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ASCS Showdown at I-80 Speedway This Weekend
by: Lonnie Wheatley

GREENWOOD, NE (April 7) - The American Sprint Car Series Midwest and Northern Plains Regions are set to open up the 2008 season in intense fashion by squaring off for two nights of heated action atop Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway this weekend.

The Third Annual ASCS Midwest vs. Northern Plains Shootout atop the 4/10-mile I-80 Speedway oval is set to go green at 7:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday night.

Missouri's Brian Brown has found I-80 Speedway to his liking over the past several years, winning two of the three ASCS Midwest vs. Northern Plains feature events contested over the past two seasons. Brown topped fields of over 50 entries on both occasions, with one of the 2006 events succumbing to weather.

Overall, Brown has topped four of nine ASCS features contested at I-80 Speedway over the past three years, with other ASCS winners at I-80 including Jack Dover, Chuck Swenson, Billy Alley, Jake Peters and Terry McCarl.

While Brown tries to add a tenth career ASCS Midwest Region win over the course of the weekend, a pair of North Dakota drivers are set to kick off title defenses.

Fargo's Natalie Sather enters the weekend as the reigning ASCS Midwest Region champion, while Harwood's Lee Grosz kicks off his defense of the ASCS Northern Plains Region title.

The 23-year-old Sather became the third different ASCS Midwest Region champion in as many years by outdistancing 2006 Midwest king Toby Chapman by 64 markers to claim last year's title with Hall-of-Famer Kenny Woodruff turning the wrenches.

Driving for his grandfather and legendary car owner Doug Howells, Grosz outlasted Dave Glennon and Eric Lutz for the Northern Plains title in 2007. Now 20 years old, Grosz ranked as the youngest ASCS champion last year by snaring the championship as a 19-year-old.

Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway is located in Greenwood, NE, between Lincoln and Omaha off I-80 Exit 420, then 0.4 mile north on SR 63 then west. For more information, contact the track at 402-944-2233.

The ASCS Midwest Region is currently slated for 11 nights of action at eight different tracks throughout Nebraska and the immediate surrounding area stretching into Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.

The ASCS Northern Plains Region is set for 15 nights of racing action at nine different tracks throughout South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa in 2008.

The nation's most prominent Sprint Car sanctioning body with 14 different Regions throughout the United States in addition to the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series, the American Sprint Car Series' (ASCS) 17th year of activity will include approximately 250 nights of racing at more than 100 different race tracks throughout 28 different states and Canada.

Past ASCS Regional Winners at I-80 Speedway:
8/14/07 – Jack Dover (Midwest)
4/15/07 – Chuck Swenson (Midwest vs. Northern Plains)
4/14/07 – Brian Brown (Midwest vs. Northern Plains)
8/15/06 – Billy Alley (Midwest)
7/3/06 – Jake Peters (Midwest vs. Northern Plains)
4/8/06 – Brian Brown (Midwest vs. Northern Plains)
8/3/05 – Brian Brown (Midwest vs. National)
7/8/05 – Brian Brown (Midwest)
4/15/05 – Terry McCarl