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MAY 1, 2005...Damion Gardner, from Concord, CA,
started 23rd in this weeks Valvoline USAC/CRA 30 lap feature race at
Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday night, and still won his third feature of the
season in the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Eagle,
Shaver number 50 sprinter. After setting his seventh fast time out of eight
events this season, he encountered trouble in his heat and the 12 lap semi when
he did not finish either race. Taking a provisional starting spot at the back of
the line-up, the ”Demon” decimated the field as he passed 22 cars and took
the lead on lap 28 for an almost
impossible feat that left the crowd stunned and amazed, it was awesome!
In victory circle Damion said ”things fell apart there
early, but in the main, we were on a mission as I was trying to be real clean
coming thru the pack. I knew I
could do it, but when I got to third, I really knew it then!” Damion let it
all hang out as he darted around the dirt oval pulling the wheels up coming out
of nearly every corner and giving the sprint car world something to talk about.
This is one for the ages and will be referred to often in the future as a
milestone.
Mike Kirby took over the lead on lap six after early
leader, Rodney Argo, had his power steering lock up forcing him
out of action. Mike then led until Cory Kruseman took over on lap 21.
Then the suspense was all about Damion and could he do it? The ending saw
Damion, Cory and Tony Jones standing on the podium in that order with Kirby and
Charles Davis Jr following.
Johnny Rodriguez made his first non-wing sprint car start
this week in Mark Priestley’s # 7
car a good one as the
Midget star ran a strong 12th. His only sprint car experience
up until now has been with a wing, and he said early in the afternoon he was
really exited to get this chance that he had been waiting for.
Next race will be at Ventura Raceway on May 7th.
VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE
RESULTS:
April 30, 2005 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.010; 2. Seth Wilson,
17, Racing Optics-16.206; 3. Charles Davis, Jr, 8A, Smiley-16.313; 4. Bobby
Cody, 41, Cody-16.390; 5. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-16.425; 6. Rip Williams, 3,
Jory-16.433; 7. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-16.560; 8. Rick Becker, 67,
Becker-16.573; 9. Danny Ebberts, 77, Acosta-16.575; 10. Tony Jones, 87,
Vermeer/Ferreira-16.650; 11. Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-16.710; 12. Mike Kirby, 4,
Alexander-16.725; 13. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-16.753; 14. Alan Ballard, 97,
Ballard-16.766; 15. J.Hicks, 66, Miller-16.801; 16. David Cardey, 59,
Giardina-16.856; 17. Jordan Hermansader, 92, Sertich-16.866; 18. Jason York,
25N, York-16.889; 19. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-16.899; 20. Steve Ostling, 5,
Keller-16.918; 21. Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg-16.925; 22. Bobby Graham, 14,
Lancaster-16.930; 23. Steve Paden, 1, Farrier-17.110; 24. Johnny Rodriguez, 7,
Priestley-17.124; 25. Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford-17.170; 26. Ronnie Case, 0,
Shoemaker-17.268; 27. Jimmy Thornell, 25, Ruth-17.391; 28. J.J. Ercse, 33,
Blair-17.560; 29. Todd Hunsaker, 75, Hunsaker-17.672; 30. Joshua Williams, 34,
Williams-17.720; 31. Brandon Springstead, 36, Springstead-17.799; 32. Nadine
Keller, 16, Keller-18.325; 33. Jack Hawley, 1J, Hawley-18.332; 34. Richard Rose,
N8, Ziegler-NT.
TROPHY DASH: (3 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Gardner, 3. Cody, 4. Wilson. :50.16
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hillberg, 2. Crawford, 3. Spencer, 4. Ebberts,
5. Hunsaker, 6. Gaunt, 7. Hawley, 8. Hermansader, 9. Gardner. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Williams, 2. Jones, 3. Ballard, 4. Case, 5.
York, 6. Graham, 7. Wilson, 8. J.Williams. 2:59:40
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hicks, 2. Davis, 3, Kruseman, 4. Argo, 5.
Johnson, 6. Springstead, 7. Thornell, 8. Paden. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kirby, 2. Ostling, 3. Ercse, 4. Becker, 5.
Cardey, 6. Cody, 7. Keller, 8. Rodriguez. 2:56:80
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Wilson, 2. Hermansader, 3. Johnson, 4. Cody, 5.
Cardey, 6. Rodriguez, 7. York, 8. Graham, 9. Thornell, 10. J.Williams, 11.
Springstead, 12. Gaunt, 13. Hawley, 14. Keller, 15. Hunsaker, 16. Gardner. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Tony Jones, 4.
Mike Kirby, 5. Charles Davis, Jr., 6. Rip Williams, 7. Danny Ebberts, 8. Jordan
Hermansader, 9. Alan Ballard, 10. Mike Spencer, 11. Rick Becker, 12. Johnny
Rodriguez, 13. R.J. Johnson, 14. Seth Wilson, 15. David Cardey, 16. J.Hicks, 17.
Ronnie Case, 18. J.J. Ercse, 19. Jimmy Crawford, 20. Steve Ostling, 21. Bobby
Cody, 22. Dan Hillberg, 23. Rodney Argo. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Argo, Laps 6-20 Kirby, Laps 21-27 Kruseman, Laps
28-30 Gardner.
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Rip Williams-517; 2-Davis-492; 3-Kirby-476;
4-Gardner-451; 5-Kruseman-441; 6-Gaunt-354; 7-Josh Ford-310; 8-Jones-268;
9-Wilson-267; 10-Ballard-246.
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: May 7 – Ventura (CA) Raceway
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