PHOENIX, AZ, May 19 --
No surprises Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway with the reigning "Master
of Manzy", Richard Griffin, taking the checkered flag first in a Sprint Car
Racing Association (SCRA) main event.
Since joining the Ron Chaffin Team in 1996, Griffin and his crew chief Bruce
Bromme, Jr. have teamed up for 15 Manzanita victories. Even though he
lives in New Mexico, make no mistake, Griffin considers Manzanita Speedway his
home track and has done so since he was a student at Arizona State. But,
unlike many of his previous wins at "the track that action built",
pulling off a classic Manzy slide-job was harder than normal since threatening
skies and occasional light sprinkles kept the track moist and fast throughout
the night.
"We were hoping that the track would dry out a little more and widen out so
we'd have more room," Griffin said after posting his third SCRA win of the
year. "It was a good race track, it was just a little narrow all the
way
around tonight. When it's like that, you have less room to do a
slide-job."
One guy hoping not to see a Griffin slide-job was Rickie Gaunt. Left
without a ride after he and the Gardner Motorsports Team went their separate
ways earlier in the week, Gaunt landed a ride for the weekend in Mike Kirby's
backup car. Gaunt responded by winning his first JE Pistons Dash of the
season which put the Mark Alexander & Brad Geurin / Statewide Towing No. 5x
Stinger on the pole for the 30 lap ABC Sand & Rock feature.
After a prior false start with fellow front row starter John Scott, Gaunt and
Scott rubbed Hoosier tires exiting turn four as they came down to accept the
green flag for the official start of the race. The bump clearly benefited
Gaunt who led the field into turn one. Cory Kruseman passed Scott at the
end of the opening lap as Charles Davis, Jr., Mike English and Sander
Engineering fast qualifier Griffin followed.
Griffin made a daring outside pass on English in turn two on lap two, but
English had bigger problems than just being passed by Griffin after he cut a
right rear tire and coasted to a stop one lap later to bring out the yellow
flag. Gaunt was able to keep the Harlan Willis / Omni Turn No. 45 TCR
driven Kruseman behind after the restart. Davis was not as lucky, and
watched Griffin slide the Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race Mart No. 50 Jon Boy under
him for fourth place.
Kruseman tried a variety of lines hoping to find a way to get ahead of Gaunt.
Griffin, who passed Scott on lap seven, quickly made-up several
car-lengths to make it a three-way fight for the lead. Kruseman might have
been watching starter Lee Jaskowiak signaling that the race was half over when
Griffin slipped ahead of him for the second just before reaching the flagstand.
One circuit later, Gaunt was now close enough to start putting cars a lap down.
Perhaps feeling the pressure, Gaunt slid over the turn two cushion attempting to
overtake Jordan Hermansader. Somehow, Gaunt managed to keep Griffin behind
him. Lap 19 was even more remarkable after Gaunt tapped Hermansader and
was nearly collected by Griffin. Kruseman looked for a moment like he
might have a shot at passing both drivers, but fell back into third once he
realized that a couple of lapped cars had blocked his path.
With the top-seven cars now bunched together in lapped traffic, Griffin decided
that it was time to get aggressive. Utilizing his favorite move, the turn
three slide-job, Griffin took the lead from Gaunt on lap 25. The yellow
flag appeared one lap later for English who lost a left front wheel in turn one.
Despite losing his power steering halfway through the race, Gaunt was determined
not let his storybook type night end without a fight. Taking a page out of
Griffin's playbook, Gaunt jumped the "Gasman" on the restart and
took the lead back. Griffin was ready to respond by the time he reached
the back straightaway. Diving low for another slider, Griffin clipped the
infield berm in turn three. Griffin was momentarily a passenger as his
momentum carried him up the race track. Sensing what was about to happen,
Gaunt wisely drove over the cushion to avoid contact. Gaunt's discretion
did, however, allow both Griffin and Kruseman to pass.
"I knew Rickie was pumped-up tonight and was out there to prove he can win
a race. The bottom of turns three and four were still pretty tacky and he
hit a good restart and got by us," Griffin said. "Rickie knew I
was coming and moved down on the race track. He was trying to block and
stay on the cushion where he needed to be. He left me a little room and I
just came across the bottom a little lower than I should have and hooked the
left front on that berm and got up on two wheels. Luckily, Rickie gave us
room because we were basically committed and might of had a big wreck."
Kruseman gave chase in the final laps of the race, but just couldn't get close
enough to challenge Griffin. Driving his PACE Electronics No. 83 TCR,
Scott passed Gaunt on the final corner for third while Ostling gave the
Fischer Motorsports / Stress Relief Engineering No. 29 a second consecutive
top-five finish.
###
SCRA RACE #11 - MANZANITA SPEEDWAY, PHOENIX, AZ
Date of Race: 05/19/01
SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS
1. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50 , 19.003 2. Troy Rutherford, Ojai
CA, Gardner, Jr 4 , 19.024 3. Charles Davis, Jr, Chandler AZ, Morales 94 ,
19.093 4. Jeremy Sherman, Phoenix AZ, Ellis 21, 19.117 5. Casey
Shuman, Tempe AZ, Lake Mtrsprts 6 , 19,138 6. Mike
English, Norwalk CA, Priestley 7, 19.167 7. Tony Jones, Corona CA, Cowherd
48 , 19.212 8. Cory Kruseman, Ventura CA, Willis 45 , 19.239
9. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA., M&B Racing 5X , 19.346 10. John
Scott, Hesperia CA, Scott Mtrsprts 83, 19.391 11. Mike Kirby,
Lomita CA.,M&B Racing 5, 19.416 12. Rick Ziehl, Las Cruces NM, G&N
Motorsports 35 19.468 13. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA.,
Jory 3, 19.503 14. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85 ,
19.553 15. Steve Ostling, Corona CA., Fischer Mtrspts 29 , 19.580
16. Bob Ream Jr, Glendale AZ, Brat Racing 8 , 19.598 17.
Michael Hinrichsen, (R) Lakeside CA, Lake Mtrsprts. 16 , 19.621 18. Hank
Winter, Tucson AZ, Winter 33 , 19.637 19. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA,
Mitchell 99 , 19.758 20. George Gervais, Mira Loma CA, Gervais 9 , 19.769
21. Steve Cushman, Mesa AZ, Cushman 30AZ, 19.775 22. Jeff Slinkard,
Scottsdale AZ, Taylor 61 , 19.837 23. Keith Williamson, Pomona CA,
Williamson 95, 19.887 24. Jordan
Hermansader, Long Beach CA, Pratt 12, 19.903 25. Mike Spencer,
(R) Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 19.993 26. Cal Smith, Montclair
CA, Francis 65 , 20.064 27. Paul Norbury, Prescott
Valley AZ, Carsten 91SM, 20.090 28. Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria CA,
Sertich 92, 20.139 29. Ronnie Clark, (R) Tucson AZ, Winter 138
, 20.438 30. Glenn Crossno, (R) Alta Loma CA, Crossno 38, 20.611 31.
Jimmy Gardner, (R) Garden Grove CA, Gardner Jr 96 , 20.615 32. Tom Dice,
Chino Valley AZ, Dice 66, 24.172
HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1
1. Mike Spencer, 2. Michael Hinrichsen, 3. Rickie Gaunt, 4. Richard
Griffin, 5. Rip Williams, 6. Ronnie Clark, 7. Casey Shuman, 8.
Steve Cushman,
SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2
1. Mike English, 2. Hank Winter, 3. Cal Smith, 4. John Scott, 5. Lance
Gremett, 6. Glenn Crossno, 7. Jeff Slinkard, 8. Troy Rutherford,
KSE PRODUCTS HEAT 3
1. Keith Williamson, 2, Steve Ostling, 3. Charles Davis, Jr, 4. Mike
Kirby, 5. Tony Jones, 6. Adam Mitchell, 7. Jimmy Gardner, 8. Paul Norbury,
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS HEAT 4
1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Jordan Hermansader, 3. Bob Ream Jr, 4. George
Gervais, 5. Jeremy Sherman, 6. Danny Sheridan, 7. Rick Ziehl,
JE PISTONS DASH
1. Rickie Gaunt. 2. John Scott. 3. Mike English, 4. Cory Kruseman. 5.
Richard Griffin. 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 7. Mike Kirby. 8. Steve
Ostling.
JB ENTERPRISE B FEATURE
1. Tony Jones. 2. Casey Shuman. 3. Adam Mitchell, 4. Danny Sheridan. 5.
Steve Cushman. 6. Ronnie Clark. 7. Troy Rutherford. 8. Rick Ziehl. 9.
Glenn Crossno. 10. Jeremy Sherman. 11, Rip Williams. 12. Lance
Gremett. 13. Jimmy Gardner.
ABC SAND & ROCK A FEATURE
1. Richard Griffin. 2. Cory Kruseman. 3. John Scott. 4. Rickie Gaunt. 5. Steve
Ostling. 6. Charles Davis, Jr. 7. Tony Jones, 8. Mike Kirby, 9. Casey Shuman.
10. Bob Ream Jr. 11. Michael Hinrichsen. 12. Hank Winter. 13. Danny
Sheridan. 14. Ronnie Clark, 15. Cal Smith. 16. Adam Mitchell. 17. Jordan
Hermansader. 18. Mike Spencer. 19. Keith Williamson. 20. George Gervais. 21.
Mike English. 22. Steve Cushman.
Laps Led: Gaunt 1-24, Griffin 25-30
CAR
NAME
HOMETOWN STARTS
POINTS
1. 45 Cory Kruseman
Ventura CA
11 761
2. 50 Richard Griffin
Silver City NM
11 596
3. 83 John Scott
Hesperia CA
11 591
4. 48 Tony Jones
Corona CA
11 566
5. 4 Troy
Rutherford
Ojai CA
11 559
6. 29 Steve Ostling
Corona CA
11 514
7. 5 Mike Kirby
Lomita CA
11 483
8. 7 Mike English
Norwalk CA
11 435
9. 3 Rip Williams
Yorba Linda CA
11 430
10. 94 Charles Davis, Jr
Chandler AZ
11 382
11. 11 Troy Cline
Santa Clarita CA
7 341
12. 5X Rickie Gaunt
Torrance CA
11 330
13. 92 Danny Sheridan
Santa Maria CA
11 305
14. 21 Jeremy Sherman
Phoenix AZ
6 283
15. 19 Rodney Argo
Hawthorne CA
10 248
16. 6 Casey Shuman
Tempe AZ
11 244
17. 33 Hank Winter
Tucson AZ
11 229
18. 17 Greg DeCaires
Elk Grove CA
10 205
19. 99 Adam Mitchell
Escondido CA
11 175
20. 84 Alex Grigoreas
Chino CA
7 167
###
