By Dick Jordan
USAC’s West Coast Sprint Car championship concluded Saturday night at Hanford, Calif. but series participants will convene October 31 at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway for a special “non-points” event on the opening night of the 2013 “Budweiser Oval Nationals.”
Danny Faria Jr. of Tipton, Calif. emerged as the 2013 USAC West Coast Sprint Car Champion after finishing eighth in last Saturday night’s “Cotton Classic” at Kings Speedway. He finished the series with a 27-point cushion over series runner-up Richard Vander Weerd, who won Saturday’s race.
Vander Weerd, of Visalia, Calif., outlasted a late-race battle with fast qualifier Markus Niemela and Kyle Hirst to take the 30-lap “Cotton Classic” series finale, while Niemela took second ahead of Hirst, Bud Kaeding and Matt Mitchell. Vander Weerd led the final two laps of the race in his Vander Weerd Construction/Battery Worx Maxim/Shark after Niemela and Hirst had traded the lead for the previous 27 laps.
FINAL 2013 USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Danny Faria Jr.-930, 2-Richard Vander Weerd-903, 3-Bud Kaeding-862, 4-Markus Niemela-677, 5-Rusty Carlile-665, 6-Ryan Bernal-661, 7-Jace Vander Weerd-609, 8-Austin Liggett-545, 9-Landon Hurst-492, 10-Kevin Barnes-440.