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ASCS winged sprints and traditonal sprints in Sat. nite races at Manzanita Speedway
by Windy McDonald
A rare sprint car doubleheader is the headliner for this weekend’s races at Manzanita Speedway giving fans the best of both worlds. Both the 1/3rd mile track and Manzanita Speedway’s famed half mile track will be in use and both winged sprint cars and the traditional sprints will each be providing their own particular type of action.
The American Sprint Car Series Southwest Regional winged sprints will be making their first ever start on the fast half mile track and officials are predicting speeds at well over 100 miles per hour. The Discount Tire American Sprint Car Series Canyon Regional will be making their 18th start of the year at Manzy.
Points leader Jeremy Sherman is currently on a tear with four consecutive wins the second time he has strung four straight wins together. He has not been beaten at Manzy since July 26 when Charles Davis, Jr. got the win and Sherman finished second. Ten of Sherman’s eleven wins have come at Manzanita. His only win on the road came in Tucson on July 12.
Picking Sherman and Davis for a quinella bet would be a low odds wager as the two have finished one-two 11 times this year. Davis has finished second to Sherman seven times (he has one other second place finish to go with his five wins) and Sherman has chased Davis to the finish line four times. He was also second to Casey Sherman once.
Davis has had terrible luck as he has been involved in several hard crashes but he was not at fault in any of them. That is the reason Davis is 126 points behind Sherman with seven races remaining in the 2008 season. Davis has not been eliminated but it would take a run of hard luck by Sherman to change the standings. The point system has only a 48 point difference between the winner and the last place finisher in a main event. However should trouble beset the points leader that keeps him out of the feature or semi Sherman would pick up sixty points. Should Davis win he would still be 36 points behind.
Ben Gregg of Phoenix has won six of the ten races run for the winged cars but he is fifth in points, eighty points behind points leader Rick Ziehl. Gregg failed a tech inspection September 6 and was stripped of his points due to engine parts that were found to be illegal. One of Gregg’s wins came on Manzanita’s one third mile oval. Dan Grable won the season opener and Shawn Sander, Dan Johnson and Ziehl have also scored wins.
Only two points separate Ziehl and Sander with Cody Cambesy resting another 68 points down and only ten points ahead of Ronnie Clark.
The winged sprints have only four races remaining on their 2008 schedule and the Saturday night race will be their final appearance at Manzy.
Gates open at 5:30 with competitive racing taking the first green flag at 7:30.
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