By Richie Murray
Imperial, California (March 14, 2026)………It had been nearly 18 seasons since C.J. Sarna last celebrated a feature victory with the USAC Avanti Windows & Doors Western States Midget series.
On Saturday night on the dirt at California’s Imperial Valley Raceway, exactly 6,447 days after his most recent series victory, the Palm Desert, California found glory once again.
Sarna led the entire 25-lap distance from his outside front row starting position, pacing the way to his first series triumph since scoring a win on the pavement of California’s Altamont Motorsports Park in July 2008!
In the process, Sarna set a brand new series record for the longest duration between two victories.
Drake Cardey (Riverside, California) took over as the new series point leader with a runner-up result. Connor Lundy (Peoria, Arizona) crossed the stripe in third while Connor Speir (Fillmore, California) took fourth and Dane Culver (Riverside, California) rounded out the top-five.
The most major incident of the evening occurred on the opening lap of the feature when contact between fast qualifier Broedy Graham and R.J. Johnson sent Johnson into a wild series of flips over the turn two banking. He was able to walk away.
Heat race victories were taken by Sarna and Johnson.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: March 14, 2026 – Imperial Valley Raceway – Imperial, California
QUALIFYING: 1. Broedy Graham, 66, BGR-12.903; 2. Connor Lundy, 2p, Petty/Rossi-12.924; 3. Drake Cardey, 17, Dunkel-13.059; 4. R.J. Johnson, 1R, Petty/Rossi-13.078; 5. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-13.089; 6. Connor Speir, 14JR, Streeter/Graunstadt-13.100; 7. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-13.141; 8. Hailey Lambert, 55, Lambert-13.623; 9. Adam Weisberg, 15, Weisberg-14.455; 10. Marvin Mitchell, 78, Mitchell-16.885; 11. Elijah Loper, 43x, Loper-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Sarna (3), 2. Dane Culver (2), 3. Drake Cardey (4), 4. Broedy Graham (5), 5. Adam Weisberg (1). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. R.J. Johnson (4), 2. Connor Lundy (5), 3. Connor Speir (3), 4. Hailey Lambert (2), 5. Marvin Mitchell (1). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Sarna (2), 2. Drake Cardey (4), 3. Connor Lundy (5), 4. Connor Speir (1), 5. Dane Culver (7), 6. Broedy Graham (6), 7. Hailey Lambert (8), 8. Adam Weisberg (9), 9. Elijah Loper (11), 10. Marvin Mitchell (10), 11. R.J. Johnson (3). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 C.J. Sarna.
**R.J. Johnson flipped on lap one of the feature.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINTS: 1-Drake Cardey-227, 2-Broedy Graham-219, 3-C.J. Sarna-205, 4-Dane Culver-186, 5-Connor Speir-176, 6-Adam Weisberg-163, 7-Connor Lundy-139, 8-Marvin Mitchell-135, 9-R.J. Johnson-128, 10-Hailey Lambert-110.
NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: May 1, 2026 – Plaza Park Raceway – Visalia, California