Kyle Larson Takes ASCS Southwest Copper Classic Opener At Arizona Speedway

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – QUEEN CREEK, AZ – Opening the 4th annual Copper Classic at Arizona Speedway on Saturday night, California’s Kyle Larson brought his momentum from the Midgets to the ASCS Southwest Region with his first career victory against the Arizona based tour in the Finley Farms/Chevrolet Accessories No. 57.

Taking the green from sixth, Larson worked into the top three on the first lap as Hunter Schuerenberg showed the way with Christopher Bell in tow. Red with 23 laps to run, the restart saw Bell take a shot at the lead with Schuerenberg able to fend off the charge. Settling back into second, the position would be short-lived as Kyle Larson made his way by.

Closing quickly on Hunter for the lead, the caution paused his advance with 20 laps remaining. Looking top shelf on the restart for the lead, Larson worked off the second turn with momentum. Rolling the cushion in turn three before diamonding off with the lead in sight, Larson took command on Lap 6 just as brake issues struck Schuerenberg; forcing him off the pace entering the second turn.

With Christopher Bell tied to his back bumper on the restart, Larson was able to pull away and keep pace to the checkered flag. Bell would hold onto second with Justin Sanders moving up from 10th to complete the podium. Bill Balog and Colton Hardy made up the top five.

J.T. Imperial crossed sixth with Thomas Kennedy climbing from 15th to seventh. Craig Stidham, Geoff Ensign, and Mark Dobmeier completed the top ten.

Sterling Cling Tops ASCS Desert Non-Wing At Copper Classic Opener

Taking the lead from the right of the front row and never giving it up, Sterling Cling became the 15th different overall winner with the San Tan Ford ASCS Desert Non-Wing Series on Saturday night to open the 4th annual Copper Classic.

The eighth different winner on the season, Cling had to fight to hold on the lead on the closing lap as traffic nearly slammed the door on him. Able to squeeze his way through, Cling crossed ahead of Dennis Gile with Stevie Sussex taking the final podium step. Pete Yerkovich and Joshua Shipley completed the top five.

Gridding the field 21st after an issue with his ignition system produced a DNF in his Heat Race, Bruce St. James tore a path through the field to finish sixth with Dustin Burkhart moving from 10th to seventh. Colton Maroney, Rick Shuman, and Randy Nelson made up the top ten.

The 4th annual Copper Classic concludes on Sunday, December 1 at Arizona Speedway with action going green at 5:00 P.M. (MT).

Race Results:
Arizona Speedway (Queen Creek, Ariz.)
4th annual Copper Classic – Night 1
Saturday, November 30, 2019

ASCS Southwest Region

Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson, 13.522[21]; 2. 74-Colton Hardy, 13.539[1]; 3. 21-Christopher Bell, 13.667[8]; 4. 3-Craig Stidham, 13.725[4]; 5. 19AZ-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.820[3]; 6. 7Z-Zane Blanchard, 13.865[6]; 7. 7B-Bill Balog, 13.901[7]; 8. 75X-J.T. Imperial, 13.985[26]; 9. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 13.988[24]; 10. 17-Justin Sanders, 14.031[9]; 11. 25-Geoff Ensign, 14.072[25]; 12. 22B-Jesse Baker, 14.095[23]; 13. 2B-Billy Chester III, 14.134[12]; 14. 9-Dustin Freitas, 14.142[22]; 15. 01-Thomas Kennedy, 14.341[13]; 16. 45L-Jeff Lowery, 14.364[11]; 17. 7-Ryan Linder, 14.391[20]; 18. 34-Sterling Cling, 14.579[10]; 19. 99-James Aragon, 14.650[19]; 20. 45-Lonnie Cox, 14.755[18]; 21. 5K-Patrick Krob, 14.838[15]; 22. 3V-Jim Vanzant, 15.640[16]; 23. 18J-Paul Jones, 16.987[17]; 24. 6-Bud Rowe, 16.987[5]; 25. 2-Alex Pettas, 16.987[14]; 26. 8-Eric Wilkins, 16.987[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson, [1]; 2. 3-Craig Stidham, [2]; 3. 7B-Bill Balog, [3]; 4. 17-Justin Sanders, [4]; 5. 2B-Billy Chester III, [5]; 6. 45L-Jeff Lowery, [6]; 7. 99-James Aragon, [7]; 8. 3V-Jim Vanzant, [8]; (DNS) 2-Alex Pettas,

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19AZ-Hunter Schuerenberg, [2]; 2. 74-Colton Hardy, [1]; 3. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [3]; 4. 25-Geoff Ensign, [4]; 5. 9-Dustin Freitas, [5]; 6. 7-Ryan Linder, [6]; 7. 18J-Paul Jones, [8]; (DNS) 45-Lonnie Cox, ; (DNS) 8-Eric Wilkins,

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Christopher Bell, [1]; 2. 7Z-Zane Blanchard, [2]; 3. 13-Mark Dobmeier, [3]; 4. 22B-Jesse Baker, [4]; 5. 01-Thomas Kennedy, [5]; 6. 34-Sterling Cling, [6]; 7. 6-Bud Rowe, [8]; 8. (DNF) 5K-Patrick Krob, [7]

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson, [6]; 2. 21-Christopher Bell, [4]; 3. 17-Justin Sanders, [10]; 4. 7B-Bill Balog, [7]; 5. 74-Colton Hardy, [5]; 6. 75X-J.T. Imperial, [8]; 7. 01-Thomas Kennedy, [15]; 8. 3-Craig Stidham, [3]; 9. 25-Geoff Ensign, [11]; 10. 13-Mark Dobmeier, [9]; 11. 22B-Jesse Baker, [12]; 12. 9-Dustin Freitas, [14]; 13. 7-Ryan Linder, [17]; 14. 6-Bud Rowe, [24]; 15. 3V-Jim Vanzant, [22]; 16. (DNF) 5K-Patrick Krob, [21]; 17. (DNF) 34-Sterling Cling, [18]; 18. (DNF) 99-James Aragon, [19]; 19. (DNF) 19AZ-Hunter Schuerenberg, [2]; 20. (DNF) 2B-Billy Chester III, [13]; 21. (DNF) 45-Lonnie Cox, [20]; 22. (DNF) 7Z-Zane Blanchard, [1]; 23. (DNF) 45L-Jeff Lowery, [16]; 24. (DNF) 18J-Paul Jones, [23]; (DNS) 8-Eric Wilkins, ; (DNS) 2-Alex Pettas,

ASCS Desert Non-Wing

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Sterling Cling, [2]; 2. 3-Pete Yerkovich, [4]; 3. 43-Ryan Oerter, [3]; 4. 9X-Randy Nelson, [7]; 5. 7X-Ryan Murphy, [6]; 6. 25W-Ronald Webster, [5]; 7. (DNF) 50S-Rocky Silva, [1]; 8. (DNF) 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold, [8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4T-Dennis Gile, [4]; 2. 42-Danny Mathus, [1]; 3. 2-Joshua Shipley, [7]; 4. 34AZ-Dustin Burkhart, [5]; 5. 25AZ-Rick Shuman, [3]; 6. 9-John Shelton, [6]; 7. (DNF) 33-Brad Weiss, [2]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Stevie Sussex, [6]; 2. 0G-Kyle Shipley, [7]; 3. 76-Jesse Stonecipher, [1]; 4. 66-Colton Maroney, [4]; 5. 22-Braidon Moniz, [3]; 6. 7-Wayne Siddle, [5]; 7. (DNF) 7K-Bruce St. James, [2]

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 34-Sterling Cling, [2]; 2. 4T-Dennis Gile, [4]; 3. 12-Stevie Sussex, [6]; 4. 3-Pete Yerkovich, [1]; 5. 2-Joshua Shipley, [3]; 6. 7K-Bruce St. James, [21]; 7. 34AZ-Dustin Burkhart, [10]; 8. 66-Colton Maroney, [12]; 9. 25AZ-Rick Shuman, [14]; 10. 9X-Randy Nelson, [7]; 11. 43-Ryan Oerter, [9]; 12. 25W-Ronald Webster, [17]; 13. 7X-Ryan Murphy, [13]; 14. 7-Wayne Siddle, [18]; 15. 76-Jesse Stonecipher, [11]; 16. (DNF) 22-Braidon Moniz, [15]; 17. (DNF) 0G-Kyle Shipley, [5]; 18. (DNF) 9-John Shelton, [16]; 19. (DNF) 42-Danny Mathus, [8]; 20. (DNF) 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold, [19]; 21. (DNF) 50S-Rocky Silva, [22]; (DNS) 33-Brad Weiss,