July3, 2005...Cory Kruseman, from Ventura, California,
took the lead on lap 19 and “kruised” to a 50 lap victory in
front of a packed house at Perris Auto Speedway this week. The
eighteenth Valvoline USAC/CRA series race of the season was racy
from the start as Danny Sheridan took the lead from the start
and drove a hard line maintaining it until Cory caught him. The
battle between them wasn’t settled for several laps as they
swapped the lead several times until Kruseman surged ahead for good.
Cory drove the ITI Performance, Sander Engineering, Bullitt, Downing
engines # 38 to a heat race win before starting sixth in the main
event. He quickly moved into second and worked hard to take the lead
from Showtime Sheridan. There battle was fun to watch as the track
didn't slick up in spite of the heat and wind.
Mrs Wags has the Firecracker 50 pics ready. Click
here.
It was Cory’s fourth win of the season and 72nd on my all time
So Cal list putting him in 6th there. Cory was hot in his heat, high
balling it from his sixth place starting spot to win going away.
After last weeks disappointment in not finishing that race, he was
totally focused on taking another 50 lapper at the PAS. In victory
circle he said “hopefully this gets the monkey off our back and
now we can win some races.”
Danny Sheridan hasn’t had a lot of luck lately, but
almost pulled his first win out this week when he finished second in
the Kittle owned, El Camino Pipe & Supply, Red Line Oil,
Stinger, Pick # 18. Danny tied his best ever 410 finish as he was on
his game to give Cory a tough battle for his win and he stayed
nearby trying to reel him in the rest of the way. Danny broke a
driveshaft just as he crossed the finish line in winning his heat.
Steve Ostling had a pretty good night getting on the
podium for the first time in the Nadine Keller owned car. He
started 4th and dropped back to about 9th before returning up front
in the Simpson, MJB Plating, Sled, Raney # 5 car. He passed the
point leader for his finishing spot, and made the night a good one.
Damion Gardner had rear end problems early in the main
event and couldn’t get the new gears installed before the next
restart and was the first car out. Tony Jones won his second
trophy dash in a row, started seventh in the main and cruised up to
third before a muffler fell off the car and he also had a flat tire.
He too couldn’t make it back on the next restart and was the
second car out. Mike Kirby started 18th, had a flat tire
midway thru the race and came from the back to get eighth. Rip
Williams started 18th in the feature and finished 4th for the
hard charger of the night award. Rip leads Gardner in the
championship points by over 100 as he continues to pad his lead.
Verne Sweeney returned after a long absence and put his
familiar # 98 on the track. He missed the main from the semi on the
first night out in at least a year. Davey Pombo made his
first appearance at the PAS and looked strong until he pulled off in
the main.
The club will be off the next two weeks, going quiet for the
Indiana Sprint Week, returning on July 23rd to the PAS. Then a two
race trip to Skagit in Washington comes next with Perris and four
different tracks alternating each week until October arrives. The
dog days of summer are coming! I should get a little rest with the
time off as I am not going to Indiana this year for the first time
in a while.
VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 2, 2005
– Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – “Firecracker
50”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Johnny Rodriguez, 7R, Priestley-16.980; 2.
Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.992; 3. Tony Jones, 87,
Vermeer/Ferreira-17.024; 4. Davey Pombo, 3p, Pombo-17.120; 5. Cory
Kruseman, 38, Crossno-17.144; 6. Charles Davis, Jr., 8A,
Smiley-17.202; 7. Bobby Cody, 41, Cody-17.227; 8. Steve Ostling, 5,
Keller-17.260; 9. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-17.318; 10. Danny
Sheridan, 18, Kittle-17.345; 11. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.345; 12.
Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-17.349; 13. R.J. Johnson, 15az,
Martin-17.426; 14. J. Hicks, 66, Miller-17.437; 15. Greg Bragg, 33,
Blair-17.476; 16. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster-17.550; 17. Mike
Kirby, 4, Alexander-17.580; 18. Jordan Hermansader, 92,
Sertich-17.600; 19. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.635; 20. Tom
Stansberry, 48, Bach-17.670; 21. Troy Rutherford, 11,
Wilkerson-17.690; 22. Jimmy Crawford, 17c, Crawford-17.733; 23. Alan
Ballard, 97, Ballard-17.957; 24. Rick Becker, 67, Becker-17.977; 25.
Jimmy Thornell, 25, Ruth-18.005; 26. Verne Sweeney, 98,
Zoriki-18.133; 27. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-18.170; 28. Joshua
Williams, 34, Williams-18.207; 29. Richard Rose, 8N, Ziegler-18.209;
30. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-18.232; 31. Ronnie Case, 8,
Case-18.253; 32. Shawn Kautz, 29, Kautz-18.283; 33. Brandon
Springstead, 36, Springstead-18.423; 34. Dan Hillberg, 82,
Hillberg-18.487; 35. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-18.548; 36. Jim
Giardina, 58, Giardina-18.657; 37. Ryan Devitt, 35R,
Blenkarn-18.663; 38. Eric Severson, 36x, Severson-18.915; 39. David
Sinsley, 69, Sinsley-19.179; 40. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-19.393.
Snap-On Tools Trophy DASH: (3 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Pombo, 3.
Gardner, 4. Rodriguez. :55:10
CONSOLATION RACE: (8 laps) 1. Springstead, 2. Keller, 3. Devitt,
4. Hillberg, 5. Sinsley, 6. Giardina, 7. Severson, 8. Stewart.
2:32:30
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. Kirby, 3. Gaunt, 4.
Rutherford, 5. Johnson, 6. Thornell, 7. Rose, 8, Springstead, 9.
Rodriguez. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Sheridan, 2. Gardner, 3. Davis, 4.
Hermansader, 5. Crawford, 6. Hicks, 7. Keller, 8. Wilson, 9.
Sweeney. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Williams, 2. Jones, 3. Ford, 4.
Cardey, 5. Cody, 6. Devitt, 7, Ballard, 8.Case, 9. Bragg. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Ostling, 3. Becker, 4.
Graham, 5. J.Williams, 6. Pombo, 7. Stansberry, 8. Hillberg, 9.
Kautz. 3:07:41
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Pombo, 2. Rodriguez, 3. Johnson, 4. Cody, 5.
Crawford, 6. Bragg, 7. Thornell, 8. Hicks, 9. Ballard, 10.
J.Williams, 11. Kautz, 12. Case, 13. Springstead, 14. Sweeney, 15.
Rose, 16. Devitt, 17. Keller, 18. Hillberg, 19. Stansberry, 20.
Wilson. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Steve
Ostling, 4. Rip Williams, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Charles Davis, Jr., 7.
Rickie Gaunt, 8. Mike Kirby, 9. Josh Ford, 10. Johnny Rodriguez, 11.
Jordan Hermansader, 12. Troy Rutherford, 13. David Cardey, 14. Greg
Bragg, 15. Rick Becker, 16. Bobby Cody, 17. Davey Pombo, 18. Alan
Ballard, 19. R.J. Johnson, 20. Bobby Graham, 21. Jimmy Crawford, 22.
Tony Jones, 23. Damion Gardner. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Sheridan, Lap 17 Kruseman, Lap 18
Sheridan, Laps 19-50 Kruseman.
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-R.Williams-1,051;
2-Gardner-938; 3-Kruseman-914; 4-Kirby-888; 5-Davis-880;
6-Gaunt-760; 7-Jones-537; 8-Spencer-535; 9-Ballard-519; 10-Ford-504.
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: July 23 – Perris (CA) Auto
Speedway
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