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GAUNT EXTENDS SCRA WIN STREAK TO FIVE |
| BARONA, CA, JUNE 26, 2004 - It continues to be a very
special year for Rickie Gaunt. Saturday at Barona Speedway Park, Gaunt patiently kept his Tony Smiley / David Zoriki #2A Extreme on the low groove for most of the 30-lap race and was able to extend his record-setting streak to five consecutive NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event victories. Even though it appears on paper that Gaunt has been completely dominant this year, the truth is that Gaunt has had to battle hard for each of his main event wins. Saturday's race was no exception. Having to overtake, and then, withstand challenges from his determined teammate Charles Davis, Jr., as well as, a late serge from Damion Gardner, Gaunt's latest victory was not a certainty until he reached the checkered flag. "I've had my hands full all year. I've just been lucky and have won a few races this year," Gaunt modestly said after his 14th career SCRA win. "Charlie told me before the race that he was going to take the lead at the start and beat me tonight. I was just afraid he was going to hit me like he said he would if I passed him. Then, Damion was there, and I saw him a couple of times. He's a great racecar driver who always runs me clean." Gaunt admits that his dream season has given him a little taste of what his good friend J.J. Yeley experienced last season. And, even though he refuses to thinks about it, Gaunt is in prime position to contend his first SCRA driving title. "I talked to J.J. all the time last year when he was winning so much and it made me wonder what it would be like to win a lot of races. He also talked me into trying these Extreme cars. I never thought I'd like 'em, but now I'm pretty fond of them," said Gaunt, who now holds a 53-point lead over Davis. "It would be nice to win a championship, but there is a long way to go and things haven't really been all that easy to where I think I'm going to win the championship. Towards the end of the year, if I have a 100 point lead, or so, with a couple races to go, then maybe I'll think about." Gaunt beat Davis at the start of the JE Pistons Dash and went on to claim his third dash of the year. Davis lived up to his pre-race promise and beat Gaunt into turn one at the start of the main event. After setting a new one-lap track record during Arizona Race Mart Time Trials, Damion Gardner ran third at the end of the opening lap in the Ron Chaffin / Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply #50 Jon Boy, just ahead of Mike English, J Hicks and Steve Ostling. As English and Hicks fought for position, Josh Pelkey brought out the first caution period of the race after his 360 motor erupted into flames on the fourth lap. Pelkey was not hurt. Gaunt dove low on the restart and raced side-by-side with Davis along the backstraight. Using the high line, Davis managed to inch ahead of his teammate . English gave Gardner's charge to the front a bit of a setback after he drove his Tom & Lauri Sertich / sprintcars.com #92 Buckley around the outside of him in turn-three on the seventh lap to take over the third position. Davis was working lapped traffic on the eleventh lap when Gaunt's low groove strategy put him into the lead in turn one. Immediately surveying the situation, Davis crossed-over to the bottom of the racing surface and regained the lead exiting turn two. The caution lights flashed moments later, after Tony Everhart came to a stop in turn three. The restart looked like an instant replay of the prior one, with Gaunt and Davis racing wheel-to-wheel along the backstraight. This time, however, Gaunt was able to gingerly drift ahead of his teammate in turn four. Once out front, Gaunt briefly extended his lead. Davis narrowed the gap in the closing laps, as Gardner, who was now back ahead of English, made it a three-car shootout for the lead. Gardner moved ahead of Davis with less than five laps to go and quickly narrowed the gap between himself and Gaunt . Working lap 27, Gardner stuck a wheel under the leader in turn three just as the yellow flag waved for a muffler that was laying on the backstraight. While most people were anticipating a big move from Gardner on the restart, it was seventeen year-old Alan Ballard that provided the excitement, overtaking Davis and English after a beautiful three-wide pass exiting turn two. The move gave Ballard, and his Ernie Ballard / Dick's Automotive #97 Schnee, their first SCRA podium finish. Gardner ran the cushion as hard as anyone could have in the final three laps, but in the end was no match for the bottom-hugging Gaunt. Davis would finish fourth ahead of English and the Harlan Willis entry driven by Ostling. Arizona driver Bruce St. James took home the KSE Products Hard Charger Award with his 20th to eleventh place run. ### SCRA RACE #6 - BARONA SPEEDWAY PARK, RAMONA, CA 6/26/04 Arizona Race Mart Time Trials 1. Damion Gardner, Chaffin 50, 13.468 (Track Record), 2. Seth Wilson, Wilson 17, 13.619, 3. Steve Ostling, Willis 45, 13.644, 4. Mike English, Sertich 92, 13.878, 5. Mark Nation, Nation 3N, 13.891, 6. J Hicks, Miller 66, 13.893, 7. Rickie Gaunt, Smiley 2A, 13.916, 8. Alan Ballard, Ballard 97, 13.970, 9. Charles Davis, Jr., Smiley 8A, 13.975, 10. Casey Shuman, Sweeney/Zoriki 6, 14.010, 11. A.J. Reyer, Reyer 7J, 14.089 12. Ronnie Clark, Clark 33, 14.271, 13. Mike Martin, Martin 57M, 14.277, 14. Verne Sweeney, Sweeney/Zoriki 98, 14.280, 15. Dwayne Marcum, Ruth 25, 14.337, 16. Mike Spencer, Engstrom 44, 14.398, 17. Josh Pelky, Masseth 17X, 14.464, 18. Tony Everhart, Everhart 55, 14.474, 19. Nadine Kellar, Kellar 6Z, 14.476, 20. Jeremy Ellertson, Ellertson 98J, 14.514, 21. Mel Murphy, Murphy 62, 14.527, 22. Randy Waitman, Waitman Y69, 14.581, 23. Mike Whitcomb, Whitcomb 84, 14.594, 24. Jim Thomson, Thomson 91, 14.606, 25. Brian Schuler, Schuler 77S, 14.786, 26. Brandon Springstead, Springstead 6X, 14.903, 27. Bruce St. James, St. James 7K, 15.251, 28. Bob Gibson, Gibson 5M, 15.724, 29. Mark Deskovick, Deskovick 7, 15.751, 30. Brandon Thomson, Thomson 24, 15.872, 31. Kevin Urton, Urton 51, No Time SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 1 (10 Laps) 1.Davis, 2. Murphy, 3. Pelky, 4. Gardner, 5. Martin, 6. Schuler, 7. Deskovick, 8. Nation STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 2 (10 Laps) 1. Sweeney, 2. Waitman, 3. Hicks, 4. Shuman, 5. Wilson, 6. Everhart, 7. B. Thomson, 8. Springstead. SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3 (10 Laps) 1. Whitcomb, 2. Gaunt, 3. St. James, 4. Ostling, 5. Kellar, 6. Reyer, 7. Marcum OVAL TRACK RACING HEAT 4 (10 Laps) 1. Sweeney, 2. Clark, 3. Gibson, 4. J. Thomson, 5. Ballard, 6. Ellertson, 7. Spencer JE PISTONS DASH (6 Laps) 1.Gaunt, 2. Davis, 3. Hicks, 4. English, 5. Ostling, 6. Gardner, 7. Clark, 8. Shuman B-MAIN EVENT (12 Laps) 1. Reyer, 2. Nation, 3. Ballard, 4. Martin, 5. Everhart, 6. Deskovick, 7. Marcum, 8. Wilson, 9. Springstead, 10. Schuler, 11. Kellar, 12. Ellertson, 13. Spencer, A-MAIN EVENT (30 Laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. Gardner, 3. Ballard, 4. Davis, 5. English, 6. Ostling, 7. Hicks, 8. Shuman, 9. Nation, 10. Marcum, 11. St. James, 12. Martin, 13. Waitman, 14. Gibson, 15. Reyer, 16. Deskovick, 17. Sweeney, 18. Clark, 19. Everhart, 20. Whitcomb, 21. Murphy, 22. Pelky - No Time. Laps Led: Davis 1-11, Gaunt 12-30 SCRA DRIVER Point Standings as of: 06/26/04 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 2A Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 6 523 2. 8A Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 6 470 3. 97 Alan Ballard Bakersfield CA 6 370 4. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 6 281 5. 17 Seth Wilson San Clemente CA 6 281 6. 50 Damion Gardner Concord CA 3 271 7. 33 Ronnie Clark Tucson AZ 6 268 8. 3N Mark Nation Los Olivos CA 6 255 9. 6 Casey Shuman Corona CA 6 254 10. 57M Mike Martin (R) Yuma AZ 6 237 11. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 4 224 12. 51 Kevin Urton Elk Grove CA 4 187 13. 45 Steve Ostling Corona CA 2 145 14. 92 Mike English Norwalk CA 3 143 15. 84 Aaron Altaffer (R) Tulare CA 3 125 16. 17X Josh Pelkey Peoria AZ 3 118 17. 62 Mel Murphy Riverside CA 4 108 18. 6X Brandon Springstead (R) Mission Viejo CA 3 107 19. 98J Jeremy Ellertson Hermosa Beach CA 5 106 20. 56AZ Alex Pruett Carefree AZ 3 103 |
