WESTERN MIDGETS MAKE LEMOORE DEBUT SATURDAY

Lemoore (Calif.) Raceway hosts its first Honda USAC Western Midget race and Trey Marcham and Jarid Blondel will try to protect their respective point leads in Saturday’s event at the 1/5-mile dirt oval.

Marcham, of Oklahoma City, Okla., leads the Western Midget Dirt points and Blondel, of Orange, Calif., tops the overall Western Midget points.

Marcham has won twice this year, at Bakersfield and Tucson, and added a third at Peoria, Ariz. Blondel’s four dirt starts have yielded three “top-10s” while his pavement starts include a pair of podium finishes.

Marcham’s dirt lead is 18 points over defending series champ Ronnie Gardner, while Blondel has a 065-point margin over Chad Nichols in the overall points.