By LONNIE WHEATLEY

ASCS

TULSA, Okla. (September 15, 2009) - After a break to avoid the worst of the Arizona summer heat, the American Sprint Car Series Southwest Region championship battle heats back up with Saturday's night card at Tucson's USA Raceway.

Saturday's action is also the sixth round of the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Challenge, a select slate of eight events including both winged Southwest events and wingless Canyon Region events.

Although shut out of victory lane thus far in 2009 after posting eight ASCS Southwest wins last year, Ben Gregg of Peoria, AZ, holds the edge in the ASCS Southwest championship points race.

Gregg's lead is a slight one though, as defending series champion Rick Ziehl of Las Cruces, NM, is just six points off of Gregg's lead pace.

In fact, the bunched-up points race has only fifty points separating the top seven drivers, with John Gaston (Peoria, AZ), Mike Martin (Yuma, AZ), Joshua Hodges (Tijeras, NM), Charles Davis, Jr. (Buckeye, AZ) and Ronnie Clark (Tucson, AZ) all still within reach of first place.

A pair of racy ladies, Kaylene Verville of Avondale, AZ, and Tucson's Jessica Van Dyke, are eighth and ninth in points, with Tucson's John Van Horn completing the current top ten.

While Ziehl tries to overtake Gregg for the top spot in Southwest points, he currently holds a 20-point advantage in the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Challenge Series over Charles Davis, Jr., with Ronnie Clark, Mike Martin and Joshua Hodges rounding out the current top five.

Saturday's ASCS Southwest Region event at USA Raceway goes green at 7:00 p.m.

The 3/8-mile USA Raceway clay oval is located east of Tucson off I-10 Exit 268, then 1.6 mile south on Craycroft Road, which turns into Los Reales. For more information, contact the track at 520-574-8515.

The ASCS Southwest Region is currently scheduled for eleven nights of competition, with ten of those events at USA Raceway.

The American Sprint Car Series, in its 18th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing events, brings the best of Sprint Car racing to nearly 100 different tracks throughout 25 states and Canada in 2009. Anchored by the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of a dozen different Regions throughout the nation.

Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.