By Dick Jordan
USAC’s Ford Focus racing series take a week off this weekend while preparing for May 1 Western Ford Focus and Young Guns race at Stockton, Calif. and an Eastern/Carolina Ford Focus race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway the same night.
Joe Liguori of Tampa, Fla. snatched a pair of Midwest wins over the weekend at Gas City I-69 Speedway and Montpelier Motor Speedway in Indiana, enhancing his second-place ranking in the Midwest points. The Midwest series resumes action May 26 at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
Liguori won Friday night’s 20-lap feature at the Gas City. He passed teammate John Heydenreich on the seventh lap and led the rest of the way to put his Pit Stop Bar-B-Q and Grill Beast in victory lane. Eric Rankine finished second ahead of Jake Blackhurst, Toby Alfrey and Tyler Cottongim. Liguori won Saturday night at Montpelier, scoring a pulsating last-lap win in the 20-lapper. He passed Toby Alfrey on the last lap. Teammate Heydenreich finished second ahead of Alfrey, with Blackhurst and Rankine, who led the first six laps of the race.
Bradley Riethmeyer of Conover, N.C. led the final 13 laps to win Saturday night’s 35-lap USAC Eastern/Carolina Ford Focus feature at the Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Riethmeyer passed Steven Intravaia on lap 23 in his Calico Coatings/All American Driver Challenge Beast and beat Intravaia to the checkered flag. Fast qualifier Scott Hunter was third ahead of Justin Hommel and Brad Noffsinger.
Bobby Runyan and Brandon White gave car owner Ron Sutton’s Winners Circle a “sweep” of Saturday night’s USAC Western Ford Focus and Young Guns feature events at the Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway. Runyan, of Deniar, Calif., led all 40 laps of the Ford Focus race to beat fast qualifier Garrett Petersen, Cody Gerhardt, Cody Thompson and Keegan Walmer. In the accompanying 15-lap Young Guns feature, White, of Eureka, Calif., beat teammates Walmer, Courtney Atkinson and Cody Thompson to the checkered flag.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Scott Hunter-196, 2-Bradley Riethmeyer-161, 3-Nick Drake-159, 4-Justin Hommel-131, 5-Steven Intravaia-130, 6-Tyler Corriher-115, 7-Jake Blackhurst-108, 8-Chris Lamb-107, 9-Jeremy Frankoski-103, 10-Cody Acton-84.
USAC CAROLINA FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Scott Hunter-128, 2-Jeremy Frankoski-103, 3-Nick Drake-93, 4-Justin Hommel-89, 5-Bradley Riethmeyer-88, 6-Tyler Corriher-75, 7-Steven Intravaia-72, 8-Adam Wilsdon-71, 9-Mike Ward-67, 10-Joe Liguori-59.
USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jake Blackhurst-228, 2-Joe Liguori-195, 3-Tyler Cottongim-142, 4-Scott Hunter-136, 5-Ronnie Wuerdeman-124, 6-Toby Alfrey-119, 7-Nick Drake-112, 8-Eric Rankine-111, 9-John Heydenreich-111, 10-Chris Lamb-107.
USAC MIDWEST DIRT FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Joe Liguori-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 WESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Kyle Edwards-275, 2-Bobby Runyan-252, 3-Connor Kassik-246, 4-Cody Gerhardt-222, 5-Eli Schrock-187, 6-Austin Farley-144, 7-Shawn Buckley-139, 8-Nick Carlson-133, 9-Michael Daniels-133, 10-Andrew Mulhearn-120.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS PAVEMENT POINT STANDINGS
1-Bobby Runyan-252, 2-Cody Gerhardt-222, 3-Eli Schrock-187, 4-Connor Kassik-167, 5-Kyle Edwards-156, 6-Austin Farley-144, 7-Shawn Buckley-139, 8-Michael Daniels-133, 9-Jessica Clark-112, 10-J.R. Williams-99.
USAC NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Bobby Runyan-64, 2-Garrett Peterson-63, 3-Cody Gerhardt-57, 4-Cody Thompson-53, 5-Keegan Walmer-53, 6-Courtney Atkinson-45, 7-Greg Paul-42, 8-Connor Kassik-40, 9-Dennis Simunovich-36.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS DIRT POINT STANDINGS
1-Nick Carlson-133, 2-Andrew Mulhearn-120, 3-Kyle Edwards-119, 4-Jet Davison-108, 5-Jake Blackhurst-103, 6-Kalvin Douglas-86, 7-Connor Kassik-79, 8-Andrew Murray-53, 9-Wally Pankratz-51, 10-Austin Smith-50.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Bobby Runyan-188; 2-Eli Schrock-187; 3-Cody Gerhardt-165; 4-Kyle Edwards-156; 5-Austin Farley-144; 6-Shawn Buckley-139; 7-Michael Daniels-133; 8-Connor Kassik-127; 9-Jessica Clark-112; 10-J.R. Williams-99.
USAC WESTERN YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarid Blondel-220, 2-Brandon White-196, 3-Austin Farley-130, 4-Casey Martinez-130, 5-Alex Jacobsen-128, 6-Winn Frazin-120, 7-Tanner Kershaw-99, 8-Collin Henry-96, 9-Bradley Morris-93, 10-Al Simpson-87.
USAC WESTERN YOUNG GUNS PAVEMENT POINT STANDINGS
1-Brandon White-196, 2-Austin Farley-130, 3-Jarid Blondel-117, 4-Keegan Walmer-63, 5-Winn Frazin-62, 6-Courtney Atkinson-58, 7-Jessica Clark-56, 8-Cody Thompson-56, 9-Tanner Long-9.
USAC NORTHERN CALIFORNIA YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Brandon White-63, 2-Keegan Walmer-63, 3-Courtney Atkinson-58, 4-Cody Thompson-56.