GERHARDT WINS SECOND STRAIGHT USAC
FEATURE WITH VICTORY AT STOCKTON
SACRAMENTO,
CALIFORNIA (July 10, 2011) – 17 year-old Cody Gerhardt won his second straight USAC Western Sprint
Car feature and first USAC Western Classic Racing Series race by winning
Saturday’s race at Stockton 99 Speedway.
Gerhardt, a third generation driver from Fresno, led the final 17 laps
of the feature aboard his #40 Western Speed sprint car to top the eleven car
field on hand.
Incoming
USAC Western Classic Racing Series overall points leader Tony Hunt had
fast-time on the night with a 12.802 second lap around the historic
quarter-mile paved oval. Gerhardt
qualified second at just .001 seconds off of Hunt.
18 year-old
Luis Ramos III of Clovis and Visalia’s Audra Sasselli grabbed heat race
wins while Western Speed’s Tim Skoglund won the four lap trophy dash.
The 50 lap
feature was a fast-paced affair with Skoglund leading from the pole after a
four car invert. Gerhardt had a torrid
battle with Geoff Ensign in the early laps before finally taking over second on
lap ten after slight contact.
Hunt
followed suit passing Ensign on lap 18 for the third position with Ensign
eventually getting shuffled back to sixth.
As the race continued caution-free, Gerhardt closed down on
Skoglund. Quickly erasing his large
lead, Gerhardt was on the back bumper bar of Skoglund by lap 28, and on lap 31
they made contact into turn one.
The
teammates duked it out for several laps before Gerhardt made a daring move on the
inside of turn two to move past Skoglund.
Gerhardt pulled away and began lapping cars before a caution on lap 40
for debris in turn one.
Hunt, from
third, was unable to capitalize on the yellow flag and on the restart he fell
back to sixth. The caution came out
again on lap 43 for fluid and a spin by Scott Pierovich in turn three. Pierovich was fourth before spinning.
Pierovich
refired and made a mad dash through the field while up front it was Tim Barber
and Audra Sasselli on the charge. Barber
passed Skoglund for second on lap 45 and Sasselli took third from Skoglund on
lap 48.
Gerhardt went
on to a 1.4 second win ahead of Barber, Sasselli, Skoglund, and Ensign who
passed Hunt for fifth in the final stages of the race. Pierovich was only able to move up to eighth
at the finish.
The Kaeding
Performance Award on the night went to Audra Sasselli with a $50 gift
certificate for Kaeding’s. Series
officials also elected to award a Kaeding certificate in the night’s USAC
Western Midget race for Dan Bedford who finished third.
The USAC
Western Midget feature was won by Nick Chivello after holding off Scott
Pierovich, while West Sacramento’s Garett Peterson won a hotly contested USAC NorCal Ford
Focus feature over Jessica Clark. 12
year-old Trevor Hunt swept the night’s USAC Young Guns action.
Tony Hunt
leads Geoff Ensign by 64 points in the USAC Western Classic Racing Series which
will resume with a dirt double-header weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway and
Placerville Speedawy on August 5 and 6 respectively. On the USAC Western Sprint Car Series trail,
Audra Sasselli leads Cody Gerhardt by 23 points as they move on to a two-day
show at Boise,
ID’s Meridian Speedway this Friday and
Saturday nights.
More
information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook
at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com The USAC Western States is available at www.usacwesternstates.com with contact information and the
latest news.
The USAC
Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West,
and Kaeding Performance.
www.stevenblakesley.com
|