By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (July 26, 2010) – New Mexico’s Rick Ziehl will try to move one step closer to a third consecutive American Sprint Car Series Southwest Region championship when the series takes to Tucson’s USA Raceway this Saturday night.
After earning the 2008 series crown by 22 markers and then last year’s title by just seven points, the Las Cruces shoe holds a 37-point advantage entering Saturday’s tilt atop the 3/8-mile USA Raceway oval.
With a pair of wins in the initial seven events of the year, Ziehl tries to hold off April 24 feature winner John Gaston of Peoria, AZ, with Knoxville, IA, resident Calvin Landis third in points.
Mesa’s J.T. Imperial and 15-year-old New Mexico contender Joshua Hodges round out the current top five in points, with Steve Stone, Joshua Williams, Koty McGullam, Kaylene Verville and Bud Goodwin the rest of the current top ten.
After Hodges snared his first ASCS Southwest win at Aztec on June 5, Joshua Williams posted his first career series victory when the series returned to action at USA Raceway on July 17.
Saturday’s ASCS Southwest Region action at USA Raceway is slated to go green at 6:45 p.m.
The 3/8-mile USA Raceway clay oval is located east of Tucson off I-10 Exit 268, then 1.6 mile south on Craycroft Road, which turns into Los Reales. For more information, contact the track at 520-574-8515.
The ASCS Southwest Region is currently slated for 19 overall nights of competition in 2010, including 13 nights in Arizona and three New Mexico weekend doubles.
In its 19th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing, the American Sprint Car Series brings the best of Sprint Car racing to approximately 100 different tracks throughout 30 states and Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.