Chris Hernandez is one of the four pilots making up the local contingent in this weekend’s East-West Amateur Driving Challenge, joining Rick Bertrand, Dave Siegel and Robert Stepien as they take on the invaders from the other side of the country.

            The West squad has prevailed in three of the first four renewals of this popular two-day, eight-race affair, including last year, and Hernandez is looking forward to once again be competing for these bragging rights.

            “Racing against these guys is a lot of fun, but not easy,” Chris related. “They have a lot of different driving styles, so it’s different than competing against our California drivers. Over the years, you tend to pick up the style of the drivers you go up against night-in and night-out, but with these guys, you don’t know what type of moves they’re going to make out there.”

            Hernandez also acknowledged that the well-regarded Eastern team has raced all over the country, and in other countries for that matter, bringing quite a bit of experience with them to this Cal Expo event. He also pointed out that amateur drivers keep their status by donating their money to charities that help causes all over the world.

            Chris was asked about his favorite memory when it comes to these amateur competitions. “That would have to be 10 years ago when we went up against the drivers from Italy. That was very interesting.”

            As far as this weekend’s squaring off with the drivers from the East, Hernandez is what you could call cautiously optimistic about his team’s chances. “We’re facing a very solid group. For the California drivers to win this, we have to be at our very best.”

There is a Super High 5 carryover of $2,614 going into Thursday night. The $1 minimum wager takes places on the 10th race each evening and challenges players to predict the first five finishers across the line.

A reminder that there will be two Wednesday night programs this month, April 21 and 28, with no racing on Thursdays April 22 and 29. There will be harness action Fridays and Saturdays throughout the month.

Live racing resumes at Cal-Expo on Thursday (April 8) at 5:50 p.m. (PDT) and continues through Saturday April (April 10). Post time on Friday (April 2) is 5:35 p.m. Post time on Saturday is scheduled for 5:50 p.m. On Thursday night, Cal-Expo offers a complete lasagna dinner, which includes salad and bread, for just $3.00.