Sussex Startles in Sin City Showdown
Lonnie Wheatley, LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 5, 2015) – It was a Grudge Match alright, with USAC Southwest Sprint Car rep Stevie Sussex ultimately getting the upper hand over USAC West Coast shoe Ryan Bernal in Thursday night’s 30-lap “Sin City Showdown” main event at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas.
While Bernal was twice denied the lead by caution flags, Sussex took full advantage by leading the final nine circuits atop the ½-mile clay oval to take the $2,500 winner’s share back to his Tempe, AZ, home.
A three-car duel amongst early leader Hunter Schuerenberg, Sussex and Bernal became a two-way shootout between Sussex and Bernal once Hunter Percent was shuffled from the mix with less than 10 laps to go.
With both leaders running the top side of turns one and two and the lower portion of three and four, Bernal used the extreme, upper high line to rally past Sussex exiting turn two on the 28th lap and ducked down low entering turn three to take command.
Sussex fought back though, with the duo racing into turn one side-by-side with Bernal in the preferred high line and a pair of soon-to-be lapped cars very much in play. Pinned to the low side, Sussex got a piece of Josh Pelkey’s tailtank and turned him, bringing out a caution that gave the lead back to the Arizona racer with scoring reverting to the previously completed lap.
Sussex was flawless over the three-lap dash to the checkered, taking the win aboard the Team AZ Racing/Stratis Construction No. 21az RSS-chassis.
“There were a couple of cars there and I had to go in deep,” Sussex said of the late race drama. “I’m going for the win, it happens.”
Bernal, who also had the lead snatched away when a lap 14 caution denied his earlier pass of Schuerenberg, settled for runner-up honors. Matt Mitchell, whose right rear never wavered from the big track’s retaining fence, made a late move to third with Charles Davis, Jr., and Schuerenberg rounding out the top five.
The Vitals…
Series: USAC West Coast vs. USAC Southwest
Track: The Dirt Track at Las Vegas
Car Count: 31
Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Hunter Schuerenberg (1), R.J. Johnson (1), Ryan Bernal (7), Charles Davis, Jr. (4).
Heat Notable: Tye Mihocko climbed a wheel getting into turn one on the opening lap of the first heat and nearly flipped. The damage inflicted from the wall was enough to end the night.
“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Jace Vander Weerd (1).
“A” Main Cautions: 3 – Lap 15, Brody Roa comes to a stop, negating Bernal’s move past Schuerenberg for the lead; Lap 15 Restart, seventh-runner Josh Pelkey turns it around in one and two, he rejoins at the tail; Lap 28, Pelkey turns it around in turn one after contact from Sussex, who was in the midst of a life-and-death struggle for the win with Bernal.
“A” Main Hard Charger: Colby Copeland, the only driver to pull double duty in both World of Outlaws and USAC West Coast vs. USAC Southwest action, rallied from 18th to sixth after resting up while watching the WoO feature.
The Box Score…
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 73x-Hunter Schuerenberg (1), 2. 17v-Danny Faria, Jr. (2), 3. 10-Richard Vander Weerd (4), 4. 12-Josh Pelkey (8), 5. 74-Colby Copeland (5), 6. 13-Dennis Gile (7), 7. 87-Shannon McQueen (3), 8. 5-Tye Mihocko (6).
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 77m-R.J. Johnson (1), 2. 21az-Stevie Sussex (8), 3. 37-Matt Mitchell (7), 4. 48-Brody Roa (6), 5. 73-Trey Marcham (3), 6. 20-Shon Deskins (5), 7. 81-Tristan Guardino (7), 8. 179-Landon Hurst (4).
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 56-Ryan Bernal (7), 2. 83-Austin Liggett (1), 3. 7k-Bruce St. James (3), 4. 88-Jace Vander Weerd (2), 5. 5x-Max Adams (8), 6. 02-Matt Rossi (5), 7. 42n-Jeff Sibley (6), 8. 19-Andrew Reinbold (4).
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 50-Charles Davis, Jr. (4), 2. 11-Troy Rutherford (6), 3. 22b-Chris Windom (2), 4. 16-Mike Martin (3), 5. 20x-Dustin Cormany (1), 6. 32b-Brian Hosford (5), 7. 21-A.J. Bender (7).
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 88-Jace Vander Weerd (1), 2. 74-Colby Copeland (2), 3. 02-Matt Rossi (7), 4. 20-Shon Deskins (6), 5. 73-Trey Marcham 4), 6. 179-Landon Hurst (14), 7. 20x-Dustin Cormany (5), 8. 19-Andrew Reinbold (15), 9. 42n-Jeff Sibley (10), 10. 81-Tristan Guardino (12), 11. 87-Shannon McQueen (11), 12. 21-A.J. Bender (9), 13. 13-Dennis Gile (3), 14. 32b-Brian Hosford (8). DNS: 5-Tye Michocko (13).
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 21az-Stevie Sussex (5), 2. 56-Ryan Bernal (6), 3. 37-Matt Mitchell (2), 4. 50-Charles Davis, Jr. (4), 5. 73x-Hunter Schuerenberg (1), 6. 74-Colby Copeland (18), 7. 22b-Chris Windom (15), 8. 10-Richard Vander Weerd (11), 9. 5x-Max Adams (13), 10. 88-Jace Vander Weerd (17), 11. 77m-R.J. Johnson (7), 12. 17v-Danny Faria, Jr. (9), 13. 73-Trey Marcham (21), 14. 02-Matt Rossi (19), 15. 83-Austin Liggett (10), 16. 16-Mike Martin (16), 17. 11-Troy Rutherford (3), 18. 179-Landon Hurst (22), 19. 20-Shon Deskins (20), 20. 12-Josh Pelkey (8), 21. 48-Brody Roa (12), 22. 7k-Bruce St. James (14).
Lap leaders: Hunter Schuerenberg 1-21, Stevie Sussex 22-30.
