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KIRBY SUPER AS SUB AND WINS PAS RUN |
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PERRIS, CA, JULY 12, 2003 - Mike Kirby entered the 2003 NAPA Auto Parts / Auto
Trader Magazines SCRA season without a full-time ride. Until Saturday's
wire-to-wire 30-lap win at the Perris Auto Speedway, Kirby's streak as the only
driver on the tour to have scored at least one win in a 410 sprint car every
year since 1991 appeared to be very much in jeopardy. Kirby landed the one-race ride in the Mark Alexander / Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger as a substitute for his good friend Rickie Gaunt. At night's end, Kirby had driven his buddy's car to his 43rd lifetime SCRA main event win. "Rickie's probably not going to like me anymore. He had to go to a wedding so they called me and asked me to drive the car. I told then, hell, I already wrecked your other car. I might as well ruin this one too," Kirby said referencing a violent crash three weeks ago testing a new car for Alexander. "This is a good race car, and it's a car we had when we were teamed up together (two years ago). This has nothing to do with Rickie losing his ride or anything like that. We've all been friends for a long time and this helps them get ready for the (Non-Winged World Championship) tour. " They needed a good run because Rickie's been consistant all year, they just haven't had any luck. " Kirby, who's leaving for vacation tomorrow with about 30 people, including Gaunt, also won the JE Pistons Dash and started on the front row for the main event with Sander Engineering Fast Time Award winner Rip Williams. Kirby and Williams were even heading into turn one at the start, before Kirby grabbed the lead exiting the bottom of turn two. With Richard Griffin, Kevin Urton, Tony Jones and Damion Gardner running directly behind him, Williams began to slow on lap two. One lap later, Williams would retired with ignition problems and would receive the Hedman Hedders Hard-luck Award. As Williams worked his way back to the pit area, Gardner was hard at work putting the Harlan Willis / TCR Performance #45 into the third spot after starting eighth. Five laps into the race, Gardner was now close enough to challenge the Ron Chaffin / Arizona Race Mart #50 Jon Boy driven by Griffin. Kirby reached lapped traffic for the first time on the eleventh lap, giving Griffin and Gardner an opportunity to make it a three-car fight for the lead. Gardner darted around the outside of Griffin in turn two on lap 14, and was immediately on Kirby's tail tank. With Gardner and Griffin breathing down his neck, Kirby was stuck behind slower cars racing three-wide for position on lap 21. Brilliantly, Kirby darted past two of the cars, leaving Gardner pinned on the bottom of turn three. Still bottled-up behind the slower cars exiting turn four, Gardner was inadvertently bumped by Griffin, sending him sideways towards the infield. Gardner did a masterful job of avoiding a spin, and continued on in third place. All the bumping and banging behind him allowed Kirby to pull out a ten-car length lead over Griffin. Just when it looked Kirby was about to drive off to a comfortable victory, the only caution flag of the race waved on lap 23, after Mark Heidenreich and Mark Nation tangled to a stop on the front straight. During the caution period, sixth place Mike Spencer had a tire go flat and had to make a pit stop. Spencer returned to finish 11th. "I got through lapped traffic great," Kirby said later. "This car was good on the top, the bottom, the middle, anywhere, it didn't matter. I really didn't want to see that yellow with seven laps to go, but you know how that goes." What looked like a huge break for Griffin, turned out to more beneficial for Gardner. Despite restarting the race with three lapped cars between himself and Griffin, Gardner quickly closed in. Griffin bobbled in turn one after taking a last lap stab at Kirby for the win, putting Gardner within striking distance. Heading into turn three, Gardner gave Griffin a big slide job leaving the four-time champion no other options but to get out of the throttle and settle for third place. Troy Rutherford, who sits second in series points behind Griffin, drove the Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightliners #7 Kunz to a fourth place finish. SCRA rookie point leader Josh started ninth and drove the Harlan Willis-Ford Brothers / Berry Pack #54 TCR to his first top-five finish. SCRA RACE #16 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 07/12/03 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 16.702 2. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Willis 45, 16.725 3. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50 , 16.816 4. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Alexander 4, 16.889 5. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 16.962 6. Kevin Urton, Elk Grove CA, Urton 51, 16.964 7. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29 , 16.970 8. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer 2, 16.987 9. Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Priestley 7, 17.012 10. Josh Ford, (R) Camarillo CA, Willis/Ford 54, 17.070 11. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 17.195 12. Jordan Hermansader, Long Beach CA, Ferro 91, 17.210 13. Bryan Stanfill, (R) Bakersfield CA, Lancaster 14, 17.277 14. Greg Bragg, (R) Visalia CA, Pratt 12 , 17.310 15. Bobby Graham, Riverside CA, Crossno 38, 17.354 16. Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 17.446 17. J Hicks, Torrance CA, Miller 66, 17.472 18. Alan Ballard, (R) Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97, 17.475 19. Lance Gremett, San Marcos CA.,Gremett 85, 17.483 20. Mark Heidenreich, Upland CA, Heidenreich 22, 17.533 21. Cal Smith, Montclair CA., Pratt. 39, 17.576 22. Mark Nation, Los Olivos CA, Nation 3N, 17.670 23. Seth Wilson, (R) San Clemente CA., Racing Optics 17, 17.815 24. Jimmy Crawford, (R) Ventura CA, Crawford 18, 17.851 25. Brian Venard, Irvine CA, Venard. 47, 18.089 26. Randy Waitman, Ramona CA, Waitman Y69, 18.090 27. A.J. Reyer, (R) San Diego CA., Burton 31, 18.409 28. Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49, 18.417 29. Bobby Cody, Costa Mesa CA.,Cody Racing 41, No Time SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1 1. Rip Williams, 2. Troy Rutherford, 3. Brian Venard, 4. Adam Mitchell, 5. J Hicks, 6. Bryan Stanfill, 7. Cal Smith, SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Josh Ford, 2. Kevin Urton, 3, Mark Nation, 4. Alan Ballard, 5. Greg Bragg, 6. Randy Waitman, 7. Damion Gardner, SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3 1. Richard Griffin, 2. Seth Wilson, 3. Steve Ostling, 4. Lance Gremett, 5. Bobby Graham, 6. Mike Spencer, 7. A.J. Reyer, STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Tony Jones, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Jordan Hermansader, 4. Verne Sweeney, 5. Mark Heidenreich, 6. Jimmy Crawford, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Mike Kirby. 2. Rip Williams. 3. Richard Griffin. 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Kevin Urton. 6. Adam Mitchell. 7. Tony Jones. 8. Troy Rutherford. SIMPSON B FEATURE 1. Damion Gardner. 2. Bobby Graham. 3. Greg Bragg, 4. J Hicks. 5. Randy Waltman. 6. Mark Heidenreich. 7. Mike Spencer. 8. Jimmy Crawford. 9. A.J. Beyer. 10. Bobby Cody. A FEATURE (30 Laps) 1. Mike Kirby. 2. Damion Gardner. 3. Richard Griffin. 4. Troy Rutherford, 5. Josh Ford. 6. Adam Mitchell. 7. Kevin Urton. 8. Jordan Hermansader. 9. Bobby Graham. 10. Tony Jones. 11. Mike Spencer. 12. Alan Ballard. 13. Verne Sweeney. 14. Greg Bragg. 15. Lance Gremett. 16. Randy Waitman. 17. J Hicks. 18. Seth Wilson, 19. Mark Nation. 20. Mark Heidenreich. 21. Brian Venard. 22. Rip Williams. Laps Led: Kirby 1-30 SCRA POINT STANDINGS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 15 1050 2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 15 983 3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 15 945 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 15 862 5. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 15 742 6. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 15 735 7. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 14 687 8. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 13 548 9. 2 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 14 511 10. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 14 491 11. 54 Josh Ford (R) Camarillo CA 15 435 12. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 14 412 13. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 8 364 14. 97 Alan Ballard (R) Bakersfield CA 15 359 15. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 13 321 16. 14 Bryan Stanfill (R) Bakersfield CA 15 315 17. 41 Bobby Cody Costa Mesa CA 14 291 18. 47 Brian Venard Irvine CA 10 289 19. 61 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 7 285 20. 18 Jimmy Crawford (R) Ventura CA 15 270 |
