10/0105...What can you say after another carbon copy victory
by the Demon? For the 19th record setting time Damion Gardner
set fast time and started eighth in the main Event. For the 13th
time this season, and 21st in two years, he won a Valvoline USAC/CRA
race and took over the point lead from Rip Williams in the process.
In the winners circle he said “ all I am trying to do is get smart
about it and the wins will continue to come.”
Mrs Wags pics are ready Click
here.
Damion drove the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply – Arizona
Race Mart, Eagle, Shaver # 50, to the front with authority again and
left no doubt who is the baddest of them all in this territory for
now. He holds the USAC record for most fast times and actually broke
Tom Begelow’s record of 13 set in 1978 on July 23rd at the PAS. He
is now 12th on the all time west coast win list with 34, passing
Eddie Wirth and Mike Sweeney this week. Mike Spencer
continues his dazzling driving this week and captured second behind
the new point leader. “Slick Mike” has really been in the thick
of things in recent races. He was third quick and won his second
Snap-on Tools Trophy dash, and his heat to set his sights on the
“Dean Thompson award” which will be awarded to the first driver
who wins the dash, a heat and the feature. Mike was just a tick away
from it, and put on a show after falling back to about seventh and
rolling up on the podium to second. Driving the Murrieta Development
– Spenco Machine, TCR, R.C. Performance # 44 owned by Hal Engstrom,
this young driver is destined to win soon!
Cory Kruseman is one of the most accomplished drivers in
the country with 75 victories and 12 with USAC/CRA. Add his USAC
National wins, plus the two Chili Bowl, two Indiana Sprint Week and
two Oval National wins and you have a proven winner. This week he
drove the ITI Performance – Sander Engineering, Bullet, Downing #
38 into position to challenge the winner, but an ill fated change of
lane towards the wall ended any hopes of getting his 8th win this
season when he lost a spot late in the race and finished third.
Tony Jones continues to charge forward to get his elusive
first win of the year. The team works hard on the Ferreira Dairy
sponsored # 87 and a new bullet showed excellent promise this week
when he was second quick and started seventh in the main. On the
second lap a groan was heard in the crowd as the blue car slowed to
a stop. He restarted in the back and then lit the tires up as he
climbed to fourth at the end, once again showing the skill that won
him an Oval Nationals and 15 other big wins in his career. He looks
like he is about to break out of the year long slump and bring one
home for the team.
Several weeks ago Mike Kirby decided to leave the
Alexander Trucking car and go on his own again. In the two weeks he
took off, he reunited his old crew and they thrashed together his
new TCR coil over car. They fired it on Wednesday night and when
they hit the track this week there was a small problem. With Crew
Chief Brett Roa off in the desert with his son Brody’s racing
adventures and arriving a little late, they finally traced it to an
electrical problem, but not before he got only one slow qualifying
lap on 7 cylinders. He won his heat and started last in the main,
but ended up fifth for a grand night for the new team with the hard
charger award. The black # 96 will no doubt be out to get some of
the glory left this year for the LA PREP sponsored beauty.
Wally Pankratz came for another run in Rip Williams backup
car this week and finished the main in 20th with some help. He was
very aggressive in the semi to make the transfer and had a big smile
for everyone as he wraps up his final year of racing.
The Wagsdash will be very special this year with this week’s
announcement of the Grand Marshall for the 15th annual event. Parnelli
Jones graciously accepted the honor of being recognized this
year by the Wagtimer’s and fans who will come to see this man and
get his autograph. Also added to the sponsors this week are The PAS,
Black Widow Racing, and JAF Photos.
Steve Lafond of Tear Off Heaven Fotos sent me his Lafond Jar of
Change that goes to the hard charger in this years Wagsdash. It will
be on display at the Legends of Ascot event at Perris on September
29th plus at the Wagsdash and will need addition coinage to fill it
up. Just drop your change in and see how big we can make it by race
day.
The trip to the new USA Race Park in Tucson, Arizona is up next
before a week off VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS:
October 1, 2005 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.273; 2. Tony
Jones, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira-16.557; 3. Mike Spencer, 44,
Engstrom-16.613; 4. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-16.736; 5. Steve
Ostling, 45, Willis-16.753; 6. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-16.811; 7.
Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-16.835; 8. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-16.915; 9.
Josh Ford, 73, Ford-16.935; 10. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-16.938;
11. Mike Leslie, 76, Montgomery-16.967; 12. Danny Ebberts, 77,
Acosta-16.975; 13. Greg Bragg, 33, Blair-16.987; 14. Seth Wilson,
17, Racing Optics-17.025; 15. Adam Mitchell, 14, Lancaster-17.080;
16. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-17.103; 17. J. Hicks, 4,
Alexander-17.110; 18. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.122; 19. Kevin Urton,
51, Urton-17.130; 20. Charles Davis Jr, 8A, Smiley-17.149; 21. David
Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.181; 22. Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg-17.290;
23. Johnny Rodriguez, 7, Priestley-17.395; 24. Wally Pankratz, 3X,
Jory-17.400; 25. Jordan Hermansader, 5, Keller-17.402; 26. Rick
Becker, 25, Ruth-17.440; 27. Randy Waitman, 64, Waitman-17.460; 28.
Ryan Devitt, 35R, Blenkarn-17.554; 29. Mike Kirby, 96, Kirby-17.565;
30. Robert Ellis, 43, Ellis-17.600; 31. Tom Stansberry, 48,
Bach-17.603; 32. Mark Heidenreich, 22, Heidenreich-17.765; 33.
Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-17.923; 34. Jim Giradina, 58,
Giardina-17.989; 35. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-18.059; 36. Joshua
Williams, 34, Williams-18.078; 37. Nate Ziegler, 8N, Ziegler-18.265;
38. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-18.329; 39. Dan Tedrick, 88,
Tedrick-18.730; 40. Ludvig Solverg IV, 13, Yamaha-20.249; 41. Jason
York, 25N, York-NT.
TROPHY DASH: (3 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Gardner, 3. Jones, 4.
Kruseman. :51:28
CONSI: (8 laps) 1. Giardina, 2. Keller, 3. J.Williams, 4.
Everhart, 5. Stewart, 6. York, 7. Tedrick, 8. Solverg, 9. Ziegler.
2:26:39
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kirby, 2. Cardey, 3. Gardner, 4. Ford,
5. Hermansader, 6. Bragg, 7. Ostling, 8. Hicks, 9. Giardina. 2:55:59
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Williams, 2. Hillberg, 3. Sheridan,
4. Jones, 5. Wilson, 6. Becker, 7. Ellis, 8. Keller, 9. Ballard. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Waitman, 3. Rodriguez, 4.
Urton, 5. Argo, 6. Stansberry, 7. J.Williams, 8. Leslie, 9.
Mitchell. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Kruseman, Gaunt, 4. Ebberts,
5. Devitt, 6. Pankratz, 7. Johnson, 8. Heidenreich, 9. Everhart.
2:54:55
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Argo, 2. Ostling, 3. Ballard, 4. Bragg, 5.
Wilson, 6. Pankratz, 7. Johnson, 8. Hermansader, 9. Devitt, 10.
Hicks, 11. Ellis, 12. Keller, 13. Leslie, 14. Stansberry, 15.
Becker, 16. Mitchell, 17. Heidenreich, 18. Giardina, 19. Everhart,
20. J.Williams. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Mike Spencer, 3. Cory
Kruseman, 4. Tony Jones, 5. Mike Kirby, 6. Rickie Gaunt, 7. Seth
Wilson, 8. David Cardey, 9. Greg Bragg, 10. Johnny Rodriguez, 11.
Danny Ebberts, 12. Danny Sheridan, 13. Dan Hillberg, 14. Randy
Waitman, 15. Rip Williams, 16. Josh Ford, 17. Charles Davis Jr, 18.
Alan Ballard, 19. Kevin Urton, 20. Wally Pankratz, 21. Steve
Ostling, 22. Rodney Argo. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-11 Ford, Laps 12-30 Gardner.
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Gardner-1,602;
2-R.Williams-1,581; 3-Kruseman-1,505; 4-Kirby-1,385; 5-Davis-1,214;
6-Gaunt-1,137; 7-Spencer-1,080; 8-Ford-975; 9-Sheridan-858;
10-Wilson-851.
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: October 8 – Tucson, AZ – USA
Race Park
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