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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| RIP
WILLIAMS STORMS THE PAS FOR 3RD CRA WIN OF THE SEASON!! by Ken Wagner |
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KIRBY “BORROWS” SNAP-ON TOOL
CONTEST CAR TO FINISH 7TH IN MAIN EVENT. |
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Rip
Williams put another notch
in his belt on the eve of Father’s Day as he beat “The Demon”,
Damion Gardner, to victory circle for another big CRA win.
Perris Auto Speedway experienced another pleasant day for the
appreciative crowd to view excellent racing under the bright lights.
It was the 11th CRA race of the year as The Ripper marches closer to
his 100th sprint car win. Mrs
Wags pics are here,
and my pit walk is
here. The
“Ripper” continues to lead the points and run up front as
the first CRA season unfolds. For the man who drives the symbolic
black # 3, and gets in the heads of all the younger drivers chasing
him, no one seems to have a handle on beating him. Rip qualified
third, ran second in his heat and started seventh in the 30 lap main
event. Driving the John Jory Corp. / AMA Plastics / Ricks Truck
Works sprinter, he methodically worked his way into the lead on lap
22 and pulled away with a flourish. He now has 30 CRA and 61 SCRA
victories to go with 3 CRA this season. Can anyone stop his quest
for his first championship or 100 wins? When asked if 100 would make
him retire, the answer was “no”, with a big smile! He’s not
done folks, so hang on. The
Demon took advantage of a late race yellow flag to overtake
young Jordan Hermansader on the last lap to finish second. He
made the high groove his passing lane and showcased several dramatic
passes before the end. He gave the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply
/ Arizona Race Mart # 50 a wild ride as he tried to catch the leader
in traffic to no avail. He now is 56 points behind Ripper in the CRA
points battle. Hermansader took the lead from front row starter Bobby
Cody on lap four and made a charge of his own. He led until Rip
caught up and passed him, but he was fast. Driving the Alexander
Trucking / La Villa Restaurant # 4 to a third place finish, it was
Jordan’s best finish of the year and first podium as he drives for
a nice bunch of guys who work hard on the car every week. Mike
Kirby is third in points,
but had some bad luck last week finishing 15th due to a wall banging
incident on the last lap. His sponsor, Snap-on Tool, had their own
big tool show out front for the spectators all day. During the
afternoon they used his “show” car for a wheel changing contest.
When Mike broke the torque tube in his # 38 coil over car during his
heat, they quickly “borrowed” the pretty 4 bar styled car from
the display, and put him in it at the back of the Semi. He
transferred from there and started 22nd in the main event. Then he
set sail for the front and worked his way up to 7th earning the
“Weld Hard Charger” award for the night. Great job in the
pristine new car that was only run once before and that at Ventura.
It’s a little different than the coil voer he has been driving
mostly. Brian
Venard put on another
great show this week as he ran third up until the last yellow flag
flew with three laps to go. About that time he lost a torsion bar
and he held on to the evil handling car for fifth place. They found
the missing piece against the track wall after the race ended. Gary
W Howard set fast time at 16.788 on the night and finished 13th
as the track went away from his set-up. Last weeks winner, Adam
Mitchell, came thru the Semi to finish 9th this week as the glow
of winning was still fueling him. Steve Venard brought out a
brand new TCR to run as he has changed teams now. The car worked
just fine as he led his heat until the very end when it appeared to
smoke on a restart and he fell back to 4th at the end. There was
some concern about the motor, so he dropped out for the evening,
vowing to come back next time. No word on Super Rickie Gaunt and
Charles Davis Jr not showing after vowing to come back and challenge
the CRA again this week. Rumor was they were refreshing the cars for
the SCRA Barona race this coming week. The
CRA will have a week off to get ready for the 50 lapper at Perris on
July 3rd. This race features one of the best fireworks displays on
the west coast and the crowds pack the stands to see great racing
and the bonus fireworks display. In the meantime, Perris will
feature Midgets and rumor has it Cory Kruseman will be there driving
Andy Bondio’s car. Troy Rutherford and a few other hot shoe’s
should make for a great night of racing. Danny
Sheridan continues to beat
up on the Bandit boys, winning again this week in his 360 car at
Hanford. Jay Drake won the Ohio Speedweek finale at Eldora in
the Tony Stewart sponsored car. Bud Kaeding and Josh Wise
won the other two races, a 4th at Fremont was rained out, as the
West Coast stars swept the victories. On
the home front, no news on my pending retirement, or offers on the
house, so status quo there. As for the Wagsdash, it is getting
nearer to announcement time on the new Wagsdash format. I have
talked the idea around and am waiting for feedback. I expect to make
an announcement next week. This weeks clue? My goal is for the race
to pay $5000 to win so you can tell it will be a big challenge to
raise the money needed for this new deal! It will probably be called
Wags “Big Dawg” Dash to fit the new format. Are you a Big Dawg? CRA
heat winners were: Ballard, Ostling and Sherman and Rutherford won
the Semi. CRA
A FEATURE: (30 laps) Starting spots in ( ) FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Cody, Laps 4-21 Hermansader, Laps 22-30 Williams. NEW
VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-723;
2-Gardner-667; 3-Kirby-621; 4-Rutherford-615; 5-Jones-448;
6-Ostling-428; 7-B.Venard-422; 8-Cory Kruseman-378; 9-Sherman-374;
10-Bragg-364. NEXT
VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: July 3- - Perris (CA) Auto
Speedway |
