BERNAL TOPS AT THUNDERBOWL
Tulare, CA……..Ryan Bernal of Hollister, Calif. wheeled Mike Phulps’ Metal Works/Red Line Oil Maxim to victory in Saturday night’s 30-lap USAC West Coast Sprint feature at Thunderbowl Raceway. He passed Bud Kaeding on lap 18 and led the rest of the way to beat Kaeding, Matt Mitchell, Troy Rutherford and Richard Vander Weerd. Markus Niemela, the seires point leader, finished eighth. Rutherford led the first lap and Kaeding the next 17 before Bernal went to the front.
USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: May 31, 2014 – Tulare, California – Thunderbowl Raceway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-15.460; 2. Mike Spencer, 51T, Roth-15.600; 3. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-15.673; 4. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-15.750; 5. Troy Rutherford, 81, Watt-15.830; 6. Bud Kaeding, 29, Bowman-15.855; 7. Markus Niemela, 73, Ford-15.880; 8. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-16.150; 9. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-16.285; 10. Dennis Howell, 62, Howell-16.339; 11. Chris Ennis, 86, Ennis-16.347; 12. Danny Faria Jr., 2, Bowman-16.411; 13. Kevin Barnes, 36B, Barnes-16.530; 14. Jeff Sibley, 42N, Sibley-16.556; 15. T.J. Smith, 87, Van Meter-16.691; 16. Trent Carter, 13, Carter-16.782; 17. Landon Hurst, 179, Hurst-16.806; 18. Austin Stone, 29X, Coffman-16.820; 19. Max Adams, 5X, Adams-16.829; 20. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-17.260; 21. Matt Day, 97, Day-17.414; 22. Connor Kassik, 26, Kassik-17.416; 23. Garrett Long, 38, Long-17.581; 24. Robert Nuckles, 27, Nuckles-NT; 25. Terry Nichols, 33, Nichols-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Niemela, 2. Howell, 3. Bernal, 4. Mitchell, 5. Carter, 6. Adams, 7. Barnes, 8. Kassik. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hurst, 2. Rutherford, 3. Spencer, 4. Ennis, 5. Everhart, 6. Long, 7. Liggett, 8. Sibley. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Vander Weerd, 2. Faria, 3. Kaeding, 4. J.Vander Weerd, 5. Stone, 6. Day, 7. Nuckles, 8. Smith. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Liggett, 2. Stone, 3. Sibley, 4. Adams, 5. Barnes, 6. Long, 7. Day, 8. Nichols, 9. Kassik, 10. Everhart, 11. Carter, 12. Nuckles. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Bud Kaeding, 3. Matt Mitchell, 4. Troy Rutherford, 5. Richard Vander Weerd, 6. Dennis Howell, 7. Danny Faria Jr., 8. Markus Niemela, 9. Landon Hurst, 10. Jace Vander Weerd, 11. Austin Liggett, 12. Chris Ennis, 13. Austin Stone, 14. Max Adams, 15. Kevin Barnes, 16. Matt Day, 17. Garrett Long, 18. Tony Everhart, 19. Terry Nichols, 20. Mike Spencer, 21. Jeff Sibley, 22. Connor Kassik. NT
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**Nuckles flipped during the semi. Sibley flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Rutherford, Laps 2-17 Kaeding, Laps 18-30 Bernal.
NEW USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Niemela-402, 2-Mitchell-362, 3-J.Vander Weerd-355, 4-Rutherford-349, 5-Faria-332, 6-R.Vander Weerd-293, 7-Howell-282, 8-Nic Faas-281, 9-Liggett-273, 10-Hurst-259.
NEXT USAC WEST COAST SPRINT RACE: June 7 – Hanford, CA - Kings Speedway
