Santa Maria, CA - July 20, 2002... Sprint Car Racing Association
(SCRA)
Non-Winged 410 Sprint Cars were at Santa Maria Speedway Saturday night for
their second of three 2002 visits. Richard Griffin, of Silver City, NM, kept
his domination of the Speedway in place, winning his third feature in-a-row,
at the facility, and his fifth out of seven. Griffin was chasing Rip Williams,
of Yorba Linda, for the lead in the 30-lap "A" main event when
Williams, feeling the pressure, slid into the wall in turn three and flipped
out of the event. Griffin was followed to the checkers by Steve Ostling, of
Corona, and Rickie Gaunt of Torrance. Gardena's Rodney Argo finished fourth,
and Tony Jones, of Garden Grove, was fifth. Casey Shuman, of Tempe, AZ, won
the 12-lap "B" main event, with Jack DeArmond, Jr., of Corona,
second, and Mike Knopf, of Santa Maria, third. Ten-lap heat races were won by
Griffin; Damion Gardner, of Concord; Williams; and Bobby Graham of Riverside.
Ostling won the 6-lap Passing Master Dash and Griffin set fast time of 14.405
seconds, averaging around 83 mph.
Ventura's Jimmy May drove to victory in the National Midget Racing
Association (NMRA) TQ Midget 25-lap main event, followed by point leader J J
Ercse, of Lakewood, and West Evans of Moorpark. It was May's first TQ feature
win. Fourth went to Todd Hunsaker, of Chino Hills, and fifth to Chuck West of
Clovis. Hunsaker and Steve Lambert, of Port Hueneme, won 8-lap heat races and
Ercse turned a lap of 15.899 seconds for fast time.
Next Saturday night J.B. Dewar/Bandit Non-Winged 360 Sprint Cars, CDCRA
Dwarf Cars, and Street Stocks will provide the action on the 1/3-mile
oval. Spectator gates will open at four, qualifying
will begin at six, and racing starts at seven. Admission prices are $11.00 for
adults, $8.00 for seniors (65+), and $3.00 for children 6 to 12. Santa
Maria Speedway is located 1/4-mile north of the 101/166 interchange on Hutton
Road. Their internet home is SantaMariaSpeedway.com.
Race Summaries
SCRA Non-Winged 410 Sprint Cars:
Heat 1 - Richard Griffin, Tony Jones, Jimmy Thompson, Rodney Argo, Tom
Downing, Daniel Hood, Jarrett Chaney.
Heat 2 - Damion Gardner, Mike Spencer, Mike English, Steve Ostling, Casey
Shuman,
Darren Simas, Tom Wilhelm.
Heat 3 - Rip Williams, John Scott, Mark Nation, Keith Williamson, Jack
DeArmond, Jr., John Jewett, Bill Goforth.
Heat 4 - Bobby Graham, Bobby Cody, Rickie Gaunt, Danny Sheridan, Mike Knopf,
Bob Ferro, Mel Murphy.
Trophy Dash - Ostling, Williams, Griffin, Argo, Gaunt, Scott, English,
Sheridan.
"B" Main Event - Shuman, DeArmond, Knopf, Downing, Simas, Jewett,
Ferro, Goforth, Wilhelm, Murphy, Hood.
"A" Main Event - Griffin, Ostling, Gaunt, Argo, Jones, Shuman,
English, Graham,
Gardner, Cody, Spencer, Scott, Nation, Simas, Williamson, Thompson, Knopf,
DeArmond, Williams, Downing.
NMRA TQ Midgets:
Heat 1 - Todd Hunsaker, J J Ercse, Chuck West, Jimmy May, Kenny Wiley,
Michael Bliffen, Steve Northrop.
Heat 2 - Steve Lambert, Bobby Owens, West Evans, Chris Hedge, Steve Parke,
Linda Taylor, Ron Ahrendt.
Main Event - May, Ercse, Evans, Hunsaker, West,
Owens, Lambert, Bliffen, Taylor, Northrop, Parke, Ahrendt, Hedge, Wiley.
SCRA DRIVER POINTS as of 6/20/02
CAR
NAME
HOMETOWN STARTS
POINTS
1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City
NM
20 1204
2. 29 Steve Ostling Corona
CA
20 1125
3. 87 Tony
Jones Garden Grove
CA 20
1089
4. 1 Cory Kruseman
Ventura
CA
19 999
5. 3 Rip Williams
Yorba Linda CA
20 997
