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WILLIAMS FIRST TO COMPLETE 50 AND FIRST TO WIN 60 |
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PERRIS, CA, JULY 4, 2003 - In 1984, Rip Williams drove the late Bob Vermeer's car to his fifth career CRA win during the running of the Firecracker 50 at Ascot Park. Nineteen years later, Williams would post another Firecracker 50 victory. This one coming Friday night at the Perris Auto Speedway in the Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners #3 Stinger. The victory also made Williams the first driver to win 60 career NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main events. During his 26-year sprint car career, Williams has compiled nearly 100 main event wins. Even though he's now considered one of the elder statesmen on the SCRA tour, Williams once again proved, even with temperatures in excess of 100 degrees during the day, that his conditioning is comparable to someone half his age. "I work (during the week) in an injection molding plant where it's about a 130 degrees, so the heat doesn't really bother me. In fact, it's pretty cool out here compared to that, and I just don't seem to get as tired as the rest of them," Williams said. "I'm still in pretty good shape and when I see the other guy's head hanging out of the cage a little bit, then I know that it's time to go." Five-time CRA Champion Jimmy Oskie finished second to Williams during the '84 race. On this night, Oskie led the field down for the green flag as the pace car driver. JE Pistons Dash winner Steve Ostling beat front row partner Damion Gardner into the first turn at the start of the 50-lap race. Coming down to complete the opening lap, Ostling bobbled slightly exiting turn four allowing Williams, who started third, to shoot past the Fischer Motorsports / Feese Solid Surface #29 Okie and into the lead. Gardner followed Williams past Ostling on the opening lap and would take the lead from Williams on lap seven with a nice outside move in turn two. Williams took the lead back briefly during a lap ten restart, only to have Gardner muscle his way back into the lead one lap later. While Gardner was busy extending his lead, Mike Spencer, whose dad raced against Williams during the Ascot days, passed Williams for second place on lap16. Williams took back the runner-up spot from the Hal Engstrom / Spenco Machine #44 Ellis three laps later just before rookie point leader Josh Ford came to a stop in turn four after hooking the cushion. Troy Rutherford, who started 14th, moved the Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightliners #7 Kunz into fourth after the restart for Ford's spin. Working lap 21, Rutherford boldly slid between Williams and Spencer exiting turn four. Rutherford would eventually push Williams back to third one lap prior to the mid-way point of the race. With his engine experiencing an overheating problem, and his right rear tire having brushed the turn one wall on lap 23, Gardner was not looking quite as comfortable leading as he did earlier in the race. Taking advantage of whatever problems Gardner was having, Rutherford and Williams quickly closed in on the leader. Nineteen laps from the finish, Rutherford missed his mark and skated off the bottom of turn three. Gardner also seemed to lose traction leaving the door wide open on the bottom for Williams to blast by both cars. "The 7 car got a little squirrelly and he moved up the track a bit, and I was right on the bottom and had a good bite. Damion was on the outside of him and as soon as the line opened up, I jumped on the throttle and went right by them," Williams said of the move that helped give him his second victory of the season at Perris. Shortly after Williams had taken the lead, Ford flipped exiting turn four directly in front of the leaders. Gardner, who is Ford's teammate had the closest call, but was able to avoid hitting the flipping car after making an aggressive move down to the bottom of the racing surface. Ford was not hurt in the accident. Ostling moved into the third spot on the restart, then drove ahead of Gardner for second on lap 33. Ostling would maintain the second position to earn his fourth runner-up finish of the year, but would never get close enough to challenge Williams for the win. Spencer needed, perhaps, one more lap to overtake Ostling for second place, but would have to settle for his second straight third place finish, which equaled his best career finish. SCRA point leader Richard Griffin recovered from a flip in his heat race to drive the Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race Mart #50 Jon Boy to a fourth place finish ahead of Rutherford. Johnny Vermeer, who's father owned the car Williams drove to victory 19 years ago, had a car in the field that was driven by Tony Jones. Jones finished sixth in front of defending "Firecracker" race winner Rickie Gaunt and Gardner. Rookie Alan Ballard won the KSE Products Hard-Charger Award with his drive from the 21st starting position to ninth. ### SCRA RACE #15 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY "FIRECRACKER 50", PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 07/04/03 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50, 16.941 2. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer 2, 17.203 3. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4, 17.205 4. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 17.237 5. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA, Gremett 85, 17.408 6. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Willis 45, 17.431 7. Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 17.485 8. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 17.575 9. Mark Heidenreich, Upland CA, Heidenreich 22, 17.680 10. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 17.689 11.Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Priestley 7, 17.757 12. Gary W. Howard, Fontana CA, Keene 84, 17.865 13. Rick Becker, Highland CA, Becker 67, 17.890 14. Rodney Argo, El Segundo CA, Argo 19, 17.926 15. Josh Ford, (R) Camarillo CA.,Willis/Ford 54, 17.953 16. Jimmy Crawford, (R) Ventura CA, Crawford 18, 17.988 17. Bobby Cody, Costa Mesa CA., Cody Racing 41, 17.990 18. Bryan Stanfill, (R) Bakersfield CA, Lancaster 14, 18.007 19. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 18.027 20. Greg Bragg, (R) Visalia CA, Pratt 12, 18.058 21. Ron DiDonato, Riverside CA, DiDonato 57, 18.106 22. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Shoemaker 0, 18.215 23. Alan Ballard, (R) Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97, 18.241 24. J Hicks, Torrance CA, Miller 66, 18.303 25. Mel Murphy, Riverside CA, Murphy 62, 18.340 26. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49, 18.481 27. Dan Hillberg, Whittier CA, Hillberg 82, 18.547 28. Richard Harvey, Jr, Hanford CA, Weber. 81J, 18.587 29. Tom Downing, Lakewood CA, Lima 30, 18.615 30. Cal Smith, Montclair CA, Pratt. 39, 18.675 31. Brian Venard, Irvine CA.,Venard. 47, 18.675 32. Mark Nation, Los Olivos CA, Nation 3N, 18.970 33. Seth Wilson, (R) San Clemente CA, Racing Optics 17, 18.971 34. Bryan Drollinger, (R) Torrance CA, Sweeney. 98X, 19.127 35. David Sinsley, Torrance CA, Sinsley 69X, 19.808 SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1 1. Ron DiDonato, 2. Bobby Cody, 3. Rick Becker, 4. Seth Wilson, 5. Lance Gremett, 6. Mel Murphy, 7. Tom Downing, 8. Mark Heidenreich, 9. Richard Griffin, SHVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Tony Jones, 4. Steve Ostling, 5, Rodney Argo, 6. Steve Venard, 7. Cal Smith, 8. Bryan Drollinger, 9. Bryan Stanfill, SPIN TECH MUFFLER HEAT 3 1. Josh Ford, 2. Adam Mitchell, 3. Alan Ballard, 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Troy Rutherford, 6. Dan Hillberg, 7. Verne Sweeney, 8. Brian Venard, 9. David Sinsley, STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Rip Williams, 2. Mike Spencer, 3. Jimmy Crawford, 4. Gary W. Howard, 5. J Hicks, 6. Greg Bragg, 7. Mark Nation, 8. Richard Harvey, Jr, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Steve Ostling. 2. Dation Gardner, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Mike Spencer. 5. Rickie Gaunt. 6. Tony Jones. 7. Gary W. Howard. 8. Rick Becker. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS B FEATURE 1. Richard Griffin, 2. Lance Gremett. 3. Verne Sweeney. 4. Troy Rutherford. 5. Bryan Stanfill. 6. Mark Heidenreich. 7. Rodney Argo. 8. J Hicks. 9. Mel Murphy. 10. Brian Venard. 11. Greg Bragg. 12. Tom Downing. 13. Steve Venard. 14. Cal Smith. 15. Dan Hillberg. 16. Richard Harvey, Jr. 17. David Sinsley. 18. Mark Nation. A FEATURE 1. Rip Williams. 2. Steve Ostling. 3. Mike Spencer. 4. Richard Griffin, 5. Troy Rutherford. 6. Tony Jones. 7. Rickie Gaunt. 8. Damion Gardner, 9. Alan Ballard. 10. Verne Sweeney. 11. Mark Heidenreich. 12. Rick Becker. 13. Adam Mitchell. 14. Lance Gremett. 15. Mike Kirby. 16. Bobby Cody. 17. Seth Wilson. 18. Gary W. Howard. 19. Bryan Stanfill. 20. Ron DiDonato. 21. Josh Ford. 22. Jimmy Crawford. Laps Led: Williams 1-6, Gardner 7-9, Williams 10, Gardner 11-30, Williams 31-50 SCRA POINT STANDINGS as of 7/4/03 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 14 978 2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 14 923 3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 14 874 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 14 833 5. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 14 727 6. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 14 711 7. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 14 687 8. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 13 548 9. 2 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 13 468 10. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 13 439 11. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 13 378 12. 54 Josh Ford (R) Camarillo CA 14 377 13. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 8 364 14. 97 Alan Ballard (R) Bakersfield CA 14 323 15. 14 Bryan Stanfill (R) Bakersfield CA 14 315 16. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 12 291 17. 61 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 7 285 18. 41 Bobby Cody Costa Mesa CA 13 284 19. 47 Brian Venard Irvine CA 9 270 20. 18 Jimmy Crawford (R) Ventura CA 14 261 |
