Random thoughts from Night 1 of the Westerns... First off, the sprint car format is confusing. Heat races, qualifying races, and a main? I would love to see how the pill draw and the points you have get you to wherever you end up on Saturday night. In talking to some of the sprint car drivers, they are as confused as a lot of us. I just read the USAC rule book and found out something new. No where in the USAC rule book does it say anything about a 2 spin rule. You know, the old rule where if you spin or cause a yellow twice in 1 race, you are done and you go to the pits. I guess they did away with that rule. A couple of Midget guys got lucky since that rule is no longer in force. Ronnie Gardner and Rj Johnson are two of the guys that stopped twice but were able to continue. Ive said it before and Ill say it again, the one to beat at Canyon this weekend is Bryan Clauson. That guy is one cool cucumber when hes driving. He started 12th I think in the midget main and just picked off cars one by one. He had patience which is what was needed on last nights track. BC got 3rd which is really awesome. Congrats to Christopher Bell on the win with Brady Bacon 2nd, and BC 3rd. The track was typical Canyon last night. There was a big bump going into turn 1 that was really upsetting a lot of the cars; both midgets and sprints. Congrats to Tracy Hines on the new track record for midgets. The midget heat races were exciting as there was a lot of passing and good hard racing. The main event was a bit long with a lot of spins and a good hard flip by Taylor Ferns on lap 1 of the main. It was a case of 3 cars fighting for the same real estate with Taylor getting launched. She did some end over end flips and a few barrel rolls for good measure. Thankfully, she got out of the car on her own power. It was good to see Mike Spencer, driver of the #50 Ron Chaffin USAC/CRA sprint car come over and take on the USAC National Midget guys. He won his heat race and got 10th in the A Main. Great job by Mike since he doesnt run a midget all of the time. Rumor has it he will be in the #7 Mark Priestley 360 Sprint Car tonight for the Friday Night Western World qualifier. I have to wonder what happened to the USAC WS Champ Ronnie Gardner. I havent seen him run in a long time and he sure didnt look that great. 4th in his Heat and 17th in the main. Everyone was saying that hes the guy to beat on the west coast. I hope he gets his car figured out for the next 2 nights. Now the sprint cars. They did a pill draw instead of qualify. Ok, thats good. But WOW! There were heavy hitters in each heat race. Congrats goes to Rj Johnson on his win last night. He is proving to be one of the guys to beat at Canyon. He started on the pole and never looked back. Finishing in the runner up spot was Brady Bacon. Brady looked good in his car. Getting 3rd was Jerry Coons Jr who was fast all night long. Running in 4th was The Peoples Champ Dave Darland in the Josh Ford #73. The sprints were working with a tough dry slick track. The groove started out low but within a couple of laps they were pushin that cushion and riding it hard. Its just too bad that the move over flag was not used as it cost some guys some positions. Tonight is round 2. Make sure you follow either USAC or Lance Jennings for real time updates. On tap for tonight is a complete midget show again and the 2nd group of sprints. The car count is pretty good. Last night 31 sprints checked in with 27 midgets. If you can get over to AZ, I would highly recommend it! Racing starts at 7pm.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:32:19 +0000
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