JJ YELEY WINS USAC CRA CALISTOGA RETURN

Winner JJ Yeley. (A.J. Johnson Photo)

By: Lance Jennings

Calistoga, California (August 30, 2025)………Starting sixth on the grid, JJ 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 United States Auto Club – Californian Racing Association (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 AJ Bender rounded out the top-five finishers.

The scheduled 25-lap main event was dominated by RJ Johnson. However contact between Johnson and Ryan Bernal on the 24th circuit handed the curfew shortened triumph to JJ 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 Junior, 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.

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AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINTCAR RACE RESULTS: 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.