By Richie Murray
Nipomo, California (June 13, 2026)………Drake Cardey led the final 29 laps to win Saturday night’s USAC Avanti Western States Midget feature at Nipomo, California’s Santa Maria Speedway.
Starting fifth, Cardey (Riverside, California) worked his way up to third by the end of the first lap. But on the second lap, race leader Jett Yantis spun to a stop on his own in turn one to bring out the caution. Yantis was vying for his fourth consecutive series win.
On the ensuing lap two restart, Cardey raced under Chris Rahe on the back straightaway, then went virtually unchallenged the rest of the way en route to a dominant 5.951 second victory.
Cardey, who is a Rookie with the series, recorded his second victory of the season and the second of his career in his Tom Dunkel Racing ride, and extended his championship point lead to 17 in the process.
Cardey was followed to the checkered by runner-up Connor Speir, Preston Norbury, and Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier Cade Lewis, with Broedy Graham rounding out the top-five.
Heat races were won by Yantis and Speir.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 13, 2026 – Santa Maria Speedway – Nipomo, California
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Cade Lewis, 101, Alexander-15.603; 2. Drake Cardey, 17, Dunkel-15.636; 3. Preston Norbury, 77AZ, Norbury-15.711; 4. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-15.741; 5. Broedy Graham, 66, BGR-15.742; 6. Connor Speir, 14, Streeter/Graunstadt-15.900; 7. Jett Yantis, 4, Carlile-15.925; 8. Chris Rahe, 5, Rahe-16.109; 9. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-16.355; 10. Ron Hazelton, 15, Hazelton-16.826; 11. Hailey Lambert, 55, Lambert-16.849; 12. Adam Weisberg, 15x, Weisberg-17.278.
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jett Yantis (3), 2. Cade Lewis (6), 3. Broedy Graham (4), 4. Preston Norbury (5), 5. Hailey Lambert (1), 6. Randi Pankratz (2). NT
ROY MILLER FREIGHT LINES SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Connor Speir (4), 2. Drake Cardey (6), 3. Chris Rahe (3), 4. C.J. Sarna (5), 5. Ron Hazelton (2), 6. Adam Weisberg (1). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Drake Cardey (5), 2. Connor Speir (3), 3. Preston Norbury (7), 4. Cade Lewis (6), 5. Broedy Graham (4), 6. Jett Yantis (2), 7. C.J. Sarna (8), 8. Randi Pankratz (9), 9. Chris Rahe (1), 10. Hailey Lambert (11), 11. Adam Weisberg (12), 12. Ron Hazelton (10). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Jett Yantis, Laps 2-30 Drake Cardey.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINTS: 1-Drake Cardey-492, 2-Broedy Graham-475, 3-C.J. Sarna-427, 4-Jett Yantis-380, 5-Connor Speir-369, 6-Adam Weisberg-332, 7-Hailey Lambert-297, 8-Cade Lewis-288, 9-Dane Culver-256, 10-Caden Sarale-220.
NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: June 27, 2026 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California