Bakersfield, California (May 11, 2024)………Caden Sarale wired all 30 laps from start to finish to score the victory in Saturday night’s USAC Western States Midgets Built by Pressler Properties & Construction main event at California’s Bakersfield Speedway.
Sarale (Stockton, Calif.) started from the pole in his family-owned No. 32 at the 1/3-mile dirt oval, fending off a brief challenge from Cade Lewis (Bakersfield, Calif.) near the midway point to earn his second career series win by a 1.449 second margin.
New series point leader Lewis brought it home second with C.J. Sarna (Palm Desert, Calif.) third, Kyle Beilman (Los Angeles, Calif.) fourth and Edwards fifth after restarting at the tail of the field due to an early race incident.
The most spectacular incident of the night occurred on lap 20 as the car of 10th running Terry Nichols (Delano, Calif.) burst into a ball of fire in turn three. Nichols escaped without injury and finished 14th in the event.
The event was the first feature event contested by the series this year following three consecutive rain outs.
Drake Edwards (Peoria, Ariz.) made an impressive mark by securing the top spot in Woodland Auto Display time trials, grabbing the fastest qualifying time of 13.068 seconds.
Edwards proved his prowess once again by nabbing a victory in Cal West Welding hear one while local talent Lewis electrified the crowd to claim the victory in Hot Head Competition Engine Heaters heat two.
USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 11, 2024 – Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, California
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-13.068; 2. Cade Lewis, 101, Alexander-13.112; 3. Brandt Twitty, 4B, Twitty-13.124; 4. Kyle Beilman, 31B, Beilman-13.167; 5. Cole Wakim, 55, Lambert-13.254; 6. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-13.261; 7. Robby Josett, 68, Six8-13.333; 8. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-13.367; 9. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.455; 10. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-13.530; 11. Ben Covich, 65NZ, Covich-14.154; 12. Garrett Twitty, 4, Twitty-14.194; 13. Bryan Dollinger, 71D, Drollinger-14.535; 14. Terry Nichols, 1p, Nichols/Peckfelder, 15. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-NT.
CAL WEST WELDING FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Drake Edwards, 2. Cole Wakim, 3. Brandt Twitty, 4. Robby Josett, 5. Ben Covich, 6. Bryan Drollinger. NT
HOT HEAD COMPETITION ENGINE HEATERS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cade Lewis, 2. Caden Sarale, 3. C.J. Sarna, 4. Garrett Twitty, 5. Kyle Beilman, 6. Dane Culver, 7. Terry Nichols. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Caden Sarale (1), 2. Cade Lewis (5), 3. C.J. Sarna (8), 4. Kyle Beilman (3), 5. Drake Edwards (6), 6. Randi Pankratz (12), 7. Garrett Twitty (10), 8. Robby Josett (7), 9. Dane Culver (11), 10. Ben Covich (9), 11. Brandt Twitty (4), 12. Bryan Drollinger (13), 13. Cole Wakim (2), 14. Terry Nichols (14). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Caden Sarale.
USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINTS: 1-Cade Lewis-116, 2-Caden Sarale-107, 3-Drake Edwards-100, 4-Kyle Beilman-98, 5-Randi Pankratz-85, 6-Brandt Twitty-85, 7-Garrett Twitty-84, 8-Dane Culver-75, 9-Ben Covich-74, 10-Cole Wakim-74.
NEXT USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: June 1, 2024 – Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California
