BERNAL TAKES SANTA MARIA 30-LAP 360 SPRINT
Santa Maria, CA……..Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. passed AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint car point leader Mike Spencer on lap 16 and led the final 15 laps to win Saturday night’s 30-lap USAC West Coast 360 Sprint at Santa Maria Speedway. Bernal’s win vaulted him to second in the new series standings. Danny Faria Jr. took second ahead of Justyne Hamblin, fast qualifier Dennis Howell and series point leader Richard VanderWeerd. The victory was Bernal's third in a row in the extremely-competitive series.
USAC WEST COAST 360 SPRINT RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2011 – Santa Maria, California – Santa Maria Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dennis Howell, 62, Howell-14.810; 2. Justyne Hamblin, 8, JH-14.855; 3. Mike Spencer, 7X, Priestley-14.870; 4. Ryan Bernal, 11D, Olmstead-14.901; 5. Richard VanderWeerd, 10, VanderWeerd-14.960; 6. Ricky Kirkbride, 87, Van Meter-15.085; 7. Danny Faria Jr., 2X, Bowman-15.094; 8. Jace VanderWeerd, 88, VanderWeerd-15.137; 9. Nico Russo, 3N, Russo-15.165; 10. Wes Gutierrez, 007, WG-15.211; 11. Rusty Carlile, 51, Carlile-15.227; 12. Bobby Bender, 16, Jones-15.310; 13. Greg Alexander, 72, Tyler-15.345; 14. T.J. Smith, 14, LeGras-15.595; 15. A.J. Bender, 12, Bender-15.624; 16. Lynn Anderson, 7, Anderson-15.634; 17. Terry Nichols, 33, Nichols-15.651; 18. Jeff Culver, 71C, Culver-15.895; 19. Bill Jones, 16J, Jones-16.033.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Alexander, 2. Faria, 3. Howell, 4. Bernal, 5. Gutierrez, 6. Anderson, 7. Jones. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Smith, 2. Hamblin, 3. J.VanderWeerd, 4. Carlile, 5. R.VanderWeerd, 6. Nichols. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Culver, 2. Russo, 3. Spencer, 4. B.Bender, 5. Kirkbride, 6. A.J. Bender. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Danny Faria Jr., 3. Justyne Hamblin, 4. Dennis Howell, 5. Richard VanderWeerd, 6. Rusty Carlile, 7. Mike Spencer, 8. Greg Alexander, 9. Wes Gutierrez, 10. Ricky Kirkbride, 11. Jace VanderWeerd, 12. Nico Russo, 13. A.J. Bender, 14. Bobby Bender, 15. Jeff Culver, 16. T.J. Smith, 17. Terry Nichols, 18. Lynn Anderson, 19. Bill Jones. NT.
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Spencer, Laps 16-30 Bernal.
NEW WEST COAST 360 SPRINT POINTS: 1-R.VanderWeerd-628; 2-Bernal-575; 3-J.VanderWeerd-549; 4-Faria-525; 5-Gutierrez-515; 6-Howell-461; 7-Hamblin-433; 8-Smith-424; 9-Alexander-399; 10-Carlile-395.
NEXT WEST COAST 360 SPRINT RACE: September 10 – Hanford, CA – Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway – “Jim Turner Memorial”