YANTIS JETTS TO MERCED USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET WIN
Winner Jett Yantis. (Matt Sublett Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Merced, California (September 13, 2025)………Three-hundred-sixty-four days after winning his first career United States Auto Club (USAC) Avanti Western States Midget feature, Jett Yantis struck again, winning Saturday night’s (September 13) series event at California’s Merced Speedway.
Starting fifth, the Bakersfield, California native raced by Caden Sarale for the lead on the 14th circuit and led the remaining 17 laps to earn his first series victory of the year and the second of his young career.
Connor Speir crossed the line with a career best series finish of second. Series point leader Sarale won his heat race and took third after leading the opening 13 laps. Combined with his wire-to-wire victory on Friday night (September 12) at Visalia, California’s Plaza Park Raceway, Sarale had led 43 consecutive feature laps with the series.
Meanwhile, TJ Smith also won his heat race, then collected a fourth place result in the main event, just ahead of Mathew Radisich who rounded out the top-five.
Jake Andreotti was the night’s fastest qualifier with a lap of 13.131 seconds. However, while battling for a top-five spot on lap six of the feature, Andreotti and Dane Culver tangled, ending both drivers’ nights prematurely.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: September 13, 2025 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California
QUALIFYING: 1. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-13.131; 2. Jett Yantis, 4, Carlile-13.274; 3. Broedy Graham, 66, BGR-13.441; 4. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-13.507; 5. Ben Covich, 65NZ, Covich-13.558; 6. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-13.559]; 7. T.J. Smith, 68, Six8-13.784; 8. Mathew Radisich, 14T, Streeter/Graunstadt-13.902; 9. Connor Speir, 14JR, Streeter/Graunstadt-14.121; 10. Todd Hawse, 18, Hawse-14.209; 11. Anthony Bruno, 09, Boscacci-14.324; 12. Jeff Dyer, 2ND, Nichols/Peckfelder-14.413; 13. Terry Nichols, 1p, Nichols/Peckfelder-14.571; 14. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-14.849; 15. Adam Weisberg, 15, Weisberg-14.910.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. T.J. Smith (3), 2. Connor Speir (2), 3. Jake Andreotti (6), 4. Broedy Graham (5), 5. Anthony Bruno (1), 6. Adam Weisberg (8), 7. Ben Covich (4). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Caden Sarale (4), 2. Dane Culver (5), 3. Jett Yantis (6), 4. Mathew Radisich (3), 5. Jeff Dyer (1), 6. Todd Hawse (2), 7. Kyle Hawse (7). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jett Yantis (5), 2. Connor Speir (9), 3. Caden Sarale (2), 4. T.J. Smith (1), 5. Mathew Radisich (8), 6. Anthony Bruno (11), 7. Todd Hawse (10), 8. Jeff Dyer (12), 9. Adam Weisberg (14), 10. Kyle Hawse (13), 11. Ben Covich (7), 12. Broedy Graham (4), 13. Terry Nichols (15), 14. Jake Andreotti (6), 15. Dane Culver (3). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Caden Sarale, Laps 14-30 Jett Yantis.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET POINTS: 1-Caden Sarale-619, 2-T.J. Smith-561, 3-Dane Culver-510, 4-Todd Hawse-391, 5-Connor Speir-377, 6-Jett Yantis-376, 7-Kyle Hawse-338, 8-Broedy Graham-270, 9-Hailey Lambert-264, 10-Randi Pankratz-205.
NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: October 11, 2025 – Antioch Speedway – Antioch, California
