Traditional Sprint Car FanSite

See You At The Races!!!

KRUSEMAN LEADS FINAL 18 LAPS FOR USAC/CRA WIN AT BAKERSFIELD
by Gary Jacob & Don Low

Unwinged 410 Sprint Cars and Ford Focus Midgets

Oildale, CA....March 12......Having returned to full time West Coast racing after two seasons with USAC in the Midwest, Cory Kruseman drove the Glenn Crossno car from third starting to the lead in 13 laps and won the 30 lap USAC/CRA unwinged 410 sprint car feature at Bakersfield Speedway Park on Saturday night. It was the only 2005 visit to the 3/8 mile clay oval by the traveling club in 2005 and the busy Kruseman also brought his driving school to the facility for the first time on the following day. Kruseman had timed in 10th quick and ran fourth in his heat in a TRC Chassis using a Downing engine. When several faster cars failed to transfer from the intense heat action, an 8 car inversion placed Kruseman third. Pole starter Jordan Hermansader led five laps before clipping a rut. Bakersfield's own Danny Ebberts was out front for 7 rounds before Kruseman used a high line to grab the lead on lap 13. The well run feature had a pair of cautions on laps 1 and 2, then went 28 straight green flag laps at the end. Damion Gardner rebounded from a flip in his heat to place second in the B Main and then battled from 9th starting to claim second with his last lap pass of Ebberts. Gardner had opened the night with quick time honors. Rip Williams started 8th and finished fourth while young Bakersfield based Alan Ballard drove his family owned car to a fifth. The USAC Ford Focus midgets opened their 2005 dirt season as a support class and Chris Rahe continued his career long domination of the 3/8 mile clay oval as he charged from 4th starting to the lead in just two laps and won the 20 lapper. Third starting Bobby Michnowicz made a lap 19 pass on rookie Todd Carroll to run second. Fast timer Alex Harris hit the wall racing second on lap 14 and dropped out. Carroll was third and crowd favorite Audra Sasselli ran fourth.

             The unwinged 410 sprint cars fielded a 32 car entry and Gardner paced time trials with his quick 12.356 qualifying run. Bobby Cody ranked second at 12.360 ahead of the Jory entry wheeled by Williams at 12.416. Arizona's Charles Davis Jr ran a 12.670 and Ballard was fifth at 12.778. Davis' teammate Rickie Gaunt timed in sixth and the 14 quickest cars were all in the 12 second bracket.  The top four finishers advanced to the 30 lap A Main from each of the four heat races. Josh Ford beat 2004 VRA unwinged 360 champion Tom Stansberry in heat 1 as Danny Sheridan wheeled the Kittle entry to third ahead of Ballard. Gardner flipped in this heat race. With Sheridan in the Kittle car, Australia's Peter Murphy got a shot at the Dorathy car but it was parked after timing in 24th quick. Seth Wilson beat Josh Wise and Indiana's Dave Darland in heat 2 as Kruseman claimed the final transfer slot ahead of Cody and Gaunt. Incoming point leader Mike Kirby put the Alexander car in 7th in this heat. Another Indiana racer who is starting his American race season on the west coast, Bill Rose won heat 3 ahead of Ebberts and Williams. New Mexico's Rick Ziehl ran fourth in the Lancaster car. Hermansader raced to the win in heat 4 as former California Lightning Sprint dominator David Cardey ran second ahead of Davis and Troy Rutherford. The 12 lap B Main was full of stars and held only four transfers into the A Main. Gaunt posted that win in front of Gardner and Jimmy Crawford. J Hicks transferred with a  fourth. Kirby missed in fifth, but was allowed to use a provisional to start 21st in the feature. Tony Jones ran sixth in the B Main ahead of Dan Hilberg, Rodney Argo and rookies Terry Foster and Matt Stewart. Greg Bragg and Nadine Keller also had problems along with Cody in the B Main.

          The 8 car inversion at the front of the 21 car A Main put Hermansader and Ebberts in the front row ahead of Kruseman and Sheridan with Rutherford and Ballard in row 3. Davis and Williams made up row 4 while B Main transfers Gardner and Gaunt shared row 5. Sheridan was the first car to drop out and Ziehl stalled for the lap 2 caution. Hermansader paced the first 5 laps with Ebberts second.  Ballard took third from Kruseman on lap 3 and leader Hermansader bounced through the air after hooking a rut on lap 6. He recovered in third with Ebberts the new leader ahead of Ballard. Kruseman had settled into fourth ahead of Rutherford. Kruseman then went high to take third from Hermansader on lap 10 and second from Ballard on lap 12. Kruseman completed his drive to the front by grabbing the lead from Ebberts on lap 13. Ziehl dropped out after being lapped at midway and Kirby also parked with engine woes. Williams passed Hermansader for fourth on lap 16 and Gardner cracked the top five on lap 18. Cardey was out on lap 19. Gardner traded fourth with Williams as Kruseman was cruising up front. Stansberry limped to the checkered flag in the Ron Bach entry and Kruseman posted the win. A late charge by Gardner as he passed Ballard for third on lap 29 and grabbed second from Ebberts on the final round. Ebberts settled for third ahead of Williams, Ballard, Gaunt, Davis, Hermansader, Rutherford and Wise. Next action for the USAC/CRA teams is the two-day, $5000 to win Sokola Classic at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix on March 18-19.

             There were 17 Ford Focus midgets and Harris paced time trials with his 14.407 lap. Veteran Jet Davison ran a 14.602 and Rahe ranked third at 14.613. Michnowicz was fourth at 14.754 and newcomer Cameron Veach ranked fifth at 15.018. Bobby Owens was sixth and outlaw kart star Robbie Whitchurch from Chico timed in 7th ahead of fellow rookie Carroll. Harris impressed with his drive through the pack in heat 1 to win ahead of Bret Engstrom and Chris Veach. Rahe ran fourth in this heat. Female star Sasselli, a former top runner in the mini sprints at Plaza Park Raceway, captured heat 2 ahead of Michnowicz, Davison and Carroll. Their main event had a six car inversion that placed Carroll and Owens in the front row ahead of Michnowicz, Rahe, Davison and Harris. The 20 lap feature ran without a caution. Carroll led the opening lap, but was passed by both Rahe and Harris on lap 2. Owens settled into fourth ahead of Michnowicz. Jake Vail was a feature scratch and Chase Barber flipped in the heat action. Barber and J R Trimino were both sidelined early in the 20 lapper and Michnowicz gained fourth ahead of Sasselli on lap 7. Cameron Veach was out on lap 8. Second place Harris clipped the wall with a right front flat tire on lap 14 and his race was over as Carroll regained second ahead of Michnowicz and Sasselli. As Rahe ran unchallenged up front, Michnowicz was able to pass Carroll on lap 19 to claim second. Carroll did run third ahead of Sasselli, Chris Veach, Davison, Owens, Engstrom and Whitchurch. Michael Collins drove a Kruseman owned car to 10th. This year, the Ford Focus midgets will have separate point standings for the dirt and pavement events. Second dirt event will be March 19th at Ventura.

Summary 

Ford Focus Midgets
Fast Time-Alex Harris 14.407 
Heat 1-Harris, Bret Engstrom, Chris Veach, Chris Rahe, Robbie Hawks. 
Heat 2-Audra Sasselli, Bobby Michnowicz, Jet Davison, Todd Carroll, Bobby Owens.
Main-Rahe, Michnowicz, Carroll, Sasselli, Chris Veach, Davison, Owens, Engstrom, Robbie Whitchurch, Michael Collins, Cal Smith, Hawks, Harris, Cameron Veach, J R Trimino, Chase Barber. 

Unwinged 410 Sprint Cars
Fast Time-Damion Gardner 12.356 
Heat 1-Josh Ford, Tom Stansberry, Danny Sheridan, Alan Ballard, J Hicks. 
Heat 2-Seth Wilson, Josh Wise, Dave Darland, Cory Kruseman, Bobby Cody. 
Heat 3-Bill Rose, Danny Ebberts, Rip Williams, Rick Ziehl, Dwayne Marcum. 
Heat 4-Jordan Hermansader, David Cardey, Charles Davis Jr, Troy Rutherford, Greg Bragg. 
B Main-Rickie Gaunt, Gardner, Jimmy Crawford, Hicks, Mike Kirby, Tony Jones, Dan Hilberg, Rodney Argo, Terry Foster, Matt Stewart. 
A Main-Kruseman, Gardner, Ebberts, Williams, Ballard, Gaunt, Davis, Hermansader, Rutherford, Wise, Darland, Hicks, Ford, Rose, Crawford, Wilson, Stansberry, Cardey, Ziehl, Kirby, Sheridan.

SITE SEARCH

WEBSITE
 HOME PAGE
 LATEST UPDATES
 MESSAGE BOARD
 CHAT ROOMS
 CLASSIFIEDS
 BUSINESS CARDS
 ADVERTISING
 SPONSORS
 MULTIMEDIA
 ACTION GALLERY
 GIFT IDEAS
 ONLINE STORE
 LINKS

SANCTIONS
 SPRINT CARS
 OTHERS

RACING
 RACE RESULTS
 RACE SCHEDULES
 PRESS RELEASES
 RACE COLUMNS
 NEWS & NOTES
 TEAM NOTES
 DRIVER ROSTERS
 DRIVER PROFILES
 RACE TRACKS
 RACING INFO

MISC
 VOTING BOOTH
 BULLETIN BOARD
 DTRSC SKINS
 FUN PAGE
 RACE FANS
 TRIBUTES
 SPECIAL THANKS

Get your own FREE Guestbook from htmlGEAR
 SIGN GUESTBOOK
 VIEW GUESTBOOK

EMAIL US

T-SHIRTS
& MORE