By Dick Jordan
USAC HPD Midget competition unfolds this Saturday in Columbus, Ohio and Ventura, Calif. as Midwest and Western series participants compete. The Midwest opener is at Columbus Motor Speedway and the Western event is at Ventura Raceway.
Austin Nemire, last year’s Midwest champion, won all four features contested at the Columbus oval. Saturday’s race at Ventura is the first for USAC’s HPD Midgets at CMS in four years.
Randi Pankratz of Atascadero, Calif. led all but the first lap to win Saturday night’s USAC Western HPD Midget dirt opener at Bakersfield Speedway. She passed Tom Paterson on lap two and led the rest of the way to beat Shawn Buckley, Jet Davison, Ron Hazelton and Robert Dalby.
The win was Randi’s first under USAC sanction since a 1998 TQ Midget win at Bakersfield.
2015 HPD USAC Western Midget Standings: 1-Dylan Nobile-333, 2-Cody Jessop-298, 3-Toni Breidinger-287, 4-Annie Breidinger-287, 5-Ashley Hazelton-231, 6-Jesse Love-217, 7-Tom Paterson-181, 8-Ron Hazelton-106, 9-Shawn Buckley-97, 10-Dezel West-94.
2015 USAC HPD Western Midget Dirt Standings: 1-Randi Pankratz-68, 2-Shawn Buckley-64, 3-Jet Davison-60, 4-Ron Hazelton-59, 5-Robert Dalby-51, 6-Jesse Love-49, 7-Ashley Hazelton-49, 8-Tom Paterson-44, 9-Cody Jessop-41, 10-Wally Pankratz-37.