PETERSEN MEDIA- With a rare off weekend in his USAC Sprint Car schedule, Richard Vander Weerd made the trip to the Ventura Raceway on Saturday night to battle with the USAC Western States Midgets aboard the always Mike Sala owned midget where he would rally to finish eighth in the feature event.
“We had an awesome car on Saturday night and had a good run going until I made a mistake and had to go to the back,” Vander Weerd said. “From the back, we were still able to fight forward and end our night with a Top-10.”
Timing in seventh fastest, the Visalia, CA driver would get his elbows up during heat race competition as he picked up the win from his second row starting spot. By way of his heat race win, Vander Weerd would find himself in the third starting position for the feature event.
When the race fired off, Vander Weerd would race into the second spot as he began to chase after Ronnie Gardner who had jumped out to the early lead. Using the top side of the speedway, Vander Weerd admittedly had nothing for Garder once the leader changed his line and moved up top.
Continuing to give chase and wait for traffic, Vander Weerd would soon feel pressure from Darren Hagen, as the duo began fighting for the second spot. Falling back to third, Vander Weerd would make a move to reclaim the second spot but his momentum would unfortunately cause him to spin out.
Going to the tail end of the field, Vander Weerd was impressive in traffic as he made quick work of most of his competition. In just a few short laps, Vander Weerd would work his way back inside the Top-10 as he closed his night out with an eighth place finish.
“I really want to thank the Sala team for all their hard work on Saturday night, and for giving me a chance to race,” Vander Weerd said. “I think we had a car good enough to finish on the podium if the driver doesn’t make a mistake.”
Richard and his Vander Weerd Racing team would like to thank Vander Weerd Construction, Stonegate Development, Battery Worx, Mid-Valley Pipe, Basic Industries, Factory Kahne Shocks, Steve Watt Enterprises, FK Rod Ends, PXP Racewear and K&N for their support in 2016.
2016 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-11, Wins-1, Top 5’s-5, Top 10’s-8.
ON TAP: Richard will return to the helm of his sprint car on Saturday night as he will be at the Perris Auto Speedway with the USAC/CRA Series.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Vander Weerd Racing by ‘Liking’ them on facebook at www.facebook.com/VanderWeerdRacing.
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