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Maier Tops NCRA Standings, Close Battle for Third
PARK CITY, Kan. (Aug. 10, 2007) – After 10 shows, Garry Lee Maier continues to lead the way in the O’Reilly NCRA Sprint Car Series, presented by ICM/Ethanol.
Maier, from Cimarron, Kan., is well on his way to a third consecutive championship. He has four wins and is the only driver to have qualified for all 10 features. Maier has six top fives and eight top 10s, good for a 295-point lead with just three shows left.
With a title back in 1991, he and Dennis Park have each won three, more than anyone else in series history. A fourth would put Maier alone on top of the list. His 60 career NCRA wins tops that chart.
The most consistent driver this year, however, has been Mike Peters. He didn’t make the feature lineup on opening night, but has made the last nine. The Wichita, Kan., driver was third on May 12 and 12th on May 25. Since then, he has been on a roll with seven straight top 10 finishes, the last six in the top five. With fourth-place finishes in the last four shows, he moved into second in the standings.
The point runner-up most of the season, Don Droud Jr. has been in somewhat of a slump. After winning July 14, he finished ninth and 13th the next two shows. Droud, from Lincoln, Neb., missed the last show because of a prior commitment and dropped to third in points. He has two wins this year.
Droud has competition for the third spot as only 45 points separate him from fifth place.
Last year’s season runner-up, J.D. Johnson, has moved up to fourth, five points behind Droud. Johnson failed to make the opening feature and was 18th in the second show May 12. The Goddard, Kan., hot shoe has seven top 10 finishes in the last eight races since. He is still looking for his first win of the season, finishing second in two of the last three shows.
Stu Snyder of Waverly, Neb., has had an up-and-down season. The former rookie of the year has only four top 10s in nine features. After Memorial Day weekend, Snyder was third in points. He missed the July 3 feature and was 16th, 14th, seventh, and 13th in the last four shows. Snyder has dropped to fifth in the standings, 45 points out of fourth.
For more information about the NCRA, either visit their Web site at www.ncraracing.org or call the NCRA office at (316) 755-1781.
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