By Dick Jordan
Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. enters this Saturday’s USAC Western Classic Sprint race at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway as the 2013 point leader. Last Saturday he remained atop USAC’s West Coast Sprint Car series standings after scoring a 30-lap victory at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.
Bernal, who now has five USAC victories in the past six weeks, led the final 14 laps at Bakersfield in his King Racing Products/A & A Precision Machine Spike/Raney. He led laps 1-13, then yielded to Danny Faria Jr. for three laps before taking back the top spot. Richard Vander Weerd finished second ahead of Bud Kaeding, Faria and Markus Niemela.
Bernal’s lead in the Western Classics stands at eight over Colton Slack. Last year’s Placerville Western Classic outing went to Kyle Hirst.
The West Coast Sprint cars are idle this week but resume May 11 at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif.
2013 USAC West Coast Sprint Car Standings: 1-Ryan Bernal-404, 2-Richard Vander Weerd-374, 3-Danny Faria Jr.-327, 4-Jace Vander Weerd-306, 5-Bud Kaeding-305, 6-Markus Niemela-294, 7-Rusty Carlile-264, 8-Ricky Kirkbride-226, 9-Marty Hawkins-200, 10-Chris Ennis-162.
2013 USAC Western Classic Sprint Car Standings: 1-Ryan Bernal-71, 2-Colton Slack-63, 3-Tanner Swanson-62, 4-Matt Streeter-59, 5-Tony Hunt-56, 6-D.J. Johnson-55, 7-Nathan Washam-52, 8-Jim Richardson-42, 9-Klint Simpson-40, 10-Scott Hall-40.