From USAC/CRA
Imperial, California (March 13, 2026)………Ricky Lewis captured his fourth consecutive Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Series victory at California’s Imperial Valley Raceway on Friday night during the California Mid-Winter Fair.
Lewis (Oxnard, California) started fourth on the grid of the 30-lap feature, but worked his way to the lead by lap 14. In a battle with R.J. Johnson down the stretch, Lewis emerged victorious by leading the final six circuits in his Ricky Lewis Motorsports No. 41.
For Lewis, it was 13th career USAC CRA Sprint Car victory, moving himself ahead of Bryan Clauson and into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time series win list.
A third of Lewis’ series triumphs have come at Imperial over the past three seasons, winning once in October 2024 before sweeping both nights of action in March 2025.
Braden Chiaramonte led the initial two laps of the feature but was overtaken by Austin Williams who led the next 11 trips around the 1/4-mile dirt oval before Lewis went by on lap 14 and led through the 21st. Johnson led laps 22-23-24.
Lewis was followed to the line by point leader and Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier Johnson (Laveen, Arizona) with A.J. Bender (San Diego, California) third, Williams (Yorba Linda, California) fourth and Connor Lundy (Peoria, Arizona) fifth who earned hard charger honors courtesy of photographer Steve Lafond after advancing eight positions from his 13th place starting spot.
Stevie Sussex captured the Sexton Fire Protection First Heat race victory, while Verne Sweeney took the Roy Miller Freight Lines Second Heat and Chiaramonte topped the Rescue Mission Alliance Third Heat.
Special thanks to Hoosier Tire West for awarding Shon Deskins a free tire.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: March 13, 2026 – Imperial Valley Raceway – Imperial, California – California Mid-Winter Fair
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. R.J. Johnson, 1p, Petty-12.797; 2. Connor Speir, 57, Speir-12.833; 3. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.942; 4. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-12.965; 5. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-13.021; 6. Braden Chiaramonte, 73B, OCC-13.047; 7. Stevie Sussex, 2, Yeley-13.068; 8. Dayton Shelton, 4D, Shelton-13.076; 9. Broedy Graham, 51, Van Meter-13.115; 10. Shon Deskins, 21x, Deskins-13.168; 11. Brecken Guerrero, 98B, Guerrero-13.196; 12. Connor Lundy, 97, Lundy-13.210; 13. Wayne Siddle, 007, Siddle-13.210; 14. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-13.291; 15. Brody Wake, 78, Wake-13.315; 16. Elexa Herrera, 5E, Herrera-13.386; 17. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-13.469; 18. Rickey Kinney Jr., 81K, Kinney-13.517.
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Stevie Sussex, 2. R.J. Johnson, 3. A.J. Bender, 4. Wayne Siddle, 5. Shon Deskins, 6. Elexa Herrera. NT
ROY MILLER FREIGHT LINES SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Verne Sweeney, 2. Dayton Shelton, 3. Austin Williams, 4. Connor Speir, 5. Jim Vanzant, 6. Brecken Guerrero. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Braden Chiaramonte, 2. Brody Wake, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Connor Lundy, 5. Rickey Kinney Jr., 6. Broedy Graham. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (4), 2. R.J. Johnson (6), 3. A.J. Bender (3), 4. Austin Williams (2), 5. Connor Lundy (13), 6. Connor Speir (5), 7. Dayton Shelton (9), 8. Shon Deskins (11), 9. Brody Wake (15), 10. Verne Sweeney (8), 11. Wayne Siddle (14), 12. Elexa Herrera (16), 13. Brecken Guerrero (12), 14. Rickey Kinney Jr. (18), 15. Braden Chiaramonte (1), 16. Stevie Sussex (7), 17. Jim Vanzant (17). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Braden Chiaramonte, Laps 3-13 Austin Williams, Laps 14-21 Ricky Lewis, Laps 22-24 R.J. Johnson, Laps 25-30 Ricky Lewis.
STEVE LAFOND PHOTOS HARD CHARGER: Connor Lundy (13th to 5th)
NEW AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-231, 2-Austin Williams-210, 3-A.J. Bender-194, 4-Connor Lundy-185, 5-Ricky Lewis-154, 6-Verne Sweeney-150, 7-Charles Davis Jr.-148, 8-Brecken Guerrero-133, 9-Dayton Shelton-107, 10-Connor Speir-99.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: March 14, 2026 – Imperial Valley Raceway – Imperial, California – California Mid-Winter Fair