By Windy McDonald

The 2008 chase for championships begins Friday night at Manzanita Speedway with the Barnett Harley Davidson Dirt Modifieds, the AMA Modlites and the Sport Modifieds teaming up for a tripleheader on Manzy’s one third mile track.

The schedule will keep Anthony Madrid especially busy. The two time Dirt Modified champion (2004 and 2005) busy as he will also be defending his 2007 Sport Modified title. Other Dirt Modified champions in the field will include Jason Noll who won the title in 2006. Tucson champion R.C. Whitwell could also be in the field.

Rick Ward and Ricky Thornton, both with championships in their resumes, have turned the driving duties over to the offspring. Thornton’s son, Ricky, Jr., won the title in his rookie season last year and his other son, Jeremy has his name on the list of Dirt Modified main event winners. Ward’s son Timmy made his first start last September at age 13 and hopes to follow in his famous dad’s tire tracks.
The Stock Car Racing Association is confident that the Sport Modifieds will have full fields for the 2008 season. In their first year of competition only ten cars competed but the field may be twice that amount Friday night.

The Modlites are also a new group but their field grew throughout 2007 and the AMA had 20 cars in the closing races.

The World of Outlaws make their usual early season run at Manzanita Speedway and this year the Super Stock Touring Series will run the companion show on the half mile track. John Crawford won the Touring Series championship last year when a total of 70 different drivers earned points.

The Manzanita stop will be the fourth race for the traveling outlaws this year and Craig Dollansky holds a slim 10 point edge over Jason Meyers with Donny Schatz holding third,. Both Dollansky and Meyers have scored a main event win as has Danny Lasoki.

The front gate will open at 6:00 on Friday night with competitive racing taking the first green flag at 7:30. On Saturday the gate will open at 4:00 with racing, which will be preceded by qualifying runs, starting at 7:30.