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AJ BENDER WINS
WESTERN STATES LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
(Upland, CA, November 17, 2021) AJ Bender
scored a $1,000.00 win in Tuesday night’s “5th
Annual Western States Lightning Sprint Car
Championship.” The victory was the fourth CLS win
of the season for the veteran San Diego driver and
his second at the Bakersfield Speedway. In
addition to Bender’s win, rookie David Gasper
finished third in the main event and that sewed up
the championship in the four race “Civil War
Series.”
On a track that was
lightning fast all night long, Bender got off to a
good start when he out qualified the 26-car field
with a lap of 12.785. Santa Barbara’s Gasper
turned in the second fastest time in qualifying
with a 12.928. Teenager Grant Sexton, Bender’s
teammate at Sexton Gatlin Racing, was third
quickest at 13.016.
With 26 cars on hand,
the field was split into three heat races. The
heats were all eight laps and the top five
finishers from each went straight into the 25-lap
main event on “The West’s Fastest 1/3 Mile High
Banked Clay Oval.” Lakeside’s Brent Sexton
captured the first heat race over Kingsburg’s Doug
Nunes, who was subbing for Cody Nigh in the #45
car. Five time series champion Bobby Michnowicz of
Oak Hills, Bender and Colorado Springs, Colorado
star Chris Crowder took the other three transfer
spots.
Palmdale’s Eric Greco,
who was celebrating his 19th birthday, took the
second heat race over Oakdale’s Danika’Jo Parker,
Bakersfield local Cade Lewis, Gasper and Scott
Kinney of Sacramento.
Disaster struck for
Greco on his slowdown lap after the victory when
his car came to a stop on the track. Not only was
it a fiasco for the night, but potentially a
catastrophe for the season. The teen came into the
race only 12 points out of the lead in the
championship standings with four events to go. He
also led Gasper by one point going into the final
night of the “Civil War Series."
The final eight lap
heat race went to Yucca Valley's Jeff Dyer. Ken
Coulston of Bermuda Dunes, Grant Sexton, who
resides in Lakeside, El Cajon’s Braden Chiaramonte
and Carson’s Kevin Michnowicz chased the veteran
driver home.
With the first 15 spots
in the main event secure, 11-cars took to the
track for the 12-lap B main which would reward the
first seven finishers with a ticket to the A main.
The drivers who earned their spots into the A main
from the 12-lapper were Dominic Del Monte of
Gardena, Woodcrest’s Don Hart, Placerville’s Terry
Bergstrom, Brandon Leedy of Lake Elsinore,
Rutherford’s Dakota Albright, James Turnbull of
Indio, and Jeremiah Franklin.
There was still one
more item of business to take care of before the
main event. That was the dash for the six fastest
qualifiers who transferred from the heat races.
The way they finished the six-lap race is the way
the first three rows of the main event would start
straight up. The dash was all Chiaramonte. The
14-year-old racing sensation dominated the six
lapper and earned the right to start on the pole
for the main. Kinney placed second, Grant Sexton
finished third, Gasper claimed the fourth spot
with Crowder 5th, and Bender sixth.
One change for the main
event came when Greco’s #8 could not be repaired
for the green flag. “Rockstar” Jon Robertson
generously loaned his #42 to the teen so he could
start the main. However, the driver car switch
meant that instead of starting eighth, Greco had
to start dead last in the 22-car field.
The first attempt to
start the main event was aborted. Before the
second attempt to start the race got underway,
first heat race winner Brent Sexton dropped out
after losing his oil cap.
The second go to start
the race was a success and Chiaramonte jumped into
the lead over Kinney and Gasper. It immediately
became apparent which car was the fastest on the
track and that was Chiaramonte. The teen drove
away from his pursuers like it was chained to the
crashwall!
By the end of the fifth
circuit, Chiaramonte was a half straight ahead of
his pursuers and one lap later, he was into lapped
traffic. What he was missing behind him was fierce
battles between Kinney, Gasper, Grant Sexton and
Bender.
Bobby Michnowicz
started alongside his son Kevin in row seven in
the main event. The recently turned 58-year-old
was the second car out of the race when he pulled
to the infield on lap 11. One lap later Kevin
slowed and brought out a yellow when he could not
get his car off the track. They finished 21st and
20th respectively.
When the race resumed,
Chiaramonte was at the point, and he had two cars
between himself and second place Gasper. Kinney,
Bender and Crowder made up the remainder of the
top five. Once again, Chiaramonte left the
competition behind when the green light came back
on. Gasper took Kinney for the runner up spot on
the restart. However, the real fun began on lap 14
when Bender went from the 4th place spot all the
way up to second by passing Kinney and Gasper.
Once Bender got by
Gasper, the crowd got its full admission price
worth of excitement in the next 5 laps. Bender and
Gasper staged one of the most memorable battles in
recent CLS history. Gasper, in his bright blue #18
raced back into second on the 15th lap. Over the
next three circuits they battled back and forth
for the runner up spot. That crowd pleasing battle
pulled the attention away from Chiaramonte who by
that time, had a full straight away lead, but he
was about to get a big, unpleasant surprise.
The reason Chiaramonte
was so far ahead of the competition, was quite
simple. He was way faster than everyone else! In
fact, his fastest lap in the CLS main of 12.426
was also faster than any of the USAC Midgets
turned in their main. However, it all went for
naught on lap 18! Entering turn number one, a puff
of smoke came out of the engine, and he slowed.
Suddenly smoke was billowing from the car and a
flash oil fire broke out as he was coming to a
stop. The fire went out but briefly flared back up
as he was climbing out. His spectacular drive was
over, and it was extinguished by a spectacular
ball of flames. The fans gave the young driver a
nice round of applause as he went back to the pits
in recognition of his demolition of the
competition in the dash and the first 17-laps of
the main event.
Bender was at the point
for the restart after Chiaramonte’s fiery exit
from the race. Gasper was in second with Crowder,
Kinney and Dyer making up spots three through
five. Bender got a tremendous restart and was
going to be very hard to catch in the remaining 7
laps.
As Bender moved away,
the trading of positions was still going on behind
him. Coulston, who started in 12th, put all the
fans on the edge of their seats by dramatically
going from sixth to fourth on lap 19.
Unfortunately, he broke on the last lap and ended
up 15th.
Crowder moved up one
spot on lap 20 when he passed Gasper, but he could
not stop the streaking Bender from his fourth win
of the year. Gasper hung on for third with Kinney
and Dyer rounding out the top five.
Turnbull was the main
event “Hard Charger” finishing ninth after
starting 11th.
“That sucks for Braden
(Chiaramonte),” was the first thing Bender said to
the crowd when interviewed after the main. “He is
something special. A good kid and a good friend. I
love this place and this thing is a rocket ship
(his car). It is so fast, and I am lucky I get a
chance to drive it. Thanks to Sexton Gatlin Racing
for the chance. Hopefully, we can go to
Placerville and do it three more times. I think my
chances are good.”
The wild happenings in
the night saw a big shake up in the season long
championship standings. Gasper, who began the
evening in third 28-points out of first, took over
the lead for the first time this year. Turnbull,
who came in as the point leader, slipped back to
second and is now 13-points behind Gasper. Greco
dropped from second back to third. Dyer maintained
the fourth-place spot with Bender catapulting from
seventh up to fifth.
Gasper came into the
night trailing Greco by one-point in the last
“Civil War Series” event of the year. His
third-place finish combined with Greco’s early
exit from the main gave the title to the first
year Lightning Sprint driver. Turnbull was 51
behind in second. Greco ended up third. Leedy was
the top BCRA driver in fourth with Dyer coming
home fifth.
The CLS gets Wednesday
off to travel north to the Placerville Speedway
for the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday “Hangtown
100.”
Fans can find the
Placerville Speedway at 100 Placerville Drive in
Placerville (95667). The grandstands will open at
3:00 PM each day with racing at 6:30. The website
for the track is at the following link
https://www.placervillespeedway.com/. The office
phone is (530) 344-7592.
Fans around the world
who cannot attend the races, will be able to watch
all four live on The Flo Racing PPV site at
https://www.floracing.com/
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
25-Lap Main Event Finish (with starting positions)
1. AJ Bender – San
Diego, CA – 6th
2. Chris Crowder –
Colorado Springs, CO – 5th
3. David Gasper – Santa
Barbara, CA – 4th
4. Scott Kinney –
Sacramento, CA – 2nd
5. Jeff Dyer – Yucca
Valley, CA – 8th
6. Grant Sexton –
Lakeside, CA – 3rd
7. Doug Nunes –
Kingsburg, CA – 9th
8. Terry Bergstrom –
Placerville, CA – 17th
9. James Turnbull –
Indio, CA – 20th
10. Dakota Albright –
Rutherford, CA – 19th
11. Brandon Leedy –
Lake Elsinore, CA – 18th
12. Cade Lewis –
Bakersfield, CA – 10th
13. Jeremiah Franklin –
21st
14. Dominic Del Monte –
Gardena, CA – 15th
15. Ken Coulston –
Bermuda Dunes, CA – 12th
16. Braden Chiaramonte
– El Cajon, CA – 1st
17. Danika’ Jo Parker –
Oakdale, CA – 11th
18. Don Hart –
Woodcrest, CA – 16th
19. Eric Greco –
Palmdale, CA – 22nd
20. Kevin Michnowicz –
Carson, CA – 14th
21. Bobby Michnowicz –
Oak Hills, CA – 13th
22. Brent Sexton –
Lakeside, CA – 7th
Lap Leaders:
Chiaramonte 1-17, Bender 18-25
Hard Charger: Turnbull
Start 20th – Finish 9th
Lightning Sprint Car
Series Points
1. David Gasper ® –
Santa Barbara, CA – 1556
2. James Turnbull -
Indio – 1543
3. Eric Greco -
Palmdale, CA – 1501
4. Jeff Dyer – Yucca
Valley, CA – 1378
5. A.J. Bender – San
Diego, CA – 1090
6. Dominic Del Monte –
Gardena, CA – 1081
7. Jon Robertson -
Torrance, CA - 1046
8. Pat Kelley – Chino,
CA – 871
9. Aiden Lange -
Lakewood, CA – 815
10. Bobby Michnowicz –
Oak Hills, CA - 807
CLS/BCRA Civil War
Series Point Standings
1. Dave Gasper – CLS –
461
2. James Turnbull – CLS
– 410
3. Eric Greco – CLS –
391
4. Brandon Leedy - BCRA
– 372
5. Jeff Dyer - CLS –
337
6. Terry Bergstrom –
BCRA – 331
7. Dominic Del Monte -
CLS – 312
8. Dakota Albright -
BCRA – 306
8. Bobby Michnowicz -
CLS – 276
10. Aiden Lange – CLS -
235
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
– A.J. Bender
June 19 Keller Auto
Speedway (Hanford) – Postponed due to heat.
July 3 Santa Maria
Speedway – Eric Greco
July 24 Santa Maria
Speedway (Wing Madness #1) Santa Maria – A.J.
Bender
August 7 Merced
Speedway (Civil War Series #2 with BCRA – Winged)
– Dave Gasper
August 28 Ventura
Raceway – Eric Greco
September 18
Bakersfield Speedway (Civil War #3 with BCRA –
Winged) – Kevin Michnowicz
September 19 The Dirt
Track at Kern County Raceway Park – David Gasper
October 2 Ventura
Raceway – Eric Greco
October 30 Ventura
Raceway – Jeff Dyer
November 16 Bakersfield
Speedway (Civil War #4 with BCRA – Winged -
Western States Lightning Sprint Car Championship)
– A.J. Bender
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)
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@gmail.com |
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