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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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BREATH OF FRESH AIR, PART 2 |
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couple of weeks ago, I wrote about an addition to the SCRA this year, which has
been a “Breath of Fresh Air”. The
legend of Damion Gardner spawned a new chapter on Saturday night as he qualified
with fast time, near the track record. He progressed through his heat race and ran in the Dash finishing fifth, which would be his starting spot for the A-Main. Several newcomers were in attendance tonight and were astounded at the exciting and daring moves they had seen thus far. At the start of the feature, Damion moved quickly in and out, threading the needle and within a couple of laps, he is running second. Now, following Steve Ostling, Damion dogged him lap after lap, appearing to reset his steed at least a couple of times in each corner. Once, Gardner entered turn one and bounced right at the wall, before turning almost one hundred-eighty degrees, lighting off the right rear on the cushion up high and launching like a rocket sled onto the back straightaway. Bobbing and weaving like a boxer looking for an opening, Gardner soon zipped into the lead. With Ostling now assuming the role of the pursuer, they were like pairs skaters working the traffic, when suddenly Steve regained the lead, but Damion had not given up, as he dove to the inside berm coming off turn two and leapt back in front. This time Gardner maintained the lead to the checkered flag. While it was difficult to take an eye off the duel for the lead, there were some other outstanding performances throughout the field. Mike Kirby made a charge up to third from back in the pack and looked as if he would make it a three-way challenge for the win. Going into the last lap, Rip Williams who started on the pole, but had fallen to about seventh, charged ahead and passed Kirby for third. This year’s two top drivers, Cory Kruseman and Tony Jones, ran side by side, rubbing tires, with Kruseman prevailing over Jones for fifth. Multi-time champion, Richard Griffin started ninth and was involved in a tangle, sending him to the rear. He charged back through the field to claim an eighth place finish. Twenty-two cars started this feature with nearly two hundred career victories represented. All the heavy hitters were in there, but today, Damion Gardner gained his first career SCRA victory. For those of us in southern California, who view these confrontations on a regular basis, we will share with our fellow fans in the Midwest and East, when SCRA comes to visit on the Non Wing World Championship Tour in August. Enjoy the thrills and some of the most competitive racing in the country. |
