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GARDNER WINS AGAIN AT PERRIS |
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PERRIS, CA, JUNE 7, 2003 - Damion Gardner's home away from home is quickly becoming the winner's circle at the Perris Auto Speedway. After Saturday's 30-lap NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event, Gardner has now driven the Harlan Willis / TCR Performance #45 to victory five times in the last six Perris races. Dominating as he has during this time period, some of the fans in turn four have been collecting bounty money to give to the driver who ends Gardner's win streak. "I don't know if I'm worth a bounty or not, but this is a dream to be able to come out here and win this many races," said Gardner, whose only defeat during this period came at the hands of Rip Williams, after Williams passed him for the lead on the final lap during a race in March. "We missed the set-up a little bit in qualifying, but winning the main event is what we're all about and I love winning races here at Perris." Mike English won his third JE Pistons Dash of the year to start on the pole. English's teammate Williams was the buzz before the main event, after a spectacular drive that saw him power the Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners #3 Stinger past six cars in the six-lap dash to earn a front row starting spot. Williams beat English entering turn one at the start and went on lead the opening lap. English and Gardner nearly touched wheels coming down to complete the first lap as Richard Griffin, Tony Jones and Rickie Gaunt followed closely behind. Heading into turn one for the second time, Gardner shot past English for second place. Two laps later, Griffin moved his Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race Mart #50 Jon Boy ahead of English exiting turn four. Williams enjoyed a comfortable lead until Josh Ford dropped a left front shock in turn two, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. Jones moved into fourth on the restart, but would go on to cause the next yellow flag after his car lost a muffler on the back-straight during the 11th lap. Continuing his season of bad luck, Jones was subsequently black-flagged and relegated to a 17th place finish. Much like he did during his victory two weeks ago, Gardner quickly accelerated on the restart and stuck a wheel under Williams in turn four coming down to accept starter Lee Jaskowiak's green flag. Gardner and Williams brushed wheels in turn one giving Gardner the lead by the time they exited turn two. Williams battled back and took back the lead on the back-straight. Driving back down to the bottom of turn four, Gardner rode even with Williams along the front chute until they came together just before reaching turn one. The contact sent Williams into the wall. Despite a couple of flips after the impact with the wall, Williams' car was ready for the restart and he eventually went on to finish eighth. "I don't ever like to crash anyone, and I don't feel that I did crash him," Gardner later said in victory lane. "He diamonded back under me and I diamonded back under him, and we were crossing each other up a little bit, and he hit my right rear with his left front. I hated to see that happen, but I'm glad to be sitting here with a win." Rutherford took a run at Griffin for second on the restart, but that would be as close as his Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightliners #7 Kunz ride would get to the runner-up spot. Rutherford's third place finish was his tenth top-five run of the year. Griffin, on the other hand, had ideas of catching Gardner after the leader reached lapped traffic on the 23rd lap. Just when it looked like Griffin was about to narrow the gap between himself and Gardner, the caution flag flew one lap later for Marc Hart, who stopped in turn three with front end damage. Unfortunately for Griffin, he lined-up for the restart with a lapped car ahead of him and never really had an opportunity to prevent Gardner's sixth SCRA win of the year. Gaunt, who started eighth, drove the Mark Alexander / Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger to a fourth place finish ahead of English. Gary W. Howard had a successful debut in the Jack Keene / G&T Air Tool Repair #84 TCR and finished sixth. Earlier in the evening, Howard won the Sander Engineering Fast Time Award in only his second start of the season. It was the sixth fast time of his career, but the first since the 1998 season. Ron DiDonato started 21st and won the KSE Hard Charger Award for the first time since September of 1999 thanks to his 14th place finish. Rookie Seth Wilson, who finished tenth during the last SCRA event, finished 22nd and was the recipient of the Hedman Hedders Hard-luck Award. ### SCRA RACE #12 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 06/07/03 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Gary W. Howard, Fontana CA, Keene 84, 16.858 2. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Willis 45 , 16.922 3. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50, 16.937 4. Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Priestley 7, 16.990 5. Charles Davis, Jr, Buckeye AZ, Davis 94, 17.014 6. Alan Ballard, (R) Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97, 17.092 7. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer 2, 17.141 8. Rodney Argo, El Segundo CA, Argo 19, 17.151 9. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory 6, 17.165 10. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4, 17.168 11. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 17.173 12. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 17.197 13. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 17.209 14. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 17.262 15. Josh Ford, (R) Camarillo CA, Willis/Ford 54, 17.265 16. Brian Venard, Irvine CA, Venard 47, 17.271 17. Bobby Cody, Costa Mesa CA, Cody Racing 41, 17.299 18.Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 17.373 19. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Shoemaker 0, 17.388 20. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85, 17.406 21. Kevin Urton, Elk Grove CA, Urton 51, 17.413 22. Mark Heidenreich, Upland CA, Heidenreich 22, 17.460 23. Marc Hart, Ventura CA, Hart 15, 17.530 24. Levi Jones, Olney IL, Crossno 38, 17.547 25. Bryan Stanfill, (R) Bakersfield CA., Lancaster 14, 17.550 26. Seth Wilson, (R) San Clemente CA, Racing Optics 17, 17.562 27. Ron DiDonato, Riverside CA, DiDonato 57, 17.630 28. Jimmy Crawford, (R) Ventura CA, Ruth 25, 17.862 29. Mel Murphy, Riverside CA, Murphy 62, 17.948 30. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49, 17.955 31. Cal Smith, Montclair CA., Pratt. 39, 17.958 32. Randy Waitman, Romona CA, Waitman Y69, 17.983 33. Greg Bragg, (R) Visalia CA, Pratt 12, 17.995 34. Tom Downing, Lakewood CA, Downing 90, 18.015 35. Bob Ferro, Sherman Oaks CA, Ferro 91, 18.040 SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1 1. Kevin Urton, 2. Bryan Stanfill, 3. Charles Davis, Jr, 4. Mike English, 5. Bobby Cody, 6. Gary W. Howard, 7. Mel Murphy, 8. Greg Bragg, 9. Steve Ostling, SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Mark Heidenreich, 3. Mike Spencer, 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Alan Ballard, 6. Tom Downing, 7. Steve Venard, 8. Seth Wilson, 9. Verne Sweeney, SPIN TECH MUFFLER HEAT 3 1. Richard Griffin, 2. Tony Jones, 3. Marc Hart, 4. Josh Ford, 5. Adam Mitchell, 6. Ron DiDonato, 7. Cal Smith, 8. Bob Ferro, 9. Mike Kirby, STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Rip Williams, 2. Troy Rutherford, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Jimmy Crawford, 5. Rodney Argo, 6. Brian Venard, 7. Lance Gremett, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Mike English. 2. Rip Williams. 3. Tony Jones. 4. Damion Gardner. 5. Troy Rutherford. 6. Richard Griffin. 7. Charles Davis, Jr. 8. Rickie Gaunt. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS B FEATURE 1. Gary W. Howard. 2. Adam Mitchell. 3. Alan Ballard, 4. Mike Kirby. 5. Ron DiDonato. 6. Seth Wilson. 7. Steve Venard. 8. Tom Downing, 9. Cal Smith, 10, Brian Venard, 11. Greg Bragg. 12. Rodney Argo. 13, Bobby Cody. Mel Murphy, 15. Lance Gremett. 16. Steve Ostling. 17. Bob Ferro. A FEATURE (30 Laps) 1. Damion Gardner. 2. Richard Griffin. 3. Troy Rutherford. 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Mike English. 6. Gary W. Howard. 7. Mike Spencer. 8. Rip Williams. 9. Charles Davis, Jr. 10. Kevin Urton. 11. Alan Ballard. 12. Josh Ford. 13. Levi Jones. 14. Ron DiDonato. 15. Adam Mitchell. 16. Bryan Stanfill. 17. Tony Jones. 18. Mark Heidenreich. 19. Jimmy Crawford. 20. Marc Hart. 21. Mike Kirby. 22. Seth Wilson. Laps Led: Williams 1-11, Gardner 12-30 2 0 0 3 SCRA Point Standings as of: 06/07/03 CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 11 767 2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 11 735 3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 11 696 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 11 603 5. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 11 540 6. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 11 500 7. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 11 494 8. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 11 486 9. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 8 364 10. 2 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 10 356 11. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 10 317 12. 54 Josh Ford (R) Camarillo CA 11 271 13. 47 Brian Venard Irvine CA 7 263 14. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 10 241 15. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 10 241 16. 97 Alan Ballard (R) Bakersfield CA 11 226 17. 14 Bryan Stanfill (R) Bakersfield CA 11 221 18. 61 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 6 211 19. 19 Rodney Argo El Segundo CA 8 200 20. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 6 197 |
