Lonnie Wheatley, PEORIA, Ariz. (February 4, 2012) – Indiana’s Tracy Hines put an exclamation point on his Winter Challenge championship by taking the $5,000 triumph in Saturday afternoon’s sixth and final round of action at Canyon Speedway Park.
The New Castle, IN, shoe captured his third win in six rounds of Winter Challenge competition from the front row in Saturday’s 30-lapper atop the 3/8-mile clay oval, taking the title by 43 points with a handful of top-fives over the course of the nine-day event.
Hines took Saturday’s checkered flag in front of pole starter Bud Kaeding, with Rick Ziehl filling out the podium by claiming the show position. Brent Kaeding climbed from 12th to fourth, with Jon Stanbrough rounding out the top five.
R.J. Johnson claimed sixth, ranking as the only driver to finish among the top ten in all six Winter Challenge feature events pitting the ASCS Canyon Region versus the USAC West Coast Series, with Charles Davis, Jr., Stevie Sussex, Casey Shuman and Mike Martin completing the top ten.
Ziehl, Zach Sawyers, Johnson and Shuman claimed heat race wins over the 35-car field, with Mike Martin and Shane Cottle winning the “B” Mains.
Winter Challenge Round Six Results from Canyon Speedway Park:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 2. 4-Tracy Hines, 3. 21x-Jon Stanbrough, 4. 23-Colby Copeland, 5. 0-Jimmy Crawford, 6. 55-Tony Everhart, 7. 51-Cody Cambensy, 8. 53-Tom Lee, 9. 17k-Kyle Danielson.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. XXX-Zach Sawyers, 2. 29-Bud Kaeding, 3. 16-Mike Martin, 4. 16bk-Brent Kaeding, 5. 20-Shon Deskins, 6. 27n-Nick Aiuto, 7. 9x-Ryan Linder, 8. 27h-Jeremy Huebner, 9. 32b-Brian Hosford.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 2. 21-Jeremy Sherman, 3. 8-Bob Ream, Jr., 4. 1-Stevie Sussex, 5. 7k-Bruce St. James, 6. 48T-Thomas Ogle, 7. 58-Cole Peard, 8. 6-Ronnie Clark, 9. 62-Johnny Herrera.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 97-Casey Shuman, 2. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 12-Josh Pelkey, 4. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 5. 5x-Shane Cottle, 6. 9s-John Shelton, 7. 18-Ron Shuman, 8. 6jt-Michael Curtis.
First “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 16-Mike Martin, 2. 23-Colby Copeland, 3. 20-Shon Deskins, 4. 7k-Bruce St. James, 5. 48T-Thomas Ogle, 6. 58-Cole Peard, 7. 51-Cody Cambensy, 8. 9s-John Shelton, 9. 17k-Kyle Danielson, 10. 53-Tom Lee, 11. 27h-Jeremy Huebner, 12. 32b-Brian Hosford.
Second “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 5x-Shane Cottle, 2. 8-Bob Ream, Jr., 3. 0-Jimmy Crawford, 4. 27n-Nick Aiuto, 5. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 6. 9x-Ryan Linder, 7. 62-Johnny Herrera, 8. 18-Ron Shuman, 9. 55-Tony Everhart, 10. 6jt-Michael Curtis, 11. 6-Ronnie Clark.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 4-Tracy Hines, 2. 29-Bud Kaeding, 3. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 4. 16bk-Brent Kaeding, 5. 21x-Jon Stanbrough, 6. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 7. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 8. 1-Stevie Sussex, 9. 97-Casey Shuman, 10. 16-Mike Martin, 11. 21-Jeremy Sherman, 12. 5x-Shane Cottle, 13. 23-Colby Copeland, 14. XXX-Zach Sawyers, 15. 27n-Nick Aiuto, 16. 8-Bob Ream, Jr., 17. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 18. 0-Jimmy Crawford, 19. 20-Shon Deskins, 20. 18-Ron Shuman, 21. 7k-Bruce St. James, 22. 48T-Thomas Ogle, 23. 12-Josh Pelkey.
Final Winter Challenge Points (Top Ten – Through Round Six of Six): 1. Tracy Hines (New Castle, IN) 842, 2. Charles Davis, Jr. (Buckeye, AZ) 799, 3. R.J. Johnson (Phoenix, AZ) 770, 4. Bud Kaeding (Campbell, CA) 766, 5. Jeremy Sherman (Surprise, AZ) 696, 6. Jon Stanbrough (Avon, IN) 688, 7. Casey Shuman (Tempe, AZ) 678, 8. Mike Martin (Yuma, AZ) 666, 9. Rick Ziehl (Las Cruces, NM) 634, 10. Thomas Ogle (Surprise, AZ) 618.