By Ben Deatherage
Photo Credit: Tyler Hagen
SOMERTON, Ariz. (Jan. 6, 2023) – Two drivers who had been there and done that did it again Friday night at Cocopah Speedway.
Tim Ward and Jim Horejsi repeated their winning ways from Wednesday with IMCA.TV Winter Nationals victories, Ward in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and Horejsi in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars.
Ward was a beast in the 25-lap, $1,000 to win Modified feature after obtaining P1 on the opening circuit. Things got interesting at midway when lapped traffic helped Chaz Baca catch up, but Ward made like a rocket following a lap 23 restart and couldn’t be caught.
Cody Laney powered his way up to second while Baca ended his night in third.
Curt Lund, Dylan Thornton and Zachary Madrid all battled at the front of the Stock Car field. Thornton retired early with mechanical problems, leaving Madrid to deal with challenges from Horejsi.
When it came down to the final lap, Horejsi managed to maneuver his way past Madrid to score his second $750 win in three nights by a margin of just .022 of a second. Thursday winner Shelby Williams hit the wire third.
The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event had a new face in the front. California chauffeur Andrew Peckham got straight to work as the leader of the 20-lap race before dealing with a pair of cautions and lapped traffic.
Peckham then pedaled hard to fend off Shane Paris, who had won the previous two races. Tyler Bannister took third.
The 20-lap IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock main saw a three-car tussle of its own, ultimately between Thomas Daffern, Joshua Cordova and Zack Tate, who gained the front spot for good with five circuits to go.
Eric Knutson beat Scott Tenney for second.
David Jones led every single lap of the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature. Kevin Reuter and Jacob were second and third, respectively.
The Diamond In The Desert at Somerton again saw more than 200 drivers from across the continent entered.