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CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT CARS HEAD TO LEMOORE
RACEWAY FOR FIRST RESPONDERS APPRECIATION NIGHT
(Torrance, CA, September 5, 2022)
The California Lightning Sprint Car Series is
headed to Central California’s Lemoore Raceway for
this Saturday’s First Responder’s Appreciation
Night. It will be the only 2022 appearance for the
CLS at the track that is located 30 minutes south
of Fresno. Spectator gates will open at 4:00 p.m.
and the first race will take the green flag at
7:00.
CLS President Jon Robertson is
inviting all the drivers from the Bay Cities
Racing Association to participate in the show. The
CLS will honor all BCRA memberships and will pay a
$100.00 bonus to the highest finishing BCRA
driver.
Saturday’s race will be the 15th of
the year for the CLS. After the series races in
Northern California two weeks ago, the top four in
the point standings got shuffled. David Gasper of
Santa Barbara, the 2021 series champion, still
leads the pack heading into Lemoore. However,
Palmdale’s Eric Greco has moved up to second and
Cody Nigh of Camarillo has taken over third. Jeff
Dyer, who calls Yucca Valley home, had a nightmare
weekend in Nor Cal and dropped from second to
fourth in the championship standings. Five-time
CLS champion Bobby Michnowicz of Oak Hills, who
won the main event at Placerville, is fifth.
Gasper went into the two Nor Cal events having
won four straight points races. He also had a
39-point advantage over Dyer when he arrived at
Chico on August 26th. He finished fourth on the
first night of the Nor Cal junket and eighth on
the second night. Greco came into the races
trailing Gasper by 41-points. He finished one
position ahead of Gasper each night and cut his
disadvantage down to 36-points going into Lemoore.
Nigh is one point ahead of Dyer in the battle for
third.
The second half of the top 10 going
into the weekend is comprised of Glendora’s Will
Browne, Connor Spier of Fillmore, “Rockstar” Jon
Robertson of Torrance, Chino’s Pat Kelley, and
Dominic Del Monte of Gardena. Browne and Spier are
locked in a battle for the Rookie of the Year
award. Browne leads his fellow freshman by 22
points. At Chico, the two teenagers bested the
veterans and finished first and second in the main
event. It was Spier taking the photo finish
victory prevailing by a scant .088.
In
addition to leading the CLS and Civil War Series
point standings, Gasper sits on top of the CLS
victory chart with six wins in the first 14 races.
In the 13 mains he has started, he has a whopping
.461 winning percentage. Michnowicz and San
Diego’s A.J. Bender each have two wins. Greco,
Spier, and the father and son combo of Grant
Sexton, and his father Brent of Lakeside, have one
win each.
Joining the CLS stars at Lemoore
will be Bender. He has the night off from his USAC
Western Midget and USAC/CRA Sprint Car duties and
will be on hand this weekend. Last October, Bender
appeared in the three-night Cal Cup at Lemoore
driving for Sexton Gatlin Racing and he posted a
win, a third, and a fifth-place finish. This week
he will be in Mike Schweitzer’s #41B. In four
races together in 2022, Bender and Schweitzer have
combined to win two times at the Bakersfield
Speedway.
Aiden Lange of Lakewood, a CLS
regular and winner over the past few years, will
make his second appearance of 2022 at Lemoore. The
Lakewood racer last competed at the season opener
in Bakersfield on March 25th. In addition to
the CLS, five other classes will be racing on
Saturday. The Lemoore Raceway is located at 1750
CA-41, Lemoore, CA (93245). The track website is
http://www.lemoorejetbowl.com/.
After
Saturday’s race at Lemoore, the CLS will return to
action at the Bakersfield Speedway for round #4 of
the Civil War Series vs the BCRA on September
24th.
California Lightning Sprint Car
Series Point Standings 1. David Gasper – 1526
2. Eric Greco – 1490 3. Cody Nigh – 1390 4.
Jeff Dyer – 1389 5. Bobby Michnowicz – 1215
6. Will Browne – 1111 7. Connor Spier – 1089
8. Jon Robertson – 875 9. Pat Kelley – 847
10. Dominic Del Monte – 656
Civil War
Series Point Standings 1. David Gasper – CLS –
375 2. Eric Greco – CLS – 344 3. Will Browne
– CLS – 333 4. Bobby Michnowicz – CLS - 300
5. Cody Nigh – CLS – 299 6. Greg Dennett - BCRA
- 282 7. Harlee Aguilera – BCRA – 263 8.
Dakota Albright – BCRA – 244 9. Matt Land –
BCRA – 239 10. Brandon Leedy – BCRA - 236
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.
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 – Dave Gasper
August 6 *Santa Maria Raceway Winged – Brent
Sexton
August 26 Silver Dollar Speedway
Winged – Civil War #2 – Connor Spier
August
27 Placerville Speedway Winged – Civil War #3 –
Bobby Michnowicz
Sept. 10 Lemoore Raceway
Winged
Sept. 24 Bakersfield Speedway Winged
– Civil War #4
October 8 Mohave Valley
Raceway Winged – With SWLS
October 29
Ventura Raceway Winged
Nov. 15 Bakersfield
Speedway Winged – With USAC Midgets - Civil War #5
Nov. 17 Placerville Speedway Non-Wing –
With USAC Midgets - No Points
Nov. 18
Placerville Speedway Non-Wing – With USAC Midgets
- No Points
Nov. 19 Placerville Speedway
Non-Wing – With USAC Midgets - No Points
*Non Points Race
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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