By Mike Spieker
SOMERTON, Ariz. (January 11, 2020) – Tucson, Ariz. driver, Jake O’Neil, dominated the IMCA Modified feature on night three of the Winter Nationals presented by Yuma Insurance at Cocopah Speedway.
O’Neil started on the pole with Bobby Hogge to his outside. O’Neil got the jump on the opening lap as Jeff Taylor moved into the second spot from the fourth starting position. Taylor stayed hot on the heels of O’Neil throughout the first part of the race, but O’Neil extended his advantage around the halfway point. Both drivers rode in the preferred groove of the low side of the speedway.
In the closing stages of the race, Taylor had his hands full with a hard-charging Casey Arneson, who had moved up to the third spot from the sixth starting position.
At the checkers, O’Neil took the win comfortably as Taylor held off Arneson for second.
“We had a really good car, we had a lot of luck there to start on the front row. It was still a good race for us, a little bit of luck always helps and I’ll take it any day. We had a really good race car, we’re digging pretty hard this week trying a lot of new things, trying to learn some stuff for the year, so we had our ups and downs. It’s nice to be leaving here with a win.”
After blowing an engine during his heat race on the opening night, Michael Johnson rebounded to dominate Saturday’s IMCA SportMod feature. Johnson started on the pole and held off night two winner, Cody Thompson, for all 20 laps en route to the win.
Gene Henrie led all 20 laps of the Stock Car main event. Steffan Carey remained in striking distance of Henrie for several laps, but Henrie had the field covered as he cruised to the win. Carey and Aaron Spangler rounded out the podium.
Joshua Cordova made a last-lap pass to pick up the Hobby Stock feature win. Cordova passed pole-sitter and race-long leader, Scott Tenney, on the final lap and also had to hold off Tim Gonska to pick up the win. Cordova became the only driver to pick up two feature wins so far during this year’s Winter Nationals.
Winter Nationals action resumes January 16-18 at Cocopah Speedway with a practice night and pit crew challenge on January 15.
FEATURE RESULTS
IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 0-Jake O’Neil[2]; 2. 5T-Jeff Taylor[4]; 3. 2-Casey Arneson[6]; 4. 2H-Bobby Hogge IV[1]; 5. 19SB-Lance Mari[3]; 6. 4TW-Tim Ward[10]; 7. 96T-RC Whitwell[11]; 8. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[17]; 9. 33Y-Justen Yeager[9]; 10. 13-Jerry Flippo[8]; 11. 3-Bobby Horton[12]; 12. 68-Shawn LaRocque[5]; 13. 75JR-Chaz Baca[20]; 14. 38T-Michael Thing[15]; 15. 77X-Austin Kuehl[22]; 16. 75-Spencer Wilson[13]; 17. 23R-Russell Allen[7]; 18. 7-Tyson Evans[21]; 19. 31M-Travis Mosley[25]; 20. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[16]; 21. 2*-Don Gumke[14]; 22. (DNF) 13H-Anthony Hofbauer[19]; 23. (DNF) 4X-Joey Price[18]; 24. (DNF) 33BY-Braxton Yeager[24]; 25. (DNF) 7S-Marlyn Seidler[23]
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[3]; 2. 4X-Joey Price[1]; 3. 75JR-Chaz Baca[5]; 4. 77X-Austin Kuehl[2]; 5. 33BY-Braxton Yeager[7]; 6. 3Z-Randy Havlik[9]; 7. 77S-Bricen James[8]; 8. 55-Scott Sluka[4]; 9. 77D-Cole Dick[10]; 10. 92P-John Parmeley[12]; 11. 71-Jessie Hoskins[13]; 12. 18-Steven Daffern[11]; 13. 715-Paul Guglielmoni[6]; 14. 4G-Bryan Gray[14]; 15. (DNF) 44-Jon Walton[17]; 16. (DNS) 5-Mike Magee; 17. (DNS) 1R-Doug Rivera
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[7]; 2. 13H-Anthony Hofbauer[1]; 3. 7-Tyson Evans[2]; 4. 7S-Marlyn Seidler[16]; 5. 31M-Travis Mosley[4]; 6. 36-Bill Miller[6]; 7. 9C-Dillon Hill[17]; 8. 24R-Regan Tafoya[3]; 9. 5G-Gatlin Leytham[10]; 10. 33F-Jardin Fuller[8]; 11. (DNF) K9-Mike Lerwill[12]; 12. (DNF) 24T-Terry Hurt[5]; 13. (DNF) 02-Kent Rosevear[14]; 14. (DNF) 27-Mark Carrell[9]; 15. (DNS) 8J-Leslie Gill; 16. (DNS) 24-Craig Zinke; 17. (DNS) 7G-Gary Fraser
IMCA Northern Sportmods:
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22C-Michael Johnson[1]; 2. 25C-Cody Thompson[4]; 3. 8T-Ty Rogers[5]; 4. 57CT-Chris Toth[6]; 5. 04-Chase Alves[7]; 6. 77B-Manny Baldiviez[11]; 7. 216-Camron Spangler[12]; 8. 1S-Shelby Frye[9]; 9. 77W-Mike Wells[10]; 10. 3-Miles Morris[8]; 11. 413-Tate Johnson[16]; 12. 96E-Clay Erickson[15]; 13. 6K-Kyle Salo[23]; 14. 5-Ron Schreiner[20]; 15. 28-David Pitt[21]; 16. 55C-Brian Carey[13]; 17. 316-Brandyn Johnson[3]; 18. (DNF) 2K-Taylor Kuehl[22]; 19. (DNF) 22K-Joey Klemish[18]; 20. (DNF) 14E-Justin Erickson[19]; 21. (DNF) 144-Jimmy Davy[2]; 22. (DNF) 7J-Jimmy Wilson[14]; 23. (DNF) 21H-Douglas Hilkemann[17]; 24. (DNF) 35-Slade Pitt[24]
B Feature (10 Laps): 1. 14E-Justin Erickson[1]; 2. 5-Ron Schreiner[5]; 3. 28-David Pitt[3]; 4. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[4]; 5. 6K-Kyle Salo[10]; 6. 35-Slade Pitt[2]; 7. 925-Tony Miller[8]; 8. 20AZ-Chuck Black[6]; 9. 23-Justin Brierley[7]; 10. (DNF) 13-Javier Navarro[9]
IMCA Stock Cars:
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2H-Gene Henrie[1]; 2. 3C-Steffan Carey[4]; 3. 16-Aaron Spangler[5]; 4. ZERO1-Troy Jerovetz[6]; 5. 57-Brendon LaBatte[3]; 6. 6-Chanse Hollatz[9]; 7. 007-Tony Hill[7]; 8. 88X-Kevin Roberts[2]; 9. 00-Andy Altenburg[11]; 10. 47-Jake Smith[8]; 11. 7-Nuggett Shupe[13]; 12. 8J-Leslie Gill[10]; 13. (DNF) 82P-JC Parmeley[12]
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 04J-Joshua Cordova[4]; 2. 21T-Scott Tenney[1]; 3. 5G-Tim Gonska[5]; 4. 12K-Eric Knutson[8]; 5. 19-Nathan Deragon[2]; 6. 43-Brad King[3]; 7. 64-Jason Beshears[6]; 8. 98-Jason Penny[10]; 9. 33-Jason Duggins[7]; 10. 133-Hunter Cavanagh[9]; 11. 04-Francisco Cordova[11]; 12. 23-David Callis[13]; 13. 171-Andy Pearce[14]; 14. 32-Oscar Duarte[12]; 15. (DNF) 31-Jim Robinson[15]; 16. (DNS) 41-Rick Hibbard