By Dick Jordan
Ryan Bernal leads the USAC Western Classic Sprint cars to Thursday night’s “Gold Cup” race at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. Bernal enters the series finale with a 53-point lead over D.J. Johnson.
The Western Classics joined the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint cars for last weekend’s 6th “Loiue Vermeil Classic” at Calistoga (Calif.) Speedway and Bernal posted a fourth-place finish in Saturday night’s 30-lapper.
Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. won Saturday night’s 30-lap AMSOIL USAC/CCRA Sprint race at Calistoga. He took the lead from series point leader Damion Gardner on lap 16 and led the rest of the way in his Buster & Ziggy Enterprises/Kaeding Performance Maxim/Reitz. Gardner took second ahead of fast qualifier Mike Spencer, Bernal and Nic Faas.
Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, Calif. completed a “sweep” of Sunday’s 6th “Louie Vermeil Classic” USAC features at Calistoga, winning the 30-lap AMSOIL USAC/CRA & Western Classic Sprint feature after previously winning the 25-lap Midget race. He passed Spencer on the white-flag lap and led the last two laps of the Sprint race in his Keith Ford Berry Pack/King Racing Products Special to beat Kaeding, Austin Williams, fast qualifier Spencer and Bradley Terrell.
The AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint cars resume action September 14 in the “Glenn Howard Classic” at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway.
2013 AMSOIL USAC CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Damion Gardner-1,042, 2-Nic Faas-935, 3-Mike Spencer-896, 4-Matt Mitchell-726, 5-Bud Kaeding-694, 6-Austin Williams-672, 7-Cody Williams-666, 8-Brody Roa-610, 9-Ryan Bernal-551, 10-Richard Vander Weerd-415.
2013 USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Ryan Bernal-590, 2-D.J. Johnson-537, 3-Tony Hunt-499, 4-Shauna Hogg-455, 5-Landon Hurst-113, 6-Gordon Rodgers-94, 7-Marty Hawkins-86, 8-Bud Kaeding-73, 9-Geoff Ensign-71, 10-Richard Vander Weerd-68.