By Dick Jordan
Jim Waters of West Jordan, Utah is now the all-time leader in terms of USAC feature victories in the Beehive State of Utah. His 30-lap Young Automotive Rocky Mountain Sprint Car triumph Saturday night at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City was his 18th, vaulting him past former two-time Rocky Mountain champion Jimmy Wysong, who also had 17.
Waters now trails Ryan Burdett by just two points in the new Rocky Mountain standings entering this Saturday night’s events in the Utah capital.
Tony Hunt of Lincoln, Calif. stands atop both the USAC Western Classic and AMSOIL Western Sprint Car points in search of what would be his seventh and eighth USAC driving championships. Only four drivers in USAC history have earned eight driving titles, namely A.J. Foyt (13), Rich Vogler and Sleepy Tripp (9) and Mel Kenyon (8). Hunt will lead the Western Classic Sprints to Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. Friday night, then to Placerville (Calif.) Speedway Saturday night with a 64-point lead over Geoff Ensign.
Waters ended up the winner of one of the most competitive Rocky Mountain races of the season Saturday, taking the lead from Johnny Geisler on lap 28 and leading the final three laps to beat Geisler, Eric Barlow, Mel Andrus and Ray Bergener. Series point leader Burdett finished sixth.
USAC YOUNG AUTOMOTIVE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPRINT CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Ryan Burdett-453; 2-Jim Waters-451; 3-Johnny Geisler-401; 4-Eric Barlow-392; 5-Paul Marconi-307; 67-Mel Andrus-294; 7-Mike Murgoitio-266; 8-Ray Bergener-263; 9-Tim Skoglund-244; 10-Luis Ramos III-235.
USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Tony Hunt-411; 2-Geoff Ensign-347; 3-Shauna Hogg-340; 4-Tim Barber-338; 5-Scott Pierovich-311; 6-Audra Sasselli-245; 7-Jerry Kobza-242; 8-Cody Gerhardt-222; 9-Luis Ramos III-204; 10-Tim Skoglund-197.