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GARDNER WIRE-TO-WIRE AGAIN AT PERRIS |
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PERRIS, CA, MAY 17, 2003 - Damion Gardner showed Saturday at the Perris
Auto Speedway why the National Sprint Car Poll Committee recently named him the top non-winged driver in the country. Leading all 30 laps, Gardner handily drove to his fourth win in nine NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event starts this season. In each of his prior seven SCRA wins, Gardner was extremely exuberant in victory lane. Noticeably subdued on this night, Gardner put aside his own achievements and reflected on the last time the SCRA visited Perris, and the loss of two friends who were tragically killed while watching the races from the infield. "Last time we were here it wasn't a very good night. Our team just wanted everyone to know that this one is for Paul and Helen Bagley. They meant a lot to our team, and I grew to know them too. They were special people and they supported racing, so I wanted to dedicate this win to them." Troy Rutherford, who entered the race as the only driver to finish fifth or better in every race this season, started on the pole after winning the JE Pistons Dash. Outside of Rutherford was Bobby Graham, who was making his first SCRA start of the year. Coming down for the start, the front row cars tangled wheels. Remarkably, a major chain reaction accident was avoided, leaving only Josh Wise and Adam Mitchell stopped on the racing surface. Rutherford wasn't as lucky as first believed, and was forced to tag the rear of the field after having to stop to change a shock. This moved Gardner, who had a birds-eye view of the incident, up to the pole. "It looked like they were crowding each other pretty tight. The 7 car (Rutherford) got on it and the 38 car (Graham) came down the race track and it kind of threw the seven car up in the air and spun him around," Gardner recalled. "It was a little close (for me), we kind of chugged the motor a little bit just to try to stay out of it. I may have made a little bit of contact. I'm just glad we didn't have to push them out of the way, and they're misfortune turned out to be our good luck." After a big wheelie, Gardner put the Harlan Willis / TCR Performance #45 into the lead on the restart, only to have Graham drive low and take the lead exiting turn two. Darting low, Gardner bullied his way ahead of Graham entering turn three. With Steve Ostling, Rickie Gaunt and Richard Griffin closely behind him, Graham bicycled entering turn one and fell to seventh place. Graham's lap-two problems continued in turn four after he spun to a stop which out the final caution flag of the race. With the Fischer Motorsports / Stress Relief Engineering #29 Okie driven by Ostling in pursuit, Gardner set a comfortable pace and reached lapped traffic on lap 14. Ostling narrowed the gap periodically, but could never get within striking distance of Gardner, even though the leader was having problems in the cockpit. "The throttle started sticking about midway through the race whenever I got about halfway down on the gas," Gardner later said. "I was a little concerned, so I just tried to feel it out and make sure it wasn't going to get stuck wide open. It ended up just working itself out by the end of the race and we were able to starting picking it back up again." And pick it up he did. With the exception of one minor bobble, Gardner's second straight wire-to-wire win at Perris was never in jeopardy. Sander Engineering Fast Time Award winner Ostling worked hard to catch Gardner, but in the end had to settle for his third runner-up finish of the year. Rip Williams started ninth in the Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners #3 Stinger, and won the KSE Products Hard Charger Award with his third place finish. Driving the Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger, Gaunt beat SCRA point leader Griffin for fourth. Overcoming his problems on the start, Rutherford battled his way back to earn a seventh place finish behind Mike Spencer, who started tenth. With the memories of last weekend's DNF at Manzanita Speedway still fresh in his mind, Gardner, who sits third in series points behind Griffin and Rutherford, was pleased to learn that he gained 21 points on Griffin, even though he still finds himself 74 points behind the defending champion. "We had a little misfortune last week (finishing 18th) and it seemed like every time we fixed a problem we had another one come up and we could never get ahead. Right now, we're out here trying to win races. Unfortunately, we need Griffin and Rutherford to have a few bad nights so we can catch-up," Gardner candidly stated. "For now, all we can do is run smooth until the main event and then try to go out and win the race. Later on in the season, we'll start counting points." SCRA RACE #10 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 05/17/03 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 16.908 2. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4, 16.983 3. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Willis 45, 17.075 4. Bobby Graham, Riverside CA, Crossno 38, 17.145 5. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer 2, 17.215 6. Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Priestley 7, 17.314 7. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50, 17.340 8. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85 , 17.344 9. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 17.393 10. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 17.497 11. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory 6, 17.585 12. Brian Venard, Irvine CA, Venard. 47, 17.610 13. Ron DiDonato, Mission Viejo CA., DiDonato 57, 17.670 14. Josh Ford, (R) Camarillo CA, Willis/Ford 54 17.770 15. Jimmy Crawford, (R) Ventura CA., Ruth 25, 17.796 16. Rodney Argo, El Segundo CA, Argo 19, 17.828 17. Josh Wise, Riverside CA, Sala 19S, 17.844 18. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 17.871 19. Bryan Stanfill, (R) Bakersfield CA, Lancaster 14, 17.883 20. Alex Pruett, (R) Carefree AZ, Pruett 56AZ, 17.898 21. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Clover 49, 17.926 22. Mark Heidenreich, Upland CA, Heidenreich 22 , 17.945 23. Alan Ballard, (R) Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97, 17.995 24. Dan Hillberg, Whittier CA, Hillberg 82 , 18.054 25. Mel Murphy, Riverside CA, Murphy 62, 18.055 26.Will Perkins, Victorville CA, Perkins 50X , 18.132 27. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Shoemaker 0, 18.187 28. Trevor Brilman, (R) Las Vegas NV, Element Mtrspts 10, 18.263 29. Rick Becker, Highland CA, Becker 67, 18.288 30. Cal Smith, Montclair CA, Pratt. 39, 18.308 31. Seth Wilson, (R) San Clemente CA, Racing Optics 17, 18.615 32. Randy Waltman, Ramona CA, Waltman Y69, 18.793 33. Tom Wilhelm, (R) Temecula CA, Grgich 64, 18.803 34. Bob Ferro, Sherman Oaks CA, Ferro 91, 18.897 35. Bill Goforth, Apple Valley CA, Goforth 56, No Time 36. Greg Bragg, (R) Visalia CA, Pratt 12, No Time SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1 1. Rip Williams, 2. Steve Ostling, 3. Tony Jones, 4. Josh Wise, 5. Ron DiDonato, 6. Mel Murphy, 7. Steve Venard, 8. Rick Becker, 9. Tom Wilhelm, SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Rickie Gaunt, 2. Adam Mitchell, 3. Troy Rutherford, 4. Josh Ford, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Mark Heidenreich, 7. Will Perkins, 8. Bob Ferro, 9. Cal Smith, SPIN TECH MUFFLER HEAT 3 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Richard Griffin, 3. Mike Kirby, 4. Mike English, 5. Alan Ballard, 6. Bryan Stanfill, 7. Seth Wilson, 8. Jimmy Crawford, STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Brian Venard, 2. Trevor Brilman, 3. Lance Gremett, 4. Bobby Graham, 5. Dan Hillberg, 6. Alex Pruett, 7. Randy Waitman, 8. Rodney Argo, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Troy Rutherford. 2. Bobby Graham. 3. Damion Gardner. 4. Steve Ostling. 5. Rickle Gaunt. 6. Tony Jones. 7. Richard Griffin. 8, Lance Gremett. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS B FEATURE 1. Mike Spencer. 2. Ron DiDonato. 3. Rodney Argo. 4. Alan Ballard. 5. Jimmy Crawford. 6. Rick Becker. 7. Mark Heidenreich. 8. Dan Hillberg. 9. Bryan Stanfill. 10. Bob Ferro. 11. Steve Venard. 12. Will Perkins. 13. Mel Murphy. 14. Alex Pruett, 15. Seth Wilson. 16. Randy Waltman. A FEATURE (30 Laps) 1. Damion Gardner. 2. Steve Ostling. 3. Rip Williams. 4. Rickie Gaunt. 5. Richard Griffin. 6. Mike Spencer. 7. Troy Rutherford. 8. Mike English. 9. Tony Jones, 10. Rodney Argo. 11. Brian Venard. 12. Josh Ford. 13. Ron DiDonato. 14. Lance Gremett. 15. Bobby Graham. 16. Alan Ballard. 17. Josh Wise. 18. Jimmy Crawford. 19. Rick Becker. 20. Trevor Brilman. 21. Mike Kirby. 22. Adam Mitchell. Laps Led: Gardner 1-30 CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 9 578 2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 9 559 3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 9 504 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 9 461 5. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 9 449 6. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 9 423 7. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 9 412 8. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 9 368 9. 2 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 8 281 10. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 8 250 11. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 6 249 12. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 8 212 13. 61 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 6 211 14. 19 Rodney Argo El Segundo CA 6 194 15. 47 Brian Venard Irvine CA 5 187 16. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 8 174 17. 54 Josh Ford (R) Camarillo CA 9 174 18. 21 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 3 158 19. 8 Bob Ream Jr Glendale AZ 3 158 20. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 5 153 |
