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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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GARDNER CLAIMS 2004 BAGLEY CLASSIC by Norm Bogan |
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Thirty-six 410 traditional sprint cars queued
up at the Perris Auto Speedway pit gate.
This is the last tune up before the upcoming Oval Nationals,
so many of the local racers, who have been campaigning in the
Midwest during the summer returned home as the Indiana venues, shut
down and prepared for winter. Casey
Shuman was aboard the Wilkerson #11, Josh Ford was back in his
regular #73, Alex Pruett came west in the Pruett Group #56az and
Darren Hagen returned home in his #11X car.
It is amazing that all exhibited improved driving skills, a
testament to the fact that they were running about three nights a
week on tracks of varying size and surface, which accelerated their
learning curve and also helped the crewmembers to comprehend better
how to adjust to the different track surfaces.
Shuman and Hagen, both collected victories on their summer
hiatus, while Ford raced under the tutelage of Keith Kunz on the
USAC National Sprint circuit. Two-time
USAC National Sprint Champ; Tony Elliott was present tonight, at the
wheel of Nadine Keller’s # 5 backup car. Cory Kruseman was also in town, driving the
Mark Alexander #4 racer. Kruseman
is currently third in USAC National points, with just a few races
left for the season. Cory
will be returning to southern California next year at the controls
of the potent Glenn Crossno #38 machine.
Other visitors taking advantage of this final warm up race
before the big money, end of the year shows were the affable Aussie,
Peter Murphy on board the Harlan Willis #45, which he will race in
the year ending shows. Jason
York, a surprise winner at Perris a couple of months ago, trekked
from his Chico home to his southern California roots to finish the
year without wings. Of course, all the regulars like twenty-six
year veteran and current point leader, Rip Williams, Mike Kirby
coming off a victory at Manzy, two weeks ago and Damion Gardner, who
collected a win in the final NWWC Tour race at Albuquerque last
week, bring forth top quality at any racetrack.
Add to this list, the names of Troy Rutherford, Tony Jones,
Steve Ostling, Mike Spencer, Bobby Cody and Greg Bragg, making it a
stellar field. Damion Gardner posted the quick time of 17.005
seconds. The first heat
race appeared to be the front half of a feature.
To give it justice, let me list the finish.
Williams, Gardner, Kirby, former USAC Midget racer, Danny
Ebberts aboard the Sal Acosta #77, Spencer, Shuman, J. Hicks, Keller
and Peter Murphy. Murphy
got caught up in a false start, climbed a wheel and turned over,
breaking the front end. Other heat winners were Kruseman, rookie leader, David Cardey, and Bobby Cody. Tony Jones captured the Semi, with Kevin Urton, Charles Davis Jr., Ostling and Rutherford. Murphy came up one position short of making the feature after his heat one dilemma. As the feature unfolded, Greg Bragg took
advantage of his pole position start, leading the first three laps,
before Josh Ford slipped by for four laps up front.
On lap eight, Damion had moved from eighth to take the point
with Rip Williams hot on his heels.
Gardner then made the “little red sucker” appear as the
green and silver Demon car of a couple of years ago.
Damion was dicing and slicing his way through cars, cutting
left and accelerating under a car then drifting up to the cushion
and rocketing past on the outside.
All along, Rip kept pace and waited for the Demon to falter,
but Gardner was dialed in tonight and Rip settled for second, with
Kirby coming home third and Davis claiming fourth. Back in the pack, there were other
performances, easily overlooked as the heroes were running nose to
tail. Ronnie Case came from twentieth starting position to finish
eighth, as he took his favorite line up near the top around in the
Blair #33 sprinter. David
Cardey was another that charged from the rear of the field, until
being collected in a crash by Bobby Cody.
Cardey did gain some redemption by running away with the
companion California Lightning Sprint feature. All of these players will be returning in three
weeks, being joined by more teams from the Midwest, northern
California and Arizona to vie for the $30,000 winner’s share of
the Oval Nationals purse. If
the level of action matches tonight’s program, the visiting fans
from throughout the country will be treated to some of the best
traditional sprint car racing. |
