By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (June 20, 2011) – When the Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest Region takes to Tucson’s USA Raceway this Saturday night, Rick Ziehl will be trying to pull off a feat that he hasn’t in three previous years of series competition.
The Las Cruces, NM, shoe will be gunning for a third consecutive series win on Saturday night, which would mark the first time for Ziehl to win three ASCS Southwest events in a row.
In fact, the series champion over each of the past three years hadn’t posted back-to-back series wins until the most recent pair of events at Canyon Speedway Park (May 21) and USA Raceway (June 4).
With his recent run of success aboard the Wesmar-powered Lucas Oil No. 20z Maxim, Ziehl has stretched his advantage out to 55 points in his quest for a fourth consecutive series title.
Ziehl holds the lead over El Paso’s John Carney II, who posted a season-best runner-up finish to Ziehl in the last round of action at USA Raceway. Arizona native and Iowa resident Calvin Landis, an April 2 winner at USA Raceway, is another 70 points back in third with Alamogordo’s Kyle McCutcheon and Glendale, Arizona’s Joshua Williams rounding out the current top five in points.
The balance of the current top ten includes Lance Norick (Scottsdale), Dalten Gabbard (Peoria), Joshua Hodges (Tijeras, NM), Steve Stone (Mesa, AZ) and Joey Chester (Phoenix).
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.