Manzi's lead slipping

Only three weeks ago Cat Manzi appeared to have a firm hold on the dash championship as he had a 32-win lead over runner-up Mark MacDonald and a bulging 52-win margin over third-place Tony Morgan. However, Manzi’s grip on first is beginning to weaken a bit as Morgan, who has been on a win binge since recently moving his base to Dover Downs, is only 23 wins away as of Wednesday morning.



Although the New Jersey-based Manzi had a pretty good week Nov. 21-27 with 10 trips to the winner’s circle, Morgan won a whopping 24 times during that period to close the gap.



Manzi is aiming for his first dash championship, having finished second last year behind Dave Palone. Manzi also has two other second-place finishes, those coming back in 1989 and 1990. He has finished in the top 20 every year since 1988.



Morgan is a three-time dash champion, having captured the title in 1995, ’96 and ’97. In the seven subsequent years he finished no lower than 10th and was seventh last year.



Mark MacDonald, who is setting new Canadian standards this year while competing in Ontario, now sits third with 603 victories. Three-time champ Palone is fourth with 562 wins, the record 14th year in a row that The Meadows-based driver has won more than 500 races. Rounding out the top five is the Midwest-based Tim Tetrick, who has 531 wins under his belt.

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