LAS VEGAS, NV, JUNE 29, 2002 - Two weeks ago at Santa Maria Speedway, Richard Griffin won the Sander Engineering Fast Time Award before driving to victory
in the 30-lap  NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event. Griffin repeated that feat Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  It was the 40th career SCRA win for the three-time series champion and current point leader.

"I told someone earlier in the day that I would sure like to win one here since we hadn't won before in Vegas.  In fact, I don't think our finishes had been all that great here.  We came here tonight and set a new track record and followed that up by winning the main event," said Griffin, who posted eighth and sixth place finishes during the other two SCRA visits to LVMS back in 1997.   

Danny Sheridan earned the pole for the feature race after winning his first JE Pistons Dash of the year.  Outside front row starter Damion Gardner won the drag race to the green flag and proceeded to lead Sheridan, Rodney Argo, Jeremy Sherman and Mike Kirby at the end of lap one.  Last week's winner, Cory Kruseman, moved his WorldGate Networks No.1 TCR from eighth to sixth on the opening lap while Griffin saw his Ron Chaffin owned Arizona Race Mart No. 50 Jon Boy lose ground early in the race.

"When the race started I thought we were terrible and that we were going to end up in real bad shape because we were so loose," said Griffin.  "We went with the hardest tire because my crew chief (Bruce Bromme, Jr.) thought the track was going to start laying down rubber.  Five to ten laps into the race it started laying down rubber like he thought, and the car tacked-up, and we started going forward."

With Argo now in second place and Kirby in third, Gardner enjoyed a full straight away lead when he reached the last place car on lap seven.  Jordan Hermansader negated Gardner's huge lead on lap ten when he stopped in turn one and brought out the second yellow flag of the race.  As the race progressed, tire wear was becoming more of a concern.  Dan Hillberg's contact with the turn one wall on lap 12 gave everyone the first hint that the race may also be plagued by caution periods.

Justin Marvel lined-up for the restart between the first and second place cars.  Third place Kirby tried to split the lapped car and Argo entering turn three moments after the track went green.  Normally calculating and precise, Kirby rode over Marvel's right rear tire and suffered the hardest flip of his SCRA career.  Rickie Gaunt tangled with Sheridan trying to avoid Kirby and flipped as well.  Gaunt returned to finish 14th.  Kirby was not as lucky and sat in his car for several minutes following his high end over end ride. Despite being in obvious discomfort, Kirby walked away from the accident scene.  

During the stoppage, Gardner was one of four drivers who watched their crews make tire changes.  By SCRA rule, each of those cars was sent to the rear of the field for the restart.  Argo assumed the lead of the restart and was immediately overtaken by the Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightliners No. 7 Stealth driven by Sherman coming down to accept the green flag.  Compounding his problems, Argo skated wide in turn four and fell to the sixth position. Lap 17 saw the red flag wave again after Mike Spencer's car tipped on its side from contact with the turn one wall. 

"Bruce told me during the red flags that I had to be as easy as I could on the tires if we were going to make it to the end of the race," Griffin said.  "Sure enough, we had plenty of tire and by slowing down I actually think we went a little faster."

Still pacing himself, Griffin smoothly ran in second place once racing resumed.  In contrast, Gardner was giving the Anne Wilkerson No. 11A an extremely aggressive ride.  One lap after the restart, Gardner had worked his way from the back of the pack to run fifth.  Two laps after that, he passed Bobby Graham along the back straight for fourth.

Back up front, Griffin knew that he had conserved his tires long enough and drove around the outside of Sherman on lap 21 to take the lead entering turn three.  While Sherman, Kruseman and Gardner battled over the runner-up spot without change, Griffin sped away to his second victory of the season. 

Graham came across the line in fifth to give car owner Carol Crossno her second top-five finish in three weeks.  Marvel not only found his way back onto the lead lap, but also won the KSE Hard Charger Award after driving the Las Vegas based Linda Lancaster No. 14T from the 17th starting position to finish ninth.

SCRA RACE #16 - LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, LAS VEGAS, NV
Date of Race: 06/29/02

SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS
1. Richard Griffin, Chaffin 50, 18.585 (NTR)
2. Steve Ostling, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 18.647
3. Tony Jones, Vermeer/Jones 87, 18.721
4. Bobby Graham, Crossno 38, 18.785
5. Cory Kruseman, Willis 1, 18.911
6. Mike Kirby, Geurin 5, 18.945
7. Damion Gardner, Wilkerson 11A, 18.960
8. Danny Sheridan, DiDonato 57, 19.002
9. John Scott, Scott Mtrsprts 83, 19.065
10. Jeremy Sherman, Preistley 7, 19.087
11. Rodney Argo, Argo 19, 19.168
12. Jordan Hermansader, Lancaster 14, 19.253
13. Gary W. Howard, Ruth 25, 19.303
14. Mike Hinrichsen, Hinrichsen 16, 19.345
15. Charles Davis, Jr., Davis 94, 19.403
16. Rip Williams, Jory 3, 19.403
17. Mark Nation, Nation #N, 19.413
18. Rickie Gaunt, Alexander 4, 19.434
19. Adam Mitchell, Mitchell 99, 19.580
20. Justin Marvel, Lancaster 14T, 19.613
21. Mike Spencer, Engstrom 44 , 19.650
22. Rick Ziehl, R&R Racing 35, 19.672
23. Troy Rutherford, Cheney 21J, 19.673
24. Bobby Cody (R), Cody 41, 19.825
25. Mark Heidenreich, Heidenreich 22, 19.830
26. Brain Venard, Venard 47, 19.871
27. Jay Ervine, RJ Motorsports 21N, 19.921
28. Dan Hillberg, Hillberg 82, 19.990
29. Mel Murphy, Murphy 62, 19.994
30. Tony Everhart, Everhart 55, 20.270
31. Jack DeArmond, Jr., DeArmond, Jr. 24, 20.464
32. Tony Smiley, Smiley 2, 20.752
33. Tom Wilhelm, Wilhelm 64, 21.652
34. Mike English, Jory 6, No Time

HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1
1. Howard, 2. Griffin, 3. Kruseman, 4. Nation, 5. Spencer, 6. Heidenreich, 7. Wilhelm, 8. Scott, 9. Murphy,

SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2
1. Gaunt, 2. Kirby, 3. Ziehl, 4. Sherman, 5. Ostling, 6. Venard, 7. Henrichsen, 8. Everhart,

SPIN TECH MUFFLERS / STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 3
1. Rutherford, 2. Davis, 3. Argo, 4. Gardner, 5. Jones, 6. Mitchell, 7. Ervine, 8. DeArmond,
 
STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4
1. Cody, 2. Williams, 3. Marvel, 4. Sheridan, 5. Graham, 6. Hermansader, 7. Hillberg, 8. Smiley,

JE PISTONS DASH
1. Sheridan. 2. Gardner. 3. Kirby. 4. Argo. 5. Sherman. 6. Griffin. 7. Howard. 8. Kruseman.

B FEATURE
1. Jones. 2. Graham. 3. Scott. 4. Hermansader. 5. Spencer. 6. Hillberg. 7. DeArmond. 8. Ervine. 9. Venard. 10. Smiley. 11. Murphy. 12. Ostling. 13. Heidenreich. 14. Mitchell. 15. Hinrichsen. 16. Wilhelm

A FEATURE (30 Laps)
1. Griffin. 2. Sherman. 3. Kruseman. 4. Gardner.  5. Graham.  6. Scott. 7. Howard. 8. Williams. 9. Marvel. 10. Rutherford. 11. Sheridan. 12. Jones. 13. Ziehl. 14. Gaunt. 15. Argo. 16. Cody. 17. Nation. 18. Spencer. 19. Kirby. 20. Hillberg. 21. Hermansader, 22. Davis. 
Laps Led: Gardner 1-11, Sherman 12-20, Griffin 21-30

SCRA DRIVER POINTS as of 6/30/02
     CAR   NAME              HOMETOWN      STARTS POINTS

    1.  50  Richard Griffin Silver City NM      16  940
    2.  1   Cory Kruseman   Ventura CA          16  911
    3.  29  Steve Ostling   Corona CA           16  869
    4.  87  Tony Jones      Garden Grove CA 16  859
    5.  3   Rip Williams    Yorba Linda CA      16  819
    6.  83  John Scott      Hesperia CA     16  795
    7.  5   Mike Kirby      Torrance CA     15  778
    8.  7   Jeremy Sherman  Phoenix AZ      15  768
    9.  11A Damion Gardner  Concord CA      15  709
    10. 4   Rickie Gaunt    Torrance CA     16  618
    11. 94  Charles Davis, Jr   Buckeye AZ  16  612
    12. 21J Troy Rutherford     Ojai CA         12  566
    13. 6   Mike English        Norwalk CA      16  538
    14. 25  Gary W. Howard  Fontana CA      13  510
    15. 38  Bobby Graham        Riverside CA    16  504
    16. 19  Rodney Argo     Gardena CA  14  346
    17. 57  Danny Sheridan      Santa Maria CA  13  331
    18. 41  Bobby Cody      (R) Costa Mesa CA   16  279
    19. 99  Adam Mitchell       Escondido CA    13  255
    20. 44  Mike Spencer        Temecula CA 15  23