Winged Sprint cars headliners for Sat. nite races at Manzanita Speedway

 
The clock is ticking as the life-span of Manzanita Speedway is now counted in days instead of weeks. There are only five nights of racing left before the famed track that has been up and running since August 25, 1951 will become more or less a place for Southwest Crane and Rigging to store their wares.

ASCS Winged Sprint Cars will make their final appearance at Manzy as the featured division this weekend. The Tucson based Southwest Region has run only once this year and that race, run on the USA 3/8th mile track, was won by former World of Outlaw driver Johnny Herrera who ran the Outlaw race March 28 at Manzy. He finished a very respectable ninth in the 30 lap feature. Herrera, out of Albuquerque, NM will bring a slim four point lead over Texan John Carney, Jr. to Manzanita. Rick Ziehl, from Las Cruces, NM, is the defending champion and is ranked third ahead of Derrik Ortega. Charles Davis, Jr., the ASCS non winged sprint car leader is ranked fifth with the winged cars, only 10 points out of the lead.

Herrera will be seeking a phenomenal 16th consecutive win in ASCS competition. Three of those wins have come in the Southwest Region and his streak dates back to 2005. He could have his streak snapped Saturday night as a tough field is expected. Both Ziehl and the reigning ASCS Rocky Mountain Region champion Ortega are expected to challenge along with Davis who drove a winged sprint for the first time since 2000 and has a race under his belt and will be on his home track as will Mike Martin who finished 13th at Tucson. Ben Gregg who did not finish the Tucson race and ran the Outlaw show at Manzy should also challenge Herrera. Ronnie Clark of Tucson, along with Davis and Martin are expected to run both the winged and non winged cars for the entire schedule.

Arizona Modlites and Desert Dwarf Cars will be sharing the one third mile track with the sprints. The AMA Modlites will be staging their first race of the year and will be part of the final race at Manzy on April 11.

The half mile track will host the Dirt Modifieds Friday night with Sport Modifieds, Factory Stocks and Manzanita Bomber on the short track. The Dirt Modifieds will again be on the half mile track as on open competition event on April 9 when they say good-bye to the fans.

THE REMAINING SCHEDULE FOR MANZY

Friday night, April 3 IMCA Dirt Modifieds (1/2 Mile)

                                IMCA Sport Modifieds

                                SCRA Factory Stocks

                                Manzanita Bomber

Satrurday, April 4 ASCS Winged Sprints

                                AMA Modlites

                                    Desert Dwarf Cars

Thursday, April 9     Open Competition Dirt Modifieds (1/2 Mile)

                                   IMCA Sport Modifieds

                                   Manzanita Bombers

                                SCRA Factory Stocks

                                Dirt Dolls

Friday, April 10     Late Models (1/2 Mile)

                                Super Stocks (1/2 Mile)

                                Desert Dwarf Cars

                                Southwest Modlites

Saturday, April 11 ASCS Non Winged Sprints (1/2 Mile)

                                AMRA Midgets

                                Mini Sprints

                                AMA Modlites