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Perris, CA.....August
22-23.......Since becoming the driver for Oakdale CA's Mike Sala earlier this
summer, former USAC racer Josh Wise has an incredible success story. They have
scored a pair of Bandit unwinged sprint car wins and recently won the huge
Bellville KS midget show. They enjoyed a perfect weekend at the 1st ever $30,000
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway on Friday and
Saturday nights. After winning his heat race on Friday night, Wise came from
fifth starting to score a $1000 win in the preliminary night feature. The
victory put him outside row 2 for the rich Saturday night finale and he charged
to that $5,000 win with SCRA racer Rickie Gaunt in second. Gaunt came from 12th,
Greg Taylor charged from 11th to 3rd and Arizona invader Charles Davis Jr ran
fourth from his pole start. Mike Kirby had to come from 15th, but he still
rounded out the top five. On Friday night, Wise was chased to his win by former
Ventura champion Kevin Kierce, Dwight Cheney and Davis Jr. There were 52 cars
racing on Friday night and 46 returned to battle for the big bucks on Saturday
night.
The 52 car field on Friday night was
divided into six heat races with only the top 2 finishers in each moving into
that night's main event. Cheney beat Davis Jr in heat 1 while Wise outraced
Taylor in heat 2. It was Steve Ostling and Gaunt 1-2 in heat 3 and Kirby
outraced SCRA racer Gary W Howard in heat 4. Kirby had won the two earlier VRA
sanctioned races at Perris on the August slate. VRA point leader Chris Wakim
beat returning racer Jordan Hermansader in heat 5 and point runnerup Tom
Stansberry won heat 6 ahead of Kierce and Arizona's Jeff Henry. The top 8 point
earners were inverted at the front of the 22 car grid for the A Main. That put
Davis Jr and Kierce in the front row ahead of Ostling, Cheney, Wise, Kirby,
Stansberry and Wakim. That left 40 cars to be divided into a pair of B Mains
with only the top five advancing out of each. Ron DiDonato won the first B Main
ahead of Rick Becker, NorCal's Terry Schank, Arizona's Shon Deskins and Henry.
Just missing were Jesse Denome, Will Perkins and USAC racer Darren Hagen. Mike
Knopf from Santa Maria won the second B Main with John Aden second ahead
of Arizona star Eric Wilkins, Richard McCormick and Brandon Springstead. Just
mssing were NorCal long tow Rick Williams, Luis Espinoza and John Williams. The
A Main action determined the six drivers who would start in the front 3 rows on
Saturday night. Wise chased down front row starter Kierce to win from fifth
starting. Second row starter Cheney was third ahead of pole starter Davis Jr.
Ron DiDonato had to battle to keep from being lapped early in the action as he
started 13th, but stayed lead lap and finished a solid 5th ahead of Hermansader.
Stansberry, Deskins, Schank, Wilkins, Henry and Springstead rounded out the
quick 12.
The inversion for the Friday
night transfers came out a four and that placed Davis Jr on the pole for the
second straight night. Cheney shared the front row as Kierce started in row 2
alongside Wise. DiDonato and Hermansader shared the third row ahead of the
Saturday night qualifiers. The other 40 cars were divided into four heat races
and it took a top two to go straight into the A Main. Deskins beat Rick Becker
in heat 1 and Taylor outraced Ronnie Case in heat 2. Gaunt and Ostling were 1-2
in heat 3 and Perkins beat USAC racer Bruce St James in heat 4. On this night,
it took a top four out of one of the two B Mains to gain a starting assigment in
the back four rows of the 22 car A Main. Kirby had settled for a fifth in his
heat, but he won the first B Main ahead of McCormick, Knopf and Hagen. Just
missing transfers were Denome and Mark Deskovick. Wakim was 7th in his heat, but
won the 2nd B Main ahead of Tom Downing, Steve Stasa and veteran racer Wally
Pankratz. Just missing the final transfer were Arizona stars Wilkins and Henry.
In the rich finale, Ostling and Case
shared row 4 behind the Friday night transfers with Perkins and Deskins in row
5. Wise charged to the rich win with Gaunt coming forward 10 spots for 2nd ahead
of fellow sixth row starter Taylor. Davis Jr settled for fourth ahead of Kirby,
Case, DiDonato, Cheney, 19th starter Knopf and Perkins. USAC racers Deskins and
Hagen rounded out the top 12. Kirby drove the Ito Ford #72. Wakim ended the
weekend with just a 120 point lead on Stansberry and he is 1755 ahead of Knopf.
Kierce has moved past the absent Rob Kershaw into fourth in points. Wakim
finished 19th on Saturday night while Stansberry had to watch the A Main after a
9th place B Main effort.
Summary
August 22
Heat 1-Dwight Cheney, Charles Davis Jr, Steve Conrad, Mike Knopf, Richard
McCormick.
Heat 2-Josh Wise, Greg Taylor, Ron DiDonato, Shon Deskins, Jesse Denome. Heat
3-Steve Ostling, Richie Gaunt, Kyle Hancock, Brandon Springstead, Jayson
May.
Heat 4-Mike Kirby, Gary W Howard, Tom Downing, Rick Becker, Terry Schank.
Heat 5-Chris Wakim, Jordan Hermansader, John Aden, Rick Williams, Jake
Ford.
Heat 6-Tom Stansberry, Kevin Kierce, Jeff Henry, Darren Hagan, Steve Hess.
1st B Main-DiDonato, Becker, Schank, Deskins, Henry, Denome, Will Perkins,
Hagen, Alex Pruett, Ronnie Case.
2nd B Main-Mike Knopf, Aden, Eric Wilkins, McCormick, Springstead, R Williams,
Luis Espinoza, John Williams, Steve DeMott, David Sinsley.
A Main-Wise, Kierce, Cheney, Davis Jr, DiDonato, Hermansader, Stansberry,
Deskins, Schank, Wilkins, Henry, Springstead, McCormick, Ostling, Taylor, Gaunt,
Aden, Kirby, Knopf, Howard, Wakim, Becker.
August 23
Heat 1-Deskins, Becker, Knopf, May, Aden.
Heat 2-Taylor, Case, Stansberry, Steve Stasa, Ryan Devitt.
Heat 3-Gaunt, Ostling, McCormick, Hagen, Kirby.
Heat 4-Perkins, Bruce St James, Sinsley, Steve Hess, Downing.
1st B Main-Kirby, McCormick, Knopf, Hagen, DeMott, Mark Deskovick, Denome,
Bernie Smith, Hancock, Aden.
2nd B Main-Wakim, Downing, Stasa, Wally Pankratz, Wilkins, Henry, Sinsley, Steve
Venard, Stansberry, Dennis Reeves.
A Main-Wise, Gaunt, Taylor, Davis Jr, Kirby, Case, DiDonato, Cheney, Knopf,
Perkins, Deskins, Hagen, McCormick, Downing, Pankratz, St James, Ostling,
Hermansader, Wakim, Kierce, Stasa, Becker.
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