WARD, SMITH REPEAT CANYON WINTER SERIES VICTORIES

PEORIA, Arizona — Just a week after picking up their first feature victories of 2011, Tim Ward and Dylan Smith both raced to their second IMCA Modified checkers of the young season.

Ward topped Saturday’s Winter Challenge Series event at Canyon Speedway Park while Smith re¬peated his winning ways on Sunday. Ward has a four point edge over Smith as the series con¬cludes with a Feb. 19-20 twinbill.

Each show paid $1,000 to win.

Doubling his win total from all of last season, defending track champion Ward drew the fifth start¬ing position on Saturday and dueled with Smith early for the lead. He went high following a restart to take the point before midway.

Fellow Arizona pilots Ricky Thornton Jr. and Terry Belcher Jr. moved up to challenge following a late caution, but Ward motored away. Thornton, Belcher, Smith and Matt Brack finished in that order behind Ward.

“We made some minor changes from last week and went with a slightly tighter setup,” Ward said. “The car was awesome. I could go anywhere on the track I wanted and the car was hooked up.”

Smith started from the lucky inside row three spot Sunday. He chased down Will Brack for the lead and stayed in front to the end of the 25-lapper. Cautions kept slower cars out of the mix, but a yellow with four to go resulted in a single file restart.

Going back to the top of the track, Smith left the pack behind to win by four car lengths. Will Brack, Ward, Belcher and Jason Noll rounded out the top five.

The defending series champion, Smith has two more shots at catching Ward in the point stand¬ings next weekend.

“He’s quick. He gets around this track real well,” Smith acknowledged after matching his 2010 series win total. “Tim is quick and he’s clean, and I have to respect that.”