WINDOM WRANGLES FIRST CAREER USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR VICTORY AT ARIZONA SPEEDWAY
Queen Creek, Arizona………Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois scored the first of his two victories on Friday night in the USAC Southwest Sprint Car feature on night one of the 49th “Western World Championships” at Arizona Speedway.
Windom survived a late race charge from Brady Bacon to take the victory, though the victory did not come all that easy. Windom pulled out to a large lead by the midway point of the feature, but as he negotiated lapped traffic, Bacon rapidly reeled him in.
With seven laps remaining, Bacon not only caught Windom, he took him for the lead out of the fourth corner.
However, Bacon’s lead would be short-lived as, just moments later, he skated up the track at the entrance of turn one, just enough to allow Windom to capitalize and slip back by on the bottom.
After a caution with three laps to go for the stopped car of series point leader R.J. Johnson, lapped traffic would no longer factor into the finish as Windom had a clear track in front of him for the final sprint.
Windom zipped away on the ensuing restart, although, Bacon was able to close in on the final lap to finish just 0.171 of a second behind Windom, who collected his first career USAC Southwest Sprint Car victory and piloted the Baldwin Brothers car to a prelim night victory in the Southwest Sprint portion of the program at the “Western World” for the second consecutive year.
Bacon took second behind Windom while Tom Ogle, Matt Rossi and Ryan Bernal rounded out the top-five.
The USAC Southwest Sprint Car season finale takes place Saturday night, Nov. 5 on the second night of the “Western World” at Arizona Speedway.
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USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: November 4, 2016 – Queen Creek, Arizona – Arizona Speedway – “49th Annual Western World Championships”
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Andy Reinbold (#19 Underwood), 2. Mike Martin (#16 Martin), 3. R.J. Johnson (#77M Michael), 4. C.J. Leary (#30 Leary), 5. Ryan Bernal (#56 Phulps), 6. Jason Grady (#45 Grady), 7. Josh Grady (#12J Grady), 8. Michael Curtis (#11C Turner/Wheeler). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clinton Boyles (#77 JHR), 2. Shon Deskins (#20 SDR), 3. Charles Davis Jr. (#50 Massey), 4. Brian Hosford (#22B Weber), 5. Chris Bonneau (#78 Bonneau), 6. Dennis Gile (#13G Gile), 7. Zach Madrid (#98Z Madrid), 8. Asa Kesterson (#18 Kesterson). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Matt Rossi (#02 Rossi), 2. Matt Lundy (#98 Lundy), 3. Brady Bacon (#73 Ford), 4. Tanner Grau (#34 Team AZ), 5. Brent Yarnal (#29B Yarnal), 6. Ryan Stolz (#56X Stolz), 7. Landon Cling (#54 Cling), 8. Rob Lindsey (#23 Lindsey). NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Tom Ogle (#48 Ogle), 2. Chris Windom (#5X Baldwin), 3. Tye Mihocko (#5 Mihocko), 4. Stevie Sussex (#21AZ Burkhart), 5. Josh Hodges (#74X Hodges), 6. Aaron Farney (#17GP Dutcher), 7. Bruce St. James (#7K St. James). NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Hodges, 3. Ja.Grady, 4. Farney, 5. Bonneau, 6. Madrid, 7. Gile, 8. Curtis, 9. Jo.Grady, 10. Lindsey, 11. St. James, 12. Stolz, 13. Yarnal, 14. Cling, 15. Kesterson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Tom Ogle, 4. Matt Rossi, 5. Ryan Bernal, 6. Andy Reinbold, 7. Mike Martin, 8. Charles Davis Jr, 9. Brian Hosford, 10. Matt Lundy, 11. Tye Mihocko, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Jason Grady, 14. Aaron Farney, 15. Josh Hodges, 16. Chris Bonneau, 17. R.J. Johnson, 18. Tanner Grau, 19. Zach Madrid, 20. Clinton Boyles, 21. Stevie Sussex, 22. Shon Deskins. NT
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**Cling flipped during the third heat and the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Windom, Lap 24 Bacon, Laps 25-30 Windom.
HARD CHARGER: Ryan Bernal (13th to 5th)
NEW USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Johnson-1,390, 2-Davis-1,289, 3-Martin-1,114, 4-Rossi-1,104, 5-Mihocko-980, 6-Gile-912, 7-Sussex-850, 8-Hosford-786, 9-Bonneau-760, 10-Reinbold-755.
NEXT USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR RACE: November 5, 2016 – Queen Creek, Arizona – Arizona Speedway – “49th Annual Western World Championships”
