By Richie Murray
Imperial, California (March 13, 2026)………In just his fourth career series start, Drake Cardey became a first time feature winner with the Avanti Windows & Doors USAC Western States Midgets on Friday night at California’s Imperial Valley Raceway.
Cardey (Riverside, California) started on the outside of the front row for the main event, then proceeded to lead all 25 laps en route to the victory, fending off repeated challenges posed by pole sitter R.J. Johnson down the stretch.
Following Cardey to the line was Johnson (Laveen, Arizona) in second, point leader Broedy Graham (Bakersfield, California) in third, and Connor Speir (Fillmore, California) fourth.
C.J. Sarna (Palm Desert, California) rounded out the top-five despite getting over the turn four cushion and flipping with three laps remaining.
In his USAC Western States Midget debut, Connor Lundy (Peoria, Arizona) was the night’s fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.917 seconds. Heat race wins went to Speir and Johnson.
Special thanks to Hoosier Tire West for awarding Connor Lundy a free tire.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: March 14, 2026 – Imperial Valley Raceway – Imperial, California
QUALIFYING: 1. Connor Lundy, 2p, Petty/Rossi-12.917; 2. Broedy Graham, 66, BGR-13.033; 3. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-13.231; 4. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-13.286; 5. Drake Cardey, 17, Dunkel-13.441; 6. R.J. Johnson, 1R, Petty/Rossi-13.455; 7. Connor Speir, 14JR, Streeter/Graunstadt-13.512; 8. Adam Weisberg, 15, Weisberg-13.842; 9. Marvin Mitchell, 78, Mitchell-14.912; 10. Elijah Loper, 43x, Loper-16.306; 11. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Connor Speir (2), 2. Drake Cardey (3), 3. C.J. Sarna (4), 4. Connor Lundy (5), 5. Marvin Mitchell (1). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. R.J. Johnson (3), 2. Adam Weisberg (2), 3. Broedy Graham (5), 4. Dane Culver (4), 5. Elijah Loper (1). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Drake Cardey (2), 2. R.J. Johnson (1), 3. Broedy Graham (5), 4. Connor Speir (7), 5. C.J. Sarna (4), 6. Adam Weisberg (8), 7. Connor Lundy (6), 8. Elijah Loper (10), 9. Dane Culver (3), 10. Marvin Mitchell (9). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Drake Cardey.
**C.J. Sarna flipped during the feature.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINTS: 1-Broedy Graham-153, 2-Drake Cardey-150, 3-C.J. Sarna-125, 4-Dane Culver-121, 5-Adam Weisberg-110, 6-Connor Speir-108, 7-Marvin Mitchell-88, 8-Jett Yantis-77, 9-R.J. Johnson-76, 10-Jake Andreotti-76.
NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: March 14, 2026 – Imperial Valley Raceway – Imperial, California