QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. – Getting his second win with the San Tan Ford ASCS Desert Non-Wing Series, Tye Mihocko captured Friday’s $1,000-to-win preliminary feature during the sixth running of the Copper Classic at Arizona Speedway.
Keeping pace through a couple of pauses in the action at the start of the 25 lap event, things got rolling nicely with Mihocko in traffic by lap 12. Sitting just more than three seconds ahead of Joshua Shipley, slower cars did little to slow the pace of the No. 3t.
Mihocko built up a 4.5 second gap with 10 laps to run. That gap was up to more than five seconds when the caution flag waved with six laps left as Mihocko slammed on the brakes to avoid a spinning car that was right in his path.
When the green flag waved again Shipley kept pace for a moment, but it Mihocko gapped the field again. The caution waved again on lap 22 and the restart that followed was short lived as Jimmy Pontin flipped almost the length of the front stretch on the following lap.
A green, white, checkered restart was not enough to stop Mihocko. Despite having Shipley right in his tire tracks, Mihocko held on to win by .449 seconds.
Pete Yerkovich, Travis DeGaton and Rocky Silva completed the top-five.
The finish:
1. 3T-Tye Mihocko[2]; 2. 2-Joshua Shipley[3]; 3. 3-Pete Yerkovich[14]; 4. 72-AJ Hernandez[8]; 5. 39T-Travis DeGaton[12]; 6. 50S-Rocky Silva[15]; 7. 25AZ-Rick Shuman[5]; 8. 91-Dean Colquette[24]; 9. 88-Philip Deeney[13]; 10. (DNF) 7OH-Bryan Ledbetter Jr[10]; 11. (DNF) 10-Eugene Thomas[4]; 12. (DNF) 99-Bobby Carrick[1]; 13. (DNF) 68-Colton Maroney[20]; 14. (DNF) 24-Jimmy Pontin[9]; 15. (DNF) 007-Wayne Siddle[11]; 16. (DNF) 5AZ-Ronald Webster[6]; 17. (DNF) 3K-Patrick Krob[7]; 18. (DNF) 29-Eric Turner[17]; 19. (DNF) 7K-Bruce St James[22]; 20. (DNS) 12-Josh Pelkey; 21. (DNS) 8K-Kala Keliinoi; 22. (DNS) 21P-Daylin Perreira; 23. (DNS) 21C-Brian Chamberlain; 24. (DNS) 43-Justin Kierce