By Dick Jordan
USAC’s Eastern, Midwestern and Western HPD Midgets all are in action this coming weekend.
The Eastern Series gets under way at Ace Speedway in Altamont, N.C. with back-to-back races on Friday and Saturday nights. Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, as part of its “Kokomo Midget Grand Prix,” hosts the Midwestern HPD Midgets Friday and Saturday, also opening that series for the season. The Western series resumes at Madera (Calif.) Speedway.
History was made at Las Vages (Nev.) Motor Speedway’s Bullring by female driver Christine Breckenridge of Irvine, Calif., who became the 26th female driver to win a USAC feature race by taking Saturday’s 30-lap Western HPD Midget feature. She passed fast qualifier Michael Fanelli on lap 11 and led the rest of the way to beat Jeff Kelley, Fanelli, Shawn Buckley and Marina Turner. She’s the first female USAC feature winner in nearly a year.
2014 HPD USAC Western Pavement Midget Standings: 1-Shawn Buckley-239, 2-Bryan Dawson-132, 3-Toni Breidinger-115, 4-Ashley Hazelton-106, 5-Joel Rayborne-92, 6-Jake Swanson-73, 7-Christine Breckenridge-73, 8-Dillon Noble-70, 9-Jeff Kelley-69, 10-Michael Fanelli-67.