Lonnie Wheatley, CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (November 23, 2019) – After wiring the field on Friday night, R.C. Whitwell upped his game with an even more dominant performance in Saturday’s second leg of Central Arizona Speedway’s Sixth Annual Desert Thunder Nationals by romping to IMCA Modified victory lane in a non-stop 25-lapper atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.
Whitwell wasn’t the only one to make it two-for-two in the three-race set with Cody Thompson besting the IMCA Sport Modifieds again and Zach Tate repeated in the Bombers. R.J. Johnson and J.W. Henderson were victorious in Power 600 Micro Sprint Non-Wing and Restricted “A” Class competition, respectively.
Whitwell, Thompson and Tate will each vie for a three-race sweep of the Desert Thunder Nationals finale that fires off Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
After drawing the front row outside for Friday night’s preliminary feature, Whitwell landed on the pole of Saturdays’ 25-lap IMCA Modified feature. “My cousin has been drawing for me, and she has done pretty well,” Whitwell said.
With Tucson’s Whitwell on the pole, he jumped out front at the drop of the green flag and never looked back in the caution-free event.
Whitwell reached traffic prior to the midway point and was able to successfully navigate his way through it to a straightaway victory over Chaz Baca, Jr.
“We tried a bunch of different stuff from yesterday,” Whitwell commented. “It was a lot better. Lapped traffic was pretty treacherous at times, but it was a great racetrack that you could really move around on.”
While Baca, Jr., settled for runner-up honors for the second night in a row, Christy Barnett claimed the show position with Mike Wedelstadt and Jason Noll rounded out the top five as only ten cars remained on the lead lap as the checkered flag flew.
After winning Friday night’s opener, Sioux City, Iowa’s Cody Thompson had to work harder to make it two in a row on Saturday night but ultimately made it happen.
Thompson spent the early portion of the race chasing Ty Weidner before finally slipping past for the lead at the midway point of the 20-lapper. Thompson ultimately slipped away to secure the triumph.
“I tried once earlier to slide him (Weidner) for the lead and it didn’t work,” Thompson said in victory lane. “Fortunately, I was able to get back to him and get by.”
Cole Carver briefly battled past Weidner for second only to slip off the track, with Weidner reclaiming second all the way to the stripe with tenth-starter Cory Hemphill, Dixon Tipton and Jimmy Terstriep rounding out the top five.
Coolidge’s Zack Tate saved the best for last in the 20-lap Bomber feature, pulling alongside race-long leader Nick Posey as the white flag flew and edging ahead to make it two wins in as many nights by only 0.041 seconds. Posey settled for second with Aaron Collier on the podium as well in third.
In the Power 600 Non-Wing Micro Sprint feature, Sprint Car ace shook off Micro rust of approximately ten years to edge Friday winner Colton Hardy at the line with Dale Eliason, Jr., while fellow Phoenix shoe J.W. Henderson topped the Power 600 Restricted “A” Class Micro Sprints ahead of Cali racer Brandon Reveira and Grant Schaadt.
Central Arizona Speedway’s Sixth Annual Desert Thunder Nationals concludes with Sunday’s third and final round that gets under way at 1:00 p.m., featuring IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Bombers.
Central Arizona Speedway – November 23, 2019, Sixth Annual Desert Thunder Nationals Night Two Results:
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One: 1. 75jr-Chaz Baca, 2. 27-Mark Carrell, 3. 71az-Tyler Mecl,, 4. 5-Zachary Madrid, 5. 10g-Don Geist, 6. 82-Sherman Barnett, 7. 35-Wes Hall, 8. 8m-Doug Meeks, 9 5k-Austin Kuehl.
Heat Two: 1. 44-Christy Barnett, 2. 44k-Kelsie Foley, 3. 36-Bill Miller, 4. 75-Spencer Wilson, 5. 2x-Roy Poeling, 6. 118-Jesse Patterson, 7. 68-Heath Grizzle, 8. 16-Jimmy Mills.
Heat Three: 1. X-Mike Wedelstadt, 2. 44n-Jason Noll, 3. 82w-Eston Whisler, 4. 39-Derek Huggins, 5. 28-Jim Whisler, 6. 85T-Roy Meeks, 7. 40jr-Jeff Stafford, Jr., 8. D6-Dale Irby.
Heat Four: 1. 1x-Don Earven, 2. 18k-Jacob Pace, 3. 5T-Jeff Taylor, 4. 14a-Chase Alves, 5. 98-Alex Stanford, 6. 09-Kelly Hayes, 7. 23c-Chuck Grohnke, 8. M22-Sean Stacy.
Heat Five: 1. 96T-R.C. Whitwell, 2. 271-Chris Carroll, 3. 292-Tony Martin, 4. 26-Trevor Miller, 5. 71s-Brent Schlafmann, 6. 6tc-Taylon Center, 7. 157-Joel King, 8. 5b-Brenda Kirby.
“B” Main One: 1. 5m-Zachary Madrid, 2. 26-Trevor Miller, 3. 98-Alex Stanford, 4. 85T-Roy Meeks, 5. 82-Sherman Barnett, 6. D6-Dale Irby, 7. 23c-Chuck Grohnke, 8. 5b-Brenda Kirby, 9. 8m-Doug Meeks, 10. 39-Derek Huggins, 11. 2x-Roy Poeling, 12. 6tc-Taylon Center, 13. 68-Heath Grizzle, 14. 5k-Austin Kuehl.
“B” Main Two: 1. 75-Spencer Wilson, 2. 14a-Chase Alves, 3. 28-Jim Whisler, 4. 10g-Don Geist, 5. 71s-Brent Schlafmanm, 6. 09-Kelsey Hayes, 7. 118-Jesse Patterson, 8. M22-Sean Stacy, 9. 40jr-Jeff Stafford, Jr., 10. 157-Joel King, 11. 16-Jimmy Mills, 12. 35-Wes Hall, 13. 2*-Don Gumke.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 96t-R.C. Whitwell, 2. 75jr-Chaz Baca, 3. 44-Christy Barnett, 4. X-Mike Wedelstadt, 5. 44n-Jason Noll, 6. 5m-Zachary Madrid, 7. 18k-Jacob Pace, 8. 5T-Jeff Taylor, 9. 44k-Kelsie Foley, 10. 27-Mark Carrell, 11. 71az-Tyler Mecl, 12. 82w-Eston Whisler, 13. 75-Spencer Wilson, 14. 26-Trevor Miller, 15. 14a-Chase Alves, 16. 71s-Brent Schlafmann, 17. 82-Sherman Barnett, 18. 28-Jim Whisler, 19. 10g-Don Geist, 20. 85T-Roy Meeks, 21. 36-Bill Miller, 22. 1x-Don Earven, 23. 98-Alex Stanford, 24. 271-Chris Carroll, 25. 292-Tony Martin.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One: 1. 198k-Cory Hemphill, 2. 11az-Cole Carver, 3. Z28-Ty Weidner, 4. 17-Neil Eckhart, 5. 12dt-Dixon Tipton, 6. 39az-Artie Garcia, 7. 7-7-Aaron Farrell, 8. 1r-Richard Liskey, 9. 00sp-Crystal Hemphill, 10. 8w-Dylan Newberg.
Heat Two: 1. 25c-Cody Thompson, 2. 55-Michael Soboski, 3. 12-Jimmy Terstriep, 4. 303-Kyler Reynolds, 5. 25d-Steve Duffy, 6. 05-Rex Hasley, 7. 1s-Shelby Frye, 8. 12x-Robert Holmes, 9. 56-Terry Bahr, 10. 51F-David Farley.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 25c-Cody Thompson, 2. Z28-Ty Weidner, 3. 198k-Cory Hemphill, 4. 12dt-Dixton Tipton, 5. 12-Jimmy Terstriep, 6. 17-Neil Eckhart, 7. 55-Michael Soboski, 8. 06-Rex Hasley, 9. 1s-Shelby Frye, 10. 39az-Artie Garcia, 11. 00sp-Crystal Hemphill, 12. 15-Speedy Madrid, 13. 11az-Cole Carver, 14. 25d-Steve Duffy, 15. 303-Kyler Reynolds, 16. 1r-Richard Liskey, 17. 7-7-Aaron Farrell, 18. 12x-Robert Holmes, 19. 56-Terry Bahr, 20. 8w-Dylan Newberg, 51F-David Farley.
Bombers:
Heat One: 1. 27c-Nick Posey, 2. 6c-Glenn Duvall, 3. 57-Austin Wiseman, 4. 87-Charles McDaniel, 5. 82-Steve Soboski, 6. 24w-Justin Wyckoff, 7. 12dt-Dixon Tipton, 8. 9x-Mark Farnes, 9. 42-Cory Jarbeau, 10. 28-Jim Hawver.
Heat Two: 1. 5c-Zack Tate, 2. 13x-Aaron Collier, 3. 4c-Pete Clubb, 4. 44-Sierra Weber, 5. 87jag-John Gary, 6. 57x-Kayle Snyder, 7. 9-Paul O’Conner, 8. 7-Rick Hughes, 9. 03c-Steve Manzanedo, 10. 17-Rusty Smith.
“A” Main: 1. 5c-Zack Tate, 2. 27c-Nick Posey, 3. 13x-Aaron Collier, 4. 9-Paul O’Conner, 5. 4c-Pete Clubb, 6. 28-Jim Hawver, 7. 44-Sierra Weber, 8. 87jag-John Gary, 9. 12dt-Dixon Tipton, 10. 42-Cory Jarbeau, 11. 82-Steve Soboski, 12. 57-Austin Wiseman, 13. 57x-Kayle Snyder, 14. 6c-Glenn Duvall, 15. 87-Charles McDaniel, 16. 7-Rick Hughes, 17. 03c-Steven Manzanedo, 18. 9x-Mark Farnes, 19. 24w-Justin Wyckoff, 20. 17-Rusty Smith.
Power 600 Non-Wing Micro Sprints:
Heat One: 1. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 2. 23s-R.J. Johnson, 3. 68-Derrick Johnson, 4. 35-Logan Calderwood, 5. 88-Jason Smith, 6. 03-Jake Branum, 7. 07-Keelan Matthews.
Heat Two: 1. 72-A.J. Hernandez, 2. 04J-Dave Eliason, Jr., 3. 88x-Austin Torgerson, 4. 52-Cameron La Rose, 5. 82-C.J. Bunch, 6. 33-Rowdy Ladd, 7. 7T-Terry O’Conner.
Heat Three: 1. 34w-Colton Hardy, 2. 43e-Eddie Hamblin, 3. 21x-George Zills, 4. 7J-Jacob Kirchoff, 5. 69-Evan La, 6. 23-Josh Castro, 7. 06-Matt Sanchez.
“A” Main: 1. 23s-R.J. Johnson, 2. 34w-Colton Hardy, 3. 04J-Dale Eliason, Jr., 4. 88x-Austin Torgerson, 5. 23-Josh Castro, 6. 52-Cameron La Rose, 7. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 8. 43e-Eddie Hamblin, 9. 21x-George Zills, 10. 33-Rowdy Ladd, 11. 7J-Jacob Kirchoff, 12. 07-Keelan Matthews, 13. 82-C.J. Bunch, 14. 03-Jake Branum, 15. 88-Jason Smith, 16. 72-A.J. Hernandez, 17. 68-Derrick Johnson, 18. 7T-Terry O’Conner, 19. 69-Evan La, 20. 35-Logan Calderwood, 21. 06-Matt Sanchez.
Power 600 Restricted Micro Sprints:
Heat One: 1. 02-Brandon Riveira, 2. 88g-Grant Schaadt, 3. 7-Jesse Johnson, 4. 25-Josh Spatola, 5. 98-Bobby Tanner, 6. 48-Ava Ogle.
Heat Two: 1. 7J-J.W. Henderson, 2. 2a-Aiden Morris, 3. 4-Logan Calderwood, 4. 6-Kaiden Clark, 5. 15r-Rose Miller.
Heat Three: 1. 88a-Axton Romero, 2. 36-Tuesday Calderwood, 3. 83-Hayley Aragon, 4. 5T-Tyler Johnson, 5. 15d-Dylan Schaadt.
“A” Main: 1. 7J-J.W. Henderson, 2. 02-Brandon Reveira, 3. 88g-Grant Schaadt, 4. 36-Tuesday Calderwood, 5. 15d-Dylan Schaadt, 6. 4-Logan Calderwood, 7. 83-Hayley Aragon, 8. 7-Jesse Johnson, 9. 6-Kaiden Clark, 10. 15r-Rose Miller, 11. 5T-Tyler Johnson, 12. 88a-Axton Romero, 13. 98-Bobby Tanner, 14. 48-Ava Ogle, 15. 2a-Aiden Morris, 16. 25-Josh Spatola.