price, [2]; 2. 67-Brian Thomas, [1]; 3. 74-Colton Hardy, [3]; 4. 69-Blake Carrick, [4]; 5. 22B-Jesse Baker, [5]; 6. 50S-Rocky Silva, [7]; 7. (DNF) 5-Brian Boswell, [8]; (DNS) 17K-Kyle Danielson,
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 5C-Colby Copeland, [1]; 2. 88N-DJ Netto, [2]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett, [7]; 4. 8-Buddy Kofoid, [3]; 5. 33X-Hunter Schuerenberg, [13]; 6. 01-John Carney, [8]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [6]; 8. 22L-Garen Linder, [9]; 9. 5V-Justyn Cox, [12]; 10. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [11]; 11. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [15]; 12. 2-Dobmeier Mark, [10]; 13. 74-Colton Hardy, [20]; 14. 2B-Billy Chester III, [5]; 15. 131-Royal Jones, [21]; 16. 91-Casey Buckman, [17]; 17. (DNF) 1-Robbie Price, [16]; 18. (DNF) 69-Blake Carrick, [22]; 19. (DNF) 67-Brian Thomas, [18]; 20. (DNF) 17-Justin Sanders, [4]; 21. (DNF) 22B-Jesse Baker, [23]; 22. (DNF) 57-Jarrett Martin, [19]; 23. (DNF) 53-Jack Dover, [14]