By: Chris Santos
3/14/23, Imperial CA: This past Friday & Saturday, AJ Bender would make the trip to Imperial California to run with the POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprints, and the Southern California Open Competition Non Wing Sprint Cars.
Friday would kick off with Hot Laps with the Non Winged Sprint Cars. AJ would end up coming up short of making the Dash. In the Lightning Sprint, AJ would start his night off with qualifying. Unfortunately things did not get off to a good start, as AJ's engine would miss & they would have to make a fuel pump change.
"In the Sprint Car we missed the chance to run the dash." AJ stated, "In the lighting sprint which is owned by Phil Bowczanski, things started sadly with the engine having a miss. Eventually Seth Kramer changed the fuel pump. Thanks to Chris Chrowder for the pump."
AJ would end up missing the heat race, but was able to make it out for the feature. He would start deep in the 14th spot but would make up ground quickly driving through the field. On a late race restart, AJ would make a move for the lead, and he would hold on to take home the win.
"We didn’t really make any changes to the car because we were trying fix the motor." AJ added, "The car was tight but I was able to get toward the front pretty fast from starting 14th. On a restart I was able to get the lead and hold onto it until the end."
Saturday, AJ would be back in action, once again in both the Sprint Car & the Lightning Sprint. His Sprint Car pill draw would put him starting 7th in his heat race. Starting 7th, he would drive up to 4th where he would finish. Unfortunately AJ would still miss the dash redraw.
He would start his night in the Lightning Sprint out with qualifying. AJ would go out & go 5th quickest overall. That lined AJ up in the 4th spot for his heat race. Starting 4th, AJ would drive up to the lead & take home the heat race win.
"In the Sprint Car I had a bad pill draw that put me starting 7th. In heat was able to get up to 4th which put me in the A but wasn’t able to make the redraw." AJ said, "In the lighting sprint. I qualified 5th, and went 4th to 1st in the heat race."
The Sprint Car feature would see AJ roll off from the 12th spot, on the outside of row six. AJ would have a solid run, finding himself in the 6th spot late in the feature. Unfortunately on a late race restart, he would make a mistake causing him to fall back to 8th where he would finish.
"Started 12th in the main & it took a little to get comfortable. In the later part of the race I got up to 6th and felt like we were running really good. On the green white checkered restart I made a mistake and dropped two spots finishing 8th."
In the Lightning Sprint feature, AJ would roll off from 6th as the high point guy. Early on he would make some good moves, battling in the top-5. While battling for 3rd, AJ would get in the marbles & spin. He would end up battling back up to 8th where he would finish.
"That put me as high point man so that meant I started 6th. I had a good race going and was 3rd, battling with Bobby Michnowicz and went into 1&2 and spun out in the marbles. I managed to get back to 8th at the end."
Overall it was a good weekend for AJ Bender. He would take home a win on Friday, and nearly another on Saturday. Then in the Sprint Car, he showed good speed all weekend & had a chance at a top-5 finish if not for a late race restart mistake.
AJ would like to give a thank you to: Amanda and Chris Tramel, Zach, and everyone at imperial speedway for hosting the event.
Next Race: 3/18, Perris Auto Speedway, USAC CRA
2023 season stats: 5 events, 3 features, 1 win, 1 top-5, 3 top-10's
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