Whitwell Wires Desert Thunder Nationals Night One at Central Arizona Speedway
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (November 22, 2019) – Tucson’s R.C. Whitwell put on a clinic at Central Arizona Speedway on Friday night, leading all 25-laps of the IMCA Modified feature to top the opening leg of the Sixth Annual Desert Thunder Nationals atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.
While Whitwell whipped the Modifieds in the opening leg of the three-race set, other Friday night winners included Cody Thompson in IMCA Sport Modified action, Zack Tate in the Bombers, Colton Hardy in the Power 600 Non-Wing Micro Sprints and Dylan Schaadt in the Power 600 Restricted Micro Sprints.
Whitwell made the most of a front-row starting position in the Modified feature by gunning into the lead at the outset and racing on to a convincing victory on a lightning-fast racetrack after several days of rain.
“That was the toughest race I’ve had all year,” Whitwell said afterward. “I was lucky to draw the number two to start up front and then I was just hanging on.”
Whitwell took the checkered flag ahead of Chaz Baca with Zachary Madrid working his way forward from ninth to fill out the podium in third. Jason Noll was fourth with pole starter Derek Huggins rounding out the top five.
In the IMCA Sport Modified feature, Sioux City, Iowa’s Cody Thompson raced from the fourth row outside to capture the win.
“I think I can be a little better, we’re still a little tight,” Cody Thompson explained in victory lane.
Thompson led an Iowa sweep of the podium with Michael Soboski and Cole Carver in second and third, respectively, with Shelby Frye and Cory Hemphill rounding out the top five.
Coolidge’s Zach Tate battled into the lead early on in the Bomber feature and fended off the duo of Cory Jarbeau and Nick Posey to snare the victory.
Bouncing back from heat race issues, Phoenix shoe Colton Hardy picked up the win in the Power 600 Non-Wing Micro Sprint feature from eighth ahead of Dale Eliason, Jr., and Austin Torgerson while Dylan Schaadt rallied from 12th to top the Restricted “A” Class feature ahead of pole starter Hayley Aragon and Ayden Hamblin.
Central Arizona Speedway’s Sixth Annual Desert Thunder Nationals resumes with Saturday night’s second of three rounds that gets under way at 6:00 p.m. featuring IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Bombers and Power 600 Micro Sprints.
Central Arizona Speedway – November 22, 2019 Sixth Annual Desert Thunder Nationals Night One Results:
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One: 1. 28-Jim Whistler, 2. 96T-R.C. Whitwell, 3. 26-Trevor Miller, 4. 16-Jimmy Mills, 5. 8m-Doug Meeks, 6 71s-Brent Schlafmann, 7. 5T-Jeff Taylor, 8. 5b-Brenda Kirby, 9. D6-Dale Irby.
Heat Two: 1. 09-Kelly Hayes, 2. X-Mike Wedelstadt, 3. 6tc-Taylon Center, 4. 75-Spencer Wilson, 5. 35-Wes Hall, 6. 5k-Austin Kuehl, 7. 2*-Don Gumke, 8. 85T-Roy Meeks.
Heat Three: 1. 18k-Jacob Pace, 2. 44n-Jason Noll, 3. 44-Christy Barnett, 4. 44k-Kelsie Foley, 5. 292-Tony Martin, 6. 36-Bill Miller, 7. M22-Sean Stacy, 8. 71az-Tyler Mecl.
Heat Four: 1. 75jr-Chaz Baca, 2. 2x-Ray Poeling, 3. 271-Chris Carroll, 4. 0-Jake O’Nieil, 5. 27-Mark Carrell, 6. 10s-Rick Spencer II, 7. 157-Joel King, 8. 98-Alex Stanford.
Heat Five: 1. 39-Derek Huggins, 2. 5-Zachary Madrid, 3. 1x-Don Earven, 4. 10g-Don Geist, 5. 82-Sherman Barnett, 6. 23c-Chuck Grohnke, 7. 68-Heath Grizzle, 8. 82w-Easton Whistler.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 96T-R.C. Whitwell, 2. 75jr-Chaz Baca, 3. 5-Zachary Madrid, 4. 44n-Jason Noll, 5. 39-Derek Huggins, 6. 09-Kelly Hayes, 7. 2x-Roy Poeling, 8. 271-Chris Carroll, 9. 10g-Don Geist, 10. 6tc-Taylor Center, 11. 8m-Doug Meeks, 12. 18k-Jacob Pace, 13. 1x-Don Earven, 14. 292-Tony Martin, 15. 36-Bill Miller, 16. 75-Spencer Wilson, 17. 28-Jim Whistler, 18. X-Mike Wedelstadt, 19. 44-Christy Barnett, 20. 71az-Tyler Mecl, 21. 0-Jake O’Neil, 22. 25-Trevor Miller, 23. 5k-Austin Kuehl, 24. 27-Mark Carrell, 25. 44k-Kelsie Foley.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One: 1. 25c-Cody Thompson, 2. 25d-Steve Duffy, 3. 51F-David Farley, 4. 303-Kyler Reynolds, 5. 55-Micahel Soboski, 6. 7-7-Aaron Farrell, 7. 00sp-Crystal Hemphill.
Heat Two: 1. 8w-Koty McGullam, 2. 1s-Shelby Frey, 3. 12-Jimmy Terstriep, 4. 56-Terry Bahr, 5. 11az-Cole Carver, 6. 198k-Cory Hemphill, 7. 06-Rex Hasley.
“A” Main: 1. 25c-Cody Thompson, 2. 55-Michael Soboski, 3. 11az-Cole Carver, 4. 1s-Shelby Frye, 5. 198k-Cody Hemphill, 6. 12-Jimmy Terstriep, 7. 303-Kyler Reynolds, 8. 06-Rex Hasley, 9. 8w-Koty McGullam, 10. 56-Terry Bahr, 11. 7-7-Aaron Farrell, 12. 00sp-Crystal Hemphill, 13. 25d-Steve Duffy, 14. 51F-David Farley
Bombers:
Heat One: 1. 5c-Zack Tate, 2. 27c-Nick Posey, 3. 44-Sierra Weber, 4. 57-Austin Wiseman, 5. 03c-Steven Manzanedo, 6. 7c-Jon D’Ambrosio, 7. 13x-Aaron Collier, 8. 55J-Jared Wilson.
Heat Two: 1. 42-Cory Jarbeau, 2. 6c-Glenn Duvall, 3. 57s-Kayle Snyder, 4. 28-Jim Hawver, 5. 87-Charles McDaniel, 6. 87jag-John Gary.
“A” Main: 1. 5z-Zack Tate, 2. 42-Cory Jarbeau, 3. 27c-Nick Posey, 4. 28-Jim Hawver, 5. 57-Austin Wiseman, 6. 6c-Glenn Duvall, 7. 57s-Kayle Snyder, 8. 13x-Aaron Collier, 9. 7c-Jon D’Ambrosio, 10. 44-Sierra Weber, 11. 87jag-John Gary, 12. 4c-Pete Clubb, 13. 03c-Steven Manzanedo, 14. 87-Charles McDaniel.
Power 600 Micro Sprints:
Heat One: 1. 06-Matt Sanchez, 2. 43e-Eddie Hamblin, 3. 32-Matt Schiffmacher, 4. 67-Kurt Johnson, 5. 23s-R.J. Johnson, 6. 68-Derrick Johnson, 7. 33-Rowdy Ladd, 8. 34w-Colton Hardy.
Heat Two: 1. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 2. 23-John Castro, 3. 72-A.J. Hernandez, 4. 82-C.J. Bunch, 5. 35-Logan Calderwood, 6. 21x-George Zills, 7. 07-Keelan Matthews.
Heat Three: 1. 88x-Austin Torgerson, 2. 04J-Dale Eliason, Jr., 3. 52-Cameron La Rose, 4. 92b-Eric Bartlett, 5. 69-Evan La, 6. 03-Jake Branum, 7. 88s-Jason Smith.
“A” Main: 1. 34w-Colton Hardy, 2. 04J-Dale Eliason, Jr., 3. 88x-Austin Torgerson, 4. 52-Cameron La Rose, 5. 72-A.J. Hernandez, 6. 23s-R.J. Johnson, 7. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 8. 68-Derrick Johnson, 9. 7-Eddie Hamblin, 10. 21x-George Zills, 11. 23-Josh Castro, 12. 88s-Jason Smith, 13. 07-Keelan Matthews, 14. 33-Rowdy Ladd, 15. 06-Matt Sanchez, 16. 69-Evan La, 17. 82-C.J. Bunch, 18. 92b-Eric Bartlett, 19. 32-Matt Schiffmacher, 20. 03-Jake Branum, 21. 67-Kurt Johnson, 22. 35-Logan Calderwood.
Power 600 Restricted Micro Sprints:
Heat One: 1. 98-Bobby Tanner, 2. 88g-Grant Schaadt, 3. 25-Josh Spatola, 4. 83-Hayley Aragon, 5. 15r-Rose Miller, 6. 99-Justin Spears.
Heat Two: 1. 36-Tuesday Calderwood, 2. 6-Kaiden Clark, 3. 15d-Dylan Schaadt, 4. 7J-J.W. Henderson, 5. 7-Jesse Johnson, 6. 48-Ava Ogle.
Heat Three: 1. 2a-Ayden Hamblin, 2. 88a-Axton Romero, 3. 4-Logan Calderwood, 4. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 5. 5T-Tyler Johnson.
“A” Main: 1. 15d-Dylan Schaadt, 2. 83-Hayley Aragon, 3. 2a-Ayden Hamblin, 4. 4-Logan Calderwood, 5. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 6. 6-Kaiden Clark, 7. 7J-J.W. Henderson, 8. 36-Tuesday Calderwood, 9. 5T-Tyler Johnson, 10. 7-Jesse Johnson, 11. 25-Josh Spatola, 12. 15r-Rose Miller, 13. 88g-Grant Schaadt, 14. 99-Justin Spears, 15. 48-Ava Ogle, 16. 98-Bobby Tanner, 17. 88a-Axton Romero.
Sources: Lonnie Wheatley/Central Arizona Speedway PR