Laney & Thornton Kick Off Desert Classis with Twin Twenty Triumphs
PEORIA, Ariz. (February 26, 2016) – Cody Laney and Ricky Thornton, Jr., opened the 28th Annual Desert Classic by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s Arizona Differential IMCA Modified Twin Twenties atop the 1/3-mile Canyon Speedway Park clay oval.
While Laney and Thornton, Jr., earned front row starting positions for Saturday’s $5,000-to-win Desert Classic finale, other Friday night winners included Cody Center in Stock Car action, Jason Beshears in Hobby Stocks, Cory Brown in Dwarf Cars and Colton Hardy in Micro Sprints.
After setting quick time in IMCA Modified qualifying, Torrance, California’s Laney led all the way in the first 20-lapper to earn Saturday night’s pole starting position. Laney raced to the stripe ahead of 2014 Desert Classic champ Jason Noll with Tim Ward, R.C. Whitwell, Alex Stanford and Hunter Marriott also locking into the main event.
In the second 20-lapper, reigning Desert Classic king Ricky Thornton, Jr., led all the way from the pole position, taking the checkered flag ahead of Ryan Ruter, Ryan Gaylord, tenth-starter Mike Jergens and Brian Schultz with Mike Wedelstadt making a last-corner pass to capture the sixth and final lock-in position to the $5,000-to-win finale.
Cody Center prevailed in Allscapes IMCA Stock Cars vs. SCRA Stock Car action, taking the checkered flag ahead of George Fronsman, Tony Martin, Speedy Madrid and Steve Shumaker.
After winning his heat race, Jason Beshears backed it up by picking off the IMCA Hobby Stocks vs. Renegades presented by Scottsdale Muffler & Automotive feature win ahead of Joe Peterson, Richard Bennett, Jason Crowe and Merle Zachrison.
Posting a one-two finish in “B” Main action, Cory Brown and Tony Martin raced from the seventh row to another one-two finish in the Dwarf Car feature with Kevin Davis, Brian Stehr and Eddie Schule also among the top five.
Colton Hardy rounded out the night’s feature winners by taking Micro Sprint honors ahead of Tyler Merrill, Dennis Carrier, Paul Martin and Kyle Huttenhow.
The 28th Annual Desert Classic concludes on Saturday night at Canyon Speedway Park with a $5,000 winner’s share on the line for the Arizona Differential IMCA Modifieds with Allscapes IMCA Stock Cars vs. SCRA Stock Cars, IMCA Hobby Stocks vs. Renegades presented by Scottsdale Muffler & Automotive, Dwarf Cars and Micro Sprints in action as well. Saturday’s green flag flies at 7:00 p.m.
Canyon Speedway Park
February 26, 2016 – 28th Annual Desert Classic Preliminary Results
Arizona Differential IMCA Modifieds:
Fast Qualifier: Cody Laney.
Qualifying Race One (20 Laps): 1. 5L-Cody Laney, 2. 44-Jason Noll, 3. 4tw-Tim Ward, 4. 96rc-R.C. Whitwell, 5. 98-Alex Stanford, 6. 62-Hunter Marriott, 7. 71-Brent Schlafman, 8. 5z-Zack Madrid, 9. 19sl-Lance Mari, 10. 0-Nate Warren, 11. 1d-Mike Strobl, 12. 56d-Garth Dushanek, 13. 40-Jeff Stafford, 14. 25-Paul Nelson, 15. 97-Josh Sneed, 16. 40jr-Bubba Stafford.
Qualifying Race Two (20 Laps): 1. 20rt-Ricky Thornton, Jr., 2. 555-Ryan Ruter, 3. 7r-Ryan Gaylord, 4. 37-Mike Jergens, 5. L8-Brian Schultz, 6. 77-Mike Wedelstadt, 7. 75jr-Chaz Baca, Jr., 8. 74-Garrett Funk, 9. 57p-Jim Perkins, 10. 1z-Zane DeVilbiss, 11. 78-Steve Stultz, 12. 81r-Robert Kettner, 13. 12-Guy Norton, 14. 223-Cole Peterson, 15. 60-Anthony Roth.
Allscapes IMCA Stock Cars vs. SCRA Stock Cars:
Heat One: 1. 41-George Fronsman, 2. 6-Marlowe Wrightsman, 3. 44s-Steve Shumaker, 4. 41r-Robert Linn, 5. 18-Terry Skorick, 6. 0-Lonnie Foss.
Heat Two: 1. 53-Justin Thornton, 2. 15-Speedy Madrid, 3. 5J-Tony Martin, 4. 28x-Donnie Yates, 5. 75-Jason Suchta, 6. 57-Bear Taylor.
Heat Three: 1. 23jr-Matt Martinez, 2. $-Cody Center, 3. 06az-Kenny Wyman, Jr., 4. 6-Michael Wrightsman, 5. 24-Josh Carter, 6. 501-Ted Armstrong.
“A” Feature: 1. $-Cody Center, 2. 41-George Fronsman, 3. 5J-Tony Martin, 4. 15-Speedy Madrid, 5. 44s-Steve Shumaker, 6. 6-Michael Wrightsman, 7. 6-Marlowe Wrightsman, 8. 75-Jason Suchta, 9. 06az-Kenny Wyman, Jr., 10. 24-Josh Carter, 11. 28x-Donnie Yates, 12. 501-Ted Armstrong, 13. 18-Terry Skorick, 14. 57-Bear Taylor, 15. 53-Justin Thornton, 16. 41r-Robert Linn, 17. 23jr-Matt Martinez, 18. 0-Lonnie Foss.
IMCA Hobby Stocks vs. Renegades presented by Scottsdale Muffler & Automotive:
Heat One: 1. XX-Chuck Thornton, 2. 85-Joe Peterson, 3. 13-Jason Crowe, 4. 16b-Richard Bennett, 5. 45k-Mark Kilian, 6. 15-Wayne Dunsworth.
Heat Two: 1. 9-Paul O’Connor, 2. 5J-Jacob Madrid, 3. 5z-Merle Zachrison, 4. 101-Troy Barnes, 5. 5-Shea Kendig, 6. 5s-Joe Pontin.
Heat Three: 1. 64-Jason Beshears, 2. 99-Trenton Setelin, 3. 54-James Turensky, 4. 30-Walter Stringer, 5. 13m-Johnny Madrid.
“A” Feature: 1. 64-Jason Beshears, 2. 85-Joe Peterson, 3. 16b-Richard Bennett, 4. 13-Jason Crowe, 5. 5z-Merle Zachrison, 6. 5J-Jacob Madrid, 7. 45k-Mark Kilian, 8. 99-Trenton Setelin, 9. XX-Chuck Thornton, 10. 30-Walter Stringer, 11. 54-James Turensky, 12. 13m-Johnny Madrid, 13. 9-Paul O’Connor, 14. 5-Shea Kendig, 15. 101-Troy Barnes, 16. 15-Wayne Dunsworth, 17. 5s-Joe Pontin.
Dwarf Cars:
Heat One: 1. 66-Frank Rhodes, 2. 61-John Ogden, 3. 46n-Mike Moyer, 4. 88-Eddie Schule, 5. 27-Rusty Degroat, 6. 20-Levi Rudy, 7. 96-Tyler Inscore, 8. 77-Brandon Schule, 9. 23-Jesse Kuntz.
Heat Two: 1. 93-A.J. Breau, 2. 05-Brian Stehr, 3. 47-Steve Kapuan, 4. 11-Heather Hennessey, 5. 43-Tim Cotherman, 6. 29-Cory Brown, 7. 41-Tony Martin, 8. 4-Gary Bowman, 9. 22x-Jason Nance, 10. 49-Larry Courman.
Heat Three: 1. 46-Kevin Davis, 2. 19-John Foster, 3. 22-Daniel Lamm, 4. 10-Helen Hennessey, 5. 08-Chris Trimino, 6. 15-Jimmy Schroder, 7. 24-Steven Keith, 8. 26-Justin Fletcher.
“B” Feature: 1. 29-Cory Brown, 2. 41-Tony Martin, 3. 43-Tim Cotherman, 4. 20-Levi Rudy, 5. 22-Daniel Lamm, 6. 27-Rusty Degroat, 7. 22x-Jason Nance, 8. 4-Gary Bowman, 9. 77-Brandon Schule, 10. 24-Steven Keith, 11. 08-Chris Trimino, 12. 96-Tyler Inscore, 13. 15-Jimmy Schroder.
“A” Feature: 1. 29-Cory Brown, 2. 41-Tony Martin, 3. 46-Kevin Davis, 4. 05-Brian Stehr, 5. 88-Eddie Schule, 6. 46n-Nike Moyer, 7. 11-Heather Hennessey, 8. 47-Steve Kapaun, 9. 24-Steven Keith, 10. 10-Helen Hennessey, 11. 19-John Foster, 12. 4-Gary Bowman, 13. 66-Frank Rhodes, 14. 22x-Jason Nance, 15. 96-Tyler Inscore, 16. 08-Chris Trimino, 17. 27-Rusty Degroat, 18. 20-Levi Rudy, 19. 43-Tim Cotherman, 20. 22-Daniel Lamm, 21. 61-John Ogden, 22. 93-A.J. Breau, 23. 77-Brandon Schule, 24. 2n-Cale Rudy.
Micro Sprints:
Heat One: 1. 88-Tyler Merrill, 2. 9-Marty Morin, 3. 7kk-Mason Keefer, 4. 04J-Dale Eliason, Jr., 5. 29-Paul Martin, 6. 14-Logan Heath.
Heat Two: 1. 20az-Jarrett Martin, 2. 57-Kyle Huttenhow, 3. 9x-Dennis Carrier, 4. 50-Ray Herrera, 5. 28-Mark Morin, 6. 52-Cameron LaRose.
Heat Three: 1. 7-Kevin Keefer, 2. 2-Ryan Hennessey, 3. 11m-A.J. Miller, 4. 41h-Colton Hardy, 5. 29J-Jeff Christoferson, 6. 91T-James LaRose.
“A” Feature: 1. 41h-Colton Hardy, 2. 88-Tyler Merrill, 3. 9x-Dennis Carrier, 4. 29-Paul Martin, 5. 57-Kyle Huttenhow, 6. 04J-Dale Eliason, Jr., 7. 20az-Jarrett Martin, 8. 91T-James LaRose, 9. 52-Cameron LaRose, 10. 29J-Jeff Christoferson, 11. 9-Marty Morin, 12. 11m-A.J. Miller, 13. 14-Logan Heath, 14. 28-Mark Morin, 15. 50-Ray Herrera, 16. 7kk-Mason Keefer, 17. 7-Kevin Keefer.
Sources: Lonnie Wheatley/Canyon Speedway Park PR