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| Race Report by Gary Thomas |
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USAC/CRA Sprints At Perris |
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Perris, CA - February 6, 2006...
On Saturday February 4th I finally had the opportunity to
catch my first race of 2006. My family and I made the 7 hour trek
down south to the Perris Auto Speedway’s day time season opener.
On the card were the USAC/CRA Non Wing 410 Sprintcars, the series
that features super stars such as Cory Kruseman, Damion Gardner and
Rip Williams. Also competing in the event were USAC National stars
Levi Jones and Dave Darland. Before I made my initial visit to the PAS last
August, I had heard so many good things about the place and let me
tell you, it sure didn’t disappoint. The track is perfect for the
“back it in” style of racing that Non Wing sprinters utilize.
The length and width of the track make for some simply outstanding
racing that is second to none in California. The sound system at the
PAS is also second to none and with the exceptional announcing of
Scott Deloisio it makes for an entertaining show. We left Sacramento at 6:00 am to get down to
Perris by the scheduled 1:00 pm start time. After a few stops along
the way we arrived in Perris at about 1:30 and as we walked up to
buy our tickets the national anthem was playing. As soon as I heard
Deloisio start announcing the line-up for the non qualifier race it
reminded me just how good that darn PA system really is! It really
is amazing compared to the number of crappy PA systems I hear on a
weekly basis. We got up and took our seats as the C-main/
Non-qualifier race went green. I can honestly say even the non
qualifiers put on a heck of a show at the PAS. The track was quite
slick which usually happens during a day race, but there were
multiple grooves and there was plenty of passing. One thing I like about the USAC/CRA format is
that the fast qualifiers start deep in the field of their heat
races. It certainly makes for exciting heat racing instead of the
usual freight trains that I’m used to up North. Just a few of the
drivers that were absolutely on the gas in their heats were Josh
Ford, Damion Gardner, Cory Kruseman, Rip Williams and Tony Jones. Prior to the A-main they tried to rework the
track to keep the dust down as much as possible, it did work to a
degree but there were still times when visibility was difficult. The invert for the night’s 30 lapper was the
USAC norm of 8 which put Bobby Cody and defending USAC National
champ Levi Jones on the front row.
Jones, who won the USAC/CRA opening race in Manzanita, came
to Perris to pilot the Cheney 42x for the PAS’s day time opener. At the drop of the green flag Jones surged to lead but he didn’t hold it for long as Rip Williams took command on lap 2. Through the early part of the race Damion
Gardner and Cory Kruseman made their way up from the 4th
row and put themselves in position to pounce. Just before halfway was when the dust started to kick up as a couple drivers did 360's through the infield in turn 4. Fortunately everybody kept going, but that in essence brought about a tough few laps. From where I was sitting I couldn’t even see turn 4 until about lap 17 or 18 but once the dust cleared it became clear that the race was intensifying as the top 3 cars were nose to tail. Just as the top 3 closed in on each other, I
noticed that the orange #2az of the “Rocket” Jesse Hockett was
coming to play. Hockett was the winner of the night’s 2nd
heat race but a poor qualifying effort forced him to start 16th
in the A-main. After he moved by a couple cars on around lap 22 he
closed in Cory Kruseman to make it a 4 car battle up front. He made
the move around Kruseman only to have the “Kruser” return the
favor the following lap. That didn’t discourage him however as
went right back around Kruseman and closed in on Damion Gardner who
was having a terrific battle with leader Rip Williams. For much of the last 10 laps Gardner was locked
to the rear bumper of Williams and looked to have made the pass
multiple times. Williams was running a little lower line than
Gardner in turns 1 & 2 which left the “Demon” with the
momentum up high. Gardner could get his front end just ahead of
Williams off of turn 2, but EVERY time the “Ripper” would get
bite down low and hang on to the lead. With about 4 laps to go Hockett made the move
by Gardner down low but slid high which allowed Gardner back by. Kruseman wasn’t done yet as he had found the bottom to his liking and made several bids to get by Gardner and Hockett; in fact one time the trio went 3 wide through turns 1 & 2. As the 2 to go signal was given, Gardner closed
back in on Williams to make one last bid for victory. After the
white flag flew he followed Williams up high in turns 1 & 2 and
as they went into the final set of turns Williams chose the high
line with Gardner going to the bottom. As they crossed the line
Williams held on by less than a car length to score his 102nd
career victory. Gardner earned the 2nd position with a
very fine run and Jesse Hockett scored the hard charger award
finishing 3rd. Cory Kruseman ended up 4th and
Mike Spencer rounded out the top 5. We headed to the car and got on the road by
4:30 due to a very well run program. On the way home we missed an
exit and ended up a tad bit out of our way but thanks to some very
helpful Chevron patrons we were able to find our way home and pulled
into dock in Sacramento just after midnight. Tidbits- It was an extremely long drive down to Perris Auto Speedway, but well worth it to see such a bad ass race. The guys of the USAC/CRA series put on one helluva show, I just wish I had the opportunity to see them more often. I have read so much and heard so much about Jesse Hockett, but had never seen him until Saturday. He put the Hammerdown as hard as anybody and darn near ended up taking the deal. Great show Jesse! Damion Gardner sure is freaken awesome. The guy
drives a wingless sprinter the way it’s supposed to be driven. I gotta give it up to the old guy Rip Williams. He didn’t seem to have the fastest ride, but he drove a smart and disciplined 30 laps(well maybe except for the final turns as he almost gave it away) lol We made our first visit of the year to
In’n’Out burger, which was good as usual. |
