Jeremy Sherman added another win in the Discount Tire American Sprint Car Series, Canyon Regional last Saturday night in Tucson and will be seeking his 13th ASCS win in the prestigious Buddy Taylor Memorial race on Manzanita Speedway’s half mile track Saturday night.
Sherman started in the front row and the race was run under green for the entire distance and there were only eight cars on the lead lap when the checkered flag flew. R.J. Johnson managed to stay close and finished second with Nathan High, Charles Davis, Jr. and Jeremy Reagles getting top five finishes.
Charles Davis, Jr. remains second in the points chase but has only two chances of winning the driving title: slim and none. He trails Sherman, who is seeking to become the first driver to win four consecutive driving titles at Manzanita, 3220-3084. With only the Taylor race, the Family Fireworks race on the 25th and three night’s in the Western World Championships, November 6-8 remaining on the schedule as long as Sherman shows up and makes the feature Davis is doomed to a second place finish and even that is not a certainty. Charles is only 112 points ahead of Mike Martin with Johnson resting 22 points behind Martin.
In addition to his 12 wins with the ASCS Sherman has also won a USAC/CRA main event and will be seeking his 113th career win. He rests fifth in overall wins, just five behind the legendary Lealand McSpadden
Bob Ream, Jr. won the last time out on the Manzanita one third mile track and if he decides to run will be seeking his 54th win. Ream has not run on the half mile track recently and although he has numerous wins on the big track he may elect to be a spectator.
Davis has 48 wins in the book and hopes to get to the winner’s circle for the first time since July 26th. Davis has also been very successful on the big track and hopes to draw a good starting berth for Saturday night’s Memorial to Taylor who lost his life in a sprint car race September 23, 1978. He was points leader in both the sprints and midgets and even though they both ran two more races he ended up as champion in the sprints and was third in the midgets. He was a charter member of the Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame.
While the ASCS runs on the big track the short track will be busy with mini sprints, midgets and Southwest Modlites staging their events. It marks the final outing at Manzanita for the Southwest Modlites and the midgets have only one other race remaining and the mini sprints will not return to Manzy until their Nationals on November 21-22.