USAC: Western States Weekly Sprint and Midget Review
23 June 1998
WESTERN STATES SERIESWADE HALTS HARRIS' STREAK; PADEN GETS #1; RICCI FARIA TOP "REBEL"
SPRINTS & TQ MIDGETS COMBINE AT HANFORD SATURDAY NIGHT
A blown engine halted Alex Harris' incredible undefeated five-race winning streak in the USAC TQ Midget Series and Ron Wade of Wilmington, Calif. was the benefactor in Saturday night's USAC "doubleheader" program at the Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.
Wade led all but the first three laps of the feature event to beat West Evans and Brian Harris in a race flagged complete after just 11 laps when Paul Krueger flipped. Krueger escaped injury. Alex Harris suffered engine woes during warmups and never got to the starter's green flag but he continues to lead the series standings going into this Saturday night's "doubleheader" program at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif. featuring both the TQ Midgets and the "Western States" Sprint Cars, led by Jeff Gardner of Fresno, Calif. A 20-lap TQ and 30-lap Sprint car feature are planned at the 3/8-mile dirt oval.
Steve Paden of Downey, Calif. earned his initial USAC "Western States" Midget feature victory at Bakersfield Saturday night, leading the final 12 laps of the 30-lap race after passing Bobby Boone. Dwayne Marcum finished second and Scott Nail was third at the checkered flag as Boone slipped to fifth.
"Western States" Midget point leader Rick Hendrix finished 11th at Bakersfield but continues to lead the standings going into the July 11-12 "Rocky Mountain Classic" at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.
Ricci Faria of Visalia, Calif. won Saturday night's 30-lap USAC "Regional Rebel" Sprint Car race at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., leading the final 26 laps after passing Gary Ferravanti, Jr. Mike Faria was second and series point leader Monte Faccinto third. The "Regional Rebels" resume their 1998 campaign this Saturday at the 3/8-mile dirt oval.
Western States Midget Standings: 1-Rick Hendrix-291; 2-Wally Pankratz-255; 3-Bryan Stanfill-251; 4-Bobby Boone-209; 5-Shane Scully-200; 6-Steve Paden-166; 7-Dwayne Marcum-164; 8-Clay Klepper-161; 8-Sleepy Tripp-154; 10-Nick Mitchell-144.
Western States Sprint Standings: 1-Jeff Gardner-316; 2-Rick Williams-239; 3-Kirk Wartman-151; 4-Tony Hunt-141; 5-Dave Fitzgerald-118; 6-Monte Faccinto-110; 7-Ray Evans-110; 8-Kevin Urton-105; 9-Davey Pombo-93; 10-Ken Hamilton-91.
TQ Midget Standings: 1-Alex Harris-219; 2-Randi Pankratz-140; 3-Paul Krueger-131; 4-Josh Lakatos-122; 5-West Evans-120; 6-Gene Godepski-116; 7-Ron Ahrendt-111; 8-Brian Harris-100; 9-Steve Parke-94; 10-Joe Bishop-93. Regional Rebel Sprint Standings: 1-Monte Faccinto-396; 2-Davey Pombo-380; 3-Mark Barroso-267; 4-Lawrence Edlund-249; 5-Craig Stidham-247; 6-Larry Brown-175; 7-Shane Travioli-149; 8-Jeff Gardner-137; 9-Ricci Faria-108; 10-Tim Worth-102.
