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See You At The Races!!! |
| Spencer Wins Number Five By
Holding Off Kruser by Ed Hollowell |
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PERRIS, CA-RIS- Michael Spencer earned his fifth victory of the
season by holding off Cory Kruseman an winning a special Sunday
night addition of the Lucas Oil USAC/CRA Sprint Car series. He also
took a big step towards the season crown as series point leader Tony
Jones failed to finish.
The weather at Perris had been pleasant that afternoon but as the sun went down the wind came up and turned the track unusually dry and slick. Twenty nine cars were there and in qualifying Cory Kruseman came up fastest with a 16.940 second lap, the only one below 17 seconds. The heat races were run with little problem. Three of them went without caution and the fourth was stopped only once to remove a car, Rodney Argo's, which had stopped on the track. Josh Ford, Darren Hagen, Scotty Weir and Rip Williams were the winners. Tony Jones was forced into the last chance race which he won. For the second night in a row Damion Gardner started on the pole. At the start Gardner took the lead while second place starter Rickie Gaunt fell back to fifth place. Spencer took second with Danny Sheridan in third and Josh Ford in fourth. A lap later Spencer passed Gardner to take the lead. Things started to go wrong for Tony Jones on lap four when was spun in the first turn. The car was not damaged but this sent him to the rear of the field. On lap five another incident involving Alex Schutte, Darren Hagen, R. J. Johnson and Josh Ford brought out the races second caution. Schutte was the only driver put out but he was joined by Hagen after the restart as his car died before turning a lap. The most serious wreck of the night came on lap seven when Damion
Gardner flipped in turn one. While his car was airborne he was hit
by David Cardey. It did not appear to be serious contact but some
part of Gardner's car got into the drivers side opening of Cardey's
car and gashed his arm. Cardey continued driving until he could stop
in the work area where he got out and was taken care of. He was
transported for further medical attention and his car was parked for
the night. The race was finally running without caution and went from lap
seven until lap 24 with no problems. Kruseman had established
himself in third and Jones had moved his way up to sixth. Garrett
Hansen was also feeling racy and he was in seventh, setting the
stage for the nights final incident. Hansen tried to pass Jones on
the low side in turn three and slid up into him. The two cars
tangled and Hansen stopped while Jones spun around him, doing a full
360 degree donut and continuing. It appeared that Jones had avoided
elimination but a lap later it was clear that his left rear tire was
punctured and he would have to quit as a What happened after that was not totally clear. Hansen's car was pushed into the pits with Hansen still sitting in it. As the car rolled in it went past the pit of Alexander Racing, the owner of Jones' car. Mark Alexander went to Hansen's car and tried to express himself to Garrett. Whether he was hitting him as he sat in the car or he was just trying to get the visor open on Garrett's helmet depends on who was the one telling the story. There was pushing and shoving and a few punches thrown and one of the Alexander crew threw something at the Hansen pits and was ejected from the track. It is expected that the officials will have further decisions regarding this incident. For Tony Jones it meant he finished in 17^th place and he left the night 53 points ahead of Mike Spencer after being more than 150 up two days before. After having a dream season it seems to all be falling apart for Tony and Alexander Racing. Six laps remained as the race was restarted and Cory Kruseman was
ready for the green flag. Cory got past Sheridan to claim second and
was working hard on the low line to try and pass Spencer. Sheridan
seemed to have lost his edge and was passed by Gaunt to fall back to
fourth. On the final lap Kruseman made one last effort to pass
Spencer as he went QUOTES: |
