Lonnie Wheatley, TUCSON, Ariz. (October 24, 2009) – Albuquerque's Johnny Herrera kept a streak alive by racing to victory lane in Saturday night's 25-lap American Sprint Car Series Southwest Region main event at USA Raceway.
Herrera's third ASCS Southwest win of the year marked his 17th consecutive winged ASCS Regional win within the states of Arizona and New Mexico dating back to 2005.
Herrera raced forward from the third row inside to take the checkered flag in front of Calvin Landis, with Rick Ziehl climbing from 13th to claim the show position. The defending series champion, Ziehl not only took over the 2009 ASCS Southwest points lead but also bagged the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Regional Wing/Non-Wing Challenge title with the third place run.
Ronnie Clark crossed the stripe fourth, with J.T. Imperial rounding out the top five. R.J. Johnson raced from nine rows deep to finish sixth in his winged Sprint Car debut, with Joshua Williams, pole starter Kaylene Verville, 16th-starter Joshua Hodges and Cody Cambensy completing the top ten.
Herrera, Jessica Van Dyke, Steve Martin and Verville topped heat race action for Saturday night's 33-car field, with Ben Gregg winning the "B" Main. Gregg, who entered the night atop the points chase, fell to second behind Ziehl after being credited with a 14th-place finish in the main event.
ASCS Southwest Region Results from USA Raceway:
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 34-Calvin Landis, 3. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 4. 22j-John Gaston, 5. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 6. 3s-John Carney II, 7. 42-Rick Boughan, 8. 62x-Bill Mitchell. DNS: 20L-Andrew Reinbold.
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 66-Jessica Van Dyke, 2. 7d-William Riley, 3. 11T-Steve Lohn, 4. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 5. 45-Ron Kratz, 6. 20-Mike Martin, 7. 00-Davey Johnson. DNS: 7az-Bobby Collister.
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 20az-Steve Martin, 2. 6-Ronnie Clark, 3. 5az-John Van Horn, 4. 41-Joshua Williams, 5. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 6. 22b-Ben Gregg, 7. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 8. 22-Mike Rux, Jr.
Heat Four (10 Laps): 1. 01-Kaylene Verville, 2. 56-Mike Wells, 3. 51-Cody Cambensy, 4. 5a-Bob Ream, Jr., 5. 44k-Koty McGullam, 6. 55-R.C. Whitwell, 7. 77-Colt Treharn, 8. 57-Steve Stone.
"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 22b-Ben Gregg, 2. 3s-John Carney II, 3. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 4. 5a-Bob Ream, Jr., 5. 20-Mike Martin, 6. 77-Colt Treharn, 7. 42-Rick Boughan, 8. 55-R.C. Whitwell, 9. 00-Davey Johnson, 10. 62x-Bill Mitchell, 11. 44k-Koty McGullam, 12. 45-Ron Kratz, 13. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 14. 22-Mike Rux, Jr. DNS: 57-Steve Stone, 20L-Andrew Reinbold, 7az-Bobby Collister.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 34-Calvin Landis, 3. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 4. 6-Ronnie Clark, 5. 1x-J.T. Imperial, 6. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 7. 41-Joshua Williams, 8. 01-Kaylene Verville, 9. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 10. 51-Cody Cambensy, 11. 20az-Steve Martin, 12. 11T-Steve Lohn, 13. 7d-William Riley, 14. 22b-Ben Gregg, 15. 5a-Bob Ream, Jr., 16. 56-Mike Wells, 17. 3s-John Carney II, 18. 66-Jessica Van Dyke, 19. 22j-John Gaston, 20. 5az-John Van Horn.
ASCS Southwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Rick Ziehl 1,118, 2. Ben Gregg 1,106, 3. Joshua Hodges 1,078, 4. John Gaston 1,070, 5. Ronnie Clark 1,062, 6. Mike Martin 1,023, 7. Charles Davis, Jr. 985, 8. John Van Horn 931, 9. Jessica Van Dyke 927, 10. Cody Cambensy 857.
- Lonnie Wheatley on Oct 26, 2009
- Article Date: 10/26/2009