By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (April 18, 2011) – Tucson’s USA Raceway shifts back to the winged Sprint Car ranks this weekend as the Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Region resumes action atop the 3/8-mile clay oval this Saturday night.
Saturday’s card marks the second winged ASCS Southwest event of the season at USA Raceway after kicking off the 2011 campaign in tandem with the Lucas Oil ASCS National series during February’s Copper on Dirt.
While Knoxville, Iowa resident Calvin Landis by way of Arizona won the most recent ASCS Southwest outing at USA on April 2, it’s Tijeras teen Joshua Hodges out to the early lead in the championship points chase.
After posting a pair of 14th place runs versus the National forces in February, the 16-year-old from Tijeras, NM, finished third in the April 2 event behind Landis and three-time series champion Rick Ziehl of Las Cruces, NM.
Hodges carries a slim 5-point lead over Ziehl into Saturday’s tilt, with El Paso’s John Carney II, Landis and Joshua Williams of Glendale, AZ, rounding out the current top five in points. The balance of the current top ten includes Lance Norick (Scottsdale, AZ), Dalten Gabbard (Peoria, AZ), Kyle McCutcheon (Alamogordo, NM), Joey Chester (Phoenix, AZ) and John Van Horn (Tucson, AZ).
Eighth-ranked McCutcheon ventured nearly 1,000 miles from his New Mexico home this past weekend to take on the ASCS Gulf South ranks in southeast Texas, finishing 19th and 23rd in features at Beaumont and Baytown.
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 20 overall nights of competition in 2011.
The 2011 season marks the 20th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, with approximately 200 nights of competition at tracks throughout the nation and into 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.