By Dick Jordan
Chico, CA……Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. grabbed Friday night’s 30-lap USAC Mopar Western Midget feature at Silver Dollar Speedway on night one of the track’s “Mini Gold Cup” weekend. The Midgets again compete at the track on Saturday night. Bernal, last year’s USAC West Coast Sprint Car Series runner-up, led the final six laps after passing Cole Carter on lap 25. He wheeled the Dodenhoff Racing Torco Oil/H.M. Holloway/Rocket Sports & Entertainment Network EMC/Fontana to the win in the opening race of the 2012 USAC Mopar Western Midget calendar. Carter, who led laps 22-24, finished second ahead of David Prickett, Shane Golobic and fast qualifier Connor Kassik. Johnathon Henry led the first 21 laps but finished seventh.
MOPAR USAC WESTERN MIDGET RACE RESULTS: March 23, 2012 – Chico, California – Silver Dollar Speedway – “Mini-Gold Cup”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Connor Kassik, 115, Neverlift-15.213; 2. Shane Golobic, 26, Bock-15.214; 3. Jake Swanson, 05, Swanson-15.255; 4. Dillon Silverman, 8x, Silverman-15.310; 5. David Prickett, 15, Neverlift-15.312; 6. Robbie Whitchurch, 82, Whitchurch-15.337; 7. Ryan Bernal, 9B, Dodenhoff-15.435; 8. Cole Carter, 10, Cook-15.605; 9. Nick Chivello, 27, Chivello-15.615; 10. Johnathon Henry, 88, Graunstadt-15.618; 11. Alex Schutte, 28, Schutte-15.714; 12. Cole Wood, 17w, Wood-15.795; 13. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-15.894; 14. Britton Bock, 67, Bock-15.992; 15. Tony Seidelman, 98, Seidelman-16.011; 16. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-16.045; 17. Sean Dodenhoff, 9D, Dodenhoff-NT; 18. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-NT; 19. Greg Bragg, 0, Bragg-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. McQueen, 2. Seidelman, 3. Bernal, 4. Henry, 5. Kassik, 6. Silverman. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Schutte, 2. Prickett, 3. Carter, 4. Dodenhof, 5. Bock, 6. Golobic. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Whitchurch, 2. Swanson, 3. Pierovich, 4. Wood, 5, Chivello. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Cole Carter, 3. David Prickett, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Connor Kassik, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Johnathon Henry, 8. Tony Seidelman, 9. Randi Pankratz, 10. Shannon McQueen, 11. Britton Bock, 12. Alex Schutte, 13. Sean Dodenhoff, 14. Dillon Silverman, 15. Scott Pierovich, 16. Cole Wood, 17. Robbie Whitchurch. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Henry, Laps 22-24 Carter, Laps 25-30 Bernal.
NEW MOPAR WESTERN MIDGET POINTS: 1-Bernal-66, 2-Carter-63, 3-Prickett-63, 4-Golobic-59, 5-Kassik-58, 6-Swanson-56, 7-Henry-47, 8-Seidelman-46; 9-McQueen-41, 10-Schutte-37.
NEXT MOPAR WESTERN MIDGET RACE: March 24 – Chico, California – Silver Dollar Speedway – “Mini-Gold Cup”