WESTERN "TRIPLEHEADER" AT LVMS "BULLRING" SATURDAY Three USAC racing series convene Saturday at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, kicking off the 2004 racing season for the Western Sprint Cars and also featuring the Western Midgets and California Ford Focus Midgets.
Forty-lap features are on tap for the Sprint Cars and Midgets, while the Focuses will compete in a 25-lapper on the 1/3-mile paved oval. Michael Lewis of Noblesville, Ind. will be one of several drivers attempting to duplicate the feat achieved by Tony Stewart at the "Bullring" two years ago, winning both the Midget and Sprint car features in the same program! Lewis is the defending champion of the Western Sprint Car Series and was one of only two drivers to win in both series last year, Tracy Hines being the other.
Josh Lakatos of Pasadena, Calif., who won the opening race of the California Ford Focus Midget Car Series Saturday night at Irwindale, Calif., is expected to be among top threats for victory in the Las Vegas Focus feature, while Thomas Meseraull of San Jose, Calif., who won the second 25-lap Midget race at Irwindale, is also expected to be a top threat for the Midget win at LVMS.
USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS 1.-Bobby East-122 2.-Dave Darland-99 3.-Dave Steele-82 4.-Josh Wise-79 5.-Cole Carter-76 6.-Brad Kuhn-75 7.-J.J. Yeley-65 8.-Michael Lewis-65 9.-Steve Paden-56 10.-Jay Drake-56
USAC CALIFORNIA FORD FOCUS MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS 1.-Josh Lakatos-65 2.-Ryan Pace-60 3.-Matt Triplett-56 4.-Bobby Owens-52 5.-Bobby McGowan-51 6.-J.J. Ercse-42 7.-Bobby Michnowicz-39 8.-Chris Rahe-36 9.-Scott Pierovich-33 10.-Steve Davis-31