By Dick Jordan
JoJo Helberg trails Tony Hunt by only seven points in the new USAC AMSOIL Western Sprint Car points after winning Saturday’s 40-lap race at Shasta Raceway Park in Anderson, Calif.
Helberg, USAC’s 2008 Rocky Mountain Sprint champ and 2007 Western Most Improved Driver, has three career wins in the series. He hopes to improve on last year’s eighth-place finish at the Stockton 99 Speedway when the series returns there this Saturday.
Helberg, of Rohnert Park, Calif., led all 40 laps in his ADTS/Gossage Electric Hansen/Chevy to beat Shauna Hogg, Hunt, defending series champ Tanner Swanson and Luis Ramos III.
Swanson, who ranks third in the new series standings, just two points behind Helberg, won USAC’s 2009 race at Stockton, but Hunt has four career wins at the quarter-mile paved oval, including two in Sprint cars.
Lady driver Audra Sasselli posted the fastest qualifying time at Shasta before an accident sent her to the sidelines.
The USAC Mopar Western Midgets, Western Ford Focus Midgets and Western Ford Focus Young Guns share billing in Saturday’s USAC “quadrupleheader” at the Stockton oval.
USAC AMSOIL WESTERN SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS
1-Tony Hunt-132, 2-JoJo Helberg-125, 3-Tanner Swanson-123, 4-Shanua Hogg-116, 5-Luis Ramos III-105, 6-Marvin Mitchell-82, 7-Audra Sasselli-65, 8-Scott Pierovich-50, 9-Garrett Peterson-45, 10-Marten Hansen-44/