By Dick Jordan
USAC HPD Midget racing occurs on four fronts this week, with races at Raleigh, N.C., Visalia, Calif., Las Vegas, Nev. and Alger, Wash. on tap. Friday’s races at Wake County Speedway in Raleigh and Plaza Park Raceway in Visalia impact the Eastern and Western Dirt championships respectively, while Saturday’s races at Skagit Speedway in Alger and at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring continue the Washington and Western Pavement campaigns respectively.
Series point leaders entering this week’s events are Scott Hunter (Eastern), Cory Elliott (Western Dirt), Shawn Buckley (Western Pavement) and Chase Goetz (Washington).
Goetz, of Snohomish, Wash. passed Todd Hallmark on the eighth lap and led the final 12 to win Saturday night’s feature race at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. Garrett Thomas took second ahead of Dougie James, Michael Vollbrecht and Chance Crum. Awards went to Crum (Hard Charger), Hallmark (JOES Racing Move of the Night), Garrett Thomas (Highline Performance Random Pick) and James (SpeedMart Hard Charger). James also picked up an extra $600 bonus for back-to-back podium finishes at Deming and Alger.
Dougie James of Shoreline, Wash. led all 25 laps to win Friday night’s USAC HPD Washington Midget feature at Deming Speedway. Elma Auto Racing Hall of Fame Fast Qualifier Lance Hallmark took second ahead of Michael Vollbrecht, Tristin Thomas and Chance Crum. Award winners in addition to Hallmark, who also took the SpeedMart Hard Charger, were K & N Sportsman Thomas and JOES RACING Move of the Night Vollbrecht.
Calvin Carroll of Andover, N.J. and Chris Lamb of Colfax, N.C. scored 30-lap feature wins in USAC HPD Eastern Midget competition Friday night at Ace Speedway. Both led wire-to-wire and Carroll’s win was his first ever in series competition. Lamb took second in the opener ahead of Matt Lundstrom, Tyler Corriher and Scott Hunter. Trailing Lamb in the second race were Lundstrom, Corriher, Hunter and Carroll.
2014 HPD USAC Washington Midget Standings: 1-Chase Goetz-402, 2-Dougie James-355, 3-Chance Crum-317, 4-Garrett Thomas-301, 5-Michael Vollbrecht-285, 6-Hannah Lindquist-262, 7-Tristin Thomas-229, 8-Todd Hartman-209, 9-Jeremy Miller-201, 10-Ariel Biggs-194.
2014 HPD USAC Western Pavement Midget Standings: 1-Shawn Buckley-551, 2-Toni Breidinger-394, 3-Christine Breckenridge-310, 4-Joel Raybourne-309, 5-Dylan Nobile-286, 6-Annie Breidinger-277, 7-Cody Jessop-258, 8-Tom Patterson-218, 9-Jeff Kelley-198, 10-Ashley Hazelton-197
2014 HPD USAC Western Dirt Midget Standings: 1-Cory Elliott-74, 2-Randi Pankratz-69, 3-Ashley Hazelton-64, 4-Marvin Mitchell-59, 5-Jesse James Burks-54, 6-Dahne Lynn McKay-1.
2014 HPD USAC Eastern Midget Standings: 1-Scott Hunter-489, 2-Calvin Carrol-436, 3-Chris Lamb-416, 4-Tyler Corriher-364, 5-Nikki Carroll-356, 6-Blaine Leydig-295, 7-Jessica Bean-241, 8-Fletcher Wulff-277, 9-Matt Lundstrom-173, 10-Eric Lewis-112.