Nathan High Executes a Flawless Clean Sweep at Canyon Speedway’s First $1,000.00 ASCA Payout!

This past Saturday night the racing could not have been better at the 3/8 oval located in the high desert North of the Valley. With cool weather, and a decent racing surface, the Arizona Sprint Cars put on a show that the Canyon Speedway crowd will not soon forget. Many wondered what kind of turn-out there would be with other venues competing for Arizona Sprint car fans, but this past Saturday, no one was disappointed. “We hoped for at least 20 cars for this week” said ASCA’s Scott Sutton. But this weeks 18 cars brought with it quality with quantity. A sprint car show with top names like Multiple ASCA and ASCS Canyon Regional Champion Jeremy Sherman, Bob “the Bullet” Ream Jr, Bruce St James, Josh Pelkey, Nathan High and Many other top drivers, The racing would be nothing less than spectacular all night long. 

The Bill Shaver Trophy Dash would be a good preview of what the fans could expect in three wide action for the evening. Chuck Buckman would start on the pole in the Lowell Carsten 61 car with Zach Sawyers on the outside. Behind the XXX of Sawyer woud be the Number Twelve ABC Body Shop DRC driven by Nathan High. Outside Nathan rounding out the field would be the 77D car of Dalten Gabbard.  Into turn one It was anyone’s corner as all four cars scramble for first rights to turn one. Nathan High would soon prevail and the Shaver prize Money would be his.  We owe a large debt of gratitude to Bill Shaver for all that he does for Sprint Car Racing.

The first heat would be a stacked deck of  top qualifiers with Sherman, High, St James and Cris Bonneau. Any and all were eligible to be first one to the line, but it would come down to a battle between Nathan High and Jeremy Sherman on the last lap. High made a slight bobble opening the door for Sherman to make his move for the lead putting the crowd on their feet. It would not be but for an instant as High would slide low to take the number one spot back in turn four, inching out Sherman for the win. The finish would be High, Sherman, St.James, Hossford, Bonneau.

The second heat would prove to be just as fast. With Sean Hendricsen leading to the green, Sean would hold off Sussex for all but the remaining three laps when he would finally loose the battle to the hard charging Bob Bishop Maxim. Sussex who mastered the high side finally found his opportunity for the pass and beat the pack to the checker for the second heat win. The Cars would cross the line in this order, Sussex, Hendricsen, Pelkey, Buckman, Quinn, Stone

Heat three would see Newbie Rookie Dalton Gabbard take the top honors beating out Michael Colegrove, Zack Sawyers, Thomas Ogle, Brendan Higgins, and Steve Sussex Sr.

The Main Event for the ASCA Sprinters would top of an evening of edge-of-your-seat racing with 25 laps of hammer down competiton.  The lineup was picked inverting the top six competitors putting Zach Sawyers back on the pole to start the show. Outside Zach would be Stevie Sussex, row two Josh Pelkey outside of Mike Colegrove, Thomas Ogle and Nathan High would be row three, Behind in row four would be the 44 Dan Reagles owned entry piloted by Jeremy Sherman side by side with Sean Hendricsen. The rest of the lineup would be 36, 7k, 61, 7a, 4, 97, 77d, 93, 8, 0. Bob Ream would tag the main event in his Ol’ Yeller Number 8 as he did not have the 8 car ready for the heat races earlier. No sooner did the green come out did the gloves go on for the Main Event field of cars. The track stayed good for the whole 25 laps making for some spectacular wheel to wheel action. It was hard to keep track of all the battles being waged for the quest for the front. Two laps down and Nathan High would take point. The #8 car of Bob Ream was the car to watch as he picked off the field one and sometimes two cars at a time. Two red flags would show in the course of the twenty five laps. One resulting in a tangle between turns three and four rendering Mike Colegrove and Brendan Higgins as spectators for the remainder of the feature. The other came just after another green When a mishap involving Sussex, St. James and Pelkey would take out the 7K and the 7 car. Back under green, Bob Ream would go back to work making his charge for the front.  The #8 car found the bottom the fastest way around as Ream would slowly close in on Sussex. The only thing not in the yellow and black car’s favor would be a shortage of laps. Nathan High's Advanced Engine Maxim #12 car would resume the lead unchallenged for the remainder of the feature, finishing off the night’s competition with a flawless clean sweep for the evening. Stevie Sussex would take the second spot followed by Bob Ream Jr.

The Main Event Finish is was as follows:

12    NATHAN HIGH

62    STEVIE SUSSEX

8      BOB REAM JR

44    JEREMY SHERMAN

77D  DALTON GABBARD

XXX  ZACK SAWYERS

11    SEAN HENDRICSEN

48T  THOMAS OGLE

97    CHRIS BONNEAU

7A    BRIAN HOSSFORD

93    JUSTIN QUINN

61    CHUCK BUCKMAN

4      STEVE STONE

7K    BRUCE ST JAMES

7      JOSH PELKEY

2     MICHAEL COLEGROVE

36    BRENDAN HIGGINS

0     STEVE SUSSEX

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