By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (May 31, 2011) – Tucson’s USA Raceway shifts back to the winged Sprint Car ranks this weekend as the Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Region takes to the 3/8-mile clay oval this Saturday night.
Leading the way into Saturday’s tilt is Las Cruces, NM, shoe Rick Ziehl, who is taking aim on a fourth consecutive ASCS Southwest championship after coming off his first win of the year on May 21 at Peoria’s Canyon Speedway Park.
With that triumph, Ziehl extended his advantage in the Southwest championship points chase to 47 markers over El Paso’s John Carney II, with Knoxville, IA, resident Calvin Landis, Alamogordo’s Kyle McCutcheon and Joshua Williams of Glendale, AZ, rounding out the current top five.
The rest of the current top ten includes Lance Norick (Scottsdale), Dalten Gabbard (Southwest), Steve Stone (Mesa, AZ), Joshua Hodges (Tijeras, NM) and Joey Chester (Phoenix).
After kicking off the 2011 season in tandem with the Lucas Oil ASCS National series at February Copper on Dirt with Johnny Herrera and Shane Stewart each claiming wins, Herrera has added another pair of Southwest wins with other feature winners including Ziehl (CSP on May 21) and Landis (USA on 4/2).
Saturday’s Sunoco Fuel 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 Sunoco Fuel 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.