Leary Wins Opening Night of the Oval Nationals

C.J. Leary. - Bill Miller Photo
C.J. Leary. – Bill Miller Photo

From Lance Jennings

Perris, CA — (November 6, 2014) — C.J. Leary won the USAC West Coast / Southwest Sprint Car feature to kick off the 19th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals.   Bryan Clauson, Jake Swanson, Richard Vander Weerd, and Mike Spencer rounded out the top five.

USAC WEST COAST & SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR “Special Event” RACE RESULTS: November 6, 2014 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – 19th “Budweiser Oval Nationals” – The Grudge Series

      QUALIFICATIONS: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.416; 2. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-16.503; 3. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-16.547; 4. Troy Rutherford, 11, Rutherford-16.622; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 73X, Ford-16.640; 6. Bryan Clauson, 16B, Martin-16.644; 7. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-16.682; 8. Colby Copeland, 5V, VanLare-16.683; 9. Robert Ballou, 12X, Ballou-16.704; 10. Danny Faria Jr., 2F, Bowman-16.704; 11. Christopher Bell, 51T, Roth-16.728; 12. Jon Stanbrough, 81M, Watt-16.767; 13. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.770; 14. Dave Darland, 4G, Gansen-16.833; 15. Mike Spencer, 7M, Priestley-16.864; 16. Charles Davis Jr., 50, Massey-16.871; 17. Shon Deskins, 20. Deskins-16.880; 18. Darren Hagen, 17RW, Dutcher-16.897; 21. Rick Hendrix, 15X, Hendrix-16.918; 22. Josh Pelkey, 12, Allen-16.968; 23. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-16.994; 24. Johnathon Henry, 17, Henry-17.060; 25. Jeff Sibley, 42N, Sibley-17.098; 26. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-17.146, 27. Markus Niemela, 73, Ford-17.147; 28. Max Adams, 5X, Adams-17.191; 29. Michael Curtis, 11C, Turner/Wheeler-17.228; 30. A.J. Bender, 12B, Bender-17.262; 31. Chris Ennis, 86, Ennis-17.378; 32. Terry Schank Jr., 3X, Dupont-17.457; 33. Cody Majors, 54, Majors-17.459; 34. Trent Williams, 52, Williams-17.484; 35. Tristan Guardino, 81, Watt-17.510; 36. David Taylor, 74, Taylor-17.608; 37. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-17.638; 38. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-17.783; 39. J.J. Ercse, 15, Boy-17.843; 40. Kyle Smith, 55X, Smith-18.069; 41. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-18.109; 42. George Morris, 3K, Kruseman-18.302; 43. Brian Grosenheider, 25K, Kruseman-18.658; 44. Eddie Tafoya, 51, Perkins-18.877; 45. Ed Schwarz, U47, Schwarz-18.886; 46. Mike Collins, 04, Collins-19.326

      FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Johnson, 2. Leary, 3. R.Vander Weerd, 4. Mitchell, 5. Sibley, 6. Edwards, 7. Schank, 8. Tafoya. NT

      SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Martin, 2. Darland, 3. Swanson, 4. Majors, 5. Copeland, 6. Hurst, 7. Collins, 8. Ercse. 2:58.42

      THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Ballou, 3. Liggett, 4. Adams, 5. Hendrix, 6. Smith, 7. Williams, 8. Schwarz. 2:56.44

      FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Rutherford, 2. Davis, 3. Bernal, 4. Pelkey, 5. Faria, 6. Curtis, 7. Guardino. 2:59.13

      FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Bell, 3. Deskins, 4. J.Vander Weerd, 5. Bender, 6. Taylor, 7. Morris. 2:59.20

      SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Hagen, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Henry, 5. Everhart, 6. Ennis, 7. Grosenheider. 2:58.34

      FIRST SEMI: (10 laps) 1. Mitchell, 2. Copeland, 3. Curtis, 4. J.Vander Weerd, 5. Ennis, 6. Hendrix, 7. Everhart, 8. Majors, 9. Morris, 10. Guardino, 11. Ercse, 12. Schwarz, 13. Sibley, 14. Tafoya. NT

      SECOND SEMI: (10 laps) 1. Faria, 2. Hurst, 3. Henry, 4. Pelkey, 5. Adams, 6. Williams, 7. Bender, 8. Edwards, 9. Smith, 10. Schank, 11. Collins, 12. Taylor, 13. Grosenheider. 3:40.66

      FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Richard Vander Weerd, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. R.J. Johnson, 8. Darren Hagen, 9. Danny Faria Jr., 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 11. Johnathon Henry, 12. Landon Hurst, 13. Charles Davis Jr., 14. Mike Martin, 15. Troy Rutherford, 16. Ryan Bernal, 17. Colby Copeland, 18. Shon Deskins, 19. Michael Curtis, 20. Jon Stanbrough, 21. Dave Darland, 22. Austin Liggett, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Christopher Bell. NT

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**Niemela flipped in qualifications. Liggett, Stanbrough, Rutherford, Bernal flipped during the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Thomas, Laps 2-19 Clauson, Laps 20-30 Leary.

FINAL USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Mitchell-709, 2-Niemela-632, 3-R.Vander Weerd-603, 4-Faria-540, 5-Bernal-539, 6-J.Vander Weerd-535, 7-Rutherford-534, 8-Liggett-513, 9-Nic Faas-465, 10-Dennis Howell-399.

NEXT USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT RACE: November 20-22 – “Peoria, AZ – Canyon Speedway Park – 47th Annual “Western World Championships”

NEXT USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR “Special Event”: November 20-22 – “Peoria, AZ – Canyon Speedway Park – 47th Annual “Western World Championships”