CRA POINTS RACE HEATS UP SATURDAY AT THE PAS

Five-time AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car champion Mike Spencer hopes to become only the fourth driver in USAC history to earn six titles in a single series. A 2015 crown will place him alongside A.J. Foyt, Sleepy Tripp and Mel Kenyon in that elusive category.

Foyt claimed seven USAC National titles (Indy cars) between 1960 and 1975. Tripp won seven Western Midget crowns between 1983 and 1992 and Kenyon won seven National Midget championships between 1964 and 1985.

Spencer’s next step toward that goal comes Saturday night when the series returns to Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway for the fifth time this year. His four 2015 starts at the PAS have yielded a trio of third places and a seventh and he enters Saturday’s race as the point leader, 25 ahead of Matt Mitchell.

Richard Vander Weerd, who stands fourth in the points, has three wins and a second at the half-mile dirt oval this year while defending series champion Damion Gardner has a victory, a second and a fourth. Gardner trails second-ranking Mitchell by 14 points in the latest standings.

Mitchell has “top-six” finishes in all seven USAC/CRA starts this year, including a second to Vander Weerd in the most recent Perris feature. He’s 25 points behind Spencer.