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| Press Release |
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RUTHERFORD POSTS ONE FOR THE SCRA |
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GRANITE CITY, IL, AUGUST 16, 2003 - It had been a tough couple of days for the
NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA regulars. In two prior,
co-sanctioned events with boys from USAC, the SCRA gang hadn't managed a
top-five finish until Troy Rutherford changed all that with a thrilling two-car
pass for the lead with less than five laps to go in Saturday's Non-Wing World
Championship (NWWC) race at Tri-City Speedway. Even though the likes of west coast transplants J.J. Yeley, Cory Kruseman, Bud Kaeding and Jay Drake have been successful in the two events at Terre Haute (IN) and Farmer City (IL), the bulk of the drivers traveling east for the NWWC tour have been very disappointed. Rutherford has been the exception. In fact, he is the only SCRA traveler to have placed in the top-ten in all three USAC/SCRA challenge races. His run at Terre Haute unquestionably drew some attention after he passed 33 cars during the course of the evening, and went on to finish seventh. Starting third on this night, Rutherford had to pass far fewer cars to get his second SCRA win of the season "We struggled a little bit in our heat race, and bent the car up a little, and they busted their butts and got it going again," Rutherford said. "It's good to be able to get a win in the middle of this tour and take some momentum to the rest of the tracks. My guys give me a great car every night and (car owner) Mark Priestley is not afraid to experiment. You always have to try to find an edge. Look at J.J., he's experimented with these sway bars for years, now everyone's bolting them on." Tony Elliott continues to enjoy his new Jeff Walker / Murray's Body Shop #11X Twister. Elliott dominated the JE Pistons Dash and shared the front row for the 30-lap main event with Sander Engineering Fast Qualifier Cory Kruseman. Elliott got a tremendous run off the bottom of turn four at the start and easily led the field into turn one. Rutherford started third in the Roy Miller Freightliners #7 Kunz, but was passed by Richard Griffin on the opening lap. Simpson B-Main event winner Yeley was on the move early. After passing two cars on the third lap, Yeley had the Tony Stewart / Mopar #20 Twister up to fifth. With Rutherford now running ahead of Griffin, Yeley passed "The Gas Man" two laps later for fourth. With the bottom groove equally as fast as the cushion near the outside guardrail, fans were treated to some tremendous side-by-side racing. A rim-riding Kruseman vigorously pursued Elliott, who was hugging the bottom groove, until the red flag flew just past the halfway point for John Scott, who flipped in turn one trying to avoid Damion Gardner, after "The Demon" collected the fence. Scott was not injured and was named the recipient of the Hedman Hedders Hard-Luck Award. Elliott got another fine jump on the restart. One lap later, Rutherford slipped ahead of Kruseman for the runner-up spot. Lap 17 was a good lap for Yeley, after he passed both Kruseman and Rutherford. Yeley was nearly two full seconds behind Elliott at the time he moved into second place, but quickly whittled that margin down and was within striking distance five laps from the finish. Just when everyone was poised for Yeley to gather his 22nd USAC win of the year, Rutherford darted under both Yeley and Elliott on lap 26 and took the lead exiting turn two. "I caught those guys in front of me and they started racing side-by-side, and pushing their cars harder and harder. I knew they were going to get side-by-side again, and I was just hoping it was going to be in the middle of the corner and they'd both slide up. And, they did exactly what I wanted them to do and I was able to be patient and run my line on the bottom," Rutherford said, who later attributed his victory to some timely advice from his car owner. "I don't think I got it to over half-throttle after the red flag. Mark told me that I was spinning my tires and that I needed to peddle it. As soon as I did that the thing started hooking up and going forward." Rutherford dispensed of the only two lapped car that he would face on the final set of corners of the race, and went on to beat Yeley to the checkered flag. Levi Jones passed Elliott on the final lap to give the Carol Crossno / ITI Performance #38 Twister a third place finish. Bud Kaeding's High-Five Pizza #29K Maxim finished fifth for the second race in a row. ### USAC/SCRA SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 16, 2003 - Granite City, Illinois - Tri-City Speedway SANDER ENGINEERING QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Cory Kruseman, 21, Stewart-20.540; 2. . J.J. Yeley, 20, Stewart-20.580, 3. Richard Griffin, 50, Chaffin-20.638; 4. Charles Davis, Jr., 94, Davis-20.641, 5. Tony Elliott, 11x, Walker-20.663; 6. Troy Rutherford, 7, Priestley-20.732; 7. John Scott, 83, Scott-20.889; 8. Mat Neely, 17N, Reinoehl-21.033, 9. Levi Jones, 38, Crossno-21.082; 10. Damion Gardner, 45, Willis-21.136; 11. Josh Ford, 54, Willis/Ford-21.234; 12. Bud Kaeding, 29k, BK-12.710, 21.280, 13. Derek Davidson, 17B, R & B-21.283; 14. Brian Tyler, 6T, K&D Motorsports-21.503, 15. Mike English, 6, Jory-21.564, 16. Jerry Coons, Jr., 10AZ, R & B-21.639; 17. Rip Williams, 3,Jory-21.671, 18. Mike Spencer, 26, BWB-21.679; 19. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-21.690, 20. Adam Mitchell, 14, Lancaster-21.821, 21. Mike Hess, 63, K&D Motorsports-21.905, 22. Jimmy Crawford, 18X, Crawford-21.990, 23. Dave Darland, 5G, Goacher-22.069, 24. Kent Christian, 62B, BWB-22.077; 25. Mel Murphy, 62, Murphy-22.352; 26. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-22.593; 27. Craig Budde, 59, Budde-22.860; 28. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-23.900, 29. Vinne Sansones, 80, Sansones, 24.064. SO-CAL PERFORMANCE FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Elliott, 2. Williams, 3. Kruseman, 4. Jones, 5. Hess, 6. Davidson, 7. Murphy, 8. Sansones, NT SHAVER ENGINES SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Tyler, 3. Rutherford, 4.
Spencer, 5. Wilson, 6. Yeley, 7. Crawford, NT JE PISTONS DASH: (4 laps) 1. Elliott, 2. Kruseman, 3. Rutherford, 4. Griffin,
5. Scott, 6. Jones, 7. Gardner, 8. Davis 2:17.93 |
