BERNAL “SWEEPS” WEEKEND,” WINS AT TULARE

Tulare, CA……..Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. scored his second USAC West Coast/Western Classic Sprint Car victory of the weekend, taking Saturday night’s 30-lap feature at THunderbowl Raceway. He passed Nic Faas on lap 24 and led the rest of the way in his Mike Phulps Core Power/Metal Works ART/S&S to beat Danny Faria Jr., Markus Niemela, Matt Mitchell and Jace Vander Weerd. Bud Kaeding led the first 21 laps and Faas led two. Bernal now has a 66-point Western Classic point lead, while Markus Niemela leads the West Coast points by 38.

USAC WEST COAST/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: May 17, 2014 – Tulare, California – Thunderbowl Raceway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-15.543; 2. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-15.550; 3. Danny Faria Jr., 2, Bowman-15.670; 4. Markus Niemela, 73, Ford-15.678; 5. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-15.733; 6. Kyle Hirst, 51T, Roth-15.15.755; 7. Bud Kaeding, 29, Bowman-15.792; 8. Nic Faas, 73X, Ford-15.954; 9. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-15.976; 10. Colby Copeland, 74, Williams-15.16.094; 11. Landon Hurst, 179, Hurst-16.145; 12. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-16.182; 13. Troy Rutherford, 81, Watt-16.229; 14. Marty Hawkins, 3M, Hawkins-16.236; 15. Scott Hall, 77J, Campanile-16.236; 16. Dennis Howell, 62, Howell-16.270; 17. Chris Ennis, 86, Ennis-16.321; 18. T.J. Smith, 87, Van Meter-16.382; 19. Michael Faccinto, 81S, Watt-16.391; 20. D.J. Johnson, 33, Johnson-16.541; 21. Austin Stone, 29X, Coffman-16.697; 22. Kevin Barnes, 36B, Barnes-16.735; 23. Jeff Sibley, 42N, Sibley-16.851; 24. Johnny White, 51, Carlile-16.892; 25. Trent Carter, 13, Carter-16.900; 26. Garrett Long, 38, Long-17.082; 27. Matt Day, 97, Day-17.233; 28. Jeff Bothelo, 14X, Bothelo-19.042.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bernal, 2. Stone, 3. Liggett, 4. Rutherford, 5. Mitchell, 6. Ennis, 7. Long. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Vander Weerd, 2. Hirst, 3. Copeland, 4. Smith, 5. Hawkins, 6. Day, 7. Barnes. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kaeding, 2. Faria, 3. Hurst, 4. Faccinto, 5. Hall, 6. White, 7. Sibley. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Howell, 2. Johnson, 3. Faas, 4. J.Vander Weerd, 5. Niemela, 6. Carter, 7. Bothelo. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Mitchell, 2. Niemela, 3. Hall, 4. Hawkins, 5. Sibley, 6. Ennis, 7. Day, 8. White, 9. Barnes, 10. Carter. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Danny Faria Jr., 3. Markus Niemela, 4. Matt Mitchell, 5. Jace Vander Weerd, 6. Marty Hawkins, 7. Austin Liggett, 8. D.J. Johnson, 9. Austin Stone, 10. Bud Kaeding, 11. Chris Ennis, 12. Troy Rutherford, 13. Dennis Howell, 14. Kyle Hirst, 15. Richard Vander Weerd, 16. Nic Faas, 17. Scott Hall, 18. T.J. Smith, 19. Jeff Sibley, 20. Landon Hurst, 21. Michael Faccinto, 22. Colby Copeland. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Kaeding, Laps 22-23 Faas, Laps 24-30 Bernal.

NEW WEST COAST SPRINT POINTS: 1-Niemela-355, 2-J.Vander Weerd-317, 3-Mitchell-300, 4-Rutherford-289, 5-Faria-283, 6-Faas-281, 7-Liggett-238, 8-R.Vander Weerd-233, 9-Howell-230, 10-Hurst-215.

NEW WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bernal-268, 2-Mitchell-202, 3-Faas-201, 4-J.Vander Weerd-186, 5-R.Vander Weerd-180, 6-Johnson-173, 7-Hawkins-165, 8-Hurst-147, 9-Geoff Ensign-130, 10-Niemela-128.

NEXT USAC WEST COAST SPRINT RACE: May 31 – Tulare, CA – Thunderbowl Raceway

NEXT USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT RACE: August 2 – Hanford, CA – Kings Speedway -  “Billet Cup”