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WILLIAMS GETS ELUSIVE 1ST WIN OF 2002 |
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SANTA MARIA, CA, SEPTEMBER 21, 2002 - Rip Williams saw his luck turn around Saturday at Santa Maria Speedway and was able to drive the Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners No. 3 Gambler to it's first NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA win of the 2002 season. It was the 56th career SCRA win for Williams, which moved him back into a tie with Cory Kruseman for the most all-time SCRA main event wins. Williams also entered the night with six Santa Maria wins tying him with Richard Griffin for most the all-time Santa Maria wins. After driving the Ron Chaffin owned Arizona Race Mart No. 50 Jon Boy to victory in the JE Pistons Dash, Griffin must have felt confident that he'd be able to drive to his fourth consecutive SMS win from the pole position. Williams naturally had other ideas from his outside front row starting position. Like he had done in each of the prior two 30-lap races held this year at Santa Maria, Williams took the lead on the opening lap. In both of those races, Williams' night ended with a hard flip in turn three. Of the two accidents, the race in June, where he led the first 26 laps before tangling with a lapped car under caution, had to be the most disappointing. Williams returned in July to once again led at the drop of the green flag only to leave with another destroyed race car after a brake failure sent him flipping off the wall. "We had awfully good chances the last couple times we were here to win the race. It just shows that you've got to have determination and be able to wade through all the things that happen to you to see how good you really are," Williams said after gathering his first SMS win since August 14, 1999. Griffin ran second at the completion of the first lap and was followed closely by Damion Gardner, Mike Spencer, Steve Ostling and Josh Wise, who earlier won the Sander Engineering Fast Time Award in just his second career SCRA start. Williams built a comfortable lead in just five laps, as Griffin battled with Gardner to hold the runner-up spot. Williams reached slower traffic in just ten laps. One circuit later, Gardner put his Coy Construction No. 20 Eagle ahead of Griffin. Former Santa Maria track champion Danny Sheridan had been steadily working his way forward from the 15th starting spot when he slid to a stop on the back straight on lap 13 after contact with another car left him with front end damage. For Williams, the caution flag was very timely since there was a heavy pack of slower cars directly in front of him. With one lapped car between himself and Gardner, Williams darted away from Gardner on the restart. With ten laps to go, Gardner pulled to within striking distance of Williams. Just when the duo was approaching the lapped car of Greg Porte, Porte's car suddenly drifted wide and flipped after contact with the turn four wall. Williams and Gardner each showed tremendous skill and avoided Porte, who was not hurt, as he began to roll down the banking and on to their racing line. With Gardner having been breathing down his neck, this caution period was helpful for Williams since he wasn't feeling particularly well in the cockpit. "We ate kind of late coming up here today and I have kind of an upset stomach," Williams confessed. "I wasn't feeling all that good, but those yellow flags gave me a chance to take some deep breaths. There were times out there when I thought I was going to have a problem." Gardner reloaded for another shot at Williams once racing resumed. Gardner's best attempt came on lap 26 when he drove hard into turn three and had the nose of his car under Williams. Showing the poise of a 25-year veteran, Williams promptly slammed the door shut on whatever opening Gardner may have thought he had. The final yellow flag of the race appeared one lap later after sixth place Richard Harvey, Jr. coasted to a stop in turn two. Gardner managed to quickly build-up speed on the restart and once again threw everything he had at Williams. Coming down to accept the white flag, Gardner tried the extreme outside of turn four, only to skate wide and run out of real estate. The ground Gardner lost allowed Williams to drive to victory while waving to the crowd. Ostling passed Griffin on lap 24 to give the Fischer Motorsports / Stress Relief Engineering No. 29 Okie it's ninth podium finish of the year. Rookie driver Wise backed-up his first career fast time by driving the Don Argo / Venolia Forged Pistons No. 19 TCR to a fifth place finish. Winged specialist Jason Statler won the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award after his 20th to 12th place run. ### SCRA RACE #33 - SANTA MARIA SPEEDWAY, SANTA MARIA, CA Date of Race: 09/21/02 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Josh Wise, Riverside CA, Argo 19 , 13.702 2. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory. 6 , 13.743 3. Steve Ostling, Corona CA.,Fischer Mtrspts 29 , 13.758 4. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Gardner 20 , 13.823 5. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA.,Jory 3 , 13.875 6. Casey Shuman, Tempe AZ, Pratt 12 , 13,876 7. Dick Stevens, Goleta CA, Stevens 46 , 13.907 8. Jimmy Thompson, Nipomo CA, Thompson 71 , 13.917 9. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44 .,13.996 10. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50 , 14.002 11. Richard Harvey, Jr, Hanford CA, Kettle 6K .,14.065 12. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4 , 14.085 13. Steve DeMott, Santa Maria CA, DeMott 35 14.200 14. Michael Hinrichsen, Lakeside CA, Lake Mtrsprts, 16, 14.218 15. Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria CA, WD Racing 21 , 14.223 16. Gary W. Howard, Fontana CA, Ruth 25 14.248 17. Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Crossno 38 14,377 18. Jordan Hermansader, Long Beach CA, Lancaster 14 , 14.428 19. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer/Jones 87 , 14.438 20. Greg Porte, Atascadero CA, Mattice Bros. 3G , 14.590 21. Jeff Fiscus, San Luis Obispo CA, Fiscus 13, 14.830 22. Bob Ferro, Sherman Oaks CA, Ferro 91X , 14.932 23. Mark Heidenreich, (R) Upland CA, Heidenreich 22, 14.988 24. Eric Severson, (R) Westchester CA, Miller 66 , 15.007 25. Tom Wilhelm, (R) Temecula CA, Wilhelm 64 , 15.266 26. Jason Statler, San Jose CA, Statler 00, No Time HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1 1. Gary W. Howard, 2. Richard Griffin, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Josh Wise, 5. Steve Demott, 6. Tony Jones, 7. Dick Stevens, 8. Bob Ferro, 9. Tom Wilhelm, SHVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Troy Rutherford, 2. Richard Harvey, Jr, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Michael Hinrichsen, 5. Jimmy Thompson, 6. Mike English, 7. Greg Porte, 8. Mark Heidenreich, SPIN TECH MUFFLERS / STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 3 1. Danny Sheridan, 2. Rickie Gaunt, 3. Mike Spencer, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Casey Shuman, 6. Eric Severson,. 7. Jordan Hermansader, 8. Jeff Fiscus, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Richard Griffin, 2. Rip Williams. 3. Mike Spencer. 4. Damion Gardner. 5. Steve Ostling. 6. Richard Harvey, Jr. 7. Rickie Gaunt. 8. Josh Wise. B FEATURE 1. Mike English, 2. Dick Stevens. 3. Tony Jones. 4. Greg Porte, 5. Jason Statler, 6. Mark Heidenreich. 7. Jeff Fiscus. 8. Eric Severson. 9. Bob Ferro. 10. Jordan Hermansader. 11. Tom Wilhelm. A FEATURE (30 Laps) 1. Rip Williams. 2. Damion Gardner. 3. Steve Ostling. 4. Richard Griffin. 5. Josh Wise. 6. Mike English. 7. Rickie Gaunt. 8. Jimmy Thompson. 9. Mike Spencer. 10. Troy Rutherford, 11. Gary W. Howard, 12. Jason Statler. 13. Michael Hinrichsen. 14. Steve DeMott. 15. Richard Harvey, Jr. 16. Greg Porte. 17. Casey Shuman. 18. Tony Jones. 19. Danny Sheridan. 20. Mark Heidenreich. Laps Led: Williams 1-30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCRA Point Standings as of: 09/21/02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 33 2085 2. 20 Damion Gardner Concord CA 32 1675 3. 87 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 33 1629 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 33 1595 5. 1 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 29 1592 6. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 33 1456 7. 5 Mike Kirby Torrance CA 30 1440 8. 83 John Scott Hesperia CA 31 1412 9. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 25 1404 10. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 33 1397 11. 38 Bobby Graham Riverside CA 29 1038 12. 7 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 19 1007 13. 38 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 23 997 14. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 27 804 15. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 17 742 16. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 32 708 17. 19 Rodney Argo Gardena CA 25 687 18. 25 Gary W. Howard Fontana CA 20 622 19. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 26 602 20. 41 Bobby Cody (R) Costa Mesa CA 32 602 |
