West Coast Chili Bowl Friday Qualifiers

By Robert Haugh

Leading the Friday evening West Coast Chili Bowl qualifiers are 10-time A-Main starter and two-time Chili Bowl winner Cory Kruseman (Ventura, CA) aboard the Kruseman Motorsports  #21K Lucas Oil Spike/Esslinger, three-time A-main starter Bud Kaeding (Campbell, CA) in the Buster & Ziggy Ent. #2 Bullet/Esslinger, two-time A-main starter Bryan Clauson (CA native, residing in Noblesville, IN)  in the CTR-BCI-Curb #39C NOS Energy Drink-Curb Records-Keizer Wheels Spike/Esslinger, and one-time A-Main starter Brad Mosen of New Zealand in Californian Andy Bondio’s #47 Barnes Oil Pumps-Advanced Suspension-Kenny's Components-Brown & Miller Bondio/Barnes.

Past champions competing on Friday evening include 2011 BCRA Midgets Dirt champion Shannon McQueen (Bakersfield, CA) aboard her #7 Murf Dogg Racing-R.C. 4 Less-American Waste Control-Simpson Race Products-K&N Filters Spike/Esslinger.

Additional West Coast entries include USAC/CRA hardcharger and multiple-time Midget victor Gregg Bragg (Visalia, CA) in Dave LaMott’s #0G Hot Head Headers-Special Things Sheet Metal-Power Up Concrete Stealth/Esslinger, Levi Roberts (Broomfield, CO) in the Steve Lewis-Nine Racing #9 Majestic Metals-Performance Racing-K&N-Earle's-Eibach Spike/Esslinger, Ronnie Gardner (Corona, CA) aboard Keith Ford’s #71S Everhart Construction-Esslinger-Reedy Electronics-JFM Spike/Esslinger, Steve Stasa (West Hills, CA) in his own #22S Eurick Law Center-Stasa Motorsports-SBR Motorsports TCR/Chevy V4 and Mike Boesel (Bennett, CO) in his own #77B Boesel Enterprises Inc.-Jordan Carstar Auto Body-Lost Creek Farms-High Plains Diner-Strasburg NAPA Stealth/Esslinger.

Mike Sala has his #19W Stealth/Wirth Chevy entered with no driver announced as of yet.

Of the West Coast Friday qualifiers, only Clauson and Kruseman made the A-Main in 2011.

Friday evening West Coast rookie entries include Jake Swanson (Anaheim, CA) in the Swanson Motorsports #05H Goodwine Glass-Lucas Oil-Crower Performance-PHB Indy-Orange County Tank Testing Stealth/Honda, 2009 USAC-Western States Midget champion Alex Schutte (Rohnert Park, CA) in Calvin Martens’ #28 Woodworks Unlimited-Ryno Mfg-Jim's Towing-Aircraft Electrical Components-Ontario West TCR/Mopar, the “Flyin’ Finn” Markus Niemela (Rauma, LS [Finland]) in Californian Steve Watts’ #81 Polly Gallimore-Lost Reality-Rock Star-SWE-Maxwell Industries Stealth/Sala Chevy, Vinny Villeggiante (Gresham, OR) in his own #6Y Pyle Family-Sam Villeggiante-Villeggiante Concrete Spike/Gaerte, Cole Wood (Auburn, CA) in Matt Wood’s #17W Elk Grove Ford-Spike Chassis-Keizer Wheels-Quick Lane Spike/Esslinger, Mike Visser (Cottonwood, AZ) in Dave Burkhart’s #21AZ Kaiser Alexco Aluminum-Black Hills Auto Electric-Ultimate Imports-Beadle Bug Patrol, Die Cast Cars Now Eagle/Gaerte and Kyle Edwards (Fountain Valley, CA) in Gordon Edwards’ #39K Engineering Safehouse Security-MPD Racing-Fulkerson Fabricating Ellis/Van Dyne.

Visit www.chilibowl.com for the entire entry list.