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GARDNER ADDS MANZY TO SCRA RESUME |
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PHOENIX, AZ, SEPTEMBER 28, 2002 - Damion Gardner's freshman season with the NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA sprint car series has been a memorable one. After earning his eighth Sander Engineering Fast Time Award of the year, Gardner made Manzanita Speedway the fourth different track where he has driven to victory this year. "It's really amazing when you go back to the beginning of the year and think about how low we set our standards. We've achieved far more than we thought we would this year," Gardner, who sits second in series points, admitted. "We ran well last week at Santa Maria (CA), so I think we've shown that we can get it done anywhere. We're always searching for perfection, even though we know that's not achievable and that we can always be better." Rip Williams, who edged Gardner for the win at Santa Maria, claimed his fourth JE Pistons Dash win of the season, which gave him the pole position for Saturday's 30-lap feature race. Outside front row starter Mike Kirby got the jump at the drop of the green flag and led Williams, Levi Jones, Cory Kruseman and the Coy Construction No. 20 Eagle driven by Gardner at the end of the opening lap. In just five laps, Kirby had built a half a straightaway lead in his Brad & Nancy Geurin / Statewide Towing No. 5 Stinger. One lap later, Gardner moved ahead of Kruseman. Enjoying his best ever Manzy run, Jones passed Williams for second place on the eighth circuit. Williams pushed over the turn three cushion on lap ten, giving Gardner an opportunity to slip into third. Now working lapped traffic, Kirby had anxious moment on lap 17 after Dan Hillberg spun directly in front of him entering turn one. Decisively, Kirby darted to the bottom of the track to avoid Hillberg. What Kirby could not avoid was watching the first caution flag of the night erase his four second lead. During the caution period, Jones was black flagged and sent to the pit area after a small fire, resulting from a fuel line problem, broke out on the right side of his engine. Even though he was having mechanical problems of his own, Jones' misfortune gave Gardner the second spot and a clear shot at Kirby. "My brakes started to fade after the first five laps," Gardner said later. "I could pump them up and get some brakes for awhile, then at about lap 15, they just went away. I struggled during the middle section of the race trying to figure out how to run the car without brakes. I could still pump them up a little, I just never knew how much brake I'd have getting into the turns. Luckily, we had that yellow (flag) and that let us reel-in Kirby because I couldn't see him before for that." Three laps after the restart, Gardner took the lead after giving Kirby a perfectly executed turn three slide-job. Charles Davis, Jr. jumped into fourth on the restart and had just passed Kruseman for fourth on lap 21 when Kruseman suddenly slowed to a stop on the racing surface thanks to a problem with his right rear shock. Living-up to his nickname, "Chargin' Charles" slipped past Kirby for second place on the restart. Before the end of the lap, fourth place Jeremy Sherman brought out another yellow flag after his evening in the Dave Ellis entry ended with a huge puff of smoke on the front chute. Davis started the year as a regular on the SCRA scene until a disappointing eastern swing forced him to pull off the tour. Looking to change his luck, Davis tried to get his Arizona Race Mart No. 94 in position to battle Gardner. In the end, Davis would have to be satisfied with being able to hold back the challenges of Bob Ream, Jr.'s Mopar powered car. For Ream, his third place finish in the BRAT Racing / B&R Automotive No. 8 Buckley was the best of his SCRA career. Steve Ostling started ninth in the Fischer Motorsports / SRE No. 29 Okie and finished fifth. Making his debut in the Mark Priestley owned sprinter, Troy Rutherford won the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award after his 16th to sixth place drive. Prior to the start of the main event, Parnelli Jones was on hand to formally induct Joe Pittman into the Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame. Pittman, who was Jones' mechanic when he won National Sprint Car titles in 1961 and 1962, became the 50th inductee into the Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame. Preceding Pittman into the Hall of Fame as fellow "Class of 2002" inductees were long-time driver Art Mankel and former Manzanita Speedway promoter Harry Redkey. SCRA RACE #34 - MANZANITA SPEEDWAY, PHOENIX, AZ Date of Race: 9/28/02 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Damion Gardner, Gardner 20, 19.410, 2. Steve Ostling, Fischer Motorsports 29, 19.533, 3. Rickie Gaunt, Alexander 4, 19.680, 4. Bob Ream, Jr., Brat Racing 8, 19.908 5. Rick Ziehl, R&R Racing 35, 20.026, 6. Levi Jones, Crossno 38, 20.041, 7. Cory Kruseman, Willis 1, 20.111, 8. Mike Kirby, Geurin 5, 20.135 ,9. Tony Jones, Vermeer/Jones 87, 20.143, 10. Rip Williams, Jory 3, 20.158, 11. Casey Shuman, Pratt 12, 20.193, 12. Charles Davis, Jr., Davis 94, 20.223, 13. Adam Mitchell, Mitchell 99, 20.298, 14. Jeremy Sherman, Ellis 21, 20.332, 15. Jordan Hermansader, Ruth 25, 20.367 16. Troy Rutherford, Priestley 7, 20.367, 17. J.D. Vance, Wadsworth 45AZ, 20.469, 18. Mike Spencer, Engstrom 44 , 20.475, 19. Mike English, Jory 6, 20.501, 20. Richard Griffin, Chaffin 50, 20.535, 21. John Scott, Scott Mtrsprts 83, 20.691, 22. Dan Hillberg, Hillberg 82, 20.930, 23. Tony Smiley, Smiley 2, 20.996, 24. Lance Gremett, Gremett 85, 21.020, 25. Ronnie Clark, Clark 33, 21.436, 26. Eric Severson, Miller 66, 21.522, 27. Tom Wilhelm, Wilhelm 64, 23.160, 28. Bobby Cody (R), Cody 41, No Time, 29. Brian Venard, Venard 47, No Time, 30. Steve Venard, Glover 49, No Time HEDMAN HEDDERS HEAT 1 1. Rutherford, 2. English, 3. Williams, 4. Gardner, 5. Kruseman, 6. Ream, 7. Mitchell, 8. Hillberg, 9. Clark. SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Griffin, 2. Vance, 3. Sherman 4. Kirby, 5. Ziehl, 6. Ostling, 7. Smiley, 8. Severson, 9. Shuman. SPIN TECH MUFFLERS / STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 3 1. Scott, 2. Davis, 3. Spencer, 4. L. Jones, 5. T. Jones, 6. Hermansader, 7. Gremett, 8. Gaunt, 9. Wilhelm. JE PISTONS DASH 1. Williams, 2. Kirby, 3. Kruseman, 4. L. Jones, 5. Ziehl, 6. Gardner, 7. Davis, 8. Sherman. B FEATURE 1. Ostling, 2. Ream, 3. Gaunt, 4. Shuman, 5. Mitchell, 6. Hermansader, 7. Hillberg, 8. Clark, 9. Gremett, 10. Smiley, 11. Wilhelm, 12. Severson, 13. S. Venard. A FEATURE (30 Laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Davis, 3. Ream, 4. Ostling, 5. Kirby, 6. Rutherford, 7. Gaunt, 8. Williams, 9. T. Jones, 10. English, 11. Mitchell, 12. Scott, 13. Ziehl, 14. Spencer, 15. Hillberg, 16. Hermansader, 17. Vance, 18. Sherman, 19. Shuman, 20. Kruseman, 21. Griffin, 22. L. Jones. Laps Led: Kirby 1-18, Gardner 19-30 SCRA DRIVER POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 34 2106 2. 20 Damion Gardner Concord CA 33 1752 3. 87 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 34 1671 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 34 1642 5. 1 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 30 1611 6. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 34 1509 7. 5 Mike Kirby Torrance CA 31 1495 8. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 26 1469 9. 83 John Scott Hesperia CA 32 1451 10. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 34 1439 11. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 24 1052 12. 38 Bobby Graham Riverside CA 29 1038 13. 21 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 20 1032 14. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 28 870 15. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 18 758 16. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 33 741 17. 19 Rodney Argo Gardena CA 25 687 18. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 27 634 19. 25 Gary W. Howard Fontana CA 20 622 20. 41 Bobby Cody (R) Costa Mesa CA 33 602 |
