|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
KRUSEMAN TAKES THE LOW ROAD AT HIGHLAND |
|
HIGHLAND, IL, AUGUST 18, 2003 - Cory Kruseman was able to keep his Tony Stewart / Mopar #20 Kunz securely on the low groove and went on to claim round five of Ron Shuman's Non-Wing World Championship (NWWC) Monday at Highland Speedway. The 30-lap wire-to-wire victory from the pole also counted as Kruseman's second NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event win of the season. "It's sure nice to get a Non-Wing World Championship win," Kruseman said after claiming his second career NWWC win. "A lot of guys have been saying that we've been struggling this year, so it's nice to come out and win when they're all here. I tell you what, it's a whole different ballgame back here and I have to thank Tony Stewart because he's the guy that put me in this position." Kruseman started on the pole and beat front row partner Mike Spencer to the green flag at the start. Spencer dropped to fourth before the end of the opening lap after being overtaken by J.J. Yeley and Jason Goacher's #5G driven by Dave Darland. Kruseman reached the end of the field in just seven laps and must have stood up in the seat a little, when the two slower cars directly in front of him touched wheels. Despite the anxious moment, Kruseman quickly moved ahead of the two cars and comfortably extended his lead over his Mopar teammate until the yellow flag flew for 16 year-old Alan Ballard, who came to a stop on the racing surface after tangling with another car. Defending NWWC Champion Richard Griffin made a nice move on the restart and put himself in the fourth spot. Kruseman reached lapped traffic once again at the midway point of the race with the first four cars having broken away from the rest of the field. Darland surprised Yeley on lap 18 and darted into the runner-up spot after a beautiful outside pass. Yeley fought back for a lap, but would have to settle for watching Darland try to run down Kruseman. "I knew going into the race that the start was going to be a big part of this race, and they proved in the semi that the bottom was going to be the trick here," Kruseman later said. "I felt that the curb (cushion) was too treacherous here and that someone was going to have to bust their butt to get around us. It was just a matter of protecting the bottom, because we weren't as good as the car behind us." The car behind Kruseman had a good chance to challenge him, thanks to a spin from Spencer six laps from the finish. During the caution period, fifth place Rip Williams stopped with a flat left rear tire. Earlier, Williams won the Sander Engineering Fast Time Award, but could do no better than a 13th place finish after the tire change. Kruseman out-pulled Darland on the restart, while Griffin moved ahead of Yeley exiting turn two, giving fans their first real glimpse of the anticipated showdown between the USAC and SCRA point leaders. Back up front, Darland tried every trick in the book to find away around Kruseman, but "The Kruser" was able to maintain his low line and hold back Darland for the victory. Racing side-by-side with Yeley on the final lap of the race, Griffin flipped after his car had a right rear wheel break entering turn three. Griffin was not hurt, but had to settle for a disappointing 14th place finish. Boston Reid started eighth and his Lucas Oil #2 Maxim was credited with a fourth place finish. Levi Jones started 14th in the Carol Crossno / ITI Performance #38 Twister and won the KSE Hard Charger Award after his fifth place finish. In Simpson B-Main action, Derek Rossio rode out a nasty tumble along the front straight. Rossio exited the car quickly under his own power, but was later taken to a local hospital for a further examination. ### SCRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 18, 2003 - Highland, Illinois - Highland Speedway SANDER ENGINEERING QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-12.735, 2. Richard Griffin, 50, Chaffin-12.736; 3. Josh Ford, 54, Willis/Ford-12.784; 4. Troy Rutherford, 7, Priestley-; 5. J.J. Yeley, 20, Stewart-12.855, 6. Dave Darland, 5G, Goacher-12.856, 7. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-12.912; 8. Cory Kruseman, 21, Stewart-12.973, 9. Mat Neely, 17N, Reinoehl-13.006; 10. Boston Reid, 2B, Benic/Davis-13.012, 11. Bud Kaeding, 29k, BK Racing-13.017, 12. Bryan Stanfill, 21X, Roberts-13.059, 13. Damion Gardner, 45, Willis-13.091, 14. Levi Jones, 38, Crossno-13.130, 15. Mike Hess, 63, K&D Motorsports-13.239, 16. Mike English, 6, Jory-13.281, 17. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-13.501, 18. Terry Babb 88, Babb-13.528, 19. Randy Bateman, 51, Bateman- 13.631, 20. Alex Shanks, 2C, Cravens-13.649, 21. Jimmy Crawford, 18X, Crawford-13.742, 22. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-13.874, 23. Kenny Carmichael, 92, Williams-13.906, 24. Craig Budde, 59, Budde-13.929; 25. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-14.106; 26. Derek Rossio, 10x, Rossio-14.143, 27. Mel Murphy, 62, Murphy-14.549; 28. Vinne Sansones, 80, Sansones-14.581, 29. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-14.976. SO-CAL PERFORMANCE FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Yeley, 2. Crawford, 3. Gardner, 4. Neely, 5. Williams, 6. Wilson, 7. Ballard, 8. P. Budde, NT. SHAVER ENGINES SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Darland, 3. Griffin, 4. Reid, 5. Rossio, 6. Babb, 7. Everhart, 2:31.28 SPIN TECH MUFFLERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kaeding, 2. Carmichael, 3. Hess, 4. Spencer, 5. Ford, 6. Bateman, 7. Murphy, 2:28.79. STINGER CHASSIS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. Rutherford, 3. Stanfill, 4. English, 5. Shanks, 6. C. Budde, 7. Sansones, 2:26.63 (New Track Record) JE PISTONS DASH: (6 laps) - Cancelled SIMPSON B-FEATURE: (12 laps) 1. Williams, 2. Ford, 3. Babb, 4. Shanks, 5. Ballard, 6. Bateman, 7. Murphy, 8. P. Budde, 9. Wilson, 10. C. Budde, 11. Rossio, 12. Everhart. NT. FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. Darland, 3. Yeley, 4. Reid, 5. Jones, 6. Kaeding, 7. English, 8. Gardner, 9. Ford, 10. Neely, 11. Spencer, 12. Stanfill, 13. Williams, 14. Griffin, 15. Crawford, 16. Babb, 17. Hess, 18. Rutherford, 19. Carmichael, 20. Bateman, 21. Ballard, 22. Shanks . NT ------------------ LAPS LED: Kruseman 1-30 |
