QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — For the second time in 2019, R.J. Johnson rolled into victory lane with the San Tan Ford ASCS Desert non-winged sprint cars.
His first trip of the season with the series at Queen Creek’s Arizona Speedway, the victory marks the eighth time the Phoenix, Ariz., shoe as topped the series, bringing his overall to 22 wins under the ASCS banner.
Coming up from fifth, Johnson was immediately in pursuit of the lead with the pass for second on lap two. Chasing Kyle Shipley, the pair traded the lead on lap six with Shipley fighting back on lap eight to retake the position.
Trading slide jobs through several restarts, Shipley held off the driver of the No. 34 until lap 17 when Kyle’s night came to an early close.
Johnson would go on to win by 3.328 seconds over Dennis Gile, who scrambled through the field from ninth with Joe Scheopner advancing from 14th to complete Saturday’s podium.
Rick Shuman from 11th and Andy Sole from 13th completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 34-R.J. Johnson, [5]; 2. 4T-Dennis Gile Jr., [9]; 3. 17-Joe Scheopner, [14]; 4. 25AZ-Rick Shuman, [11]; 5. 22-Andy Sole, [13]; 6. 7-Wayne Siddle, [18]; 7. 43-CJ Bunch, [19]; 8. (DNF) 0G-Kyle Shipley, [1]; 9. (DNF) 0-Jonas Reynolds, [3]; 10. (DNF) 7X-Ryan Murphy, [2]; 11. (DNF) 20-Shon Deskins, [10]; 12. (DNF) 2-Joshua Shipley, [15]; 13. (DNF) 7K-Bruce St. James, [12]; 14. (DNF) 7M-Danny Mathus, [6]; 15. (DNF) 7MK-Mason Keefer, [7]; 16. (DNF) 3-Tyler Most, [8]; 17. (DNF) 33-Brad Weiss, [17]; (DNS) 51-Ronald Webster, ; (DNS) 44-Jake Helsel, ; (DQ) 55-Daylin Perreira, [4]