The crowd was on there feet Saturday night at Canyon Raceway in Peoria Arizona as the Arizona Sprint Car Association (ASCA) brought their brand of 360 cubic inch Non Wing Sprint Cars to Canyon’s 3/8ths mile clay oval. Twenty eight cars signed in to do battle for the twenty starting positions in the twenty five lap main event. Four heat races were on tap for the ASCA Sprinters with the #48 car of Thomas Ogle taking the win in the first heat with the 62A car of Chris Edwards taking a wild ride off turn 3 coming down for the checker. Chris walked away uninjured from the wreck. Heat 2 had the #81 Sprinter of Trey Dean go for a series of end over end flips off turn one. The car came to rest on its wheels and after a few minutes of gathering his thoughts Trey was able to climb out and walk to the pits but the car suffered extensive damage. The 22 car of Ben Greg took the second heat race win. Heat 3 was won by the #57 sprinter of Mike Martin and Jeremy Sherman in the #77 continued his heat race dominance by winning heat race four. Bobby Boone went the distance and took the win in the twelve lap semi main event.
The ASCA officials lined the twenty main event starters up on the front straightaway for driver introductions and the many push trucks on hand had the field pushed of and rolling in no time. Car #50 of Michael Bryan brought the field to the green and the main event was underway. The first seven laps were run under green when the first caution flew for a spin in turn one. Mike Martin had the early lead but coming into turn three on the restart the #57 Sprint Car refused to turn going off the top of the track and spinning to bring out the caution one more time. When the green flew it was Michael Bryon out front being pressured by Jeremy Sherman. A pass by Sherman and a spin by Bryan brought out the next caution and it looked like Jeremy was on his way to victory number nine on the 2005 season. The restart saw Sherman running the high side with rest of the field but a look back to about fifth position saw the #15 of R. J. Johnson using the bottom of the race track to move his way into contention. Johnson caught Sherman with about five laps left and the duel to the checkers was on. The two talented Sprint Car drivers traded the lead lap after lap with Sherman up top and Johnson on the bottom. A caution for a spin after the white flag was displayed brought out a yellow and forced a green – white – checker shoot out for the finish. A quick yellow for a spin brought out the caution before a lap was in and when they restarted again a wild crash out of turn four saw several cars involved with two cars flipping and one car, #48 Thomas Ogle, landing in the catch fence. Drivers involved were #61 of Bobby Boone (who also flipped), #12 of Jeff Henry, #22 Ben Greg and Ogle. All drivers were unhurt in the crash.
The cars were pushed off after a brief red for the clean up and at the white flag the two leaders were again side by side. With contact coming off turn two after the white flag the drivers raced into turn three with Sherman trying to drive in hard and get in front of Johnson. Coming off turn four with Chaz Baca’s checker waving the two came together again and it looked like third place Mike Leslie was going to be the car to benefit. Down to the checkers however it was R.J. Johnson crossing the line by a bumper over Jeremy Sherman as the cars banged together down the straightaway. After sliding to a stop following the cool down lap both drivers jumped from their cars to meet each other in a celebration that was appreciated by the cheering crowd.
In the drivers interviews RJ stated that Jeremy has been an idol of his since he started coming to the races and has maintained a friendship with him that hard racing cannot come between. Jeremy Sherman echoed the thoughts of RJ in his interview stating how much fun it was to race the final circuits against the youngster. Mike Leslie finished an impressive third place.
In other racing the Modified Midget action saw the #47 car of Brandon Shelton take the win in the 600cc class with the #96x of Brandon Young winning the 250cc division. The 48x Dwarf car of Dean Riggs captured the main event for the AZ Dwarf Cars.
Action resumes next weekend at Canyon Raceway with a big doubleheader. On July 15 the BRA Modifieds, Pure Stocks, Bombers & Figure 8’s take to the track and on Saturday July 16th it’s the return of the Late Models along with the Pure Stocks, Arizona Dwarfs & Modified Midgets. Racing starts at 7:30 both nights. Stop by www. canyonraceway .net for more info.
