By Dick Jordan
Ronnie Gardner and Kody Swanson enter this Saturday night’s “Battle at the Beach” at the Ventura (Calif.) Raceway as 2013 USAC Western Midget point leaders. Gardner, of Corona, Calif., already has a second and a third in this year’s Western dirt events and Swanson, of Kingsburg, Calif., won the 2013 pavement opener at Madera, Calif.
Gardner was second to Cody Swanson in Saturday night’s 30-lapper at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway, while Swanson was 20th.
Cody Swanson of Norco, Calif. led all 30 laps at Bakersfield piloting his Edmunds Autoresearch/K & N Filters machine. Trailing Gardner in third was Ryan Bernal, Jake Swanson and David Prickett rounding out the top-five.
Gardner trails Kody Swanson by just seven points in the “overall” standings and has a three-point lead over Jake Swanson in the Western Midget dirt points.
Johnathon Henry of Stockton, Calif., despite not making the feature at Bakersfield Saturday, might be among favorites at Ventura after winning two of the 2011 series races at the fifth-mile dirt oval.
2013 USAC WESTERN OVERALL MIDGET STANDINGS: 1-K.Swanson-157, 2-R.Gardner-150, 3-J.Swanson-150, 4-Bryan Clauson-143, 5-Pierovich-138, 6-Rico Abreu-128, 7-Christopher Bell-125, 8-Prickett-118, 9-Marcham-90, 10-Tanner Thorson-72.
2013 USAC WESTERN DIRT MIDGET STANDINGS: 1-R.Gardner-150, 2-J.Swanson-147, 3-Bryan Clauson-143, 4-Pierovich-138, 5-Rico Abreu-128, 6-Christopher Bell-125, 7-Prickett-118, 8-Marcham-90, 9-K.Swanson-85, 10-Tanner Thorson-72.