SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (July 10, 2011) – 17 year-old Cody Gerhardt won his second straight USAC Western Sprint Car feature and first USAC Western Classic Racing Series race by winning Saturday’s race at Stockton 99 Speedway. Gerhardt, a third generation driver from Fresno, led the final 17 laps of the feature aboard his #40 Western Speed sprint car to top the eleven car field on hand.
Incoming USAC Western Classic Racing Series overall points leader Tony Hunt had fast-time on the night with a 12.802 second lap around the historic quarter-mile paved oval. Gerhardt qualified second at just .001 seconds off of Hunt.
18 year-old Luis Ramos III of Clovis and Visalia’s Audra Sasselli grabbed heat race wins while Western Speed’s Tim Skoglund won the four lap trophy dash.
The 50 lap feature was a fast-paced affair with Skoglund leading from the pole after a four car invert. Gerhardt had a torrid battle with Geoff Ensign in the early laps before finally taking over second on lap ten after slight contact.
Hunt followed suit passing Ensign on lap 18 for the third position with Ensign eventually getting shuffled back to sixth. As the race continued caution-free, Gerhardt closed down on Skoglund. Quickly erasing his large lead, Gerhardt was on the back bumper bar of Skoglund by lap 28, and on lap 31 they made contact into turn one.
The teammates duked it out for several laps before Gerhardt made a daring move on the inside of turn two to move past Skoglund. Gerhardt pulled away and began lapping cars before a caution on lap 40 for debris in turn one.
Hunt, from third, was unable to capitalize on the yellow flag and on the restart he fell back to sixth. The caution came out again on lap 43 for fluid and a spin by Scott Pierovich in turn three. Pierovich was fourth before spinning.
Pierovich refired and made a mad dash through the field while up front it was Tim Barber and Audra Sasselli on the charge. Barber passed Skoglund for second on lap 45 and Sasselli took third from Skoglund on lap 48.
Gerhardt went on to a 1.4 second win ahead of Barber, Sasselli, Skoglund, and Ensign who passed Hunt for fifth in the final stages of the race. Pierovich was only able to move up to eighth at the finish.
The Kaeding Performance Award on the night went to Audra Sasselli with a $50 gift certificate for Kaeding’s. Series officials also elected to award a Kaeding certificate in the night’s USAC Western Midget race for Dan Bedford who finished third.
The USAC Western Midget feature was won by Nick Chivello after holding off Scott Pierovich, while West Sacramento’s Garett Peterson won a hotly contested USAC NorCal Ford Focus feature over Jessica Clark. 12 year-old Trevor Hunt swept the night’s USAC Young Guns action.
Tony Hunt leads Geoff Ensign by 64 points in the USAC Western Classic Racing Series which will resume with a dirt double-header weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway and Placerville Speedawy on August 5 and 6 respectively. On the USAC Western Sprint Car Series trail, Audra Sasselli leads Cody Gerhardt by 23 points as they move on to a two-day show at Boise, ID’s Meridian Speedway this Friday and Saturday nights.
More information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com The USAC Western States is available at www.usacwesternstates.com with contact information and the latest news.
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance.
- Steven Blakesley on Jul 10, 2011
- Article Date: 7/10/2011 by Steven Blakesley / Blakesley Sports Media