By Dick Jordan
Matt Mitchell will lead the USAC West Coast Sprint Car series to its final 2014 event November 6 in the opening race of this year’s “Budweiser Oval Nationals” program at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway.
Mitchell has a 28-point lead over Markus Niemela in the current standings, which were not affected by last Saturday’s “non-points” race at Tulare, Calif.
USAC Western Classic Sprint car point leader Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. won Saturday night’s 30-lap West Coast Sprint “Cotton Classic” at Thunderbowl Raceway. Piloting the Mike Phulps Core Power/DMI Race Products ART/S & S, Bernal passed Austin Liggett on lap 15 and led the final 16 laps to beat Geoff Ensign, Danny Faria Jr., Jake Swanson and Richard Vander Weerd.
2014 USAC West Coast Sprint Car Standings:1-Matt Mitchell-659, 2-Markus Niemela-631, 3-Richard Vander Weerd-546, 4-Jace Vander Weerd-530, 5-Ryan Bernal-512, 6-Danny Faria Jr.-500, 7-Troy Rutherford-500, 8-Austin Liggett-490, 9-Nic Faas-465, 10-Dennis Howell-399.