NOVEMBER 1, 2004...Cory Kruseman of Ventura, Calif. captured Saturday
night's
50-lap 9th Annual "Budweiser Oval Nationals" at the Perris (Calif.)
Auto Speedway. The victory in the $100,000 event earned his Tony Stewart Racing
Team a $30,000 prize and boosted him to second in the USAC Valvoline National
Sprint Car Series standings going into this week's final National race at
Phoenix, Ariz.
The 37th NAPA Auto Parts/Budweiser "Western World Championships" begin
Thursday at the 1/2-mile dirt Manzanita Park Speedway in Phoenix and conclude
with a 40-lap feature on Saturday night. Preliminaries Thursday and Friday will
set the stage for Saturday night's program.
Kruseman's victory at Perris came in a sensational last-lap pass of Josh Ford
after a late-race battle between the two. Ford finished second behind Kruseman's
Mopar/Vital Express Eagle/Mopar. Levi Jones, Bud Kaeding and Tony Elliott
rounded out the "top-five" at the checkered flag.
Valvoline USAC/CRA Sprint Car point leaders Rip Williams, Damion Gardner and
Mike Kirby all met with success in the three-night Perris program, Kirby winning
Thursday's 25-lap prelim, Williams taking Friday's 25-lapper and Gardner posting
a third behind Williams. The result of the three nights, though, left Williams
with an 87-point lead going into this week's Phoenix races. Gardner ranks
second, 31 ahead of Kirby.
Williams led all 25 laps of Friday's feature in his John Jory Corporation/Weld
Wheels Stinger/Shaver to beat Kruseman, Gardner, Kirby and Ford. Levi Jones was
Friday's fastest qualifier. Kirby led all 25 laps of Thursday's race in his ITI
Performance/Sander Engineering TCR/Downing to beat Ford, Kruseman, Tony Elliott
and Tracy Hines. Kruseman was Thursday's fastest qualifier.
Kirby led the first 38 laps of Saturday's race before he and Gardner tangled
bumpers and slid into the wall. That left Bud Kaeding as the leader until Ford
took over on lap 42. Kruseman got around Ford on lap 46 but slid behind for the
next three laps before regaining the lead on the final circuit!
Jay Drake of Val Verde, Calif. eyes this weekend's Phoenix event as the cap to
his first USAC National championship season, currently holding a 72-point lead
over teammate Kruseman in the Valvoline National standings.
VALVOLINE USAC NATIONAL & USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: October
30, 2004 - Perris, California - Perris Auto Speedway - 9th "Budweiser Oval
Nationals"
"C" MAIN: (20 laps) 1. Mike
Spencer (#44 Engstrom), 2. Danny Sheridan (#4x Kittle), 3. Alan Ballard (#97
Ballard), 4. Gary W. Howard (#84 Keene), 5. Jeremy Sherman (#11x Wilkerson), 6.
Rick Ziehl (#5 Keller), 7. Marc Jessup (#11J Walker), 8. Ronnie Case (#33
Blair), 9. Darren Hagen (#11m McMinn), 10. Jason York (#25N York), 11. Rob
Kershaw (#10c CamLand), 12. Seth Wilson (#17x Racing Optics), 13. Duane Feduska
(#23 Bellegante), 14. Nadine Keller (#6 Keller), 15. Danny Ebberts (#77 Acosta),
16. Mike Leslie (#76 Montgomery), 17. John Scott (#83 Scott), 18. Brandon Lane
(#97H Lane), 19. Jesse Hockett (#2J Massey), 20. David Cardey (#59 Giardina). NT
SEMI ("B" MAIN): (20 laps) 1.
Brent Kaeding (#69x Kaeding), 2. Levi Jones (#2B 2B Racing), 3. Tom Hessert (#67
Kunz), 4. Charles Davis, Jr. (#8A Smiley), 5. Dickie Gaines (#70 Gaines), 6.
Greg Bragg (#12 Pratt), 7. Steve Ostling (#29x Fischer), 8. Brad Sweet (#1
Sweet), 9. Brian Venard (#47 Venard), 10. Sheridan, 11. Dave Darland (#56az
Pruett/May), 12. Spencer, 13. Tony Jones (#2 Vermeer/Ferreira), 14. Howard, 15.
Mat Neely (#17 Neely), 16. Peter Murphy (#45 Willis), 17. Bill Rose (#82
Hillberg),
18. Case, 19. Jessup, 20. Bobby Cody (#41 Cody), 21. Ziehl, 22. Rickie Gaunt (#6
KMS), 23. Sherman, 24. Ballard. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Cory Kruseman (#21
Stewart), 2. Josh Ford (#73 Ford), 3. Levi Jones, 4. Bud Kaeding (#29 BK), 5.
Tony Elliott (#11 Walker), 6. Mike Spencer, 7. Charles Davis, Jr., 8. Rip
Williams (#3 Jory), 9. Steve Ostling, 10. Dave Darland, 11. Jon Stanbrough (#10
R & B), 12. Danny Sheridan, 13. Brian Venard, 14. Brent Kaeding, 15. Jay
Drake (#20 Stewart), 16. Troy Rutherford (#7 Priestley), 17. Greg Bragg, 18.
Mike
Kirby (#38 Crossno), 19. Damion Gardner (#50 Chaffin), 20. Tracy Hines (#69
Dynamics), 21. Troy Cline (#62 BWB), 22. Tom Hessert, 23. Brad Sweet, 24. Dickie
Gaines, 25. Bobby Cody. NT
----------------------
**Cardey flipped during C Main. Ziehl flipped during Semi. Hines, Gardner and
Cline flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-38 Kirby, Laps 39-41 Bud Kaeding, Laps 42-45
Ford, Lap 46 Kruseman, Laps 47-49 Ford, Lap 50 Kruseman.
NEW VALVOLINE USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Drake-1,573;
2-Kruseman-1,501; 3-Bud Kaeding-1,478; 4-L.Jones-1,368; 5-Ford-1,180;
6-Elliott-1,090; 7-Darland-1,056; 8-Stanbrough-931; 9-Gaines-883; 10-Brian
Tyler-837.
NEW VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:
1-Rip Williams-1,645; 2-Gardner-1,558; 3-Kirby-1,527; 4-Rutherford-1,038;
5-Bragg-909; 6-Spencer-862; 7-Ostling-854; 8-Kruseman-843; 9-T.Jones-795;
10-Cody-789.
NEXT VALVOLINE USAC NATIONAL/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
November 4-6 - Phoenix, AZ - Manzanita Speedway - 37th NAPA Auto Parts/Budweiser
"Western World Championships"
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