By Bryan Hulbert
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (November 23, 2018) A thrilling opener to the third annual Copper Classic, California’s D.J. Netto barely held off Colby Copeland off the final turn to win for the third time in his career at Arizona Speedway with the ASCS Southwest Region.
Having to chase from fourth, Netto raced to second on Lap 3 as Justyn Cox led the way; having taken the point the previous lap from Mark Dobmeier. Keeping pace by over a half-second, the race went under red flag conditions as Matt Covington’s night came to a violent end in the third turn while working Lap 6.
Back to five laps complete on the restart, Netto looked low for the lead but couldn’t pick up the position as Cox began marching away. Not getting away for long, slower traffic came into play with 10 laps in the book. Racing low on Lap 11, Netto took over the lead off turn two. Leaving Justyn Cox to battle for second, the No. 5v dropped to third as sixth starting Colby Copeland took over second.
Remaining in heavy lapped traffic, the slower cars worked to Netto’s advantage with the No. 88 moving to a nearly two-second advantage with 10 laps to run. Down to five laps to run, Netto led the way by just over 3.5 seconds as the caution flew for Colton Hardy.
Back to green with a lapped car between the top two drivers, D.J. Netto committed to the cushion as Copeland struggled to clear the slower machine of Jesse Baker. Finally getting by, the caution flew again with a pair of laps to run as third running, Justyn Cox, stopped on the back straightaway.
To the green, white, checkered finish, Copeland and Netto were side by side as the pair came around to start the final lap. Staying nearly wheel to wheel through the final lap, D.J. Netto barely fought back to the win by 0.187 seconds. Colby Copeland held on for second with Justin Sanders coming from ninth to third. Mark Dobmeier in fourth was chased to the line by Roger Crockett to round out the top-five.
Oregon’s Garen Linder was sixth with Robbie Price bouncing back from an opening lap caution to finish seventh. Jack Dover, Blake Carrick, and Rick Ziehl made up the top ten.
One final night on the 2018 season for the ASCS Southwest Region, the race for the top spot tightened up drastically with Jesse Baker only holding nine points over Rick Ziehl. Round two of the third annual Copper Classic takes place on Saturday, November 24 at Arizona Speedway with Qualifying at 5:50 P.M. (MT).
Arizona Speedway is located at 47800 N. Ironwood Dr. in San Tan Valley, Ariz. just four-tenths of a mile south of U.S. 60 on Ironwood Dr. For more information on the Arizona Speedway, log onto http://www.arizonaspeedway.net.
For fans unable to attend, live PPV will be available at http://www.speedshifttv.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 the nearly 150 races across the ASCS Nation in 2018, 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 (Prelim Night)
Friday, November 23, 2018
Car Count: 34
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Dobmeier Mark, [2]; 2. 5C-Colby Copeland, [1]; 3. 33X-Hunter Scherenburg, [3]; 4. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [4]; 5. 45-Jeff Lowery, [6]; 6. 7M-Mason Keefer, [7]; (DNS) 115-Nick Parker,
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [2]; 2. 53-Jack Dover, [4]; 3. 17-Justin Sanders, [1]; 4. 69-Blake Carrick, [3]; 5. 57-Jarrett Martin, [5]; 6. 67-Brian Thomas, [6]; 7. 7X-Colt Treharn, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88N-DJ Netto, [1]; 2. 22L-Garen Linder, [2]; 3. 74-Colton Hardy, [3]; 4. 131-Royal Jones, [4]; 5. 7-Joshua Shipley, [5]; 6. 7K-Bruce St. James, [6]; 7. 50S-Rocky Silva, [7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 5V-Justyn Cox, [1]; 2. 22B-Jesse Baker, [4]; 3. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [3]; 4. 01-John Carney, [5]; 5. 17K-Kyle Danielson, [6]; 6. (DNF) 83T-Tanner Carrick, [2]; (DNS) 5-Brian Boswell,
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Michael Kofoid, [1]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [2]; 3. 1-Robbie Price, [5]; 4. 91-Casey Buckman, [4]; 5. 33C-Steve Cushman, [6]; 6. 2B-Billy Chester III, [3]
B Feature 1: 1. 17-Justin Sanders, [1]; 2. 131-Royal Jones, [5]; 3. 74-Colton Hardy, [3]; 4. 1-Robbie Price, [8]; 5. 7-Joshua Shipley, [7]; 6. 67-Brian Thomas, [9]; 7. 50S-Rocky Silva, [11]; 8. 17K-Kyle Danielson, [10]; 9. (DNF) 33X-Hunter Scherenburg, [2]; 10. (DNF) 115-Nick Parker, [6]; (DNS) 2B-Billy Chester III, ; (DNS) 7X-Colt Treharn,
B Feature 2: 1. 69-Blake Carrick, [2]; 2. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [4]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [1]; 4. 45-Jeff Lowery, [8]; 5. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [3]; 6. 01-John Carney, [7]; 7. 57-Jarrett Martin, [6]; 8. 91-Casey Buckman, [5]; 9. 7K-Bruce St. James, [9]; 10. 7M-Mason Keefer, [11]; 11. 33C-Steve Cushman, [10]; 12. 5-Brian Boswell, [12]
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88N-DJ Netto, [4]; 2. 5C-Colby Copeland, [6]; 3. 17-Justin Sanders, [9]; 4. 2-Dobmeier Mark, [2]; 5. 11-Roger Crockett, [8]; 6. 22L-Garen Linder, [5]; 7. 1-Robbie Price, [15]; 8. 53-Jack Dover, [7]; 9. 69-Blake Carrick, [12]; 10. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [14]; 11. 01-John Carney, [21]; 12. 74-Colton Hardy, [13]; 13. 7-Joshua Shipley, [17]; 14. 22B-Jesse Baker, [10]; 15. 57-Jarrett Martin, [22]; 16. 131-Royal Jones, [11]; 17. (DNF) 5V-Justyn Cox, [3]; 18. (DNF) 75X-J.T. Imperial, [20]; 19. (DNF) 83T-Tanner Carrick, [16]; 20. (DNF) 45-Jeff Lowery, [18]; 21. (DNF) 67-Brian Thomas, [19]; 22. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington, [1]