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GAUNT CONTINUES TO BE SUPER |
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BARONA, CA, MAY 29, 2004 - "Super" Rickie Gaunt continued to
live up to his nickname Saturday at Barona Speedway. Donning his trademark Superman-like decal on the side of his Tony Smiley / David Zoriki #2A Extreme, Gaunt started fifth, before going on to win a record fourth consecutive NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event. "I'm just carrying on my wolf-pack I have with J.J. Yeley," Gaunt said after the 30-lap win. "He carried the flag all last year and I'm trying to carry it this year. He's over there with the stock car guys now, and I'm over here try to carry the banner for the sprint car guys." Much like his "wolf-pack" partner did a year ago in the Midwest, Gaunt's latest win was his first big step towards re-writing the SCRA record books. The victory enabled Gaunt to leapfrog over Richard Griffin, Bud Kaeding, Mike Kirby, Rip Williams and SCRA President Ron Shuman, all of whom previously shared the record for most consecutive SCRA wins. "We raced Tulare a couple weeks ago and we had some guys come in that haven't been running with us this year, and we beat them," Gaunt said, who also set a new one-lap track record during Arizona Race Mart Time Trials. "I have one of the best teams in the country, and I don't think anyone should take anything away from what our team has accomplished this year. We've run with the best of them, and we're real proud of what we've done so far." Verne Sweeney posted his first JE Pistons Dash win since the 1999 season and started on the pole for the feature race with Mike English to his outside. Sweeney won the race to the green flag and went on to lead English, Alan Ballard, Kevin Urton, Gaunt and Seth Wilson at the end of the opening lap. Gaunt moved into the third spot in just three laps and was in the process of closing on Sweeney and English when the yellow flag waved four laps into the race for a four-car pile-up in turn one. Gaunt, Urton and Ballard were busy battling for the third spot after the restart when English bicycled in turn three and slipped to the seventh spot. English would, however, bring his Tom & Lauri Sertich / sprintcars.com entry back for a fifth place finish. Sweeney's teammate, Casey Shuman, brought out the next yellow flag when he slowed to a stop in turn one on the sixth circuit. The stage now appeared to be set for Gaunt to pounce on the leader, but the restart proved to be move of a setback for Gaunt after he slipped wide coming down for the green flag and allowed Urton to slip into second place. In similar fashion, Sweeney was also accommodating to Urton and skated wide on a lap eight restart giving Urton an opportunity to lead his first-ever SCRA main event laps. Gaunt saw to it that Urton's lead was short-lived. Passing Sweeney on the eleventh lap, Gaunt moved ahead of Urton on the following lap, after Urton pushed a little too wide entering turn four. After leading all 30 laps of the previous Barona race, many thought that Gaunt would simply runaway and hide once out front. Sophomore driver Seth Wilson had other ideas. After applying heavy pressure to Urton for a couple of laps, Wilson forced him up the race track and took over the second spot on the 19th lap. While Wilson hunted for a way around his teammate, Charles Davis, Jr. pulled off a daring two-car pass on lap 21 and moved into the fourth position after starting 22nd. Looking like a seasoned veteran, Wilson stalked Gaunt, hoping for a mistake in the closing laps. Meanwhile, Davis survived contact with Urton on the 22nd lap to now make it a three-car fight for the lead. Coming down for the white flag, Wilson was glued to Gaunt's rear bumper and looked to the outside of the leader heading into turn one. Perhaps catching Gaunt by surprise, Wilson was nearly even with Gaunt when he spun entering turn two. As Davis darted into second, Wilson stayed in the throttle and performed a perfect donut until he bounced off eventual third place finisher Urton and slid into in the infield with front-end damage, as Gaunt took the checkered flag. "Seth Wilson did a heck of a job," Gaunt said in victory lane. "He's only been doing this a couple of years and my hat's off to him for having a great run. I had no clue that he was there until we ended up touching. All I saw was marbles out there where he was running and I didn't think anyone could run up there. I feel bad for him, but I didn't know he was there. I just wished he could have finished on the podium, but everyone knew he was here tonight that's for sure." In addition, giving Team Smiley its third one-two finish in the last four SCRA races, Davis claimed the KSE Products Hard Charger Award. After the race, Gaunt joked with his teammate about his great drive from the last starting spot. "If he would have passed me I would have had to flip both of us," Gaunt laughed. "The guy started last and finishes second. Honestly, I'm glad he started last because if he would have started farther forward I might have had to flip him." Lost in all the final lap drama was Alan Ballard's fine fourth place run in the Ernie's Tong Service #97 Schnee. Ballard drive further secured his third place position in the SCRA points championship behind Gaunt and Davis. ### SCRA RACE #5 - BARONA SPEEDWAY PARK, RAMONA, CA 5/29/04 Arizona Race Mart Time Trials 1. Rickie Gaunt, Smiley 2A, 13.723 (Track Record), 2. Kevin Urton, Urton 51, 13.885, 3. Alan Ballard, Ballard 97, 14.014, 4. Mark Nation, Nation 3N, 14.094, 5. Alex Pruett, Pruett 56AZ, 14.186, 6. Ronnie Clark, Clark 33, 14.253, 7. Verne Sweeney, Sweeney/Zoriki 98, 14.257, 8. Mike English, Sertich 92, 14.259, 9. Seth Wilson, Wilson 17, 14.343, 10. A.J. Reyer, Reyer 7J, 14.388, 11. Lance Gremett, Perkins 50, 14.407, 12. Josh Pelkey, Masseth 17X, 14.478, 13. Casey Shuman, Sweeney/Zoriki 6, 14.484, 14. Jeremy Ellertson, Ellertson 98J, 14.507, 15. Mike Martin, Martin 57M, 14.555, 16. Mel Murphy, Murphy 62, 14.556, 17. Randy Waitman, Waitman Y69, 14.834, 18. Mike Whitcomb, Whitcomb 84, 14.958, 19. Dan Tedrick, Tedrick 88, 15.136 20. Tony Everhart, Everhart 55, 15.403, 21. Brandon Springstead, Springstead 6X, 15.515, 22. Brian Schuler, Schuler 77S, 15.697, 23. Charles Davis, Jr., Smiley 8A, No Time, 24. Terry Foster, Foster 19, No Time , 25. Darren Slater, Slater 64, No Time SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 1 (10 Laps) |
