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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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2005 OVAL NATIONALS
by Norm Bogan |
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The tenth anniversary of the Oval Nationals at
Perris Auto Speedway has obviously grown in prestige as entries
reached almost eighty. This
year sported many more competitors from the Midwest, appearing in
their regular rides. The
fans really appreciate the fact that teams traveled west with cars
they have run all year and are competing against their West Coast
counterparts to claim the $30,000 winner’s share. Competitors focused on making a top showing
each night to be in the initial transfer to the Saturday evening
“A” Main. On
Thursday, sixty-nine cars staged for action.
Some racers suffered maladies, while others were on their way
to the front. For the
largely partisan USAC/CRA crowd, they had experienced two first time
winners in their last two events.
There are several strong runners still vying for that first
brass ring and the fans hoped to see a “hat trick”.
Well, they got their third first time feature winner, but it
was a local boy currently campaigning on the National USAC circuit.
Darren Hagen scored his first USAC sprint win aboard the
Keith Kunz prepared #71 Bullet.
27-year sprint veteran, Rip Williams and the USAC National
point leader, Levi Jones, joined Hagen on the podium. A number of the teams had major work to
accomplish before the Friday show got underway after suffering
misfortune on the previous evening.
For those struggling with engine and handling problems, there
was optimism that the bad luck was now behind them.
Tonight, found some of the established racers claiming the
spoils, with Damion Gardner scoring victory number 15 over strong
runs by Cory Kruseman and Jerry Coons Jr. Saturday night was the final shootout with the
top twelve in overall points scored during the past two nights,
secured in tonight’s “A” Main.
For the rest of the field this evening’s program would be a
dogfight. The
seventeen-car, fifteen-lap “D” Main would transfer eight cars to
the “C” Feature. The
twenty-four-car, twenty-lap “C” Main would then advance eight
cars to the “B” Feature. Finally
the twenty-lap Semi was the last chance for twelve cars to transfer
to the evening’s “A” Main grid. Rip Williams led the first two laps before deferring to Dave Darland, who motored away from the field until the last few laps after several yellows, Damion Gardner was able to close up, but unable to pass the longtime likeable USAC National campaigner. Darland, at the controls of the Jeff Walker #11, stood at the apex of the podium with Gardner and Williams book-ending him. This year was by far the best representing
racing talent from the Midwest.
In addition to Darland, Levi Jones, Shane Cottle, Dickie
Gaines, Darren Hagen, Bryan Clauson, Justin Marvel, Jerry Coons Jr.,
Davey Ray, Jay Drake, Josh Wise, Casey Shuman, Jon Stanbrough, Bill
Rose, Mat Neely, Bud Kaeding, Tom Hessert, Jesse Hockett, Ryan Pace
and John Scott all represented the USAC National contingent. Coming in from North Carolina was former
southern California racer, Troy Cline, while venturing south were
northern California campaigners, Brent Kaeding, Brad Sweet, Rick
Williams, Tyler Spath, Richard Brace Jr., Michael Trimble, Evan
Suggs, Jim Richardson, Shain Matthews, Richard Harvey Jr. and Andy
Forsberg. Jeremy
Sherman, Mike Leslie and Ricky Hood represented Arizona.
Add to this distinguished cast of drivers, all those who
compete on a regular basis with the USAC/CRA and you realize that
this field represented most of the dominant traditional sprint car
pilots in the country. Rick Williams had planned to compete as a
regular with USAC/CRA this year, but his work duties prevented him
from making the journeys to their venues.
The veteran struggled each night with qualifying causing him
to start at the rear of the heat races.
Being unable to transfer directly to the Main event, Rick was
able to garner two wins and a fourth in the three “B” features,
to make it to the “A” Main each night. Rick is a driver that doesn’t stand out during the race,
but just steadily moves to the front at race’s end. This Oval Nationals has to be one of the best in its ten-year history. Great car counts, quality racecars and outstanding track preparation all contributed to a successful venture closing out the racing season. This event has gained the prestige of many other storied presentations and future races will be more attractive, as the fans and racers realize what a special event this has become. |
