Canyon Speedway Park – Winter Challenge Saturday Report
Hodges & Marriott Headline Winter Challenge Finale
PEORIA, Ariz. (January 30, 2016) – Josh Hodges and Hunter Marriott brought the curtains down on Canyon Speedway Park’s Winter Challenge 2016 with impressive drives to victory lane in Saturday night’s fifth and final round of the mini-series atop the 1/3-mile clay oval.
While Hodges earned his second USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast non-wing Sprint Car feature victory of the series and Marriott picked up his second win as well in IMCA Modified action, other Saturday night winners included George Fronsman in IMCA Stock Car vs. Pure Stock action, Paul O’Connor in IMCA Hobby Stocks vs. Renegades and Danny Wagner in Dwarf Cars.
After sliding past front row starter Stevie Sussex for the lead on the second round, Tijeras, NM, shoe Josh Hodges countered several strong Bryan Clauson sliders to take Saturday night’s $4,000 USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Car feature winner’s share.
It was the second $4,000 victory of the five-race series for Hodges aboard the Jackson Compaction/Ortega’s Appliance/MVT No. 74x after topping last Sunday’s Round Three feature.
“This is awesome, it’s fun to race with these guys I look up to,” Hodges said in victory lane. “There’s no one better than Bryan (Clauson), he raced me clean.”
With Hodges racing into the lead early, Clauson just needed three laps to charge from sixth into second as he pursued a fourth win of the series.
Clauson challenged early but nearly looped it turn two on the 11th round. Clauson made the save, with the race’s only caution flying moments later for a disabled mount in turn one.
With the balance of the 30-lapper run off in non-stop fashion, Clauson kept the pressure on and twice slid by Hodges in turns one and two in the final handful of rounds only to have Hodges successfully counter to retain command.
After Clauson got a good piece of the turn two wall with the lap 28 slider, Hodges had a clear run to his second win of the year. Clauson settled for second with R.J. Johnson, Charles Davis, Jr., and Andrew Reinbold rounding out the top five.
Just as Hodges denied Clauson a four-for-five Winter Challenge effort, Missouri’s Hunter Marriott did the same to Ricky Thornton, Jr., by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s non-stop 25-lap finale.
Marriott worked past Ryan Gaylord for the lead five laps in the main event and then fought off Thornton, Jr., the rest of the way to take his second Winter Challenge score aboard the Strange Oval/Friesen Chevrolet No. 62 entry.
“It has been fun racing with Ricky out here,” Marriott commented in victory lane. “He pushes us so hard here, if it weren’t for him I don’t that we would have to work as hard as we have this week.”
Marriott made a masterful move through a gaggle of lapped cars a handful of laps before the checkered flag to secure the win with Thornton, Jr., settling for second as Paul Stone, Gaylord and Anthony Roth rounded out the top five.
Entering the night knotted with Matt Martinez aboard the Pure Stock Winter Challenge win charts at two, George Fronsman added that coveted third win by racing from fourth to take the checkered flag ahead of Cody Center, Martinez, Lonnie Foss and Mark Madrid.
Paul O’Connor took Renegade honors ahead of Richard Bennett and Troy Barnes while Danny Wagner beat 13th-starter Derek Rosse and 10th-starter Tony Martin to the stripe in Dwarf Car action.
Canyon Speedway Park fires back to life with the 28th Annual Desert Classic on February 26-27 featuring the Arizona Differential IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars vs. SCRA Stock Cars, Scottsdale Muffler & Automotive IMCA Hobby Stocks vs. Renegades, Dwarf Cars and Micro Sprints.
Canyon Speedway Park
January 30, 2016 – Winter Challenge 2016 Night Five of Five Results
USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Cars:
Heat One: 1. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 51-R.J. Johnson, 3. 98-Matt Lundy, 4. 16-Mike Martin, 5. 55-Tony Everhart, 6. 45-Bob Strait, 7. 50x-Will Perkins, 8. 11w-Dillon Tanner.
Heat Two: 1. 21az-Stevie Sussex, 2. 74x-Josh Hodges, 3. 2x-Larry Gibson, 4. 0k-Kenny Perkins, 5. 54-Landon Cling, 6. 27w-Guy Weedman, 7. 5x-Matt McCarthy.
Heat Three: 1. 16b-Bryan Clauson, 2. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 3. 20-Shon Deskins, 4. 5-Tye Mihocko, 5. 48T-Thomas Ogle, 6. 56-Spencer Hill, 7. 22b-Brian Hosford.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 74x-Josh Hodges, 2. 16b-Bryan Clauson, 3. 51-R.J. Johnson, 4. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 6. 16-Mike Martin, 7. 48T-Thomas Ogle, 8. 20-Shon Deskins, 9. 5-Tye Mihocko, 10. 22b-Brian Hosford, 11. 0k-Kenny Perkins, 12. 54-Landon Cling, 13. 98-Matt Lundy, 14. 45-Bob Strait, 15. 2x-Larry Gibson, 16. 27w-Guy Weedman, 17. 50x-Will Perkins, 18. 5x-Matt McCarthy, 19. 11w-Dillon Tanner, 20. 55-Tony Everhart, 21. 21az-Stevie Sussex, 22. 56-Spencer Hill.
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One: 1. 198-Robert Sawyer II, 2. 66p-Paul Stone, 3. 71-Brent Schlafmann, 4. 51-Joey Moriarty, 5. XXX-Jessie Rogotzke, 6. 17-Justin Miller, 7. 06az-Tommy Wyman.
Heat Two: 1. 44-Jason Noll, 2. 62-Hunter Marriott, 3. X-Josh Rogotzke, 4. 59-Mark Stewart, 5. 56d-Garth Dushanek, 6. 12-Guy Norton, 7. 15s-William Slocum.
Heat Three: 1. 60-Anthony Roth, 2. 7r-Ryan Gaylord, 3. 5z-Zack Madrid, 4. 78-Steve Stultz, 5. 87-Curt Lund, 6. 19sb-Lance Mari, 7. 14a-Chase Alvez.
Heat Four: 1. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 2. 4tw-Tim Ward, 3. 75jr-Chaz Baca, Jr., 4. 40jr-Bubba Stafford, 5. 00-Nate Warren, 6. 25-Paul Nelson, 7. 8-George Stange.
“B” Main: 1. 87-Curt Lund, 2. 19sb-Lance Mari, 3. XXX-Jessie Rogotzke, 4. 12-Guy Norton, 5. 00-Nate Warren, 6. 78-Steve Stultz, 7. 17-Justin Miller, 8. 14a-Chase Alvez, 9. 15s-William Slocum, 10. 25-Paul Nelson, 11. 8-George Stange, 12. 06az-Tommy Wyman.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 62-Hunter Marriott, 2. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 3. 66p-Paul Stone, 4. 7r-Ryan Gaylord, 5. 60-Anthony Roth, 6. 4tw-Tim Ward, 7. 44-Jason Noll, 8. 87-Curt Lund, 9. 198-Robert Sawyer II, 10. 51-Joey Moriarty, 11. 75jr-Chaz Baca, Jr., 12. 71-Brent Schlafmann, 13. 19sb-Lance Mari, 14. X-Josh Rogotzke, 15. 12-Guy Norton, 16. 59-Mark Stewart, 17. 5z-Zack Madrid, 18. 56d-Garth Dushanek, 19. 00-Nate Warren, 20. XXX-Jessie Rogotzke, 21. 40jr-Bubba Stafford, 22. 78-Steve Stultz, 23. 17-Justin Miller, 24. 14a-Chase Alvez.
IMCA Stock Cars vs. Pure Stocks:
Heat One: 1. $-Cody Center, 2. 17-Harland Morehart, 3. 7-Steve Bitting, 4. 19w-John Thomas, 5. 06az-Kenny Wyman, Jr., 6. 15-Mark Madrid, 7. 11-Richard Veralrud, 8. 00-Lonnie Foss.
Heat Two: 1. 23jr-Matt Martinez, 2. 41-George Fronsman, 3. 6-Michael Wrightsman, 4. 3-Ashley Stafford, 5. 41r-Robert Linn, 6. 97L-Stephen Lumpkin, 7. 18-Terry Skorick.
“A” Feature: 1. 41-George Fronsman, 2. $-Cody Center, 3. 23jr-Matt Martinez, 4. 00-Lonnie Foss, 5. 15m-Mark Madrid, 6. 7-Steve Bitting, 7. 17-Harland Morehart, 8. 6-Michael Wrightsman, 9. 06az-Kenny Wyman, Jr., 10. 41r-Robert Linn, 11. 3-Ashley Stafford, 12. 18-Terry Skorick, 13. 19w-John Thomas, 14. 11-Richard Veralrud, 15. 97L-Stephen Lumpkin.
IMCA Hobby Stocks vs. Renegades:
Heat One: 1. 5z-Merle Zachrison, 2. 54-James Turensky, 3. 101-Troy Barnes, 4. 9-Paul O’Connor, 5. 13-Jason Crowe, 6. 16b-Richard Bennett, 7. 14T-Tommy Esquerra, 8. 23-Dave Barnes, 9. 5-Shea Kendig, 10. 15-Wayne Dunsworth.
“A” Feature: 1. 9-Paul O’Connor, 2. 6b-Richard Bennett, 3. 101-Troy Barnes, 4. 54-James Turensky, 5. 5z-Merle Zachrison, 6. 5-Shea Kendig, 7. 15-Wayne Dunsworth, 8. 14T-Tommy Esquerra, 9. 13-Jason Crowe, 10. 23-Dave Barnes.
Dwarf Cars:
Heat One: 1. 12v-John Isabella, 2. 00x-Grant William, 3. 10-Ryan Hennessey, 4. 78c-Jason Woods, 5. 47-Steve Kapaun, 6. 66-Frank Rhodes, 7. 33h-Jim Slaugh, 8. 16r-Jerry Hunter.
Heat Two: 1. 11b-Darren Brown, 2. 2-Mike Williams, 3. 41-Tony Martin, 4. 27-Rusty Degroat, 5. 40-Derek Rosse, 6. 46-Mike Moyer, 7. 11-Heather Hennessey, 8. 86c-Jenn Lessig.
Heat Three: 1. 11d-Danny Wagner, 2. 76-Glenn Sciarani, 3. 2n-Cale Rudy, 4. 4x-Cecilia Dillie, 5. 17x-Sonny Wahl, 6. 88r-Keith Welch, 7. 12-Pat Hennessey.
Heat Four: 1. 18h-Jerry Hislop, 2. 19-John Foster, 3. 75c-Bill Tracey, 4. 76x-Brian Hatlestad, 5. 20-Levi Rudy, 6. 11r-Charlie Drager, 7. 75r-Don Morrison, 8. 55-John Levitt.
“B” Feature: 1. 40-Derek Rosse, 2. 4x-Cecilia Dillie, 3. 88r-Keith Welch, 4. 76x-Brian Hatlestad, 5. 11r-Charlie Drager, 6. 20-Levi Rudy, 7. 11-Heather Hennessey, 8. 33h-Jim Slaugh, 9. 16r-Jerry Hunter, 10. 12-Pat Hennessey, 11. 75r-Don Morrison, 12. 17x-Sonny Wahl, 13. 47-Steve Kapaun, 14. 46-Mike Moyer, 15. 66-Frank Rhodes, 16. 86c-Jenn Lessig, 17. 27-Rusty Degroat, 18. 78c-Jason Woods, 19. 55-John Levitt.
“A” Feature: 1. 11d-Danny Wagner, 2. 40-Derek Rosse, 3. 41-Tony Martin, 4. 76-Glenn Sciarani, 5. 33h-Jim Slaugh, 6. 4x-Cecilia Dillie, 7. 18h-Jerry Hislop, 8. 11r-Charlie Drager, 9. 75c-Bill Tracey, 10. 19-John Foster, 11. 16r-Jerry Hunter, 12. 17x-Sonny Wahl, 13. 76x-Brian Hatlestad, 14. 2n-Cale Rudy, 15. 20-Levi Rudy, 16. 88r-Keith Welch, 17. 12-Pat Hennessey, 18. 75r-Don Morrison, 19. 11-Heather Hennessey, 20. 11b-Darren Brown, 21. 00x-Grant William, 22. 2-Mike Williams, 23. 10-Ryan Hennessey, 24. 12v-John Isabella.
Sources: Lonnie Wheatley/Canyon Speedway Park PR
Photos courtesy of Canyon Speedway Park