SWS: El Centro race notes

Binder Wins El Centro Southwest Sprint Opener

Beau Binder of El Paso, Texas captured Saturday night's opening event of the 2004 USAC Southwest Sprint Car Series at Imperial Valley Speedway in El Centro, Calif.

Binder scored a narrow victory over defending series champion Rick Ziehl, who finished second ahead of Mike Martin, Josh Pelkey and former series champion Mike Boat.

Ziehl was the fastest qualifier, but Binder led all 30 laps for the win and the series point lead going into a May 1 race at United Sports Arizona USA in Tucson, Ariz. Binder and Ziehl actually have the same point total entering the race at Tucson!

Rick Sipes suffered a concussion and bruises in a flip during qualifying at El Centro, while R.C. Whitwell escaped injury in a qualifying flip. A.J. Reyer also escaped injury in a feature flip.

USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR SERIES STANDINGS

1.-Beau Binder-66
2.-Rick Ziehl-66
3.-Josh Pelkey-62
4.-Mike Boat-61
5.-Mike Martin-60
6.-Kaylene Verville-50
7.-Mark Deskovick-49
8.-Dave Burns-48
9.-Brandon Lane-41
10.-Jim Pless-40

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