Source: Windy McDonald
Date: 08/30/2007

The American Sprint Car Series ended a seven week lull in their schedule last week and staged one of the best main events ever in the running of the 56th anniversary races at Manzanita Speedway.

Charles Davis, Jr., who had played the bridesmaid role to Jeremy Sherman numerous times this year, had a new sprinter owned by Jim Massey out for the first time and made a dramatic drive from last to first to nip Sherman on the final lap. Sherman complained that he was running low on fuel and the engine burped just enough to allow Davis to make the pass.

Sherman, a winner of nine of the 11 previous races, was beat in main event competition for only the second time this season. Chad Boat edged him earlier this year in Casa Grande. He failed to start one other race.

All eyes will be on the #50 driven by Davis and Sherman's #77 which is owned by Fred Bryan to see who is superior this week. Howvever there are others waiting in the wings. R.J. Johnson ran strong in the anniversary show but a faulty ignition sidelined him after he traded positions with Davis several times. Boat was never a contender on the half mile track but the problems in his sprint car will probably put him in contention Saturday night on the one third mile track.

Mike Colegrove showed the form that carried him to rookie of the year honors last year when he led early and finished a strong third. This year's top ranked rookie Jeremy Reagles had a good outing and ran fourth while Josh Pelkey came from deep in the field to finish fifth.

The sprints will have the track to themselves in the Checker Auto Parts fan appreciation night. Checker will be providing products for many of the fans throughout the night.

The field could be the largest of the year as some drivers prefer not to run the big track but are expected out Saturday ngiht. The sprints are averaging 28 cars per outing and are expecting to field over 30 this week.

Factory stocks, dwarf cars and bombers, the same three divisions that put were very competitive in their part of the anniversary races last week, are on the Friday night card.

Jody Henderson won for the fifth time this year in the factory stocks but he has failed to finish several races and is ranked fourth in points. Even with his win last week he fail to gain ground as the top three drivers finished in the top four.

Chris Snyder made a final turn pass to edge Brian Stehr in the dwarf car feature. Snyder increased his points lead over the 2005 champion Sandy Matthews and hopes to expand it as he seeks his first driving championship.

The #13z bomber has had several different drivers this year and will again be the car to beat. Jeff Czoka was at the wheel for the anniversary race win.

Gates open each evening at 6:00 with competitive racing taking the first green flag at 8:00.

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