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ELLIOTT ADDS HIS NAME TO WESTERN WORLD LIST |
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PHOENIX, AZ, NOVEMBER 1, 2003 - Indiana's Tony Elliott led all 40 laps of Saturday's 36th Annual NAPA Auto Parts / Budweiser Western World Championships at Manzanita Speedway and added his name to a long list of sprint car legends. Even though Elliott has won his share of big races in the sprint, midget and Silver Crown divisions, the two-time USAC National Champion rated his $12,500 win as perhaps the biggest of his accomplished career. "We've won the Four-Crown (at Eldora Speedway) a few times and we've won some big Silver Crown races, but I think this is probably the biggest race that we have won and I can't thank NAPA and Auto Trader Magazines enough for coming out here and supporting us," Elliott said after joining fellow Hoosiers Steve and Mark Kinser on the Western win list. As in most sports, luck plays a major role. Elliott's biggest break of the night came a couple hours before the start of the race when Thursday winner Bud Kaeding randomly selected a Budweiser beer can with the number six on it, for the number of cars to be invert in the main event. The inversion put Elliott's Jeff Walker / Hoosier Tire #11E Twister on the outside of the front row next to Tyler Walker. Knowing that the start would be critical, Elliott jumped Walker on the initial start, which forced starter Lee Jaskowiak to call back the start. Even though Walker tried to squeeze him up the race track on the second start, Elliott still managed to lead the 24-car field into turn one. J.J. Yeley was the only driver in the field to transfer to the Championship race after starting the evening in the C-Main. Unfortunately for Yeley, mechanical problems forced him to a stop just three laps into the race. Yeley entered the weekend with a stranglehold on the Non-Wing World Championship (NWWC) point standings, but DNF's on consecutive nights would drop him to third in the NWWC rankings. Walker held the second spot once racing resumed until he bicycled off the turn one cushion, allowing Richard Griffin to slip ahead of him. One lap later, Kaeding put his Loan City.com #29K Maxim ahead of Mike Kirby for fifth. Eleven laps into the race, Kaeding relieved Charles Davis, Jr. of the fourth spot. Elliott held nearly a full straightaway lead at one point until Griffin began gnawing away at his advantage around the lap 15 mark. Just when Elliott was about to reach lapped traffic, sixth place Kirby slowed to a stop on lap 24 with engine problems, bringing out the second caution flag of the race. Kaeding moved into third on the restart and immediately looked to the inside of Griffin. Griffin held his line and took a shot at Elliott on lap 27. Griffin tried to pass Elliott on the bottom of turn four on lap 32, but instead opened the door for Kaeding to dart around the outside of him. Moments later, fifth-place Davis suddenly slowed entering turn one which trigger a small pile-up behind him that included Josh Wise and Cory Kruseman. Kruseman's crew quickly made repairs allowing him to return for a ninth place finish, giving him a one point lead over Kaeding when the NWWC series resumes at the Perris Auto Speedway in 12 days. Shortly after the restart, Walker attempted an ill-advised slide-job on Griffin entering turn three. Griffin, who only needed to finish sixth or better to wrap up his fifth SCRA title in six years, was sent flying through the air like a helicopter after a violent impact with the wall. Thankfully, Griffin walked back to the pit area under his own power. Walker restarted, but would retire on the final lap of the race. Elliott was only about three miles from victory when he jumped the turn three cushion erasing the small comfort zone he had over Kaeding. Elliott's problems continued each time he past through that section of the track for the next couple of laps. Kaeding, who was looking to join Jan Opperman and Steve Kinser as the only back-to-back Western World winners, was unable to capitalize on Elliott's struggles, and was now having to worry about the 22nd starter in the field, Jeremy Sherman. Coming down to receive the white flag, one could have thrown a metaphorical blanket over the first three cars. Kaeding got a tremendous run off the second corner and carried good speed into turn three, as Sherman searched for an opening. Elliott positioned himself perfectly to avoid being passed, only to be rudely greeted by the yellow flag (for a Rickie Gaunt spin) when he exited turn four, instead of the checkered flag. "I especially didn't want to see that last yellow and I think I aged ten years in that one damn lap," said the 42 year-old racing veteran. "We just ran her flat out and I knew if those guys were going to pass me that they were going to have to work pretty hard." Like the champion he is, Elliott was flawless on the restart and never gave Kaeding an opportunity to try a pass. Sherman, who earlier in the night won his second straight Western World 360 sprint crown, drove the Dave Ellis Race Cars #21 to a third place finish and to the KSE Products Hard Charger Award. Damion Gardner started 19th and drove the Harlan Willis / TCR Performance #45 to a fourth-place finish. Troy Rutherford piloted Mark Preistley's #7 Kunz to a fifth place finish after starting eleventh. ### SCRA RACE #36 - 36TH ANNUAL NAPA / BUDWEISER WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS MANZANITA SPEEDWAY, PHOENIX, AZ Date of Race: 11/1/03 C-MAIN EVENT (12 Laps - Top 4 transfer to B-Main) 1. J.J. Yeley, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Alan Ballard, 5. Marty Wilcox, 6. Bobby Cody, 7. Casey Shuman, 8. Jay Ervine, 9. Bill Goforth, 10. Boston Reid. - No Time B-MAIN (20 Laps - Top 8 transfer to A-Main) 1. Josh Ford, 2. Jon Stanbrough, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Brandon Lane, 6. Jeremy Sherman, 7. Troy Cline, 8. J.J. Yeley, 9. Bill Rose, 10. Mat Neely, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Rip Williams, 13. Greg Bragg, 14. Alan Ballard, 15. Jimmy Crawford, 16. Ronnie Clark, 17. Jonathan Vennard, 18. Jordan Hermansader, 19. Steve Stone, 20. Jeff Slinkard. - No Time A-MAIN EVENT (40 Laps) 1. Tony Elliott, 2. Bud Kaeding, 3. Jeremy Sherman, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Troy Rutherford, 6. Levi Jones, 7. Tony Jones, 8. Steve Ostling, 9. Cory Kruseman 10. Troy Cline, 11. Josh Wise, 12. Mike Spencer, 13. Adam Mitchell, 14. Josh Ford, 15. Tyler Walker, 16. Brian Venard, 17. Rickie Gaunt, 18. Richard Griffin, 19. Charles Davis, Jr. 20. John Scott, 21. Jon Stanbrough, 22. Brandon Lane, 23. Mike Kirby, 24. J.J. Yeley. Laps Led: Elliott 1-40 NWWC Points 1 Cory Kruseman 515 2 Bud Kaeding 514 3 J.J. Yeley 493 4 Levi Jones 472 5 Troy Rutherford 449 6 Damion Gardner 437 7 Richard Griffin 389 8 Mike Spencer 285 9 Rip Williams 272 10 Josh Ford 240 11 Mike English 230 12 Boston Reid 211 13 Alan Ballard 156 14 Jimmy Crawford 150 15 Charles Davis, Jr. 125 16 Tony Jones 90 17 Adam Mitchell 79 18 Bob Ream, Jr. 69 19 Rickie Gaunt 61 20 Jac Haudenschild 58 21 Seth Wilson 52 22 Mel Murphy 35 23 Ronnie Clark 29 DIVISION: SCRA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 34 2083 2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 34 1985 3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 34 1946 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 35 1708 5. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 25 1283 6. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 33 1263 7. 2 Tony Jones Orange CA 27 1156 B. 2A Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 24 1101 9. 54 Josh Ford (R) Camarillo CA 35 1069 10. 92 Mike English Norwalk CA 27 1004 11. 21X Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 20 967 12. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 21 946 13. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 28 888 14. 97 Alan Ballard (R) Bakersfield CA 35 805 15. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 19 714 16. 17 Seth Wilson (R)San Clemente CA 34 628 17. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 22 601 18. 20 J.J. Yeley Phoenix AZ 11 592 19. 47 Brian Venard Irvine CA 20 588 20. 4 Mike Kirby Torrance CA 15 558 |
