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| DAMION
GARDNER WINS JEFF BAGLEY CLASSIC AT PERRIS by Ken Wagner |
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$5,000 TO WIN AT VENTURA THIS COMING SATURDAY |
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Damion “The Demon” Gardner convincingly captured the
annual Jeff Bagley Classic 30 lap race at Perris Auto Speedway this
week. It was his eighth victory of the year and the 22nd of 27
Valvoline USAC/CRA events this season. Damion set fast time at
17.005, ran second in his heat, and started eighth in the Main
Event. He took the lead on lap eight and fought off point leader, Rip
Williams, the rest of the race.
Mrs Wags Pics are ready! Click here to check them out. The Demon drove the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Shaver sponsored # 50 to his second straight, and fifth overall, win at Perris this season. In the winners circle he quipped “we didn’t need that last yellow, but once I got to the cushion on the restart, I knew we’d be OK!” Since he and the Ron Chaffin owned team changed to the Eagle Chassis in June, they have won seven races in two associations at five different tracks. Looks like the Demon is pretty happy, but can he catch the Ripper? Rip Williams drove his black John Jory Corp, AMA Plastics, Ricks Truck Works, # 3 like he meant business in his quest for his first ever sprint car championship. The Ripper stormed to a win in his heat and gave Gardner a run for the money in the feature, finishing second and gaining a few points in the process. He leads Gardner by 73 and Mike Kirby by 78 with five races to go. Don’t bet against the Ripper, his consistency has put him in position to be the 2004 champion. <|P> Mike Kirby didn’t have on his dominating “Manzy Mask” from the last race, but still pulled the Snap on Tools, Sander, ITI Performance # 38 up on the podium this week. Kirby was third in his heat, and also later in the feature, as he battled to keep his championship hopes alive. Mike is looking forward to winning some big races coming up to help that goal. You know sometimes we get a real “heavy hitters” type of heat race and we prepare for a barnburner for 10 laps. This week the first heat out of the box featured the top three in points lined up in the back. Although a crash slowed the first start, the three heroes actually finished in the order they are in the points race when the night was done. It was Williams, Gardner and Kirby in that order, but can you imagine how they all felt when they saw the line-up? “Aw shucks, don’t I ever get a break” probably went through more than one mind, wouldn’t you think? Naw, Rip probably just set his jaw and went for it! Cory Kruseman and Josh Ford took a break from the National USAC series back East this week, but both had their problems. Josh was running a strong fourth when he got turned around on the track and stopped. He restarted to finish 13th, but had the car to do much better. The Kruser came from 17th starting spot to get in the top ten, but fought a tire going down for the last half of the race. With a lap to go, the right front tire exploded and came off the bent rim from an earlier encounter when some “bumper car” exhibitions seemed to be going on, leaving him a disappointing 15th at the flag. Both will be running at the Lowes Motor Speedway Wednesday night and returning for the Oval Nationals in three weeks. Greg Bragg continued his stellar season this week by earning the pole position in the main and holding off the Demon for as long as he could. Greg has improved dramatically this season and his fifth place spot in the overall points proves it. He ran second in his heat and finished the main in fifth and tied his best finish with the club. Look for more out of this driver as he has continued to go forward all year in the # 12 Prattmobile. Ronnie Case again proved he can drive that green # 33 car, but still needs qualifying tips. Coming from the VRA where there is no qualifying has made this a test of will for the “Rocket” as he qualified 32nd out of 36. He usually does better than that, but will figure it out in time as it isn’t easy. He leads in Rookie points over David Carday as the season winds down and wants to win that title bad. Ronnie ran second in his heat and surged from his 22nd starting spot up to eighth at the end. Great job, but you can see there is more to come from this young driver. Wagsdash defending Champion, Alan Ballard sported a new paintjob this week. The old black scheme is gone and now a blue and orange one flashes at you as he roars by. He garnered 12th this week as getting use to a new car and dealing with the hot dogs of USAC/CRA leaves little room for error. He had a good night and looks forward to trying to defend his title at Ventura. Kevin Urton continues to get noticed as he comes down from Northern California more often and competes in his plain back bomber. Getting use to the wingless action has been interesting, but this week he was third quick in qualifying for his best effort yet with the club in that respect. He overcame missing the main from his heat by chasing Tony Jones to a second place in the semi and started ninth on the main event grid. He scrapped for his tenth place finishing spot and will return again next week. The weekly “sad sack” stories always make you wonder why they do it because sometimes “it wasn’t even their fault”! In addition to the Kruseman tire flying off and Ford spinning to a stop, there were plenty of others that had tough luck. Peter Murphy got another week in the Harlan Willis # 45 and was abruptly on his head in the heavy hitter first heat when a yellow flag came out and he didn’t stop until his crash ended. The crew, led by Mike Nigh and the car owner Harlan, quickly repaired the damage and he came up a spot short in the semi of making the main. He will be back and things will be better next time. Tony Jones only good luck in a while was having son Grady appear at his house. On the racetrack he hasn’t had much to smile about, yet holds his head high when he says “we will be back”. This week’s adventure started when he fought hard with Jason York for the last transfer in his heat and came up just a smidge short. He quickly won the semi and was to start 12th on the starting grid. But first they had to fix a leak in the car, so they came out late, and even after pleading with the officials, would start last in the Main Event. He didn’t last long as the leak soaked him and he was the first car out. Bobby Cody has been vastly improving this year and sometimes puts a move on that makes you shake your head, he can be so ahead of his seat time experience. He did it again this week in his heat when he made a pass on two cars where there wasn’t really any room, and he didn’t hit either one, just moved ahead. That was his highlight of the night, unfortunately, as he climbed the wall in the main and turned it over softly, but collected David Cardey and Troy Rutherford with all three done early in the race. Some others who didn’t even make the main because of tough luck were Rodney Argo, Brian Venard, Gary W Howard, Mike Leslie and Mike Spencer. Spencer took a provisional, and it didn’t get any better there when he finished 22nd. This race was the last tune-up for the prestigious Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply Oval Nationals coming up on October 28 thru 30 that pays $30,000 to the winner. Tony Elliott, Jason York, Casey Shuman, and Peter Murphy were a few who came early to make sure they got some laps in tonight. The early entries will ensure that the top drivers will be in town to run this event. With this three day race a USAC National points event for the first time, you can be sure the top dogs will tow out to take their shots. Congratulations go out to wild guy Super Rickie Gaunt for winning both the SCRA championship and the NWWC last week. Rickie won six races this season out of the 13 events. Rickie will now concentrate on the big races coming up and will drive the black # 45 of Harlan Willis at Ventura this week. Congrats to defending ASCA defending champ, Bob Ream Jr as he passed Josh Pelkey on the last lap for the win this week at Manzanita. Bob’s six wins are testament to his driving skill, but he has missed some races this year. Next up for the USAC/CRA club is Ventura Raceway, that spicy little bowl that provides a high energy factor to sprint car racing that is indescribably delicious! The 14th annual Wagsdash is on tap October 16th with at least an additional $15,000 added to the regular purse for racers to shoot at. The theme will be to “WIN WAGS MONEY”! In addition to two dashes, a 5 lap “Lil Dawg Dash” paying a $2500 purse and an eight lap “Big Dawg Dash” paying a $3000 purse. The line-up is set with Steve Ostling and Greg Bragg on the front row, Troy Rutherford and Mike Kirby on the second row and Damion Gardner and Rip Williams in the back. There will be more significant cash additions to the purse that night. The Main Event winner will get a $2500 bonus so it’s $5,000 to win! The hard charger of the night will get a $1000 bonus. The highest finishing low buck driver from the following list (Ballard, Rick Becker, David Carday, Ronnie Case, Bobby Cody, Jimmy Crawford, Duane Feduska, Garrett Hanson, Mark Heidenreich, J Hicks, Dan Hillberg, Gary W Howard, Nadine Keller, Bruce St James, Dwayne Marcum, Adam Mitchell, Danny Sheridan, David Sinsley, Seth Wilson, and Rick Zeihl) will get $2500 and be the 2004 Wagsdash Champion. The weekend starts out at Cronies Sports Bar on Friday night in Ventura with some fans and racers mingling together for fun. Then at noon on Saturday, Mrs Wags Chili Feed starts amidst an ongoing auction and much more activity for the whole family. Who will be the 2004 Sexy Driver voted by the crowd? Who will win the Pit Stop Contest and collect some fast cash? There will be many racing items available in the auction that ends 5 minutes after the semi checkered flag and the intermission starts. All the money raised during the day and evening will go into the Wagsdash purse and paid directly to the racers. That means the drivers will get more involved with the activities because it only benefits them. Come early and stay late for all the action and fun, it will be delicious! Note, I need to borrow a few EZ-UP’s to protect the auction and bake sale. FEATURE: (30 laps) NEW VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,373; 2-Gardner-1,300; 3-Kirby-1,295; 4-Rutherford-948; 5-Bragg-799; 6-Ostling-749; 7-Jones-743; 8-Cody-713; 9-Spencer-677; 10-Venard-634. |
