Swanson Swipes Thunderbowl Honors

TULARE, Cal. (March 17, 2017) – Jake Swanson snared his second career USAC West Coast Sprint Car feature win by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s 30-lap feature at Thunderbowl Raceway.

After establishing a new track record of 14.984 seconds in qualifying earlier in the evening, Swanson rallied from the seventh starting position to take the lead away from Ryan Bernal in traffic on the 14th round en route to victory lane aboard the Sertich-owned No. 92.

“We were running the same line, it took traffic to give me a chance to get around him (Bernal),” Swanson stated in victory lane.

Swanson was chased to the stripe by Geoff Ensign with Bernal, Austin Liggett and Richard Vander Weerd rounding out the top five.

After pacing the early rounds from the pole position, Danny Faria, Jr., biked it in turn four and then suffered front end damage after contact.  With nowhere to go, Gary Nelson, Jr., was caught up in the incident and went for a wild ride down the frontstretch without injury.

USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: March 17, 2017 – Tulare, California – Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway

WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-14.984 (New Track Record); 2. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-15.224; 3. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-15.312; 4. Ryan Bernal, 73, Ford-15.326; 5. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-15.363; 6. Danny Faria Jr., 17V, Faria-15.557; 7. Gary Nelson Jr., 6N, Nelson-15.673; 8. Geoff Ensign, Finkenbinder-15.702; 9. Cody Majors, 81M, Watt-15.755; 10. Tristan Guardino, 15T, Guardino-15.777; 11. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-15.782; 12. Ryan Timmons, 29T, Timmons-15.895; 13. Brandon Wiley, 33B, Wiley-15.902; 14. Shannon McQueen, 7, Van Meter-15.942; 15. Ryan Stolz, 63, Stolz-16.038; 16. Steven Garris, 58, Garris-16.176; 17. Steve Hix, 57, Hix-16.186; 18. Koen Shaw, 88K, Shaw-16.460; 19. Jay Ervine, 51, AJ-16.585; 20. Jim Richardson, 8, Richardson-16.962; 21. Jeff Sibley, 42N, Sibley-NT.

EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Guardino, 2. Bernal, 3. Swanson, 4. Nelson, 5. Wiley, 6. Garris, 7. Ervine. NT

BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ensign, 2. Liggett, 3. Mihocko, 4. R.Vander Weerd, 5. McQueen, 6. Richardson, 7. Hix. NT

KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS / SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Majors, 2. Faria, 3. J.Vander Weerd, 4. Stolz, 5. Shaw, 6. Timmons, 7. Sibley. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Geoff Ensign, 3. Ryan Bernal, 4. Austin Liggett, 5. Richard Vander Weerd, 6. Cody Majors, 7. Jace Vander Weerd, 8. Koen Shaw, 9. Brandon Wiley, 10. Tristan Guardino, 11. Steve Hix, 12. Jay Ervine, 13. Steven Garris, 14. Danny Faria Jr., 15. Gary Nelson Jr., 16. Tye Mihocko, 17. Shannon McQueen, 18. Ryan Stolz, 19. Jim Richardson, 20. Jeff Sibley, 21. Ryan Timmons. NT

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**Timmons flipped during the third heat. Nelson flipped during the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Faria, Laps 7-13 Bernal, Laps 14-30 Swanson.

BR MOTORSPORTS / KING RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Steve Hix (20th to 11th)

NEW USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR POINTS:

NEXT USAC WEST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: March 18 – Tulare, California – Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway