(August 16) Ben Gregg scored his sixth win in just eight starts in the first race for the American Sprint Car Series Southwest Division’s winged sprint cars Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway. Gregg’s other wins were scored in Tucson and Show Low.

It was the first time the winged cars had raced on Manzy’s one third mile track and there were numerous spins and crashes that kept the field close but Gregg, who has already locked up the driving championship, was never seriously challenged after taking the lead on the ninth lap after starting eighth.

The final yellow flag closed up the field with two laps remaining and Rick Ziehl made a final charge but was still four car lengths back at the checkered flag. Ziehl had spun earlier and made a great drive as he took the runner-up position from Billy Chester, III on the final lap. Steve Martin finished fourth and Mike Martin was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Ronnie Clark, Joshua Williams, Jessica Van Dyke, Shawn Sander and Cody Cambensy.

The 21 car field ran three heat races with wins going to Ziehl, Chester and Martin. Behind Ziehl in the first eight lapper were Clark, Sander, Chuck Buckman and Bud Rowe. Chester beat Gregg, Mike Rux, Van Dyke and Gaston in his heat. In the final heat Josh Pelkey came out of the third row and pressured Martin but fell short. Behind Pelkey were Williams, Steve Lohn and Steve Martin.

Gregg started off his evening with a drive from fourth netting his the win in the trophy dash.

Kiley Fellers started fourth in the Arizona Mini Sprints, took the lead from Josh Castro on the third lap and was never seriously challenged as the final 14 laps were all run under green. Fellers notched his ninth win of the year and was 3.64 seconds ahead of Tyler Keesler at the finish line. Paul Martin finished third ahead of Travis Keesler and Josh Castro. Rounding out the top ten were Brandon George, Justin Quinn, Dennis Parks, Jim Mattison and Mike Visser.

Fellers had a front row starting position in the first eight heat race and that was more advantage than he needed as only a caution flag kept it from being a complete runaway. Jake Grimes finished second and Paul Martin was third. It marked the series leading 8th heat race win for Fellers.

The defending champion Kyle Shipley held of Castro for the win in the second heat with Ryan Walker in the third. The final heat went to Josh Shipley as he held off Jeff Greszler and Travis Keesler.

Two cars, Josh Castro and Kurt Stults scratched from the trophy dash which was won by Castro over Quinn, Martin and George.

The ASCS winged sprints will return to Manzanita on August 30 for their first race on the famed half mile track. The short track will host AMA modlites and sport modifieds.

SUMMARY

ASCS SOUTHWEST DIVISION WINGED SPRINT CARS

Main Event: (25 laps) 1. Ben Gregg 2. Rick Ziehl 3. Billy Chester, III 4. Steve Martin 5. Mike Martin 6. Ronnie Clark 7. Joshua Williams 8. Jessica Van Dyke 9. Shawn Sander 10. Cody Cambensy 11. John Gaston 12. Chuck Buckman 14. Steve Lohn 15. Alex Pettas 16. Steve Stone 17. Josh Pelkey 18. Mike Rux, Jr. 19. Davey Johnson

20. Patrick Krob 21. Bud Rowe

Lap leaders: laps 1-3 Rux, laps 4-8 Chester, laps 9-25 Gregg

1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Rick Ziehl 2. Ronnie Clark 3. Shawn Sander 4. Chuck Buckman 5. Bud Rowe 6. Steve Stone 7. Cody Cambensy (no time, yellow flag)

2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Billy Chester, III 2. Ben Gregg 3. Mike Rux 4. Jessica Van Dyke 5. John Gaston 6. John Van Horn 7. Alex Pettas (time: 1:53.01)

3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Mike Martin 2. Josh Pelkey 3. Joshua Williams 4. Steve Lohn 5. Steve Martin 6. Davey Johnson 7. Partick Krob (no time, yellow flag)

Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Ben Gregg 2. Billy Chester, III 3. Mike Martin 4. Josh Pelkey (time: 56.88)

ARIZONA MINI SPRINT CAR

Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Kiley Fellers 2. Tyler Keesler 3. Paul Martin 4. Travis Keesler 5. Josh Castro 6. Brandon George 7. Justin Quinn 8. Dennis Parks 9. Jim Mattison 10. Mike Viser 11. Pat Wing 12. Jake Grimes 13. Eric Welker 14. Josh Shipley 15. Kyle Shipley 16. Jeff Greszler 17. Katherine Aragon 18. Ryan Walter 19. Willie Riely

Lap leaders: laps 1-2 J. Shipley, laps 3-20 Fellers

1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Kiley Fellers 2. Jake Grimes 3. Paul Martin 4. Katherine Aragon 5. Justin Quinn 6. Mike Visser 7. Eric Welker (no time, yellow flag)

2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Kyle Shipley 2. Josh Castro 3. Ryan Walter 4. Jim Mattison 5. Dennis Parks DNS :Kurt Stults, Willy Riely (time: 2:10.18)

3rd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Josh Shipley 2. Jeff Greszler 3. Travis Keesler 4. Tyler Keesler 5. Pat Wing 6. Brandon George (time: 2:14.28)

Trophy Dash: (4 laps) 1. Josh Castro 2. Justin Quinn 3. Paul Martin 4. Brandon George