From Dick Jordan
The inaugural “J.W. Mitchell Classic” is Saturday night at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway and Garrett Hansen of Manhattan Beach, Calif. continues to enjoy a healthy point lead in the USAC Western Midget Series standings.
Hansen finished 24th in Thursday night’s 25-mile “Copper World Classic” feature at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway, won by Bobby Santos III.
Santos, of Franklin, Mass., emerged the winner at the 34th “Copper World Classic”. Santos wrested the lead from Bryan Clauson on lap 23, then slipped behind Clauson at the white flag. On the final lap Clauson slid high in turn three and Santos went on to the win in his Santos Motorsports Beast/Esslinger Ford.
Pole starter Bobby East finished second ahead of Alex Bowman, Brad Kuhn and Cole Whitt. Kuhn extended his National point lead to 40 points over Brad Sweet, who finished 14th. East led the first seven laps and Clauson led the next 15 before the final three lap dramatics.
Saturday’s Ventura USAC “tripleheader” also features the National Dirt Ford Focus Championship race and the Ford Focus Young Guns.
Hansen appears to occupy the favorite’s role Saturday, having won the last two Western Midget races at Ventura, but he’ll have to contend with a bevy of National stars as well as local favorite Cory Kruseman and Matt Mitchell, both of whom have posted Midget wins at the 1/5-mile dirt oval this year.
The USAC National and Western Midget Series conclude the 2009 campaign on Thursday night, November 26 at the 69th Lucas Oil “Turkey Night Grand Prix” at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Calif.
USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Brad Kuhn-1,226, 2–Brad Sweet-1,186, 3-Darren Hagen-1,173, 4-Jerry Coons Jr.-1,103, 5-Cole Whitt-1,003, 6-Bobby East-993, 7-Tracy Hines-945, 8-Bryan Clauson-840, 9-Chad Boat-748, 10-Kevin Swindell-540.
USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Garrett Hansen-1,029, 2-Jerome Rodela-937, 3-Alex Schutte-927, 4-Tanner Swanson-719, 5-David Prickett-699, 6-Scott Pierovich-591, 7-Shannon McQueen-540, 8-Josh Ford-494, 9-Alex Bowman-461; 10-Randi Pankratz-405.