SATURDAY NIGHT RESULTS FROM MANZANITA SPEEDWAY

After running fifth for most of Saturday night's 20 lap Barnett/BTS dirt modified feature at Manzanita Speedway, Robert King, Jr. moved to the top of the one third mile track and followed Jason Noll toward the front. Noll, also running the high side, took the lead on the 19th lap but spun out in the second turn of the final lap. King was still up high, missed the spinning car and scored his second feature win of the year. Kenny Wyman, leader for the first 18 laps finished second ahead of Jay Foster.

All of the 24 car field elected to hug the bottom of the track and Noll was the first to try the high side. At first it did not work but as the

the laps counted down it got quicker, especially off the turns. King recognized this and he too moved up. With less than five laps remaining they started their charge. Wyman was protecting the bottom and Noll, followed by King, went by in turn four of the 19th lap. Noll made his only mistake of the night when his car changed ends in turn two. He finished a lap down in 18th.

King credited his win to Noll who showed him the way. "I don't know what happened in turn two since Noll had been perfect up until then."

Wyman came to the checkered flag in second, his second top five finish of the year. Jay Foster took third, his fourth top five finish and Mike Strobl was fourth. Points leader Ricky Thornton, Jr., a rookie, finished fifth. He entered the night with a 15 point lead over two time champion Anthony Madrid and stretched it to 20 points as Madrid could do no better than tenth. Rounding out the top ten were Tony Steele, Reeve Staley, Mark Harrison, John Cox and Madrid. Staley was the hard charger of the race as he came from 20th to finish seventh.

The feature had a problem getting a start as the cars failed to make it a complete lap on the first two tries. However, the third time was the charm and Wyman had the lead going into the first turn. Terry Belcher, Jr. put the pressure on him for a few laps and then found an opening on the inside while working the sixth lap and had the lead in turn four. However at the same time he moved to the front his car failed him ending his night early.

Wyman was still leading when the first yellow flag flew on the 12th lap. The rest of the race was run under green

The four heat races were run without incident as Brandon Eichelberger, Belcher, Jr., Strobl and Foster notched wins. Eichelberger, making his first start of the year on Manzy's one third mile track came out of the back row to take the win in the first eight lapper. The top four from each heat made the feature, that was, in addition to the winner, Steele, Glenn Thurman and Jay Parvin in the first heat.

Belcher, Jr. ran the fastest heat of the night as he had a front row starting berth and made it no contest in beating Noll, Thornton, Jr. and Chuck Kuehl.

The third heat went to Strobl who started sixth. Behind him were Harrison, Jim Collingsworth and Jerry Walters. Foster edged King, Jr., Wyman and Greg Bedia in he final heat.

With eight spots left open in the feature for the 14 cars in the schedule ten lap semi, things got bad as the race was slowed by numerous spins and contact. It was cut to eight laps with John Cox leading the field to the checkered flag. Earning the other transfer spots were Madrid who started in the back row after sitting out his heat race with mechanical problems, Mark Stewart, Staley, T.J. Wood, Jr., Dominique Askren, Dave Dulceak and Brian Miller

GARRETT GUILKEY ONE FOR ONE AT MANZY

Garrett Guilkey chased down Kyle Shipley, took the lead on the 13th lap and went on to score his first mini sprint car win of the year in his first start at Manzy this year. Shipley increased his points lead in the chase for the championship with a second place finish while the second ranked driver Paul Martin finished eighth. Josh Castro was a close third ahead of Colby Copeland and Austin Quick. . Rounding out the top ten were Dennis Parks, Ashley Robella, Martin, Brandon George and Kiley Fellers.

To call Guilkey's win an upset would be an under statement. While racing only part time Guilkey had not had a top ten finish and was ranked 43rd in points. However he showed championship form as he chased down the points leader, a two time winner who had eight top five finishes and led the final seven laps.

The 26 car field ran three six lap heat races with wins going to Guilkey, Shipley and Copeland. Guilkey came out of the second row to beat Castro who started along side. Martin finished third, Brandon Young fourth and former champion Brandon George fifth. Shiply wasted no time getting to the front in the second heat after starting sixth. Behind him at the checkered flag were Robella, Jim Mattison, Mike Visser and Tyler Keesler. Copeland made it look easy in getting the win over Quick, Parks, Jeff Greszler and Matthew Shedarowich in the final heat.

Robella, who was coming off her first ever win, held off Martin, Copeland, Visser, Parks and Shedarowich in the trophy dash.

TERRY BELCHER ENDS HIS BRIEF RETIREMENT WITH A WIN IN HIS FIRST EVER RUN IN A MODLITE

Terry Belcher ended his brief retirment when he was asked to drive Brad Halin's modlite and added one more win to his already outstanding total. When asked about the "retirement" Belcher said he had to do it and praised the modlite cars.

The winner of an unofficial track leading 159 features made it 160 in typical Belcher fashion. He figured out the one third mile track and methodically worked his was toward the front after starting ninth. He found a slight opening on the bottom of the track while working the 11th lap and took the lead from with an inside move on Nick Bruce. He gave up the lead to Brandon Echols who squeezed through on the bottom of the next lap.

Belcher made the same move in turn two and the two cars made contact with Belcher reclaiming the lead and Echols spinning out. Echols appeared to want a rough driving call assessed against Belcher which could have put him back in front. He did not get the call.

Nick Bruce drove from 14th to challenge Belcher but Belcher protected the bottom of the track and while he could get alongside the leader, Bruce was unable to make the pass. He was a close second at the checkered flag with former dwarf car champion Tim Jones, who was making his first start, in third. Early pacesetter Gerry Glenn took fourth ahead of Jim Chapp. The rest of the top ten, in order, were Chris Shafeer, Brian King, Brandon Echols, Clayton Echols and Geoff Mooney.

Shafer beat Brandon Echols, Belcher, Glenn and Mike Wooster in the first six lap heat. Jones won the second heat over Chapp, Bruce, Clayton Echols and King.

Manzanita Speedway will be dark until July 28 when they host the super stock touring series, mini sprints and dwarf cars.