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GRIFFIN GETS MONKEY OFF HIS BACK WITH PAS WIN |
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PERRIS, CA, SEPTEMBER 1, 2002 - Even though Richard Griffin has been running
away with the lead in NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA championship
points, there has been one thorn in his side, and that thorn is simply know as
the Perris Auto Speedway. Griffin removed that thorn Sunday night by
padding his point lead with a calculated 50-lap main event victory. "It's nice to win one here at Perris and get that monkey off our backs," Griffin said, after scoring his first Perris win in 21 tries. "Everyone's been asking us when we thought we're going to get one at Perris. We've been working really hard and it just happened, but tonight was our night." After a grinding crash last night at Ventura, Rip Williams returned to win the JE Pistons Dash. Starting on the pole, Williams led Damion Gardner, Levi Jones, Griffin and Jeremy Sherman at the end of the opening lap. Last night's victor, Gardner, looked like the man to beat tonight, as well. Blasting around the cushion, Gardner took the lead on a lap two restart. Mike Faria brought out the red flag on lap 13 after high-flying flip in turn three. His brother, Danny Faria, Jr., had worked his way up from the 20th starting position to run eighth at the time he slid over the turn one cushion and slammed the wall on lap 24. Fortunately, neither brother was hurt. Wind and triple digit temperatures had taken its toll on the racing surface come main event time, making tire wear a major issue. Gardner was clearly the class of the field, and as the race went on the only question was could his right tire make the distance. The answer was a resounding no. Even though it was reported that he had plenty of rubber on his right rear tire, it shredded on lap 32 sending him into the back straight concrete. Up from the 13th starting spot, Cory Kruseman inherited the lead for the restart. Williams seemed confident that he had saved his tires long enough and bolted into the lead two laps after the restart with a nice middle groove pass around the Harlan Willis / WorldGate Networks No. 1 TCR driven by Kruseman. Williams quickly pulled ahead of Kruseman and Griffin, but began showing some tire smoke on lap 36. Using a similar move, Griffin put his Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race Mart No. 50 Jon Boy ahead of Kruseman exiting turn two on lap 43. Coming down to complete the lap, Williams' right rear tire gave out ending his hopes for victory. "I wasn't very good at the start, which is a typical Perris deal for me, and I really didn't have a car that was capable of winning," Griffin admitted. "Once I could tell that the race track was starting to lay down rubber, and I knew I didn't have a very hard tire on, I knew it was going to be one of those deals where you have to be there at the end. I just tried to conserve that (right rear) tire and go as fast as I could without spinning it too much. Rip came back up there and charged around us on the outside, but I really didn't think his tire was going to make it. Then, with about ten (laps) to go, we decided we better go ahead and try to get by Cory. Luckily, we still had a little bit of rubber on it and we were able to make it to the finish." Griffin not only made to the finish, but went on to make Perris the fifth different track where he has posted a main event win this year. Kruseman was able to withstand the pressure from the Pace Electronics No. 83 TCR driven by John Scott in the closing laps and hang on to second place. Rickie Gaunt started tenth and finished fourth to give the Alexander Trucking entry it's seventh top-five finish of the season. Back behind the wheel of the Mark Preiestly / Roy Miller Freightlines No. 7 Stealth, Sherman came home in fifth ahead of Levi Jones. Adam Mitchell earned the KSE Hard Charger Award with his 22nd to seventh place run. Owner/driver Dan Hilberg finished tenth to earn his best career SCRA finish. In Sander Engineering Time Trials, Verne Sweeney turned the fast lap with a time of 18.407. ### SCRA RACE #31 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 09/01/02 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 18.407 2. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Gardner 20, 18.458 3. John Scott, Hesperia CA, Scott Mtrsprts 83 , 18.630 4. Jeremy Sherman, Phoenix AZ, Priestley 7, 18.663 5. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer/Jones 87 , 18.698 6. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 18.760 7. Levi Jones, Olney IL, Crossno 38, 18.780 8. Casey Shuman, Tempe AZ, Pratt 12, 18.867 9. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA,,Engstrom 44 , 18.900 10. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4 , 18.922 11. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM., Chaffin 50 , 18.950 12. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory 6 , 19.037 13. Mike Faria, Tipton CA, Faria 4F , 19.072 14. Cory Kruseman, Ventura CA, Willis 1 , 19.092 15. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Geurin 5, 19.150 16. Dan Hillberg, Whittier CA, Hillberg 82, 19.188 17. Jarrett Chaney, Clovis CA, Robison 42R , 19.280 18. Michael Hinrichsen, Lakeside CA, Lake Mtrsprts.. 16, 19.297 19. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85, 19.313 20. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 19.340 21. David Sinsley, Torrance CA, Sinsley 69X , 19.363 22. Brian Venard, Tustin CA, Venard. 47 , 19.401 23. Jordan Hermansader, Long Beach CA, Lancaster 14 , 19.422 24. Danny Faria, Jr., Tulare CA, Hasebe Mtrsprts 2H , 19.435 25. Jack DeArsond, Jr., Corona CA, DeArmond, Jr. 24, 19.532 26. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49 , 19.607 27. Alan Ballard, Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97 , 19.710 28. Bobby Cody, (R) Costa Mesa CA, Cody 41, 19.828 29. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 20.175 30. Eric Severson, (R) Westchester CA, Miller 66 , 20.206 31. Mel Murphy, Woodcrest CA, Murphy 62, 20.720 32. Tony Lima, Industry CA, Lima 30 , 20.726 33. Tom Wilhelm, (R) Temecula CA, Wilhelm 64 , 20.958 34. Dan Tedrick, Hesperia CA.,Tedrick 88 , 21.200 35. Bill Goforth, (R) Apple Valley CA, Goforth 56 , 21.863 36. Mark Heidenreich, (R) Upland CA.,Heidenreich 22 , 26,331 HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1 1. Mike Faria, 2. Tony Jones, 3. Adam Mitchell, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Jack DeArmond, Jr., 6. Verne Sweeney, 7. David Sinsley, 8. Tom Wilhelm, 9. Jarrett Chaney, SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Rip Williams, 3, Cory Kruseman, 4. Brian Venard, 5. Michael Hinrichsen, 6. Rickie Gaunt, 7. Steve Venard, 8. Eric Severson, 9. Dan Tedrick, SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3 1. Mike Kirby, 2. Richard Griffin, 3. Levi Jones, 4. John Scott, 5. Jordan Hermansader, 6. Lance Gremett, 7. Mel Murphy, 8. Alan Ballard, 9. Bill Goforth, STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Steve Ostling, 2. Mike English, 3. Jeremy Sherman, 4. Danny Faria, Jr., 5. Casey Shuman, 6. Bobby Cody, 7. Dan Hillberg, 8. Tony Lima, 9. Mark Heidenreich, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Rip Williams. 2. Levi Jones. 3. Damion Gardner. 4. Jeremy Sherman. 5. Richard Griffin. 6. John Scott. 7. Mike Spencer. 8. Tony Jones. B FEATURE 1. Rickie Gaunt. 2. Casey Shuman. 3. Lance Gremett. 4. Jarrett Chaney. 5. Dan Hillberg. 6. Bobby Cody. 7. Verne Sweeney, 8. Eric Severson. 9. Mel Murphy, 10. Jack DeArmond, Jr.. 11. David Sinsley. 12. Tony Lima. 13. Tom Wilhelm. 14. Dan Tedrick, 15. Michael Hinrichsen. 16. Jordan Hermansader. 17. Mark Heidenreich. A FEATURE (50 Laps) 1. Richard Griffin. 2. Cory Kruseman. 3. John Scott. 4. Rickle Gaunt. 5. Jeremy Sherman. 6. Levi Jones, 7. Adam Mitchell. 8. Brian Venard. 9. Mike Spencer. 10. Dan Hillberg. 11. Mike English. 12. Lance Gremett. 13. Rip Williams. 14. Casey Shuman. 15. Tony Jones. 16. Mike Kirby. 17. Damion Gardner. 18. Danny Faria, Jr. 19. Jarrett Chaney. 20. Mike Faria. 21. Steve Ostling. 22. Bobby Cody. Laps: Williams 1-2, Gardner 3-31, Kruseman 32-33, Williams 34-43, Griffin 44-50 SCRA Point Standings as of: 09/01/02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 31 1960 2. 1 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 29 1591 3. 20 Damion Gardner Concord CA 30 1565 4. 87 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 31 1558 5. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 31 1502 6. 5 Mike Kirby Torrance CA 29 1371 7. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 31 1368 8. 83 John Scott Hesperia CA 30 1354 9. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 23 1289 10. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 31 1282 11. 38 Bobby Graham Riverside CA 29 1015 12. 7 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 19 1007 13. 61 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 22 954 14. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 27 804 15. 19 Rodney Argo Gardena CA 25 687 16. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 16 681 17. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 30 633 18. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 25 595 19. 41 Bobby Cody (R) Costa Mesa CA 31 588 20. 25 Gary W. Howard Fontana CA 18 580 |
