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KIRBY TUNES UP FOR VRA NATIONALS WITH SECOND STRAIGHT PERRIS WIN
by Gary Jacob & Josh Williams

Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars and California Lightning Sprints

Perris, CA.....August 16........Tuning up for next weekend's $30,000 VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Nationals, Mike Kirby from Torrance made it two straight Perris Auto Speedway VRA Sprint Car wins by charging from 6th starting to win the 30 lapper ahead of first lap flip victim Steve Ostling. Tom Stansberry from Bakersfield ran third and closed to within 690 points of point leader Chris Wakim, who ran 4th. In the California Lightning Sprint action, David Cardey remained undefeated at Perris in 2003 as he won for the 8th straight time. The series point leader has now won 11 races in 2003. Jonny Bates and Donny Gansen chased Cardey to the checkered flag.

           With a few other cars testing the waters for the two day special, 38 cars checked in with the VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars. Tom Downing won the first heat race ahead of Wakim and Arizona USAC racer Shon Deskins. Driving the Tony Smiley car from Phoenix AZ, SCRA racer Rickie Gaunt won heat 2 with Clark Templeman III second ahead of Ostling. Making a rare start, former stock car star Rick Becker won heat 3 with Bill Camarillo second ahead of John Aden. Kirby gained the most heat race points by driving through the field to win heat 4 ahead of Stansberry and Will Perkins. The top 4 from each heat moved into the 30 lap feature and they were joined by 6 transfers from a 20 car B Main. Keith Williamson was a B Main scratch and Greg Taylor posted that win in front of Mark Deskovick, Larry Lloyd, Ronnie Case, Mike Knopf and J J Ercse. When Taylor was unable to make the call for the 30 lapper, 8th place B Main finisher Kevin Kierce was added as the 22nd starter. The feature inversion came up a six, puttng Ostling and Templeman on the front row ahead of Becker, Downing, Gaunt and Kirby. The race was marred by a huge 11 car tangle on the front stretch as they took the initial green flag. Dowing, Gaunt, Perkins, John Aden, Ercse, Jayson May and Deskovick were all taken out in this incident and Ostling restarted after flipping. Kirby drove to the win ahead of Ostling, Stansberry, Wakim, Becker, Ron DiDonato, Deskins, Knopf, Lloyd and Steve Chulahoff. Wakim ended the night 690 points ahead of Stansberry. The absent Rob Kershaw fell 1855 points out of first and Knopf closed to within 455 points of him. Kierce moved around the absent Luis Espinoza into fifth in points. The $30,000 Nationals will see full shows on both Friday and Saturday night. The top six finishers on Friday will be seeded into the $5,000 to win feature on Saturday night. With several Arizona teams making the trek across the desert, over 50 cars are expected.

          The California Lightning Sprints fielded 28 cars including the division debut for stock car racer Chris Laney. Cardey charged from 7th starting to win heat 1 over Bates and Steve Barnette.  Ernie Bartley beat Donny Hyde and Karl Von Yokes in heat 2 that saw series title contender Keith Janca in a fierce flip. Seth Kramer got his first heat win in heat 3 as Mark Morgan ran second ahead of Paul Townsend. With several crews scrambling to help him repair his TCR Chassis, Janca borrowed a wing and won the B Main from 7th starting. Karl Benefeil ran second ahead of Brad Russell, Dale Gamer and Gary Dent. An 8 car inversion for the 20 lap feature put Von Yokes and S Barnette on the front row. Cardey charged from 8th to the lead on the first lap only to have the red flag fall as Von Yokes, Steve Nelson, Hyde and Dent tangled. After the restart, Morgan led the first lap. Bates took over on lap 2. Townsend settled into third ahead of Kramer and S Barnette. Cardey took fourth from Kramer on lap 4. A tangle between Kramer and Morgan forced a lap 6 red flag. On the restart, Bates led Cardey, Townsend, Gansen and S Barnette. Bartley raced into fifth on lap 15. With only two laps to go, Cardey took the lead from Bates as they worked their way through a three way battle of lapped cars. Bates went low, but Cardey's high line proved quicker. Cardey drove to his 11th win of the year with Bates second. Gansen ran third and picked off the hard charger award by improving 12 spots on his 15th starting position. Townsend was fourth ahead of Bartley, Janca, Jim Henderson, S Barnette and Benefeil. Cardey improved his point lead to 62 points over Janca and 122 ahead of Bates. Next action for the California Lightning Sprints is August 23 in Bakersfield.

Summary 

Lightning Sprints
Heat 1-David Cardey, Jonny Bates, Steve Barnette, Pat Hickey, Steve Nelson. 
Heat 2-Ernie Bartley, Danny Hyde, Karl Von Yokes, Jim Henderson, Mike Barnette.
Heat 3-Seth Kramer, Mark Morgan, Paul Townsend, Robert Early, Donny Gansen. 
B Main-Keith Janca, Karl Benefeil, Brad Russell, Dale Gamer, Gary Dent, Joel Williams, Kirk Jackson, Chris Laney, Kip McCleary, Jesse Dean. 
A Main-Cardey, Bates, Gansen, Townsend, Bartley, Janca, Henderson, S Barnette, Benefeil, Early, M Barnette, Hickey, Russell, Gamer, Morgan, Kramer, Von Yokes, Dent, Nelson, Hyde. 

Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Tom Downing, Chris Wakim, Shon Deskins, Kyle Hancock, Mark Deskovick.
Heat 2-Rickie Gaunt, Clark Templeman III, Steve Ostling, Jayson May, Steve Conrad. Heat 3-Rick Becker, Bill Camarillo, John Aden, Steve Chulahoff, Ryan Devitt. 
Heat 4-Mike Kirby, Tom Stansberry, Will Perkins, Ron DiDonato, Greg Taylor. 
B Main-Taylor, Deskovick, Larry Lloyd, Ronnie Case, Mike Knopf, J J Ercse, Mike Whitcomb, Kevin Kierce, David Sinsley, Ron Butler. 
A Main-Kirby, Ostling, Stansberry, Wakim, Becker, DiDonato, Deskins, Knopf, Lloyd, Chulahoff, Case, Templeman, Camarillo, Hancock, Kierce, Downing, Gaunt, Perkins, Aden, Ercse, May, Deskovick.

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