By Dick Jordan
LIGUORI, RANKINE #1 AT SPEEDROME; SCHROCK, FARLEY TOPS AT ORANGE SHOW
USAC’s Western Ford Focus and Young Guns series continue this week with races at Watsonville, Calif. and Stockton, Calif. Friday’s racing at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville includes the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint cars and Saturday’s races are at Stockton 99 Speedway.
Joe Liguori of Tampa, Fla. and Ross Rankine of Willard, Ohio earned USAC Ford Focus and Young Guns feature victories respectively Wednesday at the Indianapolis (Ind.) Speedrome on “Mel Kenyon Night.” Liguori emerged the winner of the 40-lap Ford Focus race in his Pit Stop BBQ/C & R Racing Beast, taking the lead from Jake Blackhurst and Tyler Cottongim in turn three on the final lap! Cottongim led the first 39 laps but slipped behind Blackhurst at the start of the final lap. Cottongim made a bid to regain the,” lead in turn three but Liguori slipped under both to post the win and take over the Midwest Ford Focus point lead.
In the 25-lap Young Guns race Rankine benefited from a tangle between leaders Gage Walker and Cooper Clouse on the final lap and emerged the winner of the 25-lap contest in his Rankine Manufacturing Stealth. Walker finished second ahead of Clouse and Stevie Kuhn. Kuhn led the first 13 laps before sliding into the wall, then Clouse led the next 11 until the last-lap tangle.
Drivers Eli Schrock of Jeffersonton, Va. and Austin Farley of Brighton, Colo. gave car owner Ron Sutton a “sweep” of Saturday night’s USAC Ford Focus and Young Guns features at the Orange Show Speedway in san Bernardino, Calif. Schrock led all 30 laps of the Western Ford Focus race to beat Cody Gerhardt, Jessica Clark, Shawn Buckley and Wally Pankratz.
In the Orange Show Young Guns race, Jarid Blondel led the first 13 laps but slipped to fourth at the finish behind Jessica Clark and Tanner Long. Brandon White rounded out the “top-five
The Midwest Ford Focus and Young Guns series resume June 23 at the Indianapolis Speedrome with “Michael Lang Night,” celebrating the seven-time USAC driving champion and 53-time Speedrome feature winner.
USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Joe Liguori-395, 2-Jake Blackhurst-391, 3-Tyler Cottongim-295, 4-Kyle O’Gara-226; 5-Toby Alfrey-213, 6-John Heydenreich-206, 7-Tate Martz-187, 8-Jessica Bean-155, 9-Andy Nock-144; 10-Scott Hunter-136.
USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS DIRT POINT STANDINGS
1-Joe Ligori-136, 2-Jake Blackhurst-120, 3-Toby Alfrey-119, 4-John Heydenreich-111, 5-Eric Rankine-111, 6-Tyler Cottongim-103, 7-Josh Staten-89, 8-Ronnie Wuerdeman-88, 9-Jessica Bean-80, 10-Bill Kriegbaum-75.
USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS PAVEMENT POINT STANDINGS
1-Joe Liguori-200, 2-Tate Martz-187, 3-Jake Blackhurst-163, 4-Tyler Cottongim-153, 5-Kyle O’Gara-149, 6-Geoff Gerline-123, 7-John Heydenreich-95, 8-Toby Alfrey-94, 9-Michael May-93, 10-Andy Nock-86.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Michael Daniels-338, 2-Connor Kassik-274, 3-J.R. Williams-237, 4-Kipp Posey-194, 5-Bobby Runyan-188, 6-Eli Schrock-187, 7-Terra Brower-183, 8-Chuck Groat-183, 9-Jeff Kelley-179, 10-Cody Gerhardt-165.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Scott Hunter-388, 2-Nick Drake-333, 3-Justin Hommel-290, 4-Bradley Riethmeyer-257, 5-Cody Acton-231, 6-Steven Intravaia-230, 7-Tyler Corriher-208, 8-Chris Lamb-182, 9-Jeremy Frankoski-157, 10-Jake Blackhurst-108.
USAC CAROLINA FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Scott Hunter-320, 2-Nick Drake-267, 3-Justin Hommel-248, 4-Bradley Riethmeyer-184, 5-Cody Acton-183, 6-Steven Intravaia-172, 7-Tyler Corriher-168, 8-Jeremy Frankoski-157, 9-Chris Lamb-132, 10-Brad Noffsinger-97.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Kyle Edwards-565, 2-Connor Kassik-510, 3-Cody Gerhardt-409, 4-Bobby Runyan-402, 5-Michael Daniels-338, 6-Nick Carlson-337, 7-Jet Davison-284, 8-Andrew Mulhearn-278, 9-J.R. Williams-271, 10-Eli Schrock-248.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS PAVEMENT POINT STANDINGS
1-Cody Gerhardt-409, 2-Bobby Runyan-402, 3-Connor Kassik-284, 4-Kyle Edwards-280, 5-Eli Schrock-248, 6-Garrett Peterson-211, 7-Jessica Clark-209, 8-Shawn Buckley-190, 9-Austin Farley-182, 10-Keegan Walmer-175.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS DIRT POINT STANDINGS
1-Nick Carlson-264, 2-Andrew Mulhearn-227, 3-Kyle Edwards-226, 4-Jet Davison-219, 5-Jake Blackhurst-151, 6-Wally Pankratz-150, 7-Kalvin Douglas-125, 8-Zach Stout-117, 9-Andrew Murray-100, 10-Connor Kassik-79.
USAC NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Garrett Peterson-211, 2-Cody Gerhardt-183, 3-Keegan Walmer-175, 4-Bobby Runyan-175, 5-Cody Thompson-174, 6-Dennis Simunovich-141, 7-Courtney Atkinson-133, 8-Connor Kassik-118, 9-Greg Paul-89, 10-Kyle Edwards-79.
USAC SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Eli Schrock-248, 2-Bobby Runyan-227, 3-Cody Gerhardt-226, 4-Kyle Edwards-201, 5-Shawn Buckley-190, 6-Austin Farley-182, 7-Jessica Clark-166, 8-Connor Kassik-166, 9-Michael Daniels-133, 10-J.R. Williams-99.
USAC WESTERN YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarid Blondel-467, 2-Brandon White-320, 3-Alex Jacobsen-312, 4-Casey Martinez-307, 5-Winn Frazin-249, 6-Daniel Williams-227, 7-Bradley Morris-205, 8-Courtney Atkinson-199, 9-Austin Farley-194, 10-Collin Henry-184.
USAC WESTERN YOUNG GUNS DIRT POINT STANDINGS
1-Alex Jacobsen-312, 2-Casey Martinez-307, 3-Jarid Blondel-297, 4-Collin Henry-234, 5-Daniel Williams-227, 6-Bradley Morris-205, 7-Logan Williams-179, 8-Tanner Kershaw-156, 9-Winn Frazin-141, 10-Al Simpson-87.
USAC WESTERN YOUNG GUNS PAVEMENT POINT STANDINGS
1-Brandon White-320, 2-Austin Farley-194, 3-Jarid Blondel-170, 4-Keegan Walmer-149, 5-Courtney Atkinson-135, 6-Cody Thompson-133, 7-Jessica Clark-116, 8-Winn Frazin-108, 9-Tanner Long-68.
USAC NORTHERN CALIFORNIA YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Brandon White-187, 2-Keegan Walmer-149, 3-Courtney Atkinson-135, 4-Cody Thompson-133, 5-Austin Farley-64, 6-Jessica Clark-60, 7-Tanner Long-59, 8-Jarid Blondel-53, 9-Winn Frazin-46.
USAC SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Austin Farley-194, 2-Brandon White-187, 3-Jarid Blondel-170, 4-Jessica Clark-116, 5-Winn Frazin-108, 6-Tanner Long-68.
USAC MIDWEST YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Cooper Clouse-195, 2-Ross Rankine-190, 3-Gage Walker-178, 4-Stevie Kuhn-172, 5-Jarett Andretti-52, 6-Derrick Morris-51.