BERNAL 5-FOR-7 AFTER TULARE TRIUMPH; VANDERWEERD CHAMP

 


Tulare, CA……..Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. scored a spectacular last-lap victory in Saturday night’s 30-lap USAC West Coast 360 Sprint race at the Gropetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway. Bernal’s win was his fifth in the last seven series races. Richard VanderWeerd of Visalia, Calif. finished fifth to secure his inaugural USAC driving championship by 39 points over Bernal, who was also the fastest qualifier. Dennis Howell paced the first three laps, then Troy Rutherford led the next 25. Bud Kaeding moved to the front on the white-flap lap, but yielded to Bernal on the final lap. Kaeding finished second ahead of Rutherford, Danny Sheridan and VanderWeerd.


 


USAC WEST COAST 360 SPRINT RACE RESULTS: October 8, 2011 – Tulare, California – Gropetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway


 


QUALIFICATIONS: Ryan Bernal, 11D, Olmstead-15.158; 2. Greg Alexander, 72, Tyler-15.329; 3. Danny Sheridan, 21, Dorathy-15.429; 4. Richard VanderWeerd, 10, VanderWeerd-15.437; 5. Bud Kaeding, 29, Bowman-15.467; 6. Troy Rutherford, 73, Ford-15.480; 7. Jeff Gardner, 51T, Revcon-15.528; 8. Dennis Howell, 62, Howell-15.578; 9. T.J. Smith, 14, LeGras-15.730; 10. Wes Gutierrez, 007, WG-15.762; 11. Davey Pombo, 3E, Eames-15.766; 12. Andy Forsberg, 92, Forsberg-15.874; 13. Jace VanderWeerd, 88, VanderWeerd-16.012; 14. Justyne Hamblin, 8, JH-16.103; 15. Ricky Kirkbride, 87, Van Meter-16.290; 16. Marty Hawkins, 3M, Hawkins-16.314; 17. Matt Day, 97, Day-16.459; 18. Jarrett Kramer, 51, Carlile-16.654; 19. Terry Nichols, 33, Nichols-16.742; 20. Jared Little, 25, Little-16.931; 21. Adam Frith-Smith, 62X, Frith-Smith-17.053; 22. Ray Knight, 6K, Knight-18.595.


 


FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. J.VanderWeerd, 2. Gutierrez, 3. Bernal, 4. R.VanderWeerd, 5. Hawkins, 6. Little, 7. Kramer, 8. Gardner. NT.


 


SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hamblin, 2. Pombo, 3. Kaeding, 4. Howell, 5. Alexander, 6. Frith-Smith, 7. Day. NT.


 


THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Sheridan, 2. Smith, 3. Rutherford, 4. Forsberg, 5. Knight, 6. Nichols. NT.


 


FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Bud Kaeding, 3. Troy Rutherford, 4. Danny Sheridan, 5. Richard VanderWeerd, 6. Jace VanderWeerd, 7. Wes Gutierrez, 8. T.J. Smith, 9. Davey Pombo, 10. Andy Forsberg, 11. Marty Hawkins, 12. Jarrett Kramer, 13. Dennis Howell, 14. Adam Frith-Smith, 15. Greg Alexander, 16. Jared Little, 17. Terry Nichols, 18. Justyne Hamblin, 19. Ray Knight, 20. Ricky Kirkbride. NT


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**Kirkbride flipped during qualifying. Gardner flipped during the first heat. Day flipped during the second heat.


 


FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Howell, Laps 4-28 Rutherford, Lap 29 Kaeding, Lap 30 Bernal.


 


FINAL WEST COAST 360 SPRINT POINTS: 1-R.VanderWeerd-866; 2-Bernal-827; 3-Gutierrez-750; 4-J.VanderWeerd-715; 5-Howell-655; 6-Danny Faria Jr.-600; 7-Alexander-570; 8-Smith-548; 9-Hamblin-540; 10-Kaeding-504.


 


NEXT WEST COAST 360 SPRINT RACE (Special Event, No Points): October 15 – Hanford, CA – Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway