PERRIS, CA, October 6 --
"We had a lot of bad luck this year. We've been leading races and
have had all kinds of different things happen. Finally, everything came
together tonight and we were able to show everyone that we can still go,"
Rip Williams said, after gathering his first Sprint Car Racing Association
(SCRA) victory of the year Saturday at the Perris Auto Speedway.
Williams' win, the 54th of his illustrious SCRA career, comes in the 35th race
of the season. During the course of eight frustrating months of racing,
Williams has led 82 main event laps and posted 13 top-five finishes, including
six second place runs. All without a win. Despite a chassis change
during the season and a variety of strange occurrences that could only be
labeled as bad luck, Williams believes the majority of the difficulties he's
experienced this year can be attributed elsewhere.
"I think all of the problems we've had this year have been related more to
horsepower. On our best days we had 730 horsepower, now we're up around
800 horsepower," Williams candidly stated. "Ever since we put
this new Shaver engine in we've been extremely fast and now we're just dialing
in the car. We got some big money races coming up and I think we've got a
handle on it now."
Rickie Gaunt celebrated his 33rd birthday by winning his fifth JE Pistons Dash
of the season. Starting on the pole for the 30 lap feature, Gaunt led the
Sharon Jory / Vista Paint No. 3 Gambler driven by Williams at the end of
the opening lap as Troy Rutherford, Richard Griffin and Danny Sheridan followed
closely behind.
Williams pressured Gaunt right front the outset of the race and pulled nearly
even with the leader coming down to complete the third lap. While Williams
searched for traction in the middle of turn two, Griffin used the cushion to
dart around the outside of him on lap six to put the Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race
Mart No. 50 Jon Boy into the second spot. One circuit later, Griffin
passed Gaunt for the lead at the flagstand. Williams followed Griffin
passing Gaunt entering turn one. Before the end of the eighth lap,
Williams exited the bottom of turn four ahead of Griffin and securely in the
lead.
"There was a lot of race track down there and they kind of got in the loose
stuff and I got in the good stuff and away we went," Williams smiled.
"We've been close a lot of times this year and it's unfortunate for the
team and
everyone involved that we haven't ripped one off yet. I'd just like to
thank Jack and Sharon Jory for putting one heck of a race car under me and never
giving up on me. Tonight, I was either going to wear it or win it, and
once
I got out front, I just tried to run away from them so I didn't get any slide
jobs."
Run away is exactly what Williams did. With the exception of a brief
moment in lapped traffic with 12 laps to go, no one ever got close enough to
challenge Williams, who went on to win to by a half a straightaway. With
Kruseman and Griffin combining for 23 wins this season, Williams' wins makes him
only the eighth different driver this season to win an SCRA main event.
Even though Williams was some distance ahead, there was still some great racing
for position behind him, most notably from Sheridan who gave the Tom & Lauri
Sertich / Jan's Health Bar No. 92 Buckley a spectacular late race run.
Shortly after passing the Harlan Willis / WorldGate Networks No. 45 TCR driven
by Kruseman for the fourth spot, Sheridan made a beautiful move exiting turn
four passing a lapped car, as well as Gaunt and Griffin.
Griffin moved back into second place one lap later only to have Sheridan take
the position back for good coming down to accept the white flag. Much to
the delight of the crowd, one could have thrown the proverbial blanket over
Sheridan, Griffin, Kruseman, Gaunt and two lapped cars as they came across the
line to finish the race. Mike Kirby finished sixth behind his teammate
Gaunt and won the TW Metals Hard Charger Award after starting 14th in the
Alexander-Geurin / Statewide Towing No. 5 Stinger.
###
SCRA RACE #35 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA
Date of Race: 10/06/01
HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1
1. Mike English, 2. Mike Kirby, 3, Richard Griffin, 4. Lance Gremett, 5. Michael
Hinrichsen, 6. Jeff Schildmeyer, 7. Rodney Argo,
SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2
1. Jeremy Sherman, 2. Verne Sweeney, 3. John Scott, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Mike
Spencer, 6. Dan Hillberg, 7. Charlie Ekiss, 8. Paul Beregszaszy, 9. Steve
Koster,
KSE PRODUCTS HEAT 3
1. Jordan Hermansader, 2. Charles Davis, Jr, 3. Bobby Graham, 4. Cal Smith, 5.
Dan Tedrick, 6. Tony Jones,
7. Jarrett Chaney, 8. Jack DeArmond, Jr.,
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS HEAT 4
1. Peter Murphy, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Eric Rossi, 4. Brian Venard, 5. Adam
Mitchell, 6. Greg DeCaires, 7. Mel Murphy, 8, Jimmy Gardner,
JE PISTONS DASH
1. Rickie Gaunt. 2. Rip Williams. 3. Cory Kruseman. 4. Troy Rutherford. 5. Danny
Sheridan, 6. Richard Griffin. 7. Charles Davis, Jr.
JB ENTERPRISE B FEATURE
1. Adam Mitchell. 2. Rodney Argo. 3. Michael Hinrichsen. 4. Greg DeCaires. 5.
Jarrett Chaney. 6. Mike Spencer. 7. Ronnie Clark. 8. Dan Hillberg, 9. Jack
DeArmond, Jr., 10. Charlie Ekiss. 11. Paul Beregszaszy, 12.
Jeff Schildmeyer. 13. Mel Murphy. 14. Dan Tedrick, 15. Jimmy
Gardner, 16. Steve Koster.
A FEATURE (30 Laps)
1. Rip Williams. 2. Danny Sheridan. 3. Richard Griffin. 4. Cory Kruseman. 5.
Rickie Gaunt. 6. Mike Kirby. 7. Rodney Argo. 8. Charles Davis, Jr. 9. Troy
Rutherford. 10. Steve Ostling. 11. Greg DeCaires. 12. Jeremy
Sherman. 13. Adam Mitchell. 14. Peter Murphy. 15. Mike English. 16.
Jarrett Chaney. 17. Eric Rossi. 18. Bobby Graham. 19. Brian Venard. 20.
Verne Sweeney. 21. Jordan Hermansader. 22. Lance Gremett. 23.
Michael Hinrichsen. 24. Cal Smith.
Laps Led: Gaunt 1-6, Griffin 7, Williams 8-30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIVISION: SCRA Driver Point Standings as of: 10/06/01
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
CAR NAME
HOMETOWN
STARTS POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
1. 45 Cory Kruseman
Ventura CA
35 2374
2. 50 Richard Griffin
Silver City NM 33
2064
3. 4 Troy Rutherford
Ojai CA
35 2019
4. 5 Mike Kirby
Lomita CA
34 1798
5. 83 John Scott
Hesperia CA 35 1730
6. 5X Rickie Gaunt
Torrance CA 35 1629
7. 3 Rip Williams
Yorba Linda CA 35
1601
8. 29 Steve Ostling
Corona CA
34 1476
9. 7 Mike English
Norwalk CA
34 1418
10. 94 Charles Davis, Jr
Chandler AZ 34 1305
11. 92 Danny Sheridan
Santa Maria CA 34
1228
12. 21J Tony Jones
Corona CA
23 1086
13. 19 Rodney Argo
Gardena CA 27 921
14. 2IJ Troy Cline
Santa Clarita CA 19 870
15. 85 Lance Gremett
San Marcos CA 35
712
16. 99 Adam Mitchell
Escondido CA
31 704
17. 16 Michael Hinrichsen
(R) Lakeside CA 35 635
18. 69 Jarrett Chaney
Clovis CA
20 571
19. 17 Greg DeCaires
Elk Grove CA
19 555
20. 14 Bobby Graham
Riverside CA
26 527
