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Tucson, AZ.....Dec 31-Jan 1.....After
timing in sixth quick, former ASCA champion Josh Pelkey from Phoenix had the
richest weekend of his young racing career as he not only captured the $500 Dash
for Cash on Friday afternoon, but backed it up with a $5000 win in the 40 lap
Saturday afternoon feature for the USAC Southwest unwinged 360 sprint cars as
the renovated USA Race Park held it's grand opening weekend with the First
Annual Roger McCluskey Classic. Pelkey teamed up with car owner Joey Moriarity
midway through the 2004 season, enjoyed a strong finish to the 2004 campaign and
have big hopes for 2005. Pelkey did bobble once on lap 13 when he drifted high
in turn 3 and lost the lead to fast timer Cory Kruseman, but a flip nullified
that lap and placed Pelkey back in front. Another flip on lap 31 saw the
checkered flag fall during the stoppage, but the fans protested and the USAC
officials allowed the teams to change one tire and maintain their positions for
the final 9 rounds. Pelkey stayed in front of Central California star Damion
Gardner for the rich win. Gardner won $2500 for his efforts and Charles Davis Jr
made a late climb to the $2000 third place finish in his Tony Smiley owned
mount. Another Central California long tow, Rick Williams, was the $1500 fourth
and Indiana's Tony Elliott flew in to gain a $1000 fifth for Tucson car owner
Joe Morales. The nearly circular 3/8 mile clay oval had over two million dollars
in renovations by track owner Pat Robley and drew large crowds on both Friday
and Saturday afternoon of the holiday weekend.
There was a 32 car turnout for the USAC Southwest Sprint Car Series action and
Friday's show consisted of time trials and a $1000 Dash for Cash. Originally,
the Dash for Cash was set to pay $1000 to the winner but the teams and officials
elected to change the pay to cover three spots, paying $500 to win, $300 for
second and $200 for third. The series also announced plans to bring over 10
Hawaii race teams for a Memorial Day weekend event here in Tucson and will make
their annual trip to Hawaii on Thanksgiving weekend in 2005. The track was the
quickest for the Friday hot lap sessions and had dried out for the qualifying
runs, but Kruseman ripped off a 17.68 lap to pace the timing sessions. Kruseman
ran a national schedule in 2004 for NASCAR star Tony Stewart, but will race on
the west coast in 2005 and picked up a ride with Phoenix car builder Dave Ellis
for this event. Gardner normally races with the unwinged 410 groups, but
installed a 360 engine for this race and timed in second at 18.60. Jesse Hockett
of Missouri was driving for Jack Yeley and timed third quick at 18.72 while
Yuma's Mike Martin ranked fourth with a 18.75 lap. Davis was the final 18 second
qualifier at 18.83 and Pelkey gained the final Dash for Cash slot with his 19.11
lap. New Mexico's Rick Ziehl was 7th at 19.21 ahead of Williams, ASCA star
Jeremy Sherman and New Mexico champion Jon Taylor. Mike Rux Jr saw his weekend
end in a spectacular series of flips in time trials that drew front page
coverage in the local Tucson paper. Brandon Lane also flipped in time trials,
but made repairs to get a timed lap at the end of the session. Pelkey had the
pole for the ten lap Dash for Cash and he was never headed as the race was run
in near darkness at the end of the Friday program. Gardner leaped to third on
lap 2 and gained second with an inside move on Davis in turn 3, but settled for
the $300 second behind $500 winner Pelkey. Kruseman ran third ahead of Davis and
Martin as Hockett fell out with a couple laps to run.
The Saturday program started with the four completely inverted heat races that
transferred the top four finishers in the 40 lap A Main. Davis came from the 4th
row to win heat 1 over third row starter Elliott, last starting Kruseman and
Davey Bateman. Gardner was forced to come through the B Main when he dropped a
driveline on lap 1 of heat 2. Sixth starter Sherman debuted his new car with a
win ahead of VRA champion Tom Stansberry from Bakersfield CA, Pelkey and Chuck
Buckman. The teams started cutting the infield in the heat action and the
officials responded by watering that section of the track. Ziehl won heat 3 from
7th with third starter Kevin Kierce, another southern California VRA racer,
second ahead of Lane and Hockett. Driving for Phil Rossi, Jerry Coons Jr won
heat 4 from 5th with fellow third row starter Williams second ahead of New
Mexico's Tim West and John Evans. Four more A Main slots were available in the B
Main and 14 teams made the call. Gardner won from the pole with Jon Stambrough
second in the Arizona based Jimmy Norman mount. Colorado star Keith Rauch ran
third and Martin got the final transfer slot. Northern California long tow Jim
Richardson made a bid for fourth on the last lap, but pushed high and fell back
to a 7th place finish behind Taylor and David Burns. To keep the racers out of
infield in the 40 lap feature, the infield tractor tires were moved out onto the
bottom of the racing surface.
The teams had been told that the A Main would be called when it got too dark to
race as the track said that they could not turn on their lights. The race
started after 5 PM with little daylight left. The usual six car USAC inversion
put Pelkey and Davis on the front row ahead of Martin, Hockett, Gardner and
Kruseman. Pelkey raced to a quick lead over Hockett, Kruseman and Davis, but
Gardner raced into fourth on lap 2. The 20 car field ripped off 12 straight
green flag laps. Both Kruseman and Gardner got by Hockett for the 2-3 slots on
lap 4 and Ziehl was riding fifth ahead of Davis, Sherman and Williams. Hockett
and Gardner traded third before leader Pelkey pushed high in turn 3. Kruseman
got underneath him for the top spot and Gardner nearly got by for 2nd, but
Kierce flipped in turn 3 in a tangle with Bateman before the lap was completely
scored. Both Kierce and Bateman, who backed into the fence, were able to
continue and Pelkey was placed back in front of Kruseman for the restart. With
only about six minutes of light remaining, the track lights were turned on to
allow the race to finish. Hockett broke on the restart for another quick yellow
flag. Ziehl was now fourth ahead of Sherman. Another long green flag period saw
the next caution on lap 27 when second place Kruseman clipped an infield tire
and ripped off his left front wheel, collecting Sherman in the process. The race
was over for both Kruseman and Sherman. John Evans spun for a lap 29 yellow flag
with Pelkey leading Gardner, Williams, Ziehl and Coons. Not expecting the race
to go the 40 lap distance before darkness, many of teams had not put 40 lap
tires on their cars and Gardner lost second to Williams on the restart. Coons
got by Ziehl for fourth and the next red flag came on lap 31 when Stambrough
lost a tire and flipped in turn 2 collecting West. During this red flag
stoppage, the checkered flag was displayed but many of teams parked on the front
stretch encouraged the fans to display their anger at the call. USAC officials
made the decision to allow the teams to change any one tire and keep their spot
for the restart with 9 laps to run. Gardner was able to retake second from
Williams on this green and Williams dropped back to fourth when contact from
Coons sent him out of the groove. Ziehl raced into third. Ziehl spun in turn 2
for a final yellow flag on lap 36. Williams had retaken third, but he slipped
high in turn 3 on lap 38 and Davis gained third. Pelkey kept his cool despite
the pressure from Gardner and picked off his richest win. Gardner ran second
ahead of Davis, Williams, Elliott, Coons, Buckman, Stansberry, Lane, Bateman,
Ziehl and Martin.
Summary
Fast Time-Cory Kruseman 17.68
Dash for Cash-Josh Pelkey, Damion Gardner, Kruseman, Charles Davis Jr, Mike
Martin, Jesse Hockett.
Heat 1-Davis, Tony Elliott, Kruseman, Davey Bateman, Ron Clark.
Heat 2-Jeremy Sherman, Tom Stansberry, Pelkey, Chuck Buckman, Keith Rauch.
Heat 3-Rick Ziehl, Kevin Kierce, Brandon Lane, Hockett, Jon Taylor.
Heat 4-Jerry Coons Jr, Rick Williams, Tim West, John Evans, Martin.
B Main-Gardner, Jon Stambrough, Rauch, Martin, Taylor, David Burns, Jim
Richardson, Jimmy Scott, Ron Kratz, Jerry Johnston, John Williams, Clark, Jay
Ervine, Ben Astenius.
A Main-Pelkey, Gardner, Davis, Williams, Elliott, Coons, Buckman, Stansberry,
Lane, Bateman, Ziehl, Martin, Evans, West, Stambrough, Sherman, Rauch, Kruseman,
Kierce, Hockett.
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