By: Chris Santos
4/4/23... Mohave Valley, Arizona: Saturday Night, AJ Bender would make the trip to Mohave Valley Raceway, as he would run double duty with both the Phil Bowczanski Lightning Sprint, and the family owned USAC CRA 410 Non Wing Sprint Car.
The night would start out in the Lightning Sprint for qualifying. AJ would hit the track & was quick out the gate. He would end up 4th quick overall in qualifying. The heat race would start out well, as AJ would get up to 2nd. Unfortunately, the motor would let go & end his night in the Lightning Sprint.
"Started off good qualified 4th and in my heat was up to second but sadly the motor let go and went out in a smoke screen. So that car was done for the night."
AJ would get his night started in the Sprint Car with qualifying. He would need to lay down a good lap, as thirty 410 Sprint Cars would hit the track for qualifying. AJ would lay down a pretty solid lap, as it would end up putting him 11th quick overall & set him up in a nice spot.
That would line AJ up on the outside of row two in the 4th starting position in the heat race. AJ would quickly get rolling, battling up front. He would end up grabbing the lead quickly, and going on to win the heat race & locking in to the feature.
"I Had a decent qualifying finished 11th. So I started 4th in my heat," AJ added, "After a couple laps I got to the lead and win. Car was really good and I thought I had a good handle of the track and what it was going to do for the main."
In the feature, AJ would roll off from the inside of row six from the 11th spot. He would battle a tight car in the feature, as the bottom would be the way to go. AJ would have some great battles with some of the best on the West Coast. He would grab a few spots, and when the checkered flag fell would finish in the 8th spot.
"I started 11th and I don’t know how many times I went forward and then backwards and then forward again, AJ continued. "I had a lot of fun battles with Tommy ,RJ and Mitchell throughout the race. At the end was able to finish 8th."
Once again, AJ showed great speed against the best on the West Coast. It would be his third straight 8th place finish. AJ will have this coming weekend off, before heading to Perris Auto Speedway with the USAC CRA 410 Sprint Cars.
"Not the result we wanted but we made progress and finished the race. So hopefully that’ll be my worst finish for the rest of the year."
AJ would like to thank his family, his sponsors, and Phil Bowczanski for allowing him to run their Lightning Sprint.
Next Race: 4/15, Perris Auto Speedway, USAC CRA
2023 season stats: 8 events, 4 features, 1 win, 1 top-5, 5 top-10's
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