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KIRBY GETS 6TH WIN |
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PERRIS, CA, OCTOBER 5, 2002 - Mike Kirby drove to his sixth NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event win of the season Saturday at the Perris Auto Speedway, while Richard Griffin clinched his fourth SCRA Driving title in the last five years. Officially, Kirby won the 30-lap feature race with a time of 9:42.28. In actuality, the time of the race was considerably longer after a pair of multi-car incidents on the opening lap significantly delayed the completion of the first lap. The initial start was promptly aborted after the front row pair of Brian Venard and Rip Williams touched wheels along the back straight triggering a turn three accident that left Williams, Troy Rutherford, Mike Spencer, John Scott and Casey Shuman stopped. During the caution period, Williams jumped into the other Sharon Jory car which started the main event with Mike English on board; while Venard, who earlier won his first career JE Pistons Dash, retired with a broken birdcage. Josh Wise assumed the pole for the restart with Griffin to his outside. Wise jumped into the lead entering turn one, as Ostling darted into second place. Fearing he had lost his brakes, Ostling suddenly slowed on the back straight forcing Griffin to slam on his brakes. Unfortunately for Griffin, Bobby Cody was unable to stop quickly enough and collected him entering the third turn. As Griffin's car, which provided Ron Chaffin with his seventh SCRA Owners' crown last weekend, was carried into the infield with race-ending damage, repairs were made to Ostling's car, which allowed him to return for an eventual sixth place finish. Bobby Graham joined Wise on the front row for the next restart. Kirby, who lined-up in seventh for the initial start, was now able to start his Brad & Nancy Geurin / Statewide Towing No. 5 Stinger on the inside of the second row. "I don't get real aggressive on the first couple laps, I like to let everyone fan out a little bit and then get going. We got lucky that we didn't hit any of those wrecks," Kirby said after the race. Wise again put the Don Argo entry into the lead at the drop of the green flag and went on to lead his first ever SCRA lap with Graham, Kirby, Cory Kruseman and Gary W. Howard closely in pursuit. Eager to lead an SCRA main event for the second time in his career, Graham put his Carol Crossno / Pace Hallmark No. 38 TCR into the lead using the turn four cushion on lap three. Two laps later, Kirby passed Wise for the second spot heading down the back straight. Kirby took his first shot at the lead on lap eight, only to have Graham withstand the challenge. With Kirby still stalking him, Graham reached lapped traffic for the first time on lap 14. Last July, Graham's only other stint as race leader came to an end at the hands of Kirby on the 23rd lap after a miscue entering turn one. As if lightening had just struck twice in the same spot, Graham elected to pass a slower car using the bottom of turn one on lap 23. This gave Kirby all the help he needed to take the lead in turn two. "This was a tough race," Kirby said after gather his 42nd SCRA win. "Sometimes you don't want to see lapped traffic, but tonight I did. I was hoping that he would make a wrong decision and I'd make the right one. I was pretty fair in turns one and two on the cushion and he was good on the bottom. He was running a good line and I don't know if I could have gotten by him if it wasn't for those lappers." Once out front, Kirby finished the race just like he did in July, with a main event win. After a hard fought battle with the Harlan Willis / WorldGate Networks No. 1 TCR driven by Kruseman, Graham came home in the runner-up spot to earned his best career finish. Tony Jones originally lined-up in the 21st starting position and masterfully managed to avoid all the opening lap pile-ups. Driving the Ferreira Dairy No. 87 Avenger, Jones was credited with his series-high fifth KSE Hard Charger Award of the year after finishing fourth. In just his third SCRA start, Wise continues to impress and posted his second consecutive top-five finish. SCRA RACE #35 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 10/05/02 TIME TRIALS 1. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3 , 16.940 2. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50 , 17.159 3. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4 , 17.202 4. Mike Faria, Tipton CA, Faria 4F , 17.215 5. Bobby Cody, (R) Costa Mesa CA, Cody 41 , 17.225 6. Steve Ostling, Corona CA.,Fischer Mtrspts 29 , 17.228 7. Brian Venard, Tustin CA, Venard. 47, 17.247 8. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA.,Mitchell 99 17.360 9. Dan Hillberg, Whittier CA, Hillberg 82, 17.363 10 Josh Wise, Riverside CA, Argo 19 , 17.461 11. Bobby Graham, Riverside CA., Crossno 38, 17.501 12. Gary W. Howard, Fontana CA, Lancaster 14, 17.545 13. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA.,Geurin 5, 17.555 14. Cory Kruseman, Ventura CA, Willis 1 , 17.577 15. Jordan Hermansader, Long Beach CA.,Ruth 25, 17.587 16. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory 6 , 17.605 17. Rick Becker, Highland CA, Becker 67 , 17.608 18. Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Priestley 7 , 17.610 19. Seth Wilson, San Clemente CA, Racing Optics 17 , 17.668 20. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 17.725 21. Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98 , 17.725 22. Eric Severson, (R) Westchester CA, Miller 66, 17.733 23. John Scott, Hesperia CA, Scott Mtrsprts 83 , 17.738 24. Casey Shuman, Tempe AZ, Pratt 12 , 17.768 25. Charles Davis, Jr, Buckeye AZ, Davis 94, 17.790 26. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85 , 17.803 27. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer/Jones 87, 17.855 28. Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria CA, DiDonato 57 , 17.893 29. Michael Hinrichsen, Lakeside CA, Lake Mtrsprts. 16, 17.912 30. Jack DeArmond, Jr., Corona CA, DeArmond, Jr, 24, 17.930 31. Ronnie Clark, Tucson AZ., Clark 33, 18.320 32. Cal Smith, Montclair CA, Pratt. 39 , 18.374 33. Bob Ferro, Sherman Oaks CA, Ferro 91X, 19.021 34. David Sinsley, Torrance CA, Sinsley 69X , 19.037 35. Aaron Reyer, San Diego CA, Reyer 98A , 19.105 36. Josh Ford, Camarillo CA, Ito/Ford 73J, 20.945 37. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49, No Time 38. Tony Lima, Industry CA.,Lima 30, No Time 39. Jarrett Chaney, Clovis CA, Robison 42R, No Time. HEAT 1 1. Charles Davis, Jr, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Verne Sweeney, 5. Michael Hinrichsen, 6. Bobby Cody, 7. Dan Hillberg, 8. Rick Becker, 9. Bob Ferro, HEAT 2 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Josh Wise, 3. Richard Griffin, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Troy Rutherford, 6. Eric Severson, 7. David Sinsley, 8. Jack DeArmond, Jr., 9, Lance Gremett, HEAT 3 1. Tony Jones, 2. John Scott, 3. Bobby Graham, 4. Brian Venard, 5, Jordan Hermansader, 6. Seth Wilson, 7. Ronnie Clark, 8. Rickie Gaunt, 9. Aaron Reyer, HEAT 4 1. Casey Shuman, 2. Mike Spencer, 3. Mike English, 4. Danny Sheridan, 5. Adam Mitchell, 6. Gary W. Howard, 7. Mike Faria, 8. Cal Smith, 9. Josh Ford, DASH 1. Brian Venard, 2. Rip Williams. 3. Josh Wise. 4. Richard Griffin. 5. Steve Ostling. 6. Bobby Graham. 7. Mike Kirby. 8. Cory Kruseman. B FEATURE 1. Adam Mitchell, 2. Gary W. Howard. 3. Troy Rutherford, 4. Jordan Hermansader. 5. Rickie Gaunt. 6. Bobby Cody. 7. Rick Becker. 8. Josh Ford. 9. Ronnie Clark. 10. Bob Ferro, 11. Michael Hinrichsen. 12. Mike Faria. 13. David Sinsley. 14. Dan Hillberg. 15. Jack DeArmond, Jr. 16. Cal Smith. 17. Seth Wilson. 18. Steve Venard. 19. Jarrett Chaney. A FEATURE (30 Laps - Time: 9:42.28) 1. Mike Kirby. 2. Bobby Graham. 3. Cory Kruseman. 4. Tony Jones. 5. Josh Wise. 6. Steve Ostling, 7. John Scott. 8. Adam Mitchell, 9. Danny Sheridan. 10. Charles Davis, Jr. 11. Casey Shuman. 12. Gary W. Howard. 13. Verne Sweeney. 14. Bobby Cody. 15. Mike Spencer. 16. Rickie Gaunt. 17. Jordan Hermansader. 18. Brian Venard. 19. Rip Williams. 20. Richard Griffin. 21. Mike English. 22. Troy Rutherford. Laps Led: Wise 1-2, Graham 3-22, Kirby 23-30 SCRA Point Standings as of: 10/05/02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 35 2136 2. 20 Damion Gardner Concord CA 33 1752 3. 87 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 35 1732 4. 1 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 31 1675 5. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 35 1666 6. 5 Mike Kirby Torrance CA 32 1564 7. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 35 1539 8. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 27 1521 9. 83 John Scott Hesperia CA 33 1502 10. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 35 1452 11. 38 Bobby Graham Riverside CA 30 1103 12. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 25 1064 13. 21 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 20 1032 14. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 29 913 15. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 34 773 16. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 18 758 17. 19 Rodney Argo Gardena CA 25 687 18. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 28 678 19. 14 Gary W. Howard Fontana CA 21 655 20. 41 Bobby Cody (R) Costa Mesa CA 34 628 |
