Motor sports: Swanson brothers, Vander Weerd score ‘road’ wins
Memorial Day weekend was quiet at the big central San Joaquin Valley race tracks, but local drivers were winning big races elsewhere.
Kingsburg’s Swanson brothers swept to victories in last week’s U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown sprint car races in Indiana.
Kody Swanson, last year’s series champion, won Thursday night’s Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, while Tanner Swanson led all 100 laps of Saturday afternoon’s Day Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
Kody trailed A.J. Fike for the first 67 laps around the one-mile fairgrounds oval Thursday, then led the final 33 miles. Kody also won the season-opener, May 1 at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway in wire-to-wire fashion, and leads the points standings heading into the next race, June 20 at Iowa Speedway.
Tanner nearly lapped the field Saturday as Kody took second, the only other driver to complete 100 laps. It was a nice rally for Tanner, who flipped while challenging his brother for the lead at Toledo and didn’t enter the Hoosier Hundred.
Richard Vander Weerd wins in SoCal
Richard Vander Weerd of Visalia continued his mastery of Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday night, winning the 40-lap Salute to Indy for the USAC/California Racing Association Sprint Cars. Scoring his third victory in four starts on the half-mile Perris clay oval this season, Vander Weerd passed Matt Mitchell on lap three and led the rest of the way. His brother Jace Vander Weerd was 10th.
Neither Visalian is a full-time competitor on the circuit that races mainly at Perris and Arizona tracks. Richard stands fourth in points and Jace is 10th.
Back in action
The Valley’s big tracks all have racing this weekend. Friday night on the clay oval at Keller Auto Speedway at Kings Fairgrounds in Hanford, the track’s three main classes (King of Kings Winged 360s, IMCA Mods and Sport Mods) are in action with racing set to start at 7 p.m.
Saturday night, there’s racing in Madera and Tulare. At the paved Madera Speedway, the LoanMart Late Model Series and the Twisted Tea Modified Series headline a show that includes most of the track’s divisions. Racing is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.
At Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, the USAC West Coast 360 Sprints and USAC Western Midgets headline racing on the clay oval. Racing starts at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Motor sports: Swanson brothers, Vander Weerd score ‘road’ wins."