PHOENIX, Ariz. — Indiana’s Shane Cottle claimed the victory in the USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series portion of the second Copper on Dirt Saturday at Manzanita Speedway.
Driving the Contos Racing Chalk-Chevy, Cottle took the lead from Jeremy Sherman on lap 20 and paced the final 21 circuits to claim his first series victory. Cottle led the first seven laps, but lost the point to Sherman on lap eight.
Cottle battled back to regain the lead on lap 11, but Sherman wasn’t finished. He pushed his No. 77 to the point on lap 16 only to have Cottle take control for good on lap 20.
Sherman finished second, with defending USAC National Sprint Car Series champion Levi Jones finishing third. Jesse Hockett and Cole Whitt rounded out the top five.
Hockett battled back from a flip during the first heat to record a top-five finish. There were plenty of flips during the night with Dave Darland, Kenny Perkins and Davey Pombo flipping during preliminaries and Gary Taylor, Josh Ford and Dustin Morgan getting upside down during the feature.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 18.669; 2. Seth Wilson, Wilson 17, 19.143; 3. Levi Jones, Walker/Guiducci 11, 19.228; 4. Mike Spencer, Chaffin 50, 19.268; 5. Rick Ziehl, Tutco 33, 19.349; 6. Danny Sheridan, Kittle 18, 18.374; 7. Jeremy Sherman, Bryan 77, 19.447; 8. Charles Davis, Jr., Massey 50az, 19.472; 9. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 19.489; 10. Thomas Ogle, DAR 5az, 19.489; 11. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 19.491; 12. Shane Cottle, Contos 4, 19.521; 13. Josh Ford, Ford 73, 19.543; 14. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 19.571; 15. Gary Taylor, Tel-Star 5, 19.606; 16. Dustin Morgan, Walker/Guiducci 11d, 19.689; 17. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, 19.689; 18. Kyle Wissmiller, Price 0, 19.689; 19. Garrett Hansen, Priestley 7, 19.727; 20. Rickie Gaunt, Smiley 2a, 19.746; 21. Chris Urish, Urish 77u, 19.751; 22. Dave Darland, Massey 2az, 19.817; 23. R.J. Johnson, Martin 15, 19.846; 24. Nathan High, Allen 12, 19.857; 25. David Cardey, Crossno 83, 19.865; 26. Chris Windom, Windom 17x, 19.963; 27. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 19.970; 28. Tyler Brown, Gardner 96, 19.985; 29. Jerry Coons, Jr., Foster 32, 19.987; 30. Nic Faas, Faas 117, 20.007; 31. Davey Pombo, Crossno 38, 20.053; 32. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 20.099; 33. Blake Miller, Gardner 93, 20.190; 34. Mike Leslie, Leslie 76, 20.240; 35. Jonas Reynolds, Reynolds 48, 20.263; 36. Hunter Schuerenberg, Triple Crown 1h, 20.328; 37. Casey Shuman, Carsten 61, 20.343; 38. Brady Bacon, Cheney 42, 20.370; 39. Alex Schutte, Kruseman 71k, 20.448; 40. Dakoda Armstrong, C & A 7a, 20.596; 41. Andrew Reinbold, Reinbold 19x, 20.618; 42. Kenny Perkins, Perkins 34, 20.757; 43. Royal Adderson, Adderson 40, 21.340; 44. Paul Whitehead, Whitehead 21, 23.124; 45. Jon Stanbrough, Massey 5x, no time.
First Heat (8 laps): Windom, Morgan, Mellenberndt, Schuerenberg, Pombo, Sheridan, Reinbold, Urish, Hockett.
Second Heat (8 laps): Cottle, Sherman, Hagen, Kruseman, Boat, Wilson, Perkins, Darland.
Third Heat (8 laps): L. Jones, Davis, Johnson, Ford, Miller, Brown, Wissmiller, Bacon, Adderson.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Coons, Sweet, Whitt, Hansen, Spencer, Leslie, High, Schutte.
Fifth Heat (8 laps): Taylor, Gaunt, Ziehl, Cardey, Ogle, Armstrong, Reynolds, Faas.
First Semi (12 laps): Hockett, Sheridan, Boat, Schutte, Wissmiller, Wilson, High, Reinbold, Adderson, Faas, Leslie.
Second Semi (12 laps): Spencer, Bacon, Ogle, Brown, Miller, Urish, Armstrong, Reynolds, Perkins, Pombo.
Feature (40 laps): Cottle, Sherman, L. Jones, Hockett, Whitt, Boat, Sweet, Mellenberndt, Bacon, Kruseman, Sheridan, Johnson, Hagen, Miller, Hansen, Windom, Cardey, Schutte, Ogle, Schuerenberg, Ziehl, Brown, Morgan, Coons, Ford, Davis, Taylor, Spencer, Gaunt.