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| DAMION GARDNER AND R C
WHITWELL WIN AT TUCSON by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 410 Sprint Cars and Dirt Modifieds |
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Tucson, AZ..April 8...Forced to come through the B Main after a last
place heat finish, USAC/CRA point runnerup Damion Gardner posted his third win
in the last four races by leading the final 8 laps of Saturday night's 30 lapper
for the wingless 410 sprint cars at USA Race Park. D Gardner timed in third
quick and won the B Main. The former Central California dwarf car star wheels
the Ron Chaffin owned Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply sponsored Eagle. Phoenix
star Charles Davis Jr had led from lap 2, but succumbed to D Gardner's challenge
on lap 23. Davis ran second and series point leader Cory Kruseman was third.
Kruseman dominated last year's visit to the 3/8 mile clay oval and this time, he
snapped D Gardner's remarkable feat of setting fast time at the last seven
USAC/CRA events. Kruseman will carry a 26 point lead over D Gardner into the
April 15 race at Perris. Tony Jones ran fourth tonight and California Lightning
Sprint graduate David Cardey was fifth. Track point leader R C Whitwell won his
second straight Barnett Harley Davidson dirt modified feature and Daniel Hutto's
problems allowed Whitwell to build his point lead to 14 tallies. Strong runs by
young racers Corey Hosler Jr and Cody Cambensy saw them finish 2nd and 3rd.
Brian Gardner and Brad Campbell rounded out the top five. Twenty nine cars towed in for the sprint car action. Kruseman's fast time in the Crossno entry was 16.075. New Mexico's Johnny Herrera joined the action and ranked second at 16.179. D Gardner settled for third at 16.319. Jones was fourth ahead of Davis' teammate Rickie Gaunt. Cardey ranked sixth with Davis 7th ahead of Danny Sheridan, Rip Williams and Mike Kirby. The top four advanced from each of four heat races. Kruseman won heat 1 trailed by a trio of Central California chargers. Young Hanford star Chad Boespflug was second ahead of usual winged racer Kyle Hirst and Davey Pombo. Herrera showed his strength by capturing heat 2 over Kirby, 2005 Ventura champion Blake Miller and Cardey. National racer Josh Ford won heat 3 ahead of New Mexico's Rick Ziehl, Davis and Mike Spencer. Arizona's Chris Bonneau won heat 4 with Jones second ahead of Phoenix radio personality Bruce St James and Sheridan. Tom Stansberry flipped in heat 4. D Gardner finished last in heat 3, but won the B Main ahead of Gaunt, Missouri's Jesse Hockett, Williams, Ronnie Clark and Ben Gregg. Just missing transfers were New Mexico's Scott Box, Eric Severson and R J Johnson. Eleventh quick Spencer led the opening lap of the 30 lap feature before Davis took over. D Gardner made his winning move around Davis on lap 23. Davis was a season best second in front of Kruseman. Jones broke his recent hard luck string with a fourth over Cardey, Sheridan, Herrera, Gaunt, Pombo and Bonneau. Spencer is third in points, but 131 behind Kruseman. Sheridan hangs onto fourth ahead of Jones, Gaunt, Davis and Cardey. Rip Williams ran 19th and has fallen to 9th in points. Gregg flipped in the main event. Ford raced from 21st starting to finish 11th. Thirty one cars appeared in the dirt modified action. They were divided into three heat races. Ron Kokot won the opening heat race over B Campbell and Brian Clark. The top four advanced from each heat with 2005 champion Carl Trimmer getting fourth in his JetMod. Whitwell had a perfect night in his JetMod as he won heat 2 over Hosler, Troy Hoey and B Gardner. Fast improving Jessica VanDyke got her first heat race win in heat 3 as Eric Kelley ran second over E K Ongley and Cambensy, who wheels a former Troy Godwin GRT. Hutto beat Chuck Wares, Russell Anderson, pro stock star Brian Barsness and Michael Brandon in the B Main. Whitwell ran second in the region with the Barnett Harley Davidson dirt mods in 2005 and won the Casa Grande track title, but is chasing points here in Tucson this year and will also follow the Barnett Harley Davidson traveling series. The second set of events for the tour will be April 14-15 at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. Whitwell was chased to tonight's feature win by Hosler, Cambensy, B Gardner, B Campbell, Trimmer, Clark, Barsness, VanDyke, Kelley, Wares and Hoey. Kokot ran 13th. Hosler is now third in track points, just 3 ahead of both B Gardner and B Campbell and 4 in front of Cambensy. Trimmer is 37 points back of Whitwell in 7th. An all open wheel night on April 15 will be headlined by the ASCA wingless 360 sprints and USA's own winged sprint cars. The modified midgets will again visit. Summary Dirt Modified Heat 1-Ron Kokot, Brad Campbell, Brian Clark, Carl Trimmer, Daniel Hutto. Heat 2-R C Whitwell, Corey Hosler Jr, Troy Hoey, Brian Gardner, Dennis Fetter. Heat 3-Jessica VanDyke, Eric Kelley, E K Ongley, Cody Cambensy, Chuck Wares. B Main-Hutto, Wares, Russell Anderson, Brian Barsness, Michael Brandon, Sean Teeters, Robert Adams, Fetter, Wade Simmons, Dane Jorgenson. A Main-Whitwell, Hosler, Cambensy, Gardner, B Campbell, Trimmer, Clark, Barsness, VanDyke, Kelley, Wares, Hoey, Kokot, Anderson, Ongley, Aaron Mari, Jorgenson, Hutto, Teeters, Fetter, Simmons, Todd Campbell, Rick Nelson, Brandon. Wingless 410 Sprint Car Fast Time-Cory Kruseman 16.075 Heat 1-Kruseman, Chad
Boespflug, Kyle Hirst, Davey Pombo, Rickie Gaunt. Heat 2-Johnny Herrera, Mike
Kirby, Blake Miller, David Cardey, Ronnie Clark. Heat 3-Josh Ford, Rick Ziehl,
Charles Davis Jr, Mike Spencer, Jon Taylor. Heat 4-Chris Bonneau, Tony Jones,
Bruce St James, Danny Sheridan, Tom Stansberry. B Main-Damion Gardner, Gaunt,
Jesse Hockett, Rip Williams, Clark, Ben Gregg, Scott Box, Eric Severson, R J
Johnson, Taylor. A Main-Gardner, Davis, Kruseman, Jones, Cardey, Sheridan,
Herrera, Gaunt, Pombo, Bonneau, Ford, Spencer, Boespflug, Ziehl, Kirby, Hirst,
Hockett, Clark, Williams, St James, Miller, Gregg. |
