By Dick Jordan
USAC Ignite Midget racing finds three fronts this week. The Western Pavement series visits the Bullring at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway Saturday. The inaugural race in the new Oregon Dirt series is also slated Saturday at Sunset Speedway Park in Banks, while the Washington Pavement series is set to kick off Saturday at South Sound Speedway in Rochester.
Chris Lamb of Colfax, N.C. earned his sixth USAC Ignite Midget feature victory of the season last Saturday night at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway. He led all 30 laps to win the Eastern/Midwest race to beat Natasha Cox, Cooper Clouse, Ryan Krachun and Ricky Bowers. Joey Greening, who won the DRC “hard luck” award, flipped during the feature and was treated at a local hospital for a concussion. The Eastern series resumes May 24 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C. and the Midwest pavement cars gear up for a June 14 race at Kil-Kare Speedway in Xenia, Ohio.
Wally Pankratz extended his lead in the USAC Western Ignite Dirt standings Saturday night, winning the 20-lap feature at Santa Maria (Calif.) Speedway. He passed his daughter Randi on lap three and led the rest of the way to beat Cory Elliott, Randi, Jarid Blondel and fast qualifier Parker Colston.
Chase Goetz of Snohomish, Wash. remained undefeated in the 2013 USAC Washington Ignite Dirt Midget series Saturday night, winning the 20-lap feature at Skagit Speedway. He caught Dougie James on lap nine and led the rest of the way to beat Robby Vaughn, Ariel Gibbs, James and Garrett Thomas, who claimed the Elma Auto Racing Hall of Fame Fast Time Award. Goetz was the Speedmart Hard Charger and James the NWSprintCar History.com Rookie of the Race winner.
2013 MIDWEST IGNITE PAVEMENT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Chris Lamb-74, 2-Cooper Clouse-65, 3-Natasha Cox-58, 4-Ryan Krachun-57, 5-Ricky Bowers-52, 6-Wil Raber-48, 7-Calvin Carroll-44, 8-Adam Thomason-41, 9-Nikki Carroll-37, 10-Tyler Corriher-37.
2013 EASTERN IGNITE MIDGET POINTS: 1-Chris Lamb-569, 2-Wil Raber-424, 3-Tyler Corriher-402, 4-Nic Davidson-398, 5-Calvin Carroll-380, 6-Billy Gaule-371, 7-Nikki Carroll-323, 8-Ryan Krachun-306, 9-Blaine Leydig-278, 10-Justin Whittall-237.
2013 WESTERN IGNITE PAVEMENT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Bryant Dawson-147, 2-Michael Fanelli-131, 3-Jarid Blondel-130, 4-Shawn Buckley-117, 5-Christine Breckenridge-113, 6-Marina Turner-92, 7-George Blacker-89, 8-Marc Jessop-53, 9-Ariel Biggs-47, 10-Tom Tombarello-40
2013 WESTERN IGNITE DIRT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Wally Pankratz-201, 2-Cory Elliott-198, 3-Parker Colston-188, 4-Jarid Blondel-175, 5-Clayton Ruston-159, 6-Christine Breckenridge-131, 7-Ariel Biggs-112, 8-Michael Steele-100, 9-Ashley Hazelton-95, 10-Randi Pankratz-60.
2013 WASHINGTON IGNITE DIRT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Chase Goetz-204, 2-Robby Vaughn-181, 3-Dougie James-172, 4-Garrett Thomas-165, 5-Chance Crum-149, 6-Jeremy Miller-118,7-Ariel Biggs-108, 8-Todd Hartman-105, 9-Rene Angel-89, 10-Annika Johanson-44.