Central Arizona winners are Mecl, George

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 21) – Winning the first feature of the night helped Zachary Madrid win the last one. Madrid was a double winner in the 2022 lidlifter at Central Arizona Speedway, topping both the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event and the IMCA Modified headliner. While he’s won two IMCA features twice on the same night before at other venues, Friday marked the first time he accomplished the feat at Casa Grande.  “The track was heavy. Running the Stock Car feature first helped me a ton figuring out where to run and what line I should follow in the Modified,” Madrid said. “I ran high in (turns) three and four, the middle to bottom in one and two, and wherever I could to get through traffic.” He crossed the stripe ahead of Scott Sluka and Eric Lloyd in the Stock Car feature. Jacob Pace and Kelsie Foley ran 2-3 in the Modified finale. “Everything worked out for us pretty good,” said Madrid, who earned Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility along with the [Read More]

By Jackson Braun CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Feb. 10) – While day racing at the Central Arizona Speedway brought a completely different dynamic to the plate, the driver in victory lane following Sunday’s Arizona Mod Tour main event was celebrating a second straight victory. A familiar face returned to the winner’s circle as Ricky Thornton Jr. grabbed his fourth career tour win, tying him with Hunter Marriott for the most overall wins in the third running of the tour.  Also the $1,500 winner Saturday at Arizona Speedway and a Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier six times over, Thornton used his outside starting spot to grab the lead early. Clint Reichenbach, who had faced struggles at Queen Creek, used his fourth place spot on the starting grid to catapult himself into 2nd early on.  Jake O’Neil worked his way past Reichenbach and set his sights on Thornton. Thornton had a comfortable cushion once he reached lapped traffic and once again was able to maneuver very efficiently. For the second night in a row, the Modified feature [Read More]

By Lonnie Wheatley CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Nov. 22) – Ricky Thornton, Jr., finished off a sweep of Central Arizona Speedway’s seventh annual Desert Thunder Nationals, thundering to victory lane in Sunday afternoon’s 25-lap IMCA Modified feature event atop the 3/8-mile clay oval. Thornton, already on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot, had topped $1,000 to win features on Friday and Saturday leading up to Sunday’s $3,000 checkers and denying brother Jeremy the win in the process. Ricky Thornton Jr. spent the first half of the race chasing Jeremy Thornton before working his way into the lead on the 14th round.  He led the field the rest of the way with Jeremy Thornton fending off Jake O’Neill for runner-up honors and Jeff Larson and Austin Kuehl rounding out the top five.  “It’s pretty awesome to run one-two,” Thornton, Jr. said of sibling sweep of the top two positions.  While Thornton completed the trifecta, Bo Partain foiled a second consecutive Cody Thompson sweep attempt in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod ranks. Bo Partain gunned into the lead at the [Read More]