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| Press Release |
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SCRA At
Manzanita This Saturday Night |
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Phoenix, AZ (May 5)
The California based Sprint Car Racing
Association will be making its second of only four stops at Manzanita Speedway
Saturday night. With them will be the #1 ranked non winged Sprint Car driver in
the latest poll, Damion Gardner. Gardner, who received the "Wild Card
Award" last year for his exciting driving style, has scored three SCRA wins
this year and the voters have him just ahead of perennial SCRA champion Richard
Griffin with USAC's J.J. Yeley ranked third. In addition to Gardner and Griffin
the field for the Liberty Buick/Peoria Pontiac-GMC championships will include
Troy Rutherford, Rip Williams, Steve Ostling, Jeremey Sherman, Mike English,
Tony Jones, Rickie Gaunt and Charles Davis, Jr., all of whom received votes in
the National Non-Winged Sprint Car poll.
Despite being the only multiple winner through the first seven races Gardner trails both Griffin and Rutherford in the points standings. Griffin, who won the first night of the Gary Sokola Classic at Manzanita, has three seconds, a third, a sixth and a 19th and holds a 10 point lead over Rutherford who won the season opener, was third in the first night of the Sokola race and has put together five straight fourth place finishes. Gardner got off to a bad start when he moved into the Harlan Willis car that was vacated by Cory Kruesman as he failed to finish his first two starts. Since then he has two sixth place finishes to go with his three wins. He has won three of the last four features. Local drivers fared well in the two day Sokola Classic as Charles Davis, Jr. finished second and 12th and Bob Ream, Jr. had fast time on Friday night and ran fourth and was tenth in the Saturday night finale. He was just a tick of the clock off the one lap qualifying record of 18.551 in his qualifying run as his Mopar powered sprinter tripped the clock at 18.626, for an average speed of 96.639 mph on the half mile oval. An expected 30-35 car field will take qualifying runs starting at 7:00 p.m. with the first competitive race scheduled to be green flagged at 8:00 The SCRA will not be returning to Manzanita
until the Hall of Fame Classic on September 27th and then they make their final
trip to Phoenix for the NAPA/Budweiser Western World Champions Oct. 30-31 and
Nov. 1. |
