Cummins Wins Western World at Mohave Valley
Photo by AJ Johnson
MOHAVEVALLEY, Ariz. — One night after pacing the middle stages of the feature before seeing the lead slip through his fingers, Kyle Cummins bounced back quite nicely during Saturday night’s 57th Western World Championships finale Presented By Avanti Windows & Doors at Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway.
This time around, once Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) assumed control, he never relented after leading the final 25 laps to earn a $10,500 reward as well as his first career Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Series feature victory in his Petty Performance Racing No. 3p.
In what was nearly a carbon copy of Friday’s Western World opener, USAC CRA point leader R.J. Johnson was the driver all others were chasing during the opening laps. Johnson paced the first eight of Friday’s feature, and on Saturday, led the opening five circuits of the 30-lap affair.
Each time, however, it was the fourth-place starting Cummins who surged by Johnson for the lead. On Saturday, Cummins went topside in turn four to clear Johnson for the top spot by the sixth lap mark.
Moments later, on the 10th lap, the most unexpected of all twists and turns took place when a brief power outage submerged the 1/3-mile dirt oval in darkness amid a green flag run. After only two minutes, the track lights began to shine again, the red flag was lifted and racing was able to resume.
Just as he did the previous night, Friday winner Kevin Thomas Jr. emerged into the second spot past R.J. Johnson thereafter. However, this time, by the time he did so, only nine laps remained and a full straightaway separated himself and Cummins for the race lead.
Going green the rest of the way, Cummins went unchallenged the remainder of the way, outside of navigating lapped traffic, to earn the victory with Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) taking second and Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) finishing third.
R.J. Johnson (Laveen, Ariz.) finished in the fourth spot after leading the initial five laps, and his points gained throughout the night allowed him to clinch his first career USAC CRA Sprint Car championship.
J.J. Yeley (Phoenix, Ariz.) rounded out the top-five after starting 18th on the grid. His +13 advancement earned him hard charger honors presented in memory of Jim and Chet Gardner. Furthermore, Yeley pocketed the coveted Lafond Jar of Change, which totaled $3423.68, raised through donations from the racing community.
Cody Williams (Norco, Calif.) won the FlowDynamics Incorporated / In Honor of Wiley Miller Sr and Wiley Miller II First Heat Race. Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) captured the WC Friend Company Second Heat Race. Kyle Cummins scored the win in the BillsJerky.net / Silbermann Solar Third Heat Race. J.J. Yeley was the victor of the Sexton Fire Protection Fourth Heat Race. A.J. Bender (San Diego, Calif.) raced to the win in the Factory Wraps Semi.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 2, 2024 – Mohave Valley Raceway – Mohave Valley, Arizona – 57th Annual Western World Championships presented by Avanti Windows & Doors
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.089; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, Bonneau-14.172; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.252; 4. Stevie Sussex, 5, Baldwin-14.379; 5. R.J. Johnson, 51, Johnson-14.399; 6. Ricky Lewis, 17, Dunkel-14.429; 7. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-14.477; 8. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Wilson-14.518; 9. Jake Swanson, 17x, Dunkel-14.592; 10. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-14.644; 11. David Gasper, 18, Kittle/Gasper-14.671; 12. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-14.725; 13. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-14.746; 14. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-14.760; 15. Jordan Hermansader, 71, Martin-14.801; 16. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-14.807; 17. Logan Williams, 5w, McCarthy-14.819; 18. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-14.872; 19. Cameron La Rose, 13p, Petty-14.879; 20. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-14.907; 21. Bryan Drollinger, 71, Drollinger/Sweeney-14.913; 22. Matt Westfall, 11c, Turner/Wheeler-14.941; 23. Troy Treharn, 7x, Treharn-14.977; 24. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-15.085; 25. Kaleb Montgomery, 4J, Calderwood-15.108; 26. Dayton Shelton, 9, Shelton-15.111; 27. Grant Sexton, 22, Sexton-15.142; 28. Jeff Dyer, 39, Cal-Sun-15.169; 29. Don Grable, 45x, Budlong-15.195; 30. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-15.241; 31. Jayme Barnes, 9x, Barnes-15.266; 32. Shon Deskins, 20, Deskins-15.281; 33. Racin Silva, 5s, Silva-15.363; 34. Mark Henry Jr., 39R, Henry-15.429; 35. Colt Treharn, 77, Treharn-15.628; 36. Brent Sexton, 44s, Sexton-15.634; 37. Blake Hendricks, 14, Hendricks-15.737; 38. Brody Wake, 78B, Wake-15.927; 39. Camie Bell, 29c, Bell-16.305; 40. Elexa Herrera, 5E, Herrera-18.610; 41. Todd Pratt, 17F, Pratt-NT; 42. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-NT.
FLOWDYNAMICS INCORPORATED / IN HONOR OF WILEY MILLER SR. & WILEY MILLER II FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cody Williams, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. R.J. Johnson, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Kaleb Montgomery, 6. Logan Williams, 7. Don Grable, 8. Mark Henry Jr., 9. Bryan Drollinger. NT
WC FRIEND COMPANY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Matt Westfall, 2. Ricky Lewis, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Austin Williams, 6. A.J. Bender, 7. Austin Grabowski, 8. Colt Treharn, 9. Dayton Shelton. NT
BILLSJERKY.NET / SILBERMANN SOLAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Cameron La Rose, 3. David Gasper, 4. Logan Calderwood, 5. Shon Deskins, 6. Troy Treharn, 7. Brent Sexton, 8. Jordan Hermansader, 9. Grant Sexton. NT
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. J.J. Yeley, 2. Tommy Malcolm, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Jeff Dyer, 6. Verne Sweeney, 7. Racin Silva, 8. Blake Hedricks, 9. James Turnbull II. NT
FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Bender, 2. Logan Williams, 3. Austin Grabowski, 4. Grant Sexton, 5. Colt Treharn, 6. Verne Sweeney, 7. Don Grable, 8. Brody Wake, 9. Racin Silva, 10. Brent Sexton, 11. Jordan Hermansader, 12. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 13. Mark Henry Jr., 14. Elexa Herrera, 15. Troy Treharn, 16. Dayton Shelton, 17. Bryan Drollinger, 18. Blake Hendricks, 19. Todd Pratt, 20. Camie Bell, 21. James Turnbull II. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 3. C.J. Leary (6), 4. R.J. Johnson (2), 5. J.J. Yeley (18), 6. Ricky Lewis (1), 7. Matt Westfall (19), 8. Tye Mihocko (8), 9. Jake Swanson (9), 10. Austin Williams (14), 11. Stevie Sussex (3), 12. David Gasper (11), 13. Charles Davis Jr. (10), 14. Cody Williams (13), 15. A.J. Bender (23), 16. Cameron La Rose (17), 17. Kaleb Montgomery, 18. Tommy Malcolm (12), 19. Austin Grabowski (16), 20. Shon Deskins (24), 21. Jeff Dyer (2), 22. Verne Sweeney (25-P), 23. Grant Sexton (21), 24. Logan Calderwood (7), 25. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (26-P), 26. Logan Williams (15). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
**Jayme Barnes flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 R.J. Johnson, Laps 6-30 Kyle Cummins.
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER HARD CHARGER: J.J. Yeley (18th to 5th)
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-1440, 2-Tommy Malcolm-1264, 3-Austin Williams-1240, 4-A.J. Bender-1202, 5-David Gasper-1183, 6-Cody Williams-1096, 7-Logan Williams-1086, 8-Charles Davis Jr.-940, 9-Verne Sweeney-912, 10-Austin Grabowski-885.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 9, 2024 – Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, California
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