By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (August 15, 2011) – Rick Ziehl has been on a tear in recent Sunoco Fuel ASCS Southwest action at Tucson’s USA Raceway.
The question is; can anybody stop Ziehl when the series takes to the 3/8-mile USA Raceway clay oval this Saturday night?
The reigning and three-time ASCS Southwest champion from Las Cruces, NM, has topped the least three series events at USA Raceway, which extended his series win streak to four in a row when he topped the most recent USA event on July 16.
Ziehl’s win streak didn’t reach five though, as wingless ace R.J. Johnson bolted on some wings and drove to victory lane at Canyon Speedway Park on July 23 with Ziehl settling for third.
Ziehl’s USA streak is still intact though, with Tucson win number four in a row a possibility on Saturday night. He’ll have plenty of competition though, including currently second-ranked contender Calvin Landis, who picked off a USA win of his own on April 2.
Vying for a fourth consecutive ASCS Southwest title, Ziehl enters Saturday’s action with a 182-point advantage over Knoxville, IA, resident Landis, with Kyle McCutcheon (Alamogordo, NM), John Carney II (El Paso, TX) and Joshua Williams (Glendale, AZ) rounding out the current top five.
The rest of the current top ten includes Lance Norick (Scottsdale, AZ), Dalten Gabbard (Peoria, AZ), Steve Stone (Mesa, AZ), Joshua Hodges (Tijeras, NM) and Joey Chester (Phoenix, AZ).
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.