By Dick Jordan
The USAC West Coast 360 Sprint cars make their fourth appearance of the year at Santa Maria (Calif.) Speedway this Saturday night and a fourth different feature winner could emerge.
Jace VanderWeerd and Danny Sheridan have already posted their initial series victories at the third-mile dirt oval, the other victory going to series point leader Craig Stidham.
Stidham enters the Santa Maria race with a 55-point lead over Davey Pombo after finishing third in last Saturday night’s 30-lapper at Giant Speedway in Hanford.
Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. won Saturday’s “Jim Evett Memorial,” leading the last 15 laps after passing teammate Pombo on lap 16. Pombo finished second ahead of Stidham, Peter Murphy and Richard VanderWeerd. Kaeding piloted the Buster & Ziggy Enterprises Bullet/Downing Chevy to the win, his second in the 2010 series.
Stidham is among four drivers who have posted “top-10s” in all three previous 2010 races at Santa Maria. The others are Pombo, Jace and Richard VanderWeerd.
USAC WEST COAST 360 SPRINT SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Craig Stidham-775, 2-Davey Pombo-720, 3-T.J. Smith-614, 4-Justyne Hamblin-605, 5-Peter Murphy-558, 6-Rusty Carlile-522, 7-Jace VanderWeerd-495, 8-Danny Faria Jr.-467, 9-Richard VanderWeerd-447, 10-Chris Ennis-420.