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CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT SEASON HITS HALFWAY
MARK SATURDAY
(Torrance, CA, July 18, 2022)
The California Lightning Sprint Car Series will
hit the halfway point of its 28th season this
Saturday night, July 23rd, when it visits Jim
Naylor’s Ventura Raceway. The race will be the
third in a row for the CLS on its home track in
2022. It will also be the sixth of seven races on
the 1/5 mile oval this year.
The first half
of the season has been highly competitive for the
CLS. The first ten races of the year have seen
four different drivers lead the championship point
standings. Currently on top of the heap is
defending series champion David Gasper of Santa
Barbara. It took the 16-year-old until the race at
Ventura two weeks ago to capture the point lead
for the first time in 2022. He goes into
Saturday’s race with a narrow 17-point advantage
over Palmdale’s Eric Greco. Yucca Valley’s Jeff
Dyer currently sits third and trails Greco by 18
points. The fourth spot in the championship
standings belongs to Camarillo’s Cody Nigh.
Five-time series champion Bobby Michnowicz of Oak
Hills currently sits fifth.
In addition to
four drivers leading the championship standings in
the first 10 races of the year, five different
drivers have been to victory circle. Once again,
Gasper who drives the Kittle Motorsports #18,
leads the way with five victories. The only other
driver with more than one win on the year is San
Diego’s, AJ Bender. Greco, Michnowicz, and
lakeside’s Grant Sexton have one win each.
David Gasper leads the CLS point standings and
also leads the series in wins with five. CLS
photo.
Gasper, who got off to an up and
down start to the season blowing up in the first
race of the year, winning the second, and blowing
up again in the third, has won four of the last
seven races including the last three in a row and
the last two at Ventura.
In the battle for
Rookie of the Year, Glendora’s Will Browne, who
missed the last race while his engine was being
repaired, currently leads Bakersfield’s Connor
Speir by 108 points. They are currently ranked
sixth and seventh in the overall championship
standings going into Saturday’s race at “The Best
Little Dirt Track in America.”
A healthy
47 cars have raced with the CLS this year and the
average car count is 15.1. The Bakersfield
Speedway has the highest average count with 16.5
cars showing up at the first four races there. The
Kern County oval hosted the largest CLS car count
of the season when 22 cars appeared at the March
25th race that also featured the World of Outlaws
Sprint Cars.
The CLS will be joined by the
VRA Sprint Cars, Senior Sprints, Dwarf Cars, Hobby
Stocks, WMR Midgets, and Kid’s Classes on
Saturday. Adult tickets are $18.00. Seniors 60 &
over, military with id, and students with id get
in for $15.00. Children 12 and under, who are
accompanied by an adult, are free. Spectator gates
will open at 3:00 p.m. and the first race will be
at 5:30.
The Ventura Raceway is located on
the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 W. Harbor
Boulevard (93001). The website is
http://venturaraceway.com/ and the office phone
number is (805) 648-RACE.
After this week’s
race at Ventura, the CLS will be off until the
highly anticipated reopening of the Santa Maria
Raceway on August 6th. CLS officials are still
collecting lap money for that race. If you would
like to donate, laps are $50.00 each. You can use
the contact information in this release for Jon
Robertson to confirm payment or ask any questions.
California Lightning Sprint Car Series
Point Standings 1. David Gasper, Santa Barbara,
CA, 1134 2. Eric Greco, Palmdale, CA, 1117
3. Jeff Dyer, Yucca Valley, CA, 1099 4. Cody
Nigh, Camarillo, CA, 1029 5. Bobby Michnowicz,
Oak Hills, CA, 865 6. Will Browne, Glendora,
CA, 854 7. Connor Speir, Fillmore, CA, 746
8. Pat Kelley, Chino, CA, 721 9. Jon Robertson,
Torrance, CA, 597 10. Dominic Del Monte,
Gardena, CA, 539
CLS vs BCRA “Civil War
Series” Points 1. David Gasper – CLS - 142
2. Dakota Albright – BCRA – 126 3. Eric Greco –
CLS – 126 4. Will Browne – CLA 116 5. Harlee
Aguilera – BCRA – 109 6. Cody Nigh – CLS – 104
7. Greg Dennett – BCRA – 100 8. Hunter Kinney –
BCRA – 92 9. Matt Land – BCRA – 89 10. Tim
Kinser - 83
The following companies have
become marketing partners with the CLS in 2022.
They have offered up more than $13,000.00 in
contingencies that will be awarded on top of the
regular racing purses and they will be paid out
throughout the year. Yoshimura R&D, Hoosier Tires
West, T-Shirts By Timeless, Extreme Mufflers,
Saldana Racing Products, Rod End Supply, Speed
Mart, Cold Fire West, West Evens Motorsports, RC
Fuel Injection, Jake Swanson Shock Technology,
Advanced Racing Suspensions, CSI Shocks, Eibach
Springs, Triple X Race Components, King Racing
Products, Hyper Racing Products, Rebel Gears,
Vahlco Wheels, Wilwood Disk Brakes, Fuel Safe
Systems, MPI, Circle Track Performance, E-Z UP,
Hepfner Racing, Smith Titanium, and Hoosier Speed.
If you or your company would like to
become a partner of the longtime racing
organization, contact Jon Robertson via email at
mailto:jon.robertson@sbcglobal.net or by calling
(310) 367-9050.
http://rebelgears.com/http://rebelgears.com/2022
California Lightning Sprint Car Series Schedule
March 25 Bakersfield Speedway Winged – Grant
Sexton
April 2 Merced Speedway Non-Wing ––
Civil War #1 – David Gasper
April 16
Bakersfield Speedway Winged – A.J. Bender
April 30 Ventura Raceway Winged (Make Up Main)
David Gasper
April 30 Ventura Raceway
Winged – Bobby Michnowicz
May 14
Bakersfield Speedway Winged – A.J. Bender
May 21 Ventura Raceway Winged – Eric Greco
June 11 Bakersfield Speedway Winged – David Gasper
June 25 Ventura Raceway Winged – David Gasper
July 9 Ventura Raceway Winged – David Gasper
July 23 Ventura Raceway Winged
August
26 Silver Dollar Speedway Winged – Civil War #2
August 27 Placerville Speedway Winged – Civil
War #3
September 10 Lemoore Raceway Winged
September 24 Bakersfield Speedway Winged –
Civil War #4
October 8 Mohave Valley
Raceway Winged – With SWLS
October 29
Ventura Raceway Winged
November 15
Bakersfield Speedway Winged – With USAC Midgets -
Civil War #5
November 17 Placerville
Speedway Non-Wing – With USAC Midgets - No Points
November 18 Placerville Speedway Non-Wing
– With USAC Midgets - No Points
November 19
Placerville Speedway Non-Wing – With USAC Midgets
- No Points
To keep up with the CLS online,
please visit the website at http://racecls.com/ or
on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/californialightningsprints
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, 2021 David Gasper
This press release was
produced by Scott Daloisio Sports (909) 226-7768
mailto:sdaloisiosports@gmail.com |
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