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| Press Release |
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MIKE KIRBY MONOPLIZES MANZY
FIELD IN SOKOLA CLASSIC 40 LAPPER |
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MARCH 20, 2005...Mike Kirby, of Torrance, Ca, made the trip to Manzanita Speedway for the 5th annual Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply Sokola Classic a good one. Driving the Alexander Trucking, La Villa Restaurant, Stinger # 4, Mike took the lead on lap 33 after chasing down the leader, Rickie Gaunt who had won the 20 lap opener on Friday, and blew by him on the top groove to go on to win the $5000 prize. The Valvoline USAC/CRA series was not affected by the rain showers that were in the area for the weekend as the raceway dodged the rain and completed the two day event without interruption. It was Kirby’s 9th CRA win with the club as he
overcame a large lead by the early leader and in the winner’s circle said “
It began working great on the top for me and I got by Jeremy and then Gaunt for
the lead. Sometimes traffic works for you and sometimes it doesn’t.” Rickie Gaunt was a runaway winner in Friday night’s 20 lap prelim race and looked to double up on Saturday. He was consistently pulling away from the pack on the bottom of the track until Kirby found the top to his liking. It was Gaunt’s first win at the track.
Teammate and Point leader, Charles Davis Jr kept his lead with fifth and
third place finishes on a good weekend for team Smiley as Rickie went first and
second on the two nights. Defending champ, Rip Williams, came close to winning
his 100th race when he ran second and third over the weekend. Damion Gardner had his fourth fast time in a row on Friday,
but dropped out when he hit the wall on a yellow flag in the main and couldn’t
return. Saturday he was second quick and, after replacing a shock on lap 17,
came from the back to get eighth. VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: 3/19/05– Phoenix, AZ –Manzanita Speedway QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics 19.485, 2. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin 19.552, 3. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley 19.599, 4. Rip Williams, 3, Jory 19.729, 5. Josh Wise, 7, Priestley 19.837, 6. Dave Darland, 42, Cheney 19.872, 7. Nathan High, 6A, Pritchett 19.958, 8. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander 20.025, 9. Bobby Cody, 41, Cody 20.050, 10. Josh Ford, 73, Ford 20.056, 11. Charles Davis Jr, 8A, Smiley 20.121, 12. Rick Ziehl, 23A, Fleming 20.127, 13. Chuck Buckman, 4M, Buckman 20.142, 14. Jeremy Sherman, 77B, Bryan 20.168, 15. Bill Rose, 5, Keller 20.170, 16. Robert Hall, 16AZ, Hall 20.203, 17. Bob Ream Jr, 8, B.R.A.T. 20.238, 18. Brandon Lane, 97H, Lane 20.244, 19. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom 20.269, 20. Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford 20.278, 21. Jesse Hockett, 2J, Massey 20.286, 22. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno 20.305, 23. Dwayne Marcum, 12, Pratt 20.340, 24. Jordan Hermansader, 14, Lancaster 20.348, 25. R.J.Johnson, 15AZ, Martin 20.487, 26. Mike Leslie, 76AZ, Montgomery 20.505, 27. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard 20.549, 28. Bobby Boone, 61, Ratz Racing 20.661, 29. Ronnie Clark, 33X, Clark 20.694, 30. Ronnie Case, 91AZ, Carston 21.269, 31. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart 21.652, 32. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller 21.700 FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Chuck Buckman, 2. R.J. Johnson, 3.
Ronnie Clark, 4. Seth Wilson, 5. Bob Ream jr, 6. Jesse Hockett, 7. Bobby Cody,
8. Josh Wise. Time 3:33:31 FEATURE: 40 laps) 1. Mike Kirby, 2. Rickie Gaunt, 3. Rip
Willaims, 4. Jeremy Sherman, 5. Charles Davis Jr, 6. Josh Ford, 7. Cory
Kruseman, 8. Damion Gardner, 9. Rick Zeihl, 10. Jesse Hockett, 11. R.J. Johnson,
12. Bill Rose, 13. Seth Wilson, 14. Josh Wise, 15. Brandon Lane, 16.
Jimmy Crawford, 17. Alan Ballard, 18. Mike Leslie, 19. Ronnie Clark, 20.
Chuck Buckman, 21. Bobby Cody, 22. Dwayne Marcum.
No Time NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:
1-Davis-335; 2-Rip Williams-333; 3-Kirby-289; 4-Gardner-288; 5-Kruseman-277;
6-Gaunt-235; 7-Ford-208; 8-Wilson-179; 9-Ballard-173; 10-Wise-169. Quote from It was his 9th CRA win and 59 the overall win. Damion restarted and came back to 8th on a great drive. Paid $5000 to win and $500 to start. VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES
RACE RESULTS: March 18, 2005 – Phoenix, Arizona – Manzanita Speedway – 5th
“Sokola Classic” |
