Lonnie Wheatley, PHOENIX, Ariz. (April 4, 2009) – Johnny Herrera logged his name into the record books as the winner of the final winged Sprint Car race in the history of Manzanita Speedway by topping Saturday night's 25-lap feature event atop the track's 1/3-mile clay oval.
In the process, the Albuquerque racer also continued his reign of ASCS Regional mastery with his 16th consecutive win in as many Regional starts dating back to 2005.
Herrera gridded the field eighth aboard the familiar No. 45x and ultimately took the checkered flag ahead of Ben Gregg, who rebounded from a lap one spin.
Mike Martin claimed the show position, with defending ASCS Rocky Mountain Region champion Derrik Ortega and Kaylene Verville rounding out the top five.
Bernie Smith was sixth, with Ronnie Clark, reigning series champion Rick Ziehl, 19th-starter Cody Cambensy and 18th-starter John Gaston completing the top ten.
(Terry Shaw photos)
ASCS Southwest Region Results from Manzanita Speedway:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 01-Kaylene Verville, 2. 6-Ronnie Clark, 3. 20-Mike Martin, 4. 91-Chuck Buckman, 5. 22J-John Gaston, 6. 99x-Chuck Jackson, 7. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 8. 7az-Bobby Collister.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 57-Steve Stone, 2. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 3. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 4. 22b-Ben Gregg, 5. 51-Cody Cambensy, 6. 20L-Andrew Reinbold, 7. 45-Ron Kratz, 8. 6x-Bud Rowe.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 2. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 7c-Billy Chester III, 4. 20az-Steve Martin, 5. 44k-Koty McGullam, 6. 66-Jessica Van Dyke, 7. 32-Steve Cushman, 8. 22x-Jesse Baker.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 35-Derrik Ortega, 2. 8-Daniel Hutto, 3. 97-Bernie Smith, 4. 41-Joshua Williams, 5. 5az-John Van Horn, 6. 11T-Steve Lohn, 7. 55-T.K. Lindahl.
"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 20L-Andrew Reinbold, 2. 22J-John Gaston, 3. 51-Cody Cambensy, 4. 5az-John Van Horn, 5. 32-Steve Cushman, 6. 11T-Steve Lohn, 7. 99x-Chuck Jackson, 8. 6x-Bud Rowe, 9. 8az-Jordan Stetson, 10. 55-T.K. Lindahl, 11. 7az-Bobby Collister, 12. 66-Jessica Van Dyke, 13. 45-Ron Kratz, 14. 44k-Koty McGullam, 15. 22x-Jesse Baker.
"A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 22b-Ben Gregg, 3. 20-Mike Martin, 4. 35-Derrik Ortega, 5. 01-Kaylene Verville, 6. 97-Bernie Smith, 7. 6-Ronnie Clark, 8. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 9. 51-Cody Cambensy, 10. 22J-John Gaston, 11. 94-Charles Davis, Jr., 12. 7c-Billy Chester III, 13. 20L-Andrew Reinbold, 14. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 15. 8-Daniel Hutto, 16. 5az-John Van Horn, 17. 91-Chuck Buckman, 18. 41-Joshua Williams, 19. 20az-Steve Martin, 20. 57-Steve Stone.
ASCS Southwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Johnny Herrera 300, 2. Derrik Ortega 284, 3. Rick Ziehl 278, 4. (tie) Charles Davis, Jr., and Mike Martin 268, 6. Ronnie Clark 266, 7. (tie) John Gaston and Cody Cambensy 264, 9. Ben Gregg 260, 10. Daniel Hutto 258.