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| 4/28/07 USAC/CRA Perris
Report by Ed Hollowell |
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PERRIS, CA - It took twelve races, but the USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series finally has a repeat winner for 2007. “Stomp & Steer” Scotty Weir went from the pole to win holding back Michael Spencer at the end.
Weir held off R. J. Johnson, who he shared the
front row with, to take the lead at th start. Danny Sheridan, who
started third quickly moved into second place but was never able to
close with Weir who build a comfortable lead. By the sixth lap
Spencer had passed Sheridan for second. Spencer got a break on the
eighth lap when Brian Venard stopped on the back straight and
brought out the races first yellow. On the restart Weir held the
lead but that only lasted two laps because Robert Ellis flipped in
the fourth turn to bring out the red flag. When the was restarted little changed. Three laps
later veteran driver Rip Williams passed Johnson for fourth place
with Blake Miller, Allan Ballard and Cory Kruseman in close order
behind. One lap later, just as Spencer was beginning to give Weir
his first real challenge of the race, Johnson was flipped in the
second turn and Kruseman, Gaunt and Ballard all came to a stop
behind him. The race was stopped for the second time of the evening
while Johnson was helped from his car. Johnson was kept under
observation by the medic crew for some period of time while his head
cleared but was finally given a clean bill of health. As the race was restarted on the 13th lap it could be seen that the the track was starting to become
dusty. The top was still holding a cushion but the middle was
dry-slick. Weir was running the top and Spencer was running the
bottom as he tried to make a move to pass for the lead. Jason York went to the wall in the fourth turn on
lap 19 and brought out caution. Attempts were made to restart York
and though his car looked to be drivable it would not run. He had
been running in tenth before he dropped out. The lap 19 restart saw Weir hold his lead though
it was clear that the top was going away and Spencer was able to
make some gains in the third and fourth turns on the bottom. It also
appeared that Weir was smoking his tires coming out of the turns
regularly now. On lap 22 Spencer had closed with Weir and the next
lap he was inside him coming out of the fourth turn with Weir
holding him off by a nose at the finish line. On the 24th
lap Spencer got ahead going into the third turn but Weir had the
advantage again by the line. This happened again on the 28th
lap and it appeared that he was going to try a slide job to win on
the final lap which was foiled by Weir who switched to the bottom
and blocked Spencer's line. Blake Miller finished third with Rip Williams
fourth and Johnny Rodriguez fifth. The race ended with a bang as Greg Taylor flipped after contact with David Cardey coming out of turn four. The finish was a checker/red affair. Finishing seventh was the series point leader Tony Jones who had to feel lucky for the result. After setting fast time at 16.966 seconds Jones had flipped in his heat race and only made the B feature through a lot of help and some really desperate repair engineering on the Alexander car. The front of the car was cut off and the springs were changed to coil over style from the original torsion bar design. It was really ugly but somehow, it worked. He nearly won the B feature, leading the first seven laps and finishing second to Blake Miller. The other heat race winners were Rickie Gaunt,
David Cardey and Cory Kruseman. Thirty nine cars were at the track
with thirty eight qualifying and Seth Wilson arriving late and
starting at the back of the last heat. Josh Ford started the feature
on a provisional. The next USAC/CRA event will be back at Perris
Auto Speedway on May 12th. Quotes: SCOTTY WEIR- “We had to move down there at the end 'cause I'd kind'a figured out that Spencer was gonna drive right around me if I didn't and the only hope I had was ever time he slid up enough off of four that I could square back by him, and luckally he did!” MIKE SPENCER- “I don't know if I ever lead at the
start-finish line so I don't think none of it counted. That was a
lot of fun racing with Scotty. You know he's a good friend of mine.
We raced each other pretty clean there, pretty even. He was maybe a
little bit better than me in one and two, I was just having a hard
time hitting it right, we were a little bit snug up there on the
cushion. I was pretty good on the bottom and just trying to make it
stick down there to try and get a run and maybe clear him getting
into one but he was good enough down here to where we would just be
along side or across one another. It was a lot of fun.” BLAKE MILLER- “In the beginning of the race we were
picking off a car a lap I think. Then the yellow came out and we had
to work for them a little bit. Towards the end we weren't quite as
fast as Scotty or Mike but we hung in there and learned stuff.” Reports from Ed Hollowell are courtesy of Motor Sports Forum (http://motorsportsforum.com) |
