PERRIS, CA, JULY 13, 2002 - Two weeks removed from the worst flip of his sprint car career, Mike Kirby returned to victory lane at the Perris Auto Speedway.  Saturday's 30-lap win was his third NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA triumph of the season.

"This pays some of the bills.  I think I destroyed $10,000 worth of race car in Vegas," Kirby said.  "This is a five or six year old car that we bought from Ron DiDonato and we appreciate those guys helping us out.  We're putting a new car together to get ready for the (NWWC) tour.  It's been an expensive year.  We broke two motors, and then, tearing that car up in Vegas didn't help, because that was a really good car and was the car I wanted to take back east."

One of the two motors that Kirby "broke" now sits in the Alexander Trucking No. 4 Stinger which started on the pole after Rickie Gaunt drove it to victory in the JE Pistons Dash.  Richard Griffin started outside of Gaunt to set up a showdown for the lead between two men that each won SCRA main events last week. 

Gaunt got a great jump at the start and easily led the field into the first turn.  Lap one ended with Gaunt as the leader followed by Griffin, Bobby Graham, Damion Gardner and Mike English.  Tony Jones, who started eighth, was on the move early and darted into the fourth spot on lap two after passing Gardner and English in turn one.  Moments later, Graham passed Griffin for second place. 

Kirby started fourth for the main event, but lost a few positions on the opening lap. Using the bottom line, Kirby worked his Brad & Nancy Geurin No. 5 Stinger back to fifth by the end of the seventh circuit. 

While Graham was busy being pestered for second place by Griffin and Jones, Gaunt was able to extend his lead.  Gaunt's sizable lead would, however, be erased shortly after reaching lapped traffic on the eleventh lap.  Faced with a slower pack of cars fighting three-wide, at times in front of him, Gaunt made all the right moves until lap 15 when he drifted over the cushion and slapped the turn two wall.  Graham darted into the lead for the first time in his SCRA career while Gaunt fell to fourth behind Jones and Griffin.  Jones'
time in the runner-up spot came to an end one lap later after he hooked the turn two cushion and tipped on his side after a minor bump from Griffin.

Graham pulled away from Griffin on the restart, thanks to a couple of lapped cars between himself and "The Gasman".  Summer weather conditions and a steady breeze resulted in a slick racing surface and a tall cushion.  Graham and Griffin each ran the cushion in turns three and four, but Graham found the bottom of turns one and two to his liking.  Kirby observed Graham's tactics and changed his line accordingly.       

"I was running the bottom all the way around and Brett Roa (crew chief) wanted me to run the top.  I watched Graham and he was pulling Griffin, so I tried it and it was pretty good," said Kirby, who continued on by explaining why he enjoyed the drier track conditions.  "It makes you work for it.  If it's sticky and fast, hell, everyone can drive that.  It was a driver and crew chief's track, and if you noticed, all the good guys were running up front.  I think we just hit the setup a little better than everyone else."   

With ten laps to go, the top five cars were all in position to win.  Kirby took advantage of a slight miscue by Griffin and moved into the second spot on lap 22. One lap later, Graham missed his mark and slid off the bottom of turn one giving, Kirby all the help he needed to move into the lead.

Griffin moved into second and made it interesting, at times, by riding exclusively on the cushion.  Ultimately, Kirby's line proved better, and in the end, the only challenges Kirby faced were the result of cautions flags that waved three different times after he had already received the white flag.    

"Them yellow flags were killing me," Kirby said as he shook his head in disbelief.  "You always get a little nervous, you just try to keep doing the same things and run the same line.  I knew I had a good race car and that always makes things a little easier.  It was a good night for the Statewide Towing Team."

Steve Ostling tried to make things a little more difficult, but had to settle for giving the Fischer Motorsports / SRE No. 29 Okie a second place finish. Rip Williams started the race in the 20th position and won the KSE Hard Charger Award after driving Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners No. 3 Gambler to a third place finish.  Williams' teammate, English was fourth ahead of Gaunt. The final restarted proved costly for Griffin and he was shuffled back to a sixth place finish after he jumped the cushion.  A power steering problem in
the closing laps would cause Graham to drop to a seventh place finish.

Cory Kruseman starting the evening by winning the Sander Engineering Fast Qualifier Award.  However, motor problems in his heat race sidelined Kruseman for the night.  It was the first time in the last 66 races that Kruseman's name didn't appear in the starting lineup for an SCRA A-Main event. 
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SCRA RACE #19 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA
Date of Race: 07/13/02

SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS
1. Cory Kruseman, Ventura CA, Willis 1, 17.204  2. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer/Jones 87, 17.282  3. Bobby Graham, Riverside CA, Crossno 38, 17.285  4. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory 6, 17.443  5. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Cheney 21J, 17.519  6. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 17.530  7. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4, 17.568  8. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50, 17.675  9. Jordan Hermansader, Long Beach CA, Lancaster 14, 17.732  10. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Geurin 5, 17.769 11. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85, 17.807  12. Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 17.821  13. Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria CA, DiDonato 57, 17.855  14. Dan Hillberg, Whittier CA, Hillberg 82, 17.913  15. John Scott, Hesperia CA, Scott Mtrsprts 83, 17.945  16. Charles Davis, Jr, Buckeye AZ, Davis 94, 18.037  17. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 18.041 
18. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 18.063  19. Tom Downing, Lakewood
CA, Downing 90, 18.123  20. Bobby Cody, (R) Costa Mesa CA, Cody 41, 18.298 21. Keith Williamson, Pomona CA, Williamson 95, 18.365  22. Gary W. Howard, Fontana CA, Ruth 25, 18.397  23. Cary Faas, Yorba Linda CA, Faas 37, 18.420 24. Casey Shuman, Tempe AZ, Pratt 12, 18.540  25. Jack DeArmond, Jr., Corona CA, DeArmond, Jr. 24, 18.575  26. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 18.633  27. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49, 18.688  28. Tony Lima, Industry CA, Lima 30, 18.758  29. Rodney Argo, Gardena CA, Argo 19, 18.868 30. Mark Heidenreich, (R) Upland CA, Heidenreich 22, 18.892  31. Mel Murphy, Woodcrest CA, Murphy 62, 19.093 32. Randy Waitman, Ramona CA, Waitman Y69, 19.265  33. Bob Ferro, Sherman Oaks CA, Ferro 91X, 19.387  34. Tony Everhart, El Cajon CA, Everhart 55, 19.640  35. Bob Johnson, (R) Perris CA, Johnson 81, 19.885  36. Tom Wilhelm, (R) Temecula CA, Wilhelm 64, 19.968  37. Bill Goforth, (R) Apple Valley CA, Goforth 56, 20.373  38. Mark Nation, Los Olivos CA, Nation 3N, No Time

C FEATURE
1. Rodney Argo. 2. Tony Everhart. 3. Mel Murphy. 4. Mark Nation. 5. Bob Ferro. 6. Bob Johnson. 7. Bill Goforth. 8. Tom Wilhelm. 9. Randy Waltman. 10.  Mark Heidenreich

HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1
1. Adam Mitchell, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Rodney Argo, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Jack DeArmond, Jr,, 6. Jordan Hermansader, 7. Keith Williamson, 8. Cory Kruseman,

SHVER ENGINES HEAT 2
1. Rip Williams, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Tony Jones, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Dan Hillberg, 6. Steve Ostling, 7. Tony Everhart, 8. Gary W. Howard,

SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3
1. John Scott, 2. Cary Faas, 3. Rickie Gaunt, 4. Bobby Graham, 5. Tom Downing, 6. Lance Gremett, 7. Mel Murphy, 8. Steve Venard,

STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4
1. Richard Griffin, 2. Mike English, 3. Casey Shuman, 4. Charles Davis, Jr, 5. Verne Sweeney, 6. Mark Nation, 7. Bobby Cody, 8. Tony Lima,

JE PISTONS DASH   
1. Rickie Gaunt. 2. Richard Griffin. 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Mike Kirby. 5. Bobby Graham. 6. Tony Jones. 7. Mike English. 8. Danny Sheridan.
.
B FEATURE
1. Steve Ostling. 2. Verne Sweeney. 3. Keith Williamson. 4. Jordan Hermansader. 5. Tom Downing. 6. Gary W. Howard. 7. Dan Hillberg. 8. Bobby Cody. 9. Mark Nation. 10. Tony Everhart. 11. Lance Gremett. 12. Jack DeArmond, Jr.. 13. Tony Lima. 14. Steve Venard. 15. Mel Murphy.

A FEATURE
1. Mike Kirby. 2.  Steve Ostling, 3. Rip Williams. 4. Mike English. 5. Rickie Gaunt. 6. Richard Griffin. 7. Bobby Graham. 8. Damion Gardner. 9. Adam Mitchell. 10. Jordan Hermansader. 11.  Mike Spencer. 12. Charles Davis, Jr. 13. John Scott. 14. Verne Sweeney. 15. Keith Williamson. 16. Dan Hillberg, 17. Casey Shuman. 18. Tony Jones. 19. Tom Downing. 20. Rodney Argo. 21. Gary W. Howard. 22. Cary Faas.
Laps Led: Gaunt 1-14, Graham 15-22, Kirby 23-30


SCRA Point Standings as of: 07/13/02
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CAR            NAME                  HOMETOWN             STARTS POINTS
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    1.  50  Richard Griffin     Silver City NM      19  1124
    2.  29  Steve Ostling       Corona CA           19  1061
    3.  87  Tony Jones          Garden Grove CA 19  1032
    4.  1   Cory Kruseman       Ventura CA          19  999
    5.  3   Rip Williams        Yorba Linda CA      19  964
    6.  83  John Scott          Hesperia CA     19  946
    7.  5   Mike Kirby          Torrance CA     18  867
    8.  21J Damion Gardner      Concord CA          18  852
    9.  7   Jeremy Sherman  Phoenix AZ          17  847
    10. 4   Rickie Gaunt        Torrance CA     19  807
    11. 94  Charles Davis, Jr   Buckeye AZ      19  724
    12. 38  Bobby Graham        Riverside CA        19  672
    13. 6   Mike English        Norwalk CA          19  668
    14. 19T Troy Rutherford     Ojai CA             14  609
    15. 25  Gary W. Howard  Fontana  CA     16  544
    16. 19  Rodney Argo     Gardena  CA     17  453
    17. 57  Danny Sheridan      Santa Maria CA      16  387
    18. 41  Bobby Cody      (R) Costa Mesa CA   19  335
    19. 44  Mike Spencer        Temecula CA     18  334
    20. 99  Adam Mitchell       Escondido CA        15  328