PADEN BACKS UP WESTERN MIDGET SUCCESS WITH PERRIS WIN!

Defending USAC Western Midget Car Champion Steve Paden of

Downey, Calif. notched his second consecutive series feature win in

Saturday night's 30-lapper at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway. The win

boosted him to fifth in the new series standings going into a June 5 race

at the Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.

Paden and the Richard Farrier Esslinger Engineering/Anglemyer

Crane Stealth/Esslinger passed Josh Lakatos on lap 19 and led the final 12

laps to beat series point leader Johnny Rodriguez, former series champ

Wally Pankratz, Mike Leslie and four-time series champ Robby Flock.

Rodriguez emerged from the Perris event with an 84-point lead

over Pankratz going into the June 5 race at Bakersfield. Jerome Rodela, the

fastest Perris qualifier, ranks third in the new standings.

USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 22, 2004 – Perris,

California – Perris Auto Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jerome Rodela, 31, Rodela-17.588; 2. Garratt

Hansen, 70, Hansen-17.651; 3. Wally Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-17.788; 4. Tyler

Brown, 34, Brown-17.908; 5. Johnny Rodriguez, 30, Rodriguez-17.916; 6.

Robby Flock, 79, Sala-17.974; 7. Josh Lakatos, 28, Lakatos-18.010; 8.

Stephen Graves, 94, Graves-18.067; 9. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-18.071;

10. Steve Paden, 01, Farrier-18.148; 11. Mike Leslie, 71, Leslie-18.148;

12. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-18.223; 13. Robert Ellis, 41, Ellis-18.326;

14. Dallen McKenney, 88, McKenney-18.365; 15. Greg Taylor, 19w,

Sala-18.380; 16. James Miller, Jr., 48, Miller-18.740; 17. Michael Simpson,

59, Simpson-18.759; 18. Mike Courtney, 42, Courtney-18.815; 19. Kirk Kubik,

03, Kubik-19.437.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Rodela, 2. Ellis, 3. Rodriguez, 4. Lakatos,

5. Leslie, 6. Taylor, 7. Kubik, 8. McQueen, 9. Simpson, 10. Pankratz. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Brown, 2. Mitchell, 3. Paden, 4. Flock, 5.

McKenney, 6. Courtney, 7. Graves, 8. Miller, 9. Hansen. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Steve Paden, 2. Johnny Rodriguez, 3. Wally

Pankratz, 4. Mike Leslie, 5. Robby Flock, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. Greg Taylor,

8. Dallen McKenney, 9. Josh Lakatos, 10. Robert Ellis, 11. James Miller,

Jr., 12. Michael Simpson, 13. Kirk Kubik, 14. Stephen Graves, 15. Shannon

McQueen, 16. Tyler Brown, 17. Garratt Hansen, 18. Jerome Rodela, 19. Mike

Courtney. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Lakatos, Laps 19-30 Paden.

NEW WESTERN MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Rodriguez-452; 3-Pankratz-366;

3-Rodela-356; 4-McKenney-295; 5-Paden-291; 6-Hansen-270; 7-Flock-240;

8-Brown-230; 9-Mitchell-228; 10-Josh Wise-198.

NEXT WESTERN MIDGET CAR RACE: June 5 – Bakersfield, CA – Bakersfield Speedway