RILEY WILL ONLY SETTLE FOR TITLE.

Byline: Tim Haddock Auto Racing

It didn't take long for Ricky Riley to get the hang of racing in the Tri-State Mini Stock division. In only his second start on the series, the Lancaster driver put his Hal Racing-sponsored car in victory lane at Irwindale Speedway Saturday night.

With the victory, Riley jumped to 11th in points and fourth in the rookie standings. But he has higher goals.

``I pretty much expect to win this thing this year,'' said the 38-year-old Riley.

He had the fastest car in qualifying and started the race from the sixth spot in an inverted grid. He took the lead in lap 15 of the 20-lap feature on the three-mile oval and led for the race's final five laps.

``The car was handling good all day long,'' Riley said. ``We were pretty blessed.''

The Tri-State Mini Stock class races at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, El Cajon Speedway and Irwindale Speedway. Saturday night was the first visit the mini stocks made to Irwindale this season.

The mini stock cars are half-scale replicas of NASCAR Winston Cup-type cars.

``You have to climb in through the roof of these things and lay down in them,'' Riley said. The mini stocks can reach speeds of between 70 and 80 mph. ``They're right there with the pro stocks. They're pretty exciting little cars.''

Riley, who grew up near Chico in Northern California, started his racing career at Saugus Speedway in the Outlaw Mini Stock class. He eventually moved up to pro stocks and raced in a Sportsman class when he lived in Iowa.

The next race on the Tri-State Mini Stock series is at El Cajon Speedway Saturday night.

In other action at Irwindale Speedway, Kevin Vernon of Bakersfield won the NASCAR Super Late Model feature, James Weston of Goleta won the NASCAR Late Models feature, Ron Peterson won the Mechanix Wear Speed Truck feature and Bob Reed of Riverside won the NASCAR Mini Stock feature.

--Long way back: Saugus driver Sean Woodside nearly had the comeback story of the year on the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series. He rallied from 21st to battle Auggie Vidovich for the checkered flag in the Patrick's Carpets/E.R. Carpenter 125 at Tucson Raceway Park. Vidovich won by just .10 seconds.

``For the way the day went, we were happy with second,'' Woodside said. ``We had to take a provisional and work all the way up front.''

With his second-place showing, Woodside, who won the Southwest Series race at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield in March, moved into third in series points. Doug McCoun leads the series with 594, four points ahead of Jim Inglebright and 17 ahead of Woodside. Vidovich, who has led the most laps this season with 209, is seventh in points.

Granada Hills driver M.K. Kanke set a record at Tucson. He won the pole with a time of 14.985 seconds (90.090 mph). It was the 22nd pole of his career, the most of any driver on the series.

The next event on the Southwest Series is the Sunstate Equipment Company 100 on May 21 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs, Colo.

--First sprint title: Cory Kruseman of Ventura won his first race of the season on the Sprint Car Racing Association series at Perris Auto Speedway.

Kruseman, 11th in series points, held off a surging Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M., en route to his first SCRA win of 2000.

--Rookie race heats up: Ron Hornaday Jr. can see Kevin Harvick in his rear-view mirror. The NASCAR Busch Grand National Series driver from Palmdale is only nine points ahead of Harvick in the series rookie points race.

As they head to New Hampshire International Speedway for the Busch Series 200 on Saturday, Hornaday can go with the comfort of knowing that the track has been kind to him in the past.

Hornaday won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series there in 1996. That's good news for a driver coming off a 17th-place finish under the lights for the Hardee's 250 on May 5 at Richmond International Raceway.

``New Hampshire has been a track that has been very good to us in the past, but it has bitten us as well,'' Hornaday said. ``We won here in the truck and thought we had a good chance last year until I got shoved into the turn two wall and tore up my NAPA Chevy.

``I hope I can get a feel for the track early because that has been the hardest adjustment I have faced this year. The Busch cars are just so different from the trucks. I think this track will probably seem completely different to me.''

While Hornaday is looking for his groove that produced two top-five finishes early this season, Harvick seems to have found his.

The Bakersfield driver turned in a third-place showing at Richmond, where Jeff Green won for the first time this season.