By Dick Jordan
USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car point leaders Craig Stidham of Fresno, Calif. and Davey Pombo of Kerman, Calif. are separated by 46 points in the latest series standings and both hope to return to victory lane when the series competes at Bakersfield Speedway Saturday night.
Stidham won there May 29 and Pombo was the feature winner March 27. Rusty Carlile and Ricky Kirkbride were the respective runner-ups.
Stidham has won four of the last six series races, while the March win was Pombo’s only triumph this season, although his worst finish in eight starts has been a seventh.
Peter Murphy, T.J. Smith and Justyne Hamblin round out the “top-five” in the standings. Hamblin became only the second female to win a USAC dirt-track sprint race when she won at Hanford, Calif. June 5.
USAC WEST COAST 360 SPRINT SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Craig Stidham-582, 2-Davey Pombo-536, 3-Peter Murphy-503, 4-T.J. Smith-474, 5-Justyne Hamblin-463, 6-Rusty Carlile-433, 7-Danny Faria Jr.-401, 8-Jace VanderWeerd-382, 9-Chris Ennis-338, 10-Richard VanderWeerd-329.