By Dick Jordan
The 2010 Southwest Contractors 360 Clash debuts this Saturday night at the Gropetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway and USAC West Coast 360 Sprint series point leader Craig Stidham appears to be the early favorite for victory. The “Clash” encompasses four races at Tulare, Bakersfield May 29, Santa Maria August 28 and Hanford September 11.
Stidham, of Fresno, Calif., stormed to victory in Saturday night’s 30-lap feature at Tulare and in the process extended his series point lead to 48 points over Davey Pombo, who finished second. Peter Murphy, Danny Sheridan and Jace VanderWeerd rounded out the “top-five” at the finish. Stidham piloted the Brad D. Johnson Trucking/KRC Safety TCR/Shark to the win.
Lady driver Justyne Hamblin led the first four laps and Stidham led the rest of the way.
Fast qualifier Danny Faria Jr. appeared to have finished second but his car failed to past the post-race technical inspection.
Saturday night’s Tulare race is the “Chris and Brian Faria Memorial.”
USAC WEST COAST 360 SPRINT SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Craig Stidham-250, 2-Davey Pombo-202, 3-T.J. Smith-186, 4-Peter Murphy-179, 5-Rusty Carlile-174, 6-Danny Faria Jr.-169, 7-Jace VanderWeerd-169, 8-Justyne Hamblin-163, 9-Jonathan Logan-162, 10-Chris Ennis-162.