GARDNER RETURNS TO TOP OF PODIUM AT LEMOORE

Lemoore, CA……..Ronnie Gardner of Norco, Calif. found his way back to victory lane Saturday night, winning the 30-lap Honda USAC Western Midget race at Lemoore Raceway. The defending USAC Western Midget king wheeled his Six8 Motorsports/Baldozier Racing Stewart/Esslinger to the win, leading all but six laps to beat Trey Marcham, Randi Pankratz, Heath Duinkerken and Scott Pierovich. Marcham, the fastest qualifier, led laps 19-24 before Gardner led the last six.

HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET DIRT RACE RESULTS: July 26, 2014 – Lemoore, California – Lemoore Raceway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Trey Marcham, 73, Ford-13.231; 2. Heath Duinkerken, 81, Watt-13.361; 3. Austin Stone, 6, Denome-13.489; 4. Ronnie Gardner, 68, Six8-13.546; 5. Danny Ebberts, 5, Van Dyne-13.563; 6. Chad Nichols, 17, Nichols-13.621; 7. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.725; 8. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.758; 9. Jake Hagopian, 19, Sala-13.862; 10. Jarid Blondel, 98, Blondel-13.961; 11. Brian Gard, 88, Arata-13.966; 12. Ricky Shelton, 71, Full Circle-13.994; 13. Barry Pries Jr., 14, BRAP-14.082; 14. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-14.115; 15. Tyler Dolacki, 99, JK-14.213; 16. Chris Ennis, 86, Ennis-14.365; 17. Terry Nichols, 45, Nichols-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hagopian, 2. Pankratz, 3. Marcham, 4. Gard, 5. Ebberts, 6. Stone, 7. Dolacki, 8. T.Nichols, 9. Pries. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Duinkerken, 2. Gardner, 3. McQueen, 4. Pierovich, 5. Shelton, 6. Blondel, 7. C.Nichols, 8. Ennis. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Ronnie Gardner, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Randi Pankratz, 4. Heath Duinkerken, 5. Scott Pierovich, 6. Jake Hagopian, 7. Ricky Shelton, 8. Chris Ennis, 9. Danny Ebberts, 10. Austin Stone, 11. Jarid Blondel, 12. Chad Nichols, 13. Shannon McQueen, 14. Barry Pries Jr., 15. Terry Nichols, 16. Brian Gard, 17. Tyler Dolacki. NT

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*T.Nichols flipped during the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Gardner, Laps 19-24 Marcham, Laps 25-30 Gardner.

NEW HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET DIRT POINTS: 1-Marcham-323, 2-Gardner-306, 3-Blondel-192, 4-McQueen-187, 5-Ennis-167, 6-Alex Schutte-157, 7-Pierovich-154, 8-Shelton-147, 9-Dolacki-127, 10-Sean Dodenhoff-109.

NEW HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET POINTS: 1-Blondel-355, 2-Marcham-323, 3-Gardner-306, 4-Nichols-288, 5-Alex Schutte-210, 6-Pierovich-193, 7-McQueen-187, 8-Ennis-167, 9-Nick Chivello-164, 10-Shelton-147.

NEXT HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET DIRT RACE: August 9 – Petaluma (CA) Speedway – “John Soares Classic”