Justin Grant won the USAC sprint car prelim at the Western World Friday (Al Steinberg Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 13, 2020).........Between Justin Grant and Tyler Courtney, each driver entered Friday night's AMSOIL USAC CRA / USAC Southwest Sprint Car opener as the victor of the last four 410 c.i. sprint races held during the Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway.
Perhaps it was no surprise that the race for the win on this night would come down to these same two once again as Grant slipped under Courtney, who jumped over the turn one cushion nine laps from the finish. Grant led the final nine from there to score the win piloting the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical - Mesilla Valley Trans./Spike/Fisher Chevy.
Brody Roa led the first 12 laps with a flurry of activity from drivers Chris Windom, Courtney and Grant each taking their shots at Roa, the reigning USAC Southwest Sprint champ who held strong for much of the first half, interrupted only by a Logan Seavey turn two flip on the fourth lap.
On the 13th circuit, Windom utilized a run underneath Roa to snare the top spot. On the following lap, Roa clung to second as Courtney took a shot at him between turns one and two with a slide job. Courtney pulled ahead briefly, but Roa had the momentum riding with him at the top of turn two. At the exit, the two came together, Courtney's right rear to Roa's left rear, causing Roa to ramp over and slam into the turn two outside wall. Roa was uninjured.
Under the ensuing stoppage, race leader Windom had a flat right rear tire which necessitated a stop in the work area. He'd return to finish fifth.
Courtney, who had won the past three Western World Sprint Car features dating to 2018, inherited the lead at that point and held the position until lap 21 when a turn one stumble opened the door for Grant to pounce, and though Courtney mounted a charge, he was unable to reel in Grant, who had previously won Western World Sprint Car prelims in both 2015 and 2018.
Grant's margin of victory was 1.524 sec. over Courtney, Charles Davis Jr., Austin Williams and Windom.
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AMSOIL USAC CRA & SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: November 13, 2020 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - 53rd Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Ryan Bernal, 13, Gile-14.716; 2. Justin Grant, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-14.954; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-14.960; 4. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.185; 5. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.218; 6. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-15.262; 7. Max Adams, 73T, Ford-15.311; 8. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-15.325; 9. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-15.335; 10. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-15.363; 11. Damion Gardner, 1, Alexander-15.374; 12. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-15.421; 13. Chris Windom, 77m, Michael-15.447; 14. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-15.509; 15. Sterling Cling, 34c, Cling-15.510; 16. Jake Swanson, 34, Grau-15.556; 17. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-15.625; 18. Chris Bonneau, 15, Bonneau-15.631; 19. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-15.634; 20. Tye Mihocko, 5, Ream-15.639; 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-15.652; 22. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-15.679; 23. Josh Castro, 4T, Terzich/Gile-15.801; 24. Thomas Meseraull, 2, Yeley-15.822; 25. Stevie Sussex, 12, Allen-15.823; 26. Trent Williams, 52v, Williams-15.863; 27. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-15.930; 28. Jeremy Ellertson, 22, Ellertson-16.073; 29. Ikaika O'Brien, 11o, O'Brien-16.627; 30. Jonas Reynolds, 0, Reynolds-16.690; 31. Lonnie Cox, 45, Cox-16.865; 32. Chris Muraoka, 25, Muraoka-17.645; 33. Eugene Thomas, 10, Thomas-17.658; 34. Ryan Oerter, 43, Oerter-18.521.
FLOWDYNAMICS/SWAY-A-WAY TORSION BARS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Brody Roa, 3. Cody Williams, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Stevie Sussex, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 8. Ikaika O'Brien, 9. Eugene Thomas. NT
ALL COAST CONSTRUCTION/COMPETITION SUSPENSION INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Noah Gass, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Matt Mitchell, 4. Chris Bonneau, 5. Matt McCarthy, 6. Kyle Edwards, 7. Trent Williams, 8. Jonas Reynolds, 9. Ryan Oerter. NT
COMPONENT REPAIR COMPANY/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Chris Gansen, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Tommy Malcolm, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Max Adams, 7. Josh Castro, 8. Lonnie Cox. 2:09.384
ORANGE COUNTY TANK TESTING/ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tye Mihocko, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. R.J. Johnson, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Austin Williams, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Jeremy Ellertson, 8. Chris Muraoka. 2:12.046
MULTIQUIP INDUSTRIES/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Austin Williams, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Matt McCarthy, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Max Adams, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Kyle Edwards, 9. Trent Williams, 10. Jeremy Ellertson, 11. Josh Castro, 12. Ikaika O'Brien, 13. Jonas Reynolds, 14. Eugene Thomas, 15. Lonnie Cox, 16. Chris Muraoka, 17. Ryan Oerter. 3:17.600
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (5), 2. Tyler Courtney (4), 3. Charles Davis Jr. (3), 4. Austin Williams (12), 5. Chris Windom (8), 6. Ryan Bernal (6), 7. Jake Swanson (16), 8. R.J. Johnson (14), 9. Tye Mihocko (9), 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (20), 11. Max Adams (11), 12. Noah Gass (7), 13. Tommy Malcolm (22), 14. Chris Bonneau (18), 15. Cody Williams (17), 16. Chris Gansen (19), 17. Matt McCarthy (15), 18. Stevie Sussex (21), 19. Matt Mitchell (2), 20. Damion Gardner (13), 21. Brody Roa (1), 22. Logan Seavey (10). NT
**Logan Seavey flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Brody Roa, Lap 13 Chris Windom, Laps 14-21 Tyler Courtney, Laps 22-30 Justin Grant.
NEXT AMSOIL USAC CRA & SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACES: November 14, 2020 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - 53rd Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Woodland Auto Display / Beaver Stripes Fast Qualifier: Ryan Bernal
Flowdynamics/Sway-A-Way Torsion Bars First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
All Coast Construction/Competition Suspension Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Winner: Noah Gass
Component Repair Company/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
Orange County Tank Testing/Rod End Supply Fourth Heat Winner: Tye Mihocko
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Austin Williams
Sway-A-Way Torsion Bars/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Eddie Tafoya Jr. (20th to 10th)
Multiquip Industries First Non-Transfer: Sterling Cling