Bakersfield, CA……..Defending Honda USAC Western Midget Champion Ronnie Gardner of Norco, Calif. picked up right where he left off in 2014 by winning the 2015 series opener Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway. Gardner caught Trey Marcham on lap 16 and led the final five laps in his Baldozier Racing/Esslinger Engineering Stewart/Esslinger to beat Marcham, Scott Pierovich, David Prickett and Randi Pankratz.
HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET RACE RESULTS: March 21, 2015 – Bakersfield, California – Bakersfield Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Sean Dodenhoff, 9D, Dodenhoff-13.532; 2. Ronnie Gardner, 68, Six8-13.547; 3. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.603; 4. Cody Swanson, 71s, Swanson-13.634; 5. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.653; 6. David Prickett, 55x, Conterno-13.680; 7. Ricky Shelton, 71, Full Circle-13.893; 8. Trey Marcham, 73, Ford-13.924; 9. Terry Nichols, 1P, Nichols-13.924; 10. Steve Davis, 2D, Davis-14.039; 11. Nick Chivello, 27, Chivello-14.094; 12. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-14.410; 13. Jimmy Voitel, 21, Voitel-14.453; 14. Jeff Harrington, 9E, Dodenhoff-14.656; 15. Brian Gard, 88, Arata-15.055; 16. Jack Hawley, 56, Hawley-15.160; 17. Tyler Dolacki, 99, JK-NT
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Dodenhoff, 2. Pankratz, 3. Voitel, 4. Nichols, 5. McQueen, 6. Chivello, 7. Gard, 8. Dolacki. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Marcham, 3. Swanson, 4. Prickett, 5. Davis, 6. Harrington, 7. Hawley, 8. Pierovich. NT
FEATURE: (20 laps) 1. Ronnie Gardner, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Scott Pierovich, 4. David Prickett, 5. Randi Pankratz, 6. Terry Nichols, 7. Steve Davis, 8. Shannon McQueen, 9. Jimmy Voitel, 10. Jeff Harrington, 11. Sean Dodenhoff, 12. Cody Swanson, 13. Ricky Shelton, 14. Brian Gard, 15. Tyler Dolacki. NT
**Swanson and Dodenhoff flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Marcham, Laps 16-20 Gardner.
NEW HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET POINTS: 1-Gardner-73, 2-Marcham-64, 3-Pankratz-57, 4-Prickett-57, 5-Pierovich-55, 6-Nichols-50, 7-Davis-49, 8-McQueen-47, 9-Dodenhoff-45, 10-Voitel-42.
NEXT HONDA USAC WESTERN MIDGET RACE: May 2 – Tulare, CA – Thunderbowl Raceway