By Richie Murray
Ventura, California (June 14, 2025)………Caden Sarale snuck under Dane Culver with three laps remaining to win Saturday night’s USAC Avanti Windows & Doors Western States Midget 30-lap feature at California’s Ventura Raceway.
Sarale (Stockton, California) started fourth on the grid as Mathew Radisich led the first 14 laps of the main event. Dane Culver charged to the inside of Radisich in turn three on lap 15 to take over up front to lead at the midway point.
Sarale followed suit, blazing by Radisich for the second spot a half lap later. T.J. Smith took over third from Radisich moments after in turn three with an inside move. That’s when the theatrics began.
Entering turn one, Radisich tagged the back end of Smith, causing both drivers to spin to a stop. Under the yellow flag, Radisich bumped Smith three times as the two cars were rejoining the field, once on the left side nerf bar and twice on the bumper. Smith raced his way back to fifth after restarting on the tail while Radisich came home ninth.
Down the stretch, Sarale stalked Culver until lap 28 when Culver slipped off the bottom of turn four which subsequently opened the door for Sarale to drive past and into the lead and the victory in his own No. 32.
For Sarale, it was his second consecutive series win of the 2025 season and the fifth of his USAC Western States Midget career. He now leads the series standings by a 22-point margin over Smith.
Culver took second in the feature with Connor Speir third, K.J. Snow fourth and Smith fifth. Fast qualifier Preston Norbury finished 15th. Heat races were won by Norbury, Smith and Speir.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 14, 2025 – Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California
QUALIFYING: 1. Preston Norbury, 77AZ, Norbury-13.217; 2. Brandt Twitty, 4B, Twitty-13.267; 3. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-13.281; 4. Jett Yantis, 4y, Carlile-13.334; 5. T.J. Smith, 68, Six8-13.545; 6. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-13.581; 7. Mathew Radisich, 14R, Graunstadt-13.639; 8. K.J. Snow, 73, Ford-13.696; 9. Todd Hawse, 18, Hawse-13.777; 10. Ben Covich, 65NZ, Covich-13.855; 11. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-14.107; 12. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-14.483; 13. Hailey Lambert, 55, Lambert-14.514; 14. Billy Rayburn, 9K, Kruseman-14.833; 15. Terry Nichols, 1p, Nichols/Peckfelder-15.011; 16. Ron Hazelton, 15, Hazelton-15.071; 17. Bryan Drollinger, 71B, Drollinger-16.165; 18. Connor Speir, 14JR, Graunstadt-17.897; 19. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Preston Norbury (6), 2. Ben Covich (3), 3. Ron Hazelton (1), 4. Mathew Radisich (4), 5. Hailey Lambert (2), 6. Randi Pankratz (7), 7. Jett Yantis (5). NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. T.J. Smith (5), 2. K.J. Snow (4), 3. Brandt Twitty (6), 4. Kyle Hawse (3), 5. Billy Rayburn (2). NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Connor Speir (1), 2. Caden Sarale (6), 3. C.J. Sarna (3), 4. Dane Culver (5), 5. Todd Hawse (4). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Caden Sarale (4), 2. Dane Culver (2), 3. Connor Speir (7), 4. K.J. Snow (9), 5. T.J. Smith (3), 6. C.J. Sarna (13), 7. Todd Hawse (10), 8. Terry Nichols (16), 9. Mathew Radisich (1), 10. Brandt Twitty (5), 11. Kyle Hawse (12), 12. Ben Covich (11), 13. Ron Hazelton (17), 14. Hailey Lambert (14), 15. Preston Norbury (6), 16. Randi Pankratz (19), 17. Jett Yantis (8), 18. Billy Rayburn (15). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Mathew Radisich, Laps 15-27 Dane Culver, Laps 28-30 Caden Sarale.
**Bryan Drollinger flipped during qualifying.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINTS: 1-Caden Sarale-312, 2-T.J. Smith-290, 3-Dane Culver-257, 4-Todd Hawse-216, 5-Connor Speir-185, 6-Jett Yantis-182, 7-Kyle Hawse-157, 8-Randi Pankratz-156, 9-Broedy Graham-126, 10-Hailey Lambert-125.
NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: July 5, 2025 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California