MADRID SEEKS HIS 119TH CAREER WIN SAT. NITE AT MANZANITA SPEEDWAY

Source: Manzanita Speedway Media Relations/wd
Date: 07/08/2008

Anthony Madrid will have a target on his back when he takes his Barnett Racing Association dirt modified on the track Saturday night. Madrid will be trying to add to a points lead that seems to grow larger each race and, more importantly, he will be trying to take over sole possession of third place on the all time winner’s list. He is now tied with the legendary Lealand McSpadden with 118 career wins.

Madrid, AKA "The Friday Night Flyer" has had another remarkable season thus far. He enters the 11th race of the year for the dirt modifieds and has scored four feature race wins and has won six heat races. He has finished no worse that sixth and, in addition to his four wins, he has finished second three times has finishes of third, fifth and sixth. That is enough to give him a 95 point lead over Jason Noll, the 2006 champion. That means he could skip two races and even if Noll won them both he would still be five points behind Anthony.

Madrid sold his factory stock after winning the March 21 race so he could concentrate on winning his third dirt modified title. However Justin Upton, the defending champion, asked Anthony to sub for him while he dealt with an eye problem and Anthony scored two wins.

To put some icing on the cake Madrid drove in his first late model stock car race and won that one too. For the season he has eight wins, which is best of any driver.

Six different drivers have won dirt modified features this year with Noll taking both half mile track shows and Jay Foster, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Bumper Jones and R.C. Whitwell all scoring single wins.

Tony Steele is ranked third and has been competitive in all ten races but has yet to break into the win column. He has six top five finishes, including a strong run that netted him second behind Madrid in the May 2 race. He has two other finishes in the top ten.

Others hoping to make it to the winner’s circle include Chuck Kuehl who has run strong lately, Chris McCurdy, Jr. and Mark Harrison.

The Arizona Modlite Association will be sharing the 1/3rd mile track with the dirt mods Saturday night. Robert King, Jr. lead the points chase and has two wins and five other top five finishes. Steve Moriarity has two wins as does Nick Bruce. The Echols brothers, Brandon and Clayton are also capable of getting to victory lane. Clayton has already made on visit there.

Bobby Erdman has taken over the lead in the factory stocks and will carry a 37 point lead over Matt Martinez into their Friday night showdown. Martinez leads the main event column with four trips to the winners circle but Erdman, the 1991 and ‘92 champion, has been more consistent. He has a feature win plus five heat race victories. He has six top fives and three others in the top ten.

Two time champion Bobby Taylor is also in the thick of the battle and only seven points behind Martinez. Hard luck has hit Ron Poe who had the points lead until he hit upon hard times in the past two races. He was running third in the June 13 feature but blew a right rear tire. His crew changed the tire under yellow and he remained on the lead lap and drove through the traffic and had moved to fifth when the right rear blew again. He was credited with 16th but his 39 point lead shrunk to 11. It was worse in the June 27 races. He had mechanical problems in the trophy dash and his night ended with only one point, plus his show up points were added to his total. He now rests fourth in points and is 42 points out of the lead.

Second generation driver and current points leader Garrett Funk has been the news most of the year. He has taken on the veteran drivers and has won four of the six races run this year. He will carry a 58 point lead over Chris Rhein into the Friday night race. Rhein won the season opener and Kerry Campbell won the June 20 feature.

The Bombers will also be part of "Friday Night Madness". The bombers run without benefit of yellow flags and can become part of an obstacle course if they crash or stall on the track. Mike Bray and Jeff Czoka have each won two feature races while Gavin McGee, Daniel Romero, Robert Taylor and Chuck Thornton are alsoon the winner’s list. Czoka has been the most successful with six top five finishes.

The front gate opens at 6:00 P.M. with competitive racing slated for 7:30 each evening.

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