By Dick Jordan
Damion Gardner leads the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint cars to this Saturday night’s “Glenn Howard Memorial” at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway. He has a comfortable 107-point lead over teammate Nic Faas.
Jimmy Trulli of Placerville, Calif. won Thursday night’s 30-lap USAC Western Classic Sprint finale at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., part of the track’s “Gold Cup” program. Trulli and his S & S Automotive/El Dorado Fence S & S/Chevy led all 30 laps to beat Austin Liggett, Ryan Bernal, Kyle Hirst and fast qualifier Geoff Ensign.
Bernal, of Hollister, Calif., finishing third Thursday, emerged as the 2013 USAC Western Classic Sprint Car Champion with a 50-point margin over runner-up Shauna Hogg, who was 14th at Chico.
Faas is the only driver this year to repeat at the PAS, while Gardner and defending series champ Mike Spencer continue to lead the all-time Perris USAC/CRA victory totals with 26 and 24 respectively.
FINAL USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ryan Bernal-532, 2-Shauna Hogg-482, 3-D.J. Johnson-426, 4-Tony Hunt-401, 5-Geoff Ensign-132, 6-Landon Hurst-113, 7-Bud Kaeding-112, 8-Gordon Rodgers-94, 9-Marty Hawkins-86, 10-Austin Liggett-78.
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.