Weekend news 1999-11-08

USAC MCI WorldCom National Midget Car point leader Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif. and USAC Western Sprint Car Champion Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. scored feature victories in Saturday night's "doubleheader" at the Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway. Leffler drove the Steve Lewis Wynn's/ASE/Beast/PRI Pink Ford to victory in the 30-lap Western Midget Car race on the 1/2-mile paved oval, while Kaeding closed out the 1999 Western Sprint Car campaign with his sixth triumph in seven Irwindale races, taking the 30-lap series finale in his BK Motorsports/Alviso Rock Special. Leffler passed Tracy Hines on the 22nd lap and led the rest of the way to beat Hines, Ryan Newman, Bobby Boone and Jay Drake, while Western point leaders Marc DeBeaumont and Shane Scully finished 18th and seventh respectively. That closed the gap between DeBeaumont and Scully to just 40 points entering the final three events on the schedule at Bakersfield, Calif., Irwindale, Calif. and Phoenix, Ariz. Nov. 20, 25 and 27. Davey Hamilton was the fastest Midget Car qualifier and won the semi, while heats went to DeBeaumont, Boone, Leffler and Clay Klepper. Wally Pankratz and Steve Paden traded the lead for the first four laps of the feature before Hines took over. Kaeding's wire-to-wire 30-lap Sprint Car victory was his seventh of the year as he claimed the seasonal championship. Tony Hunt, the fastest qualifier, finished second ahead of Todd Ellison, Curtis Brown and Jason McCord. Rick Williams, who finished seventh, finished as the series point runner-up for the fourth consecutive year! Hamilton, Leffler and Brown won Sprint heats and Ellison, who won the October 16 race at Irwindale, won the semi. The MCI WorldCom Midget Cars and TQ Midget Cars combine for "doubleheaders" November 20 at Bakersfield and November 25 at Irwindale (the annual "Turkey Night Grand Prix") before the Midget Cars conclude the 1999 season at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix November 27.

WESTERN SPRINT CAR STANDINGS

1.      Bud Kaeding     1,004           6.      Todd Ellison    722
2.      Rick Williams   845             7.      Tom Stansberry  592
3.      Bobby McMahan   802             8.      Jeff Gardner    573
4.      Rick Hendrix    786             9.      Curtis Brown    537
5.      Tony Hunt       743             10.     Mike Boat       471

MCI WORLDCOM WESTERN MIDGET CAR STANDINGS

1.      Marc DeBeaumont 525             6.      Jason Leffler   292
2.      Shane Scully    485             7.      Steve Paden     272
3.      Bobby Boone     460             8.      Clay Klepper    216
4.      Alex Harris     397             9.      Rick Hendrix    203
5.      Wally Pankratz  325             10.     Sleepy Tripp    194