TULAROSA, N.M. (July 19, 2002) - Tim West of Albuquerque, N.M. passed Matt Ziehl on the final lap of Friday night's 30-lap USAC New Mexico/Arizona Sprint Car feature at Sertoma Speedway in Tularosa, N.M., scoring his first win in the brand-new racing series.

West recovered from a mid-race spin and last-place restart to win the inaugural USAC race on the 3/8-mile dirt oval in his CTI/Gibson Racing Gibson/Fab Tech. Trailing runner-up Matt Ziehl were Sonny Holden, Rick Ziehl and Miles Merritt. Matt Ziehl led the first 29 laps before yielding to West on the final lap.

Fast qualifier Mike Boat finished sixth and retains the series point lead going into an August 3 race at the Aztec (N.M.) Speedway. Boat won a heat race as did Matt and Rick Ziehl.

Dave Burns flipped during his heat race but returned to compete in the Tularosa main event.

Boat's lead over runner-up Mike Martin, who finished 17th at Tularosa, stands at 81 points.

RESULTS

USAC NEW MEXICO/ARIZONA REGIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mike Boat, 74, Boat-15.09; 2. Miles Merritt, 75, Merritt-15.20; 3. Rick Ziehl, X, Minks-15.28; 4. Sonny Holden, 81, Holden-15.45; 5. Tim West, 77, Tornillo-15.70; 6. Matt Ziehl, XX, Minks-15.77; 7. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-15.83; 8. Steve Stone, 57, Stone-15.89; 9. Dave Burns, 52, Burns-15.96; 10. Rick Sipes, 99, Sipes-16.20; 11. Don Grable, 13m, Minks-16.23; 12. Mike Ziehl, 88, Minks-16.37; 13. Chris Faber, 62, Faber-16.46; 14. Steve Nix, 0, Nix-16.56; 15. Asa Kesterson, 18, Kesterson-16.77; 16. Larry Kesterson, 19, Kesterson-16.78; 17. Christy Smith, 4L, Smith-16.83; 18. Jim Aragon, 55, Aragon-16.86; 19. Tom Ceniceros, 15, Ceniceros-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boat, 2. West, 3. Holden, 4. Faber, 5. Stone, 6. Burns. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Matt Ziehl, 2. Merritt, 3. Nix, 4. Mike Ziehl, 5. L.Kesterson, 6. Sipes. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Ziehl, 2. Smith, 3. Ceniceros, 4. Martin, 5. Aragon, 6. Grable, 7. A.Kesterson. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tim West, 2. Matt Ziehl, 3. Sonny Holden, 4. Rick Ziehl, 5. Miles Merritt, 6. Mike Boat, 7. Steve Nix, 8. Christy Smith, 9. Steve Stone, 10. Rick Sipes, 11. Don Grable, 12. Chris Faber, 13. Mike Ziehl, 14. Larry Kesterson, 15. Dave Burns, 16. Tom Ceniceros, 17. Mike Martin, 18. Jim Aragon. NT
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**Burns flipped during the first heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-29 M.Ziehl, Lap 30 West.

NEW USAC NEW MEXICO/ARIZONA REGIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Boat-327; 2-Martin-246; 3-Sipes-232; 4-Burns-207; 5-Mike Ziehl-185; 6-Stone-167; 7-Smith-155; 8-Nix-135; 9-R.Ziehl-133; 10-Matt Ziehl-130.

NEXT USAC NEW MEXICO/ARIZONA REGIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE: August 3 - Aztec, NM - Aztec Speedway.

USAC NEW MEXICO/ARIZONA REGIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES STANDINGS

1. Mike Boat 327
2. Mike Martin 246
3. Rick Sipes 232
4. Dave Burns 207
5. Mike Ziehl 185
6. Steve Stone 167
7. Christy Smith 155
8. Steve Nix 135
9. Rick Ziehl 133
10. Matt Ziehl 130