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A.J. BENDER
BECOMES FOURTH DIFFERENT CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT
CAR SERIES WINNER IN 2021 (Upland, CA,
May 21, 2021) San Diego, California’s A.J.
Bender became the fourth different winner in as many
California Lightning Sprint Car Series races in 2021
when he led every inch of the way to capture the
25-lap main event last Saturday night at the
Bakersfield Speedway.
A.J. Bender and the Mike Schweitzer after last
Saturday's win at Bakersfield. CLS Photo.
Rising star Eric Greco of Palmdale fired the first
salvo of the night when he out-qualified the 17-car
field with a lap of 13.962 on the 1/3 of a mile Kern
County high banked clay oval. Bender was second
quick and the only other driver in the 13s when he
stopped the clocks at 13.980. Five-time series
champion Bobby Michnowicz of Oak Hills was third
with a time of 14.041.
Two eight lap heat
races were contested before the main event. Series
point leader James Turnbull of Indio captured the
first one over Michnowicz and Greco. Santa Barbara
rookie Dave Gasper captured the second heat when he
beat Yucca Valley’s Jeff Dyer and Bender to the
checkers.
Gasper was on the pole for the
25-lap main event with Bender outside of him. Row
two had Dyer on the inside with Michnowicz to his
right. The third row was made up of the top two in
points, Turnbull, and Greco. When the green flag
waved, it was Bender, who also races in the USAC/CRA
Sprint Car Series as well as flat track motorcycles,
who reached turn one first. That was a big advantage
as the track was very slick and passing was going to
be at a premium. Gasper slid up the track in turn
two prompting wily veteran Michnowicz to dive to the
inside and by the end of the first circuit, the
veteran had commandeered the runner up spot.
As the leaders were coming across the line to
complete the second lap, a three-car tangle in turn
four involving Brent Owens of Rancho Cucamonga, Robb
Pelmear of Ventura and Bakersfield’s Leland Day
brought out a red flag. Fortunately, none of the
drivers were injured in the pileup.
For the
restart, Bender started in front in the pretty
Abacus/BillMell.com/Van’s Logging/Elite Racing/WCI
Mike Schweitzer owned #41. Michnowicz was second,
with Gasper, Dyer and Greco rounding out the top
five. Greco, who won the season opener at
Bakersfield on March 13th, got a great restart, and
passed both Dyer and Gasper to move into third.
However, Bender and Michnowicz were already pulling
away.
With the leaders moving out from the
remainder of the pack, fans scanned the remainder of
the field for action. Dyer gave them some when he
drove past Gasper for third on lap five. Three laps
later, he knifed his way to the inside of Greco for
third. While Dyer was slicing and dicing his way
forward, things had not changed at the front. It was
all Bender. He had a half straight lead and had
caught up to lappers about the same time Dyer
secured third.
With as slick as the track
was, drivers were being extra careful. The only real
drama in the last half of the race came with three
laps to go when Michnowicz caught up to a gaggle of
lapped cars. That allowed Dyer to close to within
two-car lengths of the longtime veteran. At the
white flag, the lappers parted and that allowed
Michnowicz to put a lock on second place. Out front,
Bender won by nearly a full straight. Dyer ended up
third with Gasper fourth and point leader Turnbull
fifth. Chino’s Jeremy Queener, who started 13th and
finished sixth, was the main event Hard Charger.
Teenager Turnbull increased his lead in the
series point standings to 53 over Greco. Michnowicz
is third and is only five-points out of second. CLS
leading rookie Gasper is currently ranked fourth
with Dyer fifth.
The CLS is off the next two
Saturdays but it comes back in a big way on June 5th
when it is part of the Grand Reopening of Jim
Naylor’s Ventura Raceway. It will be the first
racing event at the beach side oval since the COVID
crisis forced its closure 15 months ago.
The
CLS would like to thank 2021 series sponsors Hoosier
Tires, T Shirts By Timeless, TJ Forged Racing
Wheels, and Walker Performance Filtration. If you or
your company would like to become part of the
series, please call Alex Grigoreas at (909)
437-3170.
To keep up with the CLS online,
please visit the website at http://racecls.com/ or
on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/californialightningsprints/
Bakersfield Speedway Main Event Finish (With
Starting Positions) 1. A.J. Bender – San Diego,
CA – 2nd 2. Bobby Michnowicz – Oak Hills, CA –
4th 3. Jeff Dyer – Yucca Valley, CA – 3rd 4.
Dave Gasper – Santa Barbara, CA – 1st 5. James
Turnbull – Indio, CA – 5th 6. Cody Nigh –
Camarillo, CA -10th 7. Jeremy Queener – Chino, CA
– 13th 8. Trevor Ballou – Corona, CA – 8th 9.
Dominic Del Monte – Gardena, CA – 9th 10. Greg
Dennett – Livermore, CA – 7th 11. Pat Kelley –
Chino, CA – 17th 12. Mark Henry – Rosamond, CA –
14th 13. Leland Day – Bakersfield, CA – 16th
14. Jon Robertson – Torrance, CA – 12th 15. Eric
Greco – Palmdale, CA – 6th 16. Robb Pelmear –
Ventura, CA – 11th 17. Brent Owens – Rancho
Cucamonga, CA – 15th
2021 California
Lightning Sprint Car Series Point Standings 1.
James Turnbull – Indio, CA – 480 2. Eric Greco –
Palmdale, CA – 427 3. Bobby Michnowicz – Oak
Hills, CA – 422 4. Dave Gasper ® – Santa Barbara
– 409 5. Jeff Dyer – Yucca Valley, CA – 346 6.
Trevor Ballou – Corona, CA – 305 7. Jeremy
Queener – Chino, CA - 298 8. Dominic Del Monte –
Gardena, CA – 286 9. Greg Dennett – Livermore, CA
– 281 10. A.J. Bender – San Diego, CA - 258
CLS/BCRA Civil War Series Point Standings 1.
James Turnbull – CLS – 135 2. Bobby Michnowicz –
CLS – 133 3. Dakota Albright – BCRA – 121 4.
Dave Gasper – CLS – 119 5. Aiden Lange – CLS –
112 6. Seth Hespe – WASH – 107 7. Jeff Dyer –
CLS – 98 8. Chase Gaal – CLS – 88 9. Eric
Greco – CLS – 85 10. Brandon Leedy – BCRA 83
2021 California Lightning Sprint Car Series
Schedule
March 13 Bakersfield Speedway – Eric
Greco
April 10 Bakersfield Speedway – Bobby
Michnowicz
April 24 Merced Speedway (Wayne
Albright Memorial - Round #1 of the Civil War Series
with BCRA – Wingless) – James Turnbull
May 15
Bakersfield Speedway – A.J. Bender
June 5
Ventura Raceway
June 19 Keller Auto Speedway
(Hanford)
July 3 Santa Maria Speedway
July 24 Santa Maria Speedway (Wing Madness #1)
August 7 Merced Speedway (Civil War Series #2
with BCRA – Winged)
August 14 Bakersfield
Speedway
August 28 Santa Maria Speedway
September 4 Ventura Raceway
September 18
Bakersfield Speedway (Civil War #3 with BCRA –
Winged)
September 19 The Dirt Track At Kern
County Raceway Park
September 25 Santa Maria
Speedway (Wing Madness #2)
October 2 Ventura
Raceway
October 30 Mojave Valley Raceway
November 16 Bakersfield Speedway (Civil War #4
with BCRA – Winged and Western States Lightning
Sprint Car Championship)
November 18
Placerville Speedway Hangtown 100 – (Co sanctioned
with BCRA and in companion with the USAC National
Midgets)
November 19 Placerville Speedway
Hangtown 100 – (Co sanctioned with BCRA and in
companion with the USAC National Midgets)
November 20 Placerville Speedway Hangtown 100 – (Co
sanctioned with BCRA and in companion with the USAC
National Midgets)
The schedule is subject to
change due to Covid restrictions.
PAST CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONS
1994 Tony Everhart, 1995
Gary Sexton, 1996 Rob Sczymczak, 1997 Jon Rahe, 1998
Chris Rahe, 1999 Brent Sexton, 2000 Greg Bragg, 2001
Greg Bragg, 2002 Greg Bragg, 2003 David Cardey, 2004
Keith Janca, 2005 Johnny Bates, 2006 Donny Gansen,
2007 Shane Rossen, 2008 Brent Sexton, 2009 Stuart
Hielschier Sr., 2010 Jarrett Kramer, 2011 Tim Brown,
2012 Bobby Michnowicz, 2013 Stephen Limon, 2014
Bobby Michnowicz, 2015 Bobby Michnowicz, 2016 Bobby
Michnowicz, 2017 Bobby Michnowicz, 2018 Jarrett
Kramer, 2019 Jarrett Kramer.
This press release was produced by Scott Daloisio
Sports (909) 226-7768 mailto:sdaloisiosports@aol.com |
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