CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT CARS RACE AT BAKERSFIELD AND VENTURA THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY (Torrance, CA, September 9, 2024) After a seven-week summer vacation, the California Lightning Sprint Car Series is poised and ready for its biggest weekend of the 2024 season. First up will be a race on September 13th when the club joins forces with the legendary World of Outlaws at the Bakersfield Speedway. In addition, it will be round number two of the 2024 Civil War Series that matches the CLS versus Northern California’s Bay Cities Racing Association. Twenty-four hours later, the CLS will escape the heat of California’s Central Valley to race on the beach at the Ventura Raceway. Friday’s race at Bakersfield will see the clash of top stars of the CLS and BCRA. The respective series point leaders are included, CLS’ Bobby Michnowicz of Oak Hills and BCRA’s Greg Dennett of Livermore. Ironically, both lead their respective clubs by the same 78-point margin. Palmdale college student Eric Greco is chasing Michnowicz, and Hunter Kinney of Citrus Heights is pursuing Dennett. Fillmore’s Connor Speir won the first Civil War Series race of 2024 at Bakersfield on July 27th. The victory propelled him into the lead of the series that will conclude at Doug Lockwood’s Merced Speedway on October 5th. Speir enters Saturday’s race with a 10-point lead over 13-year-old whiz kid Zate Legend of Riverside in the CWS standings. Cody Meyer of Placerville is third and is the highest-ranking BCRA driver after one round. He is only 13 points out of the top spot. Greco and 17-year-old rising star Seth Dyer of Yucca Valley round out the top five. The high profile event is drawing in two surprise entries on Friday. Newly turned 20-year-old Grant Sexton of Lakeside will be wheeling his father’s #44 at Bakersfield. Last year’s USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series Rookie of the Year, and the 2021 POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Car champion, hopes to repeat his performance of March 2022 at Bakersfield. That night, when the CLS teamed with the Outlaws at the Scott Schweitzer promoted track, Sexton banged the boards and only led the final six inches in what may have been the best-ever CLS race at the “Okie Bowl.” The victory and the wild interview that the exuberant 17-year-old delivered afterward earned him a standing ovation from the packed house. In addition to Sexton, California Highway Patrol Officer Jeff Dyer of Yucca Valley will be back on the track on Friday. The race comes two months to the day after a nasty crash in the USAC/CRA 410 Sprint Car Series at Perris Auto Speedway that left him with a broken arm and a concussion. The original prognosis had him out for the remainder of 2024. However, he has healed faster than expected. He got in the car a few days ago and said he is ready to give it a try on Friday. If all goes well, he will also race in Ventura on Saturday. Saturday’s main event at Ventura will pay $500.00 to win and $100.00 to start, courtesy of Channel Island Floor Coverings, T-Shirts By Timeless, and R&R Racing. Hopefully, the extra cash will persuade some of the traveling teams from Friday’s show to head to Ventura 24 hours later. The race on the 13th at Bakersfield will be the fifth of six this season for the CLS at the “Okie Bowl.” Point leader Michnowicz won the first three races there. Greco won the last race on the longtime Kern County oval on June 15th. The race on the 14th at Ventura, which will take place just a few feet shy of the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean, will be the third of five for the CLS at the tiny oval this season. San Diego’s AJ Bender, who was driving Brian Fonseca’s Savage Racing entry, won the first one on May 4th. The last time the CLS raced there was on June 8th. Six-time CLS champ Michnowicz scored his series-leading fourth main event win of the season on that night. Six different drivers have posted victories through the first ten races of the 2024 CLS campaign. Michnowicz is at the top of that chart with four wins. The only other driver with more than one victory is Speir, who has two. Lakewood’s Aiden Lang, Jeff Dyer of Yucca Valley, Greco, and Bender have one win each. Trailing Michnowicz and Greco in third through fifth in CLS championship standings is 13-year-old whiz kid Zate Legend of Riverside, Speir, and Seth Dyer. Advance tickets for the World of Outlaws/CLS show at Bakersfield are available now at the following link: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/ The track is located at 5001 North Chester Ext. Ave., Bakersfield (93308). The track website is bakersfieldspeedway.com, and the office phone number is (661) 393-3373. Joining the CLS at Ventura will be the USCS Sprint Cars, USAC Western Midgets, IMCA Sport Compacts, and the VRA Hobby Stocks. Adult tickets are $22.00. For seniors 65 and over, it is $18.00. Military and students with id also get in for $18.00. Kids 12 and under are free when they are accompanied by an adult. The track 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. Fans from out of town can catch both races streaming live this weekend. Friday’s race will be on Dirt Vision and Saturday’s show will be on Flo Racing. The CLS would like to thank the following companies for being partners in the 2024 season. Extreme Mufflers, RacingJunk.com and Hoosier Tire. California Lightning Sprint Car Series Points 1. Bobby Michnowicz, Oak Hills, CA … 1102 2. Eric Greco, Palmdale, CA … 1024 3. Zate Legend, Riverside, CA … 943 4. Connor Speir, Fillmore, CA … 904 5. Seth Dyer, Yucca Valley, CA … 894 6. Cody Nigh, Camarillo, CA … 893 7. Jon Robertson, Torrance, CA … 873 8. Jeff Dyer, Yucca Valley, CA … 813 9. Clay Byers, Bakersfield, CA … 510 10. Pat Kelley, Chino, CA … 493 CLS vs BCRA Civil War Points 1. Connor Speir, CLS … 134 2. Zate Legend, CLS … 124 3. Cody Meyer, BCRA … 121 4. Eric Greco, CLS … 120 5. Seth Dyer, CLS … 114 6. Leland Day, CLS … 101 7. Jon Robertson, CLS … 98 8. Clay Byers, CLS … 86 9. Matt Land, BCRA … 84 9. Bobby Michnowicz, CLS … 84 2024 CLS Lap Leaders Michnowicz, Bobby … 92 Speir, Connor … 33 Greco, Eric … 28 Dyer, Jeff … 25 Dyer, Seth … 17 Lange, Aiden … 16 Bender, AJ … 15 Dyer, Seth … 9 Nigh, Cody … 4 Dennett, Greg … 1 2024 California Lightning Sprint Car Series Schedule March 1 Imperial Valley Raceway Mid-Winter Fair Aiden Lange March 2 Imperial Valley Raceway Mid-Winter Fair Connor Speir March 9 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Bobby Michnowicz April 13 Merced Speedway CSL vs BCRA Civil War #1 Rained Out April 20 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Bobby Michnowicz May 4 Ventura Raceway CLS AJ Bender May 18 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Bobby Michnowicz June 8 Ventura Raceway CLS Bobby Michnowicz June 15 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Eric Greco July 6 Santa Maria Speedway CLS Jeff Dyer July 27 Santa Maria Speedway CLS vs BCRA Civil War #2 Connor Speir September 13 Bakersfield Speedway CLS vs BCRA Civil War #3 September 14 Ventura Raceway CLS September 28 Ventura Raceway CLS October 5 Merced Speedway CLS vs BCRA Civil War #4 Albright Memorial October 26 Ventura Raceway CLS November 15 Placerville Speedway Hangtown 100 – No Points November 16 Placerville Speedway Hangtown 100 – No Points November 26 Bakersfield Speedway CLS To keep up with the CLS online, please visit the website at http://racecls.com/ and follow on the club’s Facebook page 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, 2022 David Gasper, 2023 Bobby Michnowicz This press release was produced by Scott Daloisio Sports (909) 226-7768 mailto:sdaloisiosports@gmail.com.