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GAUNT UNPOWERED, BUT UNSTOPABLE |
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BARONA, CA, MAY 1, 2004 - Rickie Gaunt made history Saturday at Barona Speedway. In addition to winning the first ever NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event at Barona, Gaunt became the first driver to win a SCRA feature race with a 360 engine under the hood. Ironically, the race was hyped as the return to non-winged 410 sprint car racing on dirt in the San Diego area for the first time since the late Dean Thompson's victory ended the Speedway 117 era in September of 1982. While no one really could have predicted that a 360 sprint car would find it's way to victory lane for the first time on this night, few knew that Gaunt had hurt his primary motor during an equally as impressive win last week at the Thunderbowl Raceway. "We'll take that record, but I'll tell you what, this 360 motor runs better than most guys 410. I'm really proud to have won here tonight. This was a big deal for us and I'm proud to be a part of this association," Gaunt said after winning his second straight SCRA main event in the Tony Smiley / David Zoriki #2A Extreme. "I haven't won back-to-back races since the 2000 season. We're going pretty good and hopefully we can keep doing this. We've got good hot-rods under us, the team is doing a good job, and I'm just tickled to death." Gaunt also won the JE Pistons Dash, which gave him the pole for the 30-lap finale. Seth Wilson started outside of the front row, but was unable to find enough traction coming off turn four to challenge Gaunt for the lead at the start. In fact, Wilson would fall to third behind Gaunt's teammate Charles Davis, Jr. before reaching turn one. The red flag flew on the third lap after Kaylene Verville tangled with Jeremy Ellertson and flipped in turn two. Verville was not injured, but both drivers were done for the night. Gaunt ran virtually unchallenged after the restart. The same could not be said for Davis, who was under heavy fire from Mike Spencer. Wilson was keeping pace with the leaders until he hooked the infield berm and spun out of the fourth position on the eleventh lap. Wilson restarted and worked his way back to a 12th place finish. Spencer continued to pressure Davis once racing resumed, but it wouldn't be until the 18th circuit that he was finally able to move the Hal Engstrom / Murrieta Development #44 TCR into the runner-up spot. Even though Spencer was three-quarters of a straightaway behind, the likelihood of him catching the leader appeared promising since Gaunt was quickly approaching a huge pack of slower cars. Not to mention the fact that lapping cars on a quarter-mile track is difficult under ideal conditions. Add dry/slick conditions to the mix and this can become a daunting task. "I don't think the track conditions hurt us and I've been around the block a few times," Gaunt said, downplaying the fact that his car's smaller block may have been somewhat beneficial after the track turned slick. "I've been racing for 15 years and when we got into heavy lapped traffic I knew not to give up the bottom. I tried to be patient, but I also had to be aggressive. I lost a race a few weeks ago by not being aggressive. Instead of attacking the race track I was defensive, and I knew I couldn't do that tonight." Gaunt was anything but defensive. He was aggressive, but very much calculating and under control throughout the race. Even after building a healthy lead, Gaunt stayed aggressive until the end and even rubbed wheels with a lapped car on the final lap of the race. "I didn't know who was behind me, and I'm racing with some good guys out here that are just as hungry as I am, so you can't give'em an inch. You have to keep pushing and fighting. The lapped cars are out there racing too, so you can't say anything about it. I just had to pick my spots." Getting closer to that elusive first SCRA win, Spencer finished second ahead of Davis. Four-time Santa Maria Track Champion Mark Nation finished fourth in his Eldon Smith & Sons #3N Stinger and earned his best career SCRA finish. Ronnie Clark had a big night in the Rick & Tanya Clark #33 Ellis. After winning his first career Arizona Race Mart Fast Time Award in time trials, Clark posted his first top-five finish in the main event. Fellow Arizona driver Josh Pelkey won the KSE Products Hard Charger Award with his 15th to sixth drive. SCRA RACE #3 - BARONA SPEEDWAY PARK, RAMONA, CA 5/1/04 Arizona Race Mart Time Trials 1. Ronnie Clark, Clark 33, 13.925 (Automatic Track Record), 2. Casey Shuman, Sweeney/Zoriki 6, 14.116, 3. Mark Nation, Nation 3N, 14.137, 4. Seth Wilson, Wilson 17, 14.159, 5. Charles Davis, Jr., Smiley 8A, 14.230, 6. Keith Williamson, Williamson 95, 14.298, 7. Cal Smith, Smith 39, 14.330, 8. Rickie Gaunt, Smiley 2A, 14.331, 9. Mike Spencer, Engstrom 44, 14.367, 10. Verne Sweeney, Sweeney/Zoriki 98, 14.389, 11. A.J. Reyer, Reyer 7J, 14.415, 12. Ron DiDonato, DiDonato 57, 14.434, 13. Brandon Springstead, Springstead 6X, 14.647, 14. Randy Waitman, Waitman Y69, 14.680, 15. Alan Ballard, Ballard 97, 14.761, 16. Josh Pelkey, Masseth 17X, 14.813, 17. Mel Murphy, Murphy 62, 14.828, 18. Tony Everhart, Everhart 55, 14.913, 19. Jeremy Ellertson, Ellertson 98J, 15.026, 20. Mike Martin, Martin 57M, 15.041, 21. Kaylene Verville, Verville 01, 15.324, 22. Dennis Rodriguez, Rohwer 20, 15.410, 23. Brian Schuler, Schuler 77S, 15.783, 24. Scott Sloan, Astenious 23, 15.894, 25. David Hair, Hair 44X, 16.227 SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 1 (10 Laps) 1. Wilson, 2. Pelkey, 3. Springstead, 4. Clark, 5. Sweeney, 6. Ellertson, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Smith - No Time. STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 2 (10 Laps) 1. Martin, 2. Gaunt, 3. Davis, 4. Murphy, 5. Shuman, 6. Waitman, 7. Schuler, 8. Reyer - 2:27.84. SPIN TECH MUFFLERS / OVAL TRACK RACING HEAT 3 (10 Laps) 1. DiDonato, 2. Verville, 3. Spencer, 4. Ballard, 5. Nation, 6. Williamson, 7. Everhart, 8. Sloan - 2:32.78. JE PISTONS DASH (6 Laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. Wilson, 3. Davis, 4. Shuman, 5. Spencer, 6. Nation, 7. Clark, 8. Sweeney - 1:32.71. B-MAIN EVENT (12 Laps) 1. Williamson, 2. Ellertson, 3. Reyer, 4. Everhart, 5. Schuler, 6. Rodriguez, 7. Waitman, 8. Sloan, 9. Hair, 10. Smith - No Time. A-MAIN EVENT (30 Laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. Spencer, 3. Davis, 4. Nation, 5. Clark, 6. Pelkey, 7. Ballard, 8. Shuman, 9. Sweeney, 10. Williamson, 11. Waitman, 12. Wilson, 13. Everhart, 14. Martin, 15. DiDonato, 16. Reyer, 17. Springstead, 18. Schuler, 19. Rodriguez, 20. Murphy, 21. Ellertson, 22. Verville - No Time. Laps Led: Gaunt 1-30 SCRA DRIVER Point Standings CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 2A Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 3 246 2. 8A Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 3 224 3. 97 Alan Ballard Bakersfield CA 3 170 4. 17 Seth Wilson San Clemente CA 3 147 5. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 3 138 6. 33 Ronnie Clark Tucson AZ 3 130 7. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 2 126 8. 3N Mark Nation Los Olivos CA 3 119 9. 6 Casey Shuman Corona CA 3 117 10. 57M Mike Martin Yuma AZ 3 107 11. 51 Kevin Urton Elk Grove CA 2 96 12. 50 Damion Gardner Concord CA 1 85 13. 69 Peter Murphy Sydney, Aus 2 78 14. 45 Steve Ostling Corona CA 1 75 15. 4F Mike Faria Tipton CA 2 66 16. 17X Josh Pelkey Peoria AZ 1 64 17. 01 Kaylene Verville (R) Avondale AZ 3 60 18. 84 Aaron Altaffer Tulare CA 2 60 19. 56AZ Alex Pruett Carefree AZ 2 57 20. 95 Keith Williamson Pomona CA 1 53 |
