PERRIS, CA, SEPTEMBER 20, 2003 - After three runner-up finishes this
year,
Steve Ostling was finally able to stand atop the Perris Auto Speedway podium
after claiming his first NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA sprint car
win of the 2003 season.
Ostling ended his 2003 campaign as one of the hottest SCRA drivers and won the
Jack Kindoll Classic last November to conclude the SCRA season. Since
then, Ostling and the Fischer Motorsports / Feese Solid Surface #29 Okie have
been plagued by mechanical problems and various racing mishaps that prevented
their return to victory lane. Still, Ostling sits sixth in series points
despite missing ten of the 30 races held this season.
"We've been fast all year, and I've led more races than I think I've ever
led, we just haven't been able to finish one off until tonight," Ostling
said. "I'm not going to complain about the runner-up finishes because
we'll take those all the time. It's just that we've led a lot of races and
just haven't had a lot of luck. I've been saying all along, that it'll
change sooner or later and tonight I had a lot of luck. Tonight, we had
three guys that either crashed or broke that probably could have won the race,
and things finally went our way. "
Qualifying third in Sander Engineering Time Trials, Ostling also won his heat
race and the JE Pistons Passing Masters Dash. Starting from the pole for
the 30-lap feature race, Ostling took the lead on the opening lap and was
followed by Marc Hart, Mike Kirby, Mike Spencer and SCRA Rookie point leader
Josh Ford.
Making his first start in the Hasebe Motorsports #2H Jon Boy, Kirby dove
underneath Hart in turn four and took over the second spot on the fourth lap.
Two laps later, Kirby passed Ostling for the lead heading down the backstraight. Working
lap eleven, Spencer pulled off a beautiful outside pass on Ostling exiting turn
two.
Kirby reached lapped traffic on lap 17 with Spencer still in pursuit. Flawlessly
pushing his way through lapped traffic, Kirby had extended his lead until the
yellow flag appeared on lap 21 for outside front row starter Hart, who spun in
turn one. Kirby pulled away after the restart, while Spencer and Ostling
battled hard for the second position. Just when it looked like Kirby was
going to register his 44th career SCRA win, he suddenly slowed to a stop on lap
24 with a suspension problem.
Remarkably, Kirby rejoined the race after his crew fixed the problem and went
on to score a fourth place finish, one spot ahead of the Electro Tech Powder
Coating #99 Avenger driven by Adam Mitchell.
Spencer and Ostling resumed their tussle when the green flag waved to restart
the race. Unfortunately for Spencer, his hopes for a first career SCRA win
were shattered after he hooked the turn one cushion and flipped after hitting
the wall five laps from the finish. Spencer was not injured.
"Spencer was running a great race, and I kind of baited him into going in a
little harder each lap, until finally I noticed he wasn't there anymore and the
red flag came out. I hated to see that for him and felt bad for him
because he's due to win a race," Ostling later said. "To be
honest, we were fast all night, but we weren't that good in the main event.
We tightened the car up during the red flag, but we really didn't do the things
we needed to do to make
it faster."
As if fighting for the lead with Spencer wasn't challenging enough, Ostling was
now faced with holding back another cushion-running driver who was just as
determined to win. Driving the Johnny Vermeer / Ferreira Dairy #2, Tony Jones
had muscled his way to the second position after starting 12th on the grid.
Ostling withstood a couple of formidable runs from Jones after the restart and
maintained the lead coming down to accept the white flag. Jones took the
lead along the back straight on the final lap after a great run off the turn two
cushion. Ostling quickly regrouped and gave Jones a textbook slide job in
turn three. Jones tried to dive back down to the bottom, but was unable to
find enough traction to prevent Ostling's tenth career SCRA win.
"I try to race everyone clean and I hope I gave Tony enough room because I
bombed her in and slid up in front of him and took the track," said Ostling,
who also picked up a $200 bonus from Del Mar Wire because he won from the pole. "I
told Tony that I was sorry after the race, but I was just tired of getting
passed tonight and he gave me too much time to figure out what I needed to
do."
After a brief hiatus from racing, Mike English started ninth and drove the
Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger to a fourth place finish. Jones' stellar
performance earned him the KSE Products Hard Charger Award. After a flip
in the Dash, Rip Williams was sidelined early in the main event with a torrsion
arm problem giving him the Hedman Hedders Hard Luck Award for the night.
Arizona's Charles Davis, Jr. turned the fastest time in time trials, but later
discovered water in his engine oil and was forced to park his car for the
remainder of the program.
SCRA RACE #30 - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA
Date of Race: 09/20/03
SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS
1. Charles Davis, Jr, Buckeye AZ, Davis 94, 16.957 2. Josh Ford, (R)
Camarillo CA, Willis/Ford 54, 16.995 3. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer
Mtrspts 29, 17.100 4. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Alexander 4, 17.120
5. Alan Ballard, (R) Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97, 17.138 6. Rip Williams,
Yorba Linda CA, Jory 6, 17.157 7. Marc Hart, Ventura CA, Hart 15, 17.173
8. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 17.193 9. Brian Venard, Irvine
CA.,Venard, 47, 17.205 10. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Hasebe Mtrsprts 2H,
17.230 11. Greg Bragg, (R) Visalia CA, Pratt 12, 17.265 12. Jordan
Hermansader, Long Beach CA, Ferro 91, 17.282 13. Tony Jones, Garden Grove
CA, Vermeer 2, 17.327 14. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 17.363
15. Trevor Brilman, (R) Las Vegas NV, Element Mtrspts 10, 17.393 16. Verne
Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 17.428 17. Bobby Cody, Costa Mesa CA, Cody
Racing 41, 17.443 18. Duane Marcum, Fresno CA, Ruth 25, 17.447 19.
Dan Hillberg, Whittier CA, Hillberg 82, 17.468 20. Jason York, Chico CA,
York 25N, 17.530 21. Seth Wilson, (R) San Clemente CA, Racing Optics 17,
17.564 22. Mathew Rossi, Glendale AZ, Victory Lane 14AZ, 17.633 23. Mark
Nation, Los Olivos CA, Nation 3N, 17.635 24. Ronnie Clark, Tucson AZ,
Clark 33, 17.678 25. Cal Smith, Montclair CA, Pratt. 39, 17.681 26.
Steve Venard, Silverado CA, Glover 49, 17.770 27. Alex Harris, (R) Simi
Valley CA, Burton 31, 17.862 28. Rick Becker, Highland CA, Becker 67,
17.895 29. Darren Hagen, Riverside CA, Hagen 11X, 18.095 0. Bobby Graham,
Riverside CA, Lancaster 14, 18.142 31. Randy Waitman, Ramona CA, Waitman
Y69, 18.346 32.Ryan Reed, Orange CA, Reed 22R, 18.459 33. Tony Everhart,
El Cajon CA, Everhart 55, 19.656 34. Alex Pruett, (R) Carefree AZ, Pruett
56AZ, No Time
SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1
1. Tony Jones, 2. Brian Venard, 3. Alan Ballard, 4. Bobby Cody, 5. Darren Hagen,
6. Cal Smith, 7. Tony Everhart, 8. Seth Wilson,
SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2
1. Adam Mitchell, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Rip Williams, 4, Josh Ford, 5. Mathew Rossi,
6. Steve Venard, 7. Duane Marcum,
SPIN-TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3
1. Steve Ostling, 2. Mark Nation, 3. Alex Harris, 4. Marc Hart, 5. Trevor
Brilman, 6. Greg Bragg, 7. Dan Hillberg, 8. Randy Waitman,
HEAT 4
1. Mike Spencer, 2. Rick Becker, 3. Ronnie Clark, 4. Jason York, 5. Jordan
Hermansader, 6. Mike English, 7. Verne Sweeney, 8. Ryan Reed,
JE PISTONS DASH
1. Steve Ostling, 2. Marc Hart, 3. Mike Spencer, 4. Mike Kirby. 5. Josh Ford. 6.
Brian Venard. 7. Rip Williams, 8. Alan Ballard,
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS B FEATURE
1. Mike English. 2. Greg Bragg. 3. Jordan Hermansader. 4. Verne Sweeney. 5. Seth
Wilson. 6. Dan Hillberg, 7. Trevor Brilman. 8. Randy Waitman, 9. Cal
Smith. 10. Steve Venard, 11. Alex Pruett. 12. Duane Marcum, 13. Tony Everhart.
14. Mathew Rossi, 15. Darren Hagen. 16. Ryan Reed.
A FEATURE (30 Laps)
1. Steve Ostling. 2. Tony Jones. 3. Mike English. 4. Mike Kirby. 5. Adam
Mitchell. 6. Jordan Hermansader. 7. Alan Ballard, 8, Greg Bragg, 9. Josh Ford.
10. Brian Venard, 11. Bobby Cody. 12. Jason York. 13. Rick Becker. 14.
Mark Nation. 15. Dan Hillberg. 16. Alex Harris. 17. Mike Spencer. 18. Verne
Sweeney, 19. Seth Wilson. 20. Marc Hart. 21. Ronnie Clark, 22. Rip
Williams,
Laps Led: Ostling 1-5, Kirby 6-23, Spencer 24, Ostling 25-30
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SCRA DRIVER STANDINGS
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CAR NAME
HOMETOWN
STARTS POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 29
1806
2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 29 1704
3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 29
1676
4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba
Linda CA 30 1556
5. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA
29 1172
6. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA
20 1044
7. 2A Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA
19 944
8. 4 Mike English Norwalk
CA 25 904
9. 2 Tony Jones
Garden Grove CA 22 899
10. 54 Josh Ford
(R) Camarillo CA 30 884
11. 4 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA
17 868
12. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA
24 775
13. 38 Levi Jones Olney
IL 17 750
14. 97 Alan Ballard (R) Bakersfield
CA 30 719
15. 75 J.J. Yeley Phoenix
AZ 9 552
16. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA
20 546
17. 17 Seth Wilson (R) San Clemente CA 30 536
18. 18 Jimmy Crawford (R) Ventura CA 27
503
19. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ
14 497
20. 21X Bryan Stanfill (R) Bakersfield CA 23
462
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