McFADDEN. YELEY TAKE LOUIE VERMEIL CLASSIC OPENERS AT CALISTOGA
CALISTOGA, Calif.—Sometimes, a change of scenery will do you good. Just ask James McFadden. After a hard week elsewhere, McFadden and the Tarlton Motorsports team decided to change plans and hurried down to join NARC at the reopening Calistoga Speedway. The decision resulted in a $5,000 victory on the opening night of the Louie Vermeil Classic.
McFadden led all 25 laps and picked up his fifth NARC victory of the season aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 TRD-powered Maxim, and it was his sixth career triumph with the series.
It wasn’t always easy as Australian star was challenged for the lead at the midway point by Indiana visitor Spencer Bayston. After completing the 13th circuit, Bayston passed McFadden for the lead as they raced in traffic on the big half-mile. An untimely caution flag though negated Bayston’s pass and put McFadden back out front. McFadden successfully fended off Bayston on a pair of restarts before Bayston then pulled off the track with mechanical issues. Shane Golobic later moved into second place but could not challenge McFadden.
Pulling into the winner’s circle in his first visit to the historic Calistoga Speedway, McFadden celebrated with his patented “shoey”, taking a drink of beer from one of his racing shoes, the fifth time he’d done that this season in NARC competition. McFadden had won four of out five races in NARC’s Fastest Five Days in Motorsports up in the Pacific Northwest in June before traveling out east with the team for the summer.
After the tough Thursday and Friday night with High Limit Racing at Skagit Speedway up in Washington, the Tarlton Motorsports team was no doubt feeling much better with the bounce back NARC win Saturday night at Calistoga.
After starting eighth and moving up six spots, Golobic finished runner-up aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC. NARC points leader D.J. Netto earned a podium finish aboard the Penny Newman Grain-sponsored Netto Ag No. 88n Rider-powered KPC. Outside pole sitter Sean Becker was fourth in the D&J Construction Rental-sponsored Bjork Construction No. 7b Shaver-powered Maxim and was followed by Colby Copeland in the Hansen Machine-sponsored Nick McColloch No. 17 Don Ott-powered Maxim.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Tanner Carrick, Dominic Gorden, Bud Kaeding, Chance Grasty and Andy Forsberg. Forsberg earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, advancing eight positions from 18th to finish tenth.
Heat races earlier in the evening were canceled due to concerns about time and track conditions, specifically regarding tire wear. NARC officials and drivers agreed to make the event show-up points only. The feature event was lined up by qualifying times with the top six subjected to an invert draw, which turned out to be a zero and put McFadden on the pole for the event, this coming after he paced the 19-car field in qualifying with a time of 18.027 seconds around the big half-mile clay oval.
Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (25 laps): 1. 21 James McFadden (1), 2. 17w Shane Golobic (8), 3. 88n D.J. Netto (4), 4. 7b Sean Becker (2), 5. 17 Colby Copeland (11), 6. 83t Tanner Carrick (7), 7. 10 Dominic Gorden (13), 8. 29 Bud Kaeding (12), 9. X1 Chance Grasty (9), 10. 92 Andy Forsberg (18), 11. 26 Billy Aton (14), 12. 12j John Clark (15), 13. 12 Jarrett Soares (17), 14. 73 Ryan Bernal (6), 15. W Spencer Bayston (3), 16. 83v Dylan Bloomfield (5), 17. 121 Caeden Steele (16), 18. 14 Mariah Ede (10), DNS – 11 Cooper Marchant.
Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 92 Andy Forsberg, 18th to 10th (+8)
Qualifying: 1. 21-James McFadden, 00:18.027[6]; 2. 7B-Sean Becker, 00:18.047[18]; 3. W-Spencer Bayston, 00:18.154[16]; 4. 88N-DJ Netto, 00:18.288[2]; 5. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield, 00:18.394[4]; 6. 73-Ryan Bernal, 00:18.432[12]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 00:18.472[19]; 8. 17W-Shane Golobic, 00:18.596[3]; 9. X1-Chance Grasty, 00:18.616[5]; 10. 14-Mariah Ede, 00:18.662[13]; 11. 17-Colby Copeland, 00:18.783[14]; 12. 29-Bud Kaeding, 00:18.814[17]; 13. 10-Dominic Gorden, 00:18.821[7]; 14. 26-Billy Aton, 00:18.938[9]; 15. 12J-John Clark, 00:19.072[10]; 16. 121-Caeden Steele, 00:19.310[1]; 17. 12-Jarrett Soares, 00:19.651[11]; 18. 92-Andy Forsberg, 00:19.651[8]; 19. 11-Cooper Marchant, 00:19.651[15]
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J.J. YELEY SWEEPS WILD USAC CRA CALISTOGA RETURN
By Lance Jennings
CALISTOGA, Calif. -- Starting sixth on the grid, J.J. Yeley of Phoenix, Arizona swept the opening night of the 14th Louie Vermeil Classic Presented By Quick Change Liquid Energy Drink & the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame at California’s Calistoga Speedway.
Driving the Petty Performance Racing #33 Sherman chassis, Yeley earned the first USAC CRA victory of his career and became the 87th winner with the series. “The Big Game Hunter” Austin Williams, hard charger Logan Seavey, Max Adams, and A.J. Bender rounded out the top-five finishers.
The scheduled 25-lap main event was dominated by R.J. Johnson. However contact between Johnson and Ryan Bernal on the 24th circuit handed the curfew shortened triumph to J.J. Yeley. Yeley started the night by posting his first career Woodland Auto Display / WC Friend Company Access Systems Fast Time Award with a time of 20.414 seconds over the 34 car roster.
Starting sixth, Yeley also took the checkered flags in the 8-lap In Honor of Wiley Miler Sr. & Wiley Miller II First Heat Race. Driving the Ted Finkenbinder owned #3F DRC, Dave Lindt of Sebastopol, California topped the WC Friend Company Access Systems Second Heat Race. Logan Seavey of Sutter, California raced the Kevin Kozlowski owned “W” Schnee to victory in the Silbermann Solar Third Heat Race. Templeton, California’s Kaleb Montgomery won the Sexton Fire Protection Fourth Heat Race in the Montgomery Family #3 Maxim.
Loomis, California’s Max Adams won the 10-lap Factory Wraps Semi Main event in Dwight Cheney’s #42 DRC. Tommy “Thunder” Malcolm, Eddie Tafoya Jr., and Logan Calderwood earned the final transfer spots to the feature.
Seavey earned Calistoga’s In Memory of Jim and Chet Gardner / Steve Lafond Photos Hard Charger Award / “Best Passing Job” honors. The USAC National Series regular had a third place run from nineteenth.
On Sunday, August 31st, the Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Series will tackle Calistoga Speedway for the final night of the 14th Louie Vermeil Classic Presented by Quick Change Liquid Energy Drink and West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame.
For more information on the Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Series, visit www.usacracing.com and the social media for USAC Racing. You can also find exclusive content on the USAC CRA Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACERESULTS: August 30, 2025 – Calistoga Speedway – Calistoga, California – 14th Louie Vermeil Classic Presented By Quick Change Liquid Energy Drink & West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY / WC FRIEND COMPANY ACCESS SYSTEMS QUALIFICATIONS: 1. J.J. Yeley, 33, Petty-20.414; 2. Ryan Bernal, 17x, Dunkel-20.594; 3. R.J. Johnson, 33p, Petty-20.769; 4. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-21.113; 5. Max Adams, 42, Cheney-21.473; 6. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-21.945; 7. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-21.955; 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-21.994; 9. Geoff Ensign, 92, PHR-22.078; 10. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-22.247; 11. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-22.258; 12. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-22.450; 13. Tanner Carrick, 83T, Carrick-22.455; 14. David Lindt, 3F, Finkenbinder-22.480; 15. Connor Lundy, 97, Lundy-22.509; 16. Kaleb Montgomery, 3, Montgomery-22.521; 17. Nate Schank, 1, Lawson-22.575; 18. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-22.594; 19. Logan Seavey, W, Kozlowski-22.670; 20. Blake Bower, 17, Dunkel-22.697; 21. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-22.786; 22. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-22.912; 23. Jacob Tuttle, 87, Tuttle-22.975; 24. Connor Speir, 57, Speir-23.074; 25. Mark Hanson, 79, Matranga-23.116; 26. Heath Holdsclaw, 33H, Holdsclaw-23.478; 27. Marty Hawkins, 3m, Cheney/Hawkins-23.733; 28. Ryan Timmons, 29T, Timmons-23.779; 29. Bill Cornwell, 3c, Garrison-23.815; 30. Josh Gillis, 18, Gillis-23.887; 31. Brecken Guerrero, 98B, Guerrero-24.255; 32. Andrew Sweeney, 98A, Guerrero-24.505; 33. Elexa Herrera, 5E, Herrera-28.635; 34. T.J. Hartman, 67X, Walker-NT.
IN HONOR OF WILEY MILLER SR. & WILEY MILLER II FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature) 1. J.J. Yeley, 2. Cody Williams, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Geoff Ensign, 5. Nate Schank, 6. Max Adams, 7. Mark Hanson, 8. Elexa Herrera. NT
WC FRIEND COMPANY ACCESS SYSTEMS SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature) 1. David Lindt, 2. Ryan Bernal, 3. Kyle Shipley, 4. Verne Sweeney, 5. A.J. Bender, 6. Josh Gillis, 7. Heath Holdsclaw, 8. Tommy Malcolm, 9. T.J. Hartman. NT
SILBERMANN SOLAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. R.J. Johnson, 3. Jacob Tuttle, 4. Austin Williams, 5. Connor Lundy, 6. Logan Calderwood, 7. Marty Hawkins, 8. Brecken Guerrero. NT
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaleb Montgomery, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. Blake Bower, 4. Connor Speir, 5. Ricky Lewis, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Andrew Sweeney, 8. Ryan Timmons. NT
FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Max Adams, 2. Tommy Malcolm, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Logan Calderwood, 5. Marty Hawkins, 6. Mark Hanson, 7. Heath Holdsclaw, 8. Andrew Sweeney, 9. Ryan Timmons, 10. Brecken Guerrero, 11. Josh Gillis, 12. Elexa Herrera. NT
FEATURE: (shortened from 25 to 24 laps due To curfew, starting positions in parentheses) 1. J.J. Yeley (6), 2. Austin Williams (1), 3. Logan Seavey (19), 4. Max Adams (7), 5. A.J. Bender (2), 6. Logan Calderwood (11), 7. Ricky Lewis (12), 8. Geoff Ensign (9), 9. R.J. Johnson (4), 10. Ryan Bernal (5), 11. Kaleb Montgomery (16), 12. Blake Bower (20), 13. Tanner Carrick (13), 14. Charles Davis Jr. (3), 15. Cody Williams (21), 16. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (8), 17. Nate Schank (17), 18. Connor Speir (24), 19. Connor Lundy (15), 20. Jacob Tuttle (23), 21. Kyle Shipley (10), 22. Verne Sweeney (18), 23. David Lindt (14), 24. Tommy Malcolm (22). NT
**Tommy Malcolm flipped on lap 4 of the feature. David Lindt flipped on lap 6 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Austin Williams, Laps 2-23 R.J. Johnson, Lap 24 J.J. Yeley.
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER / STEVE LAFOND PHOTOS HARD CHARGER: Logan Seavey (19th to 3rd)
NEW AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Ricky Lewis-966, 2-R.J. Johnson-934, 3-Austin Williams-806, 4-A.J. Bender-782, 5-David Gasper-716, 6-Tommy Malcolm-735, 7-Blake Bower-664, 8-Charles Davis Jr.-629, 9-Connor Lundy-558, 10-Cody Williams-538.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: August 31 – Calistoga Speedway – Calistoga, California – 14th Louie Vermeil Classic Presented by Quick Change Liquid Energy Drink & West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame
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