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Press Release

DAMION GARDNER SHAKES OFF MANZY BAD LUCK TO WIN.
by Ken Wagner

MAY 22, 2005...Damion Gardner of Concord, California finally stepped to the top of the podium at Manzanita for his 4th Valvoline USAC/CRA main event win in a row in this series and first with this club at the big half mile oval dirt track. Driving the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Eagle, Shaver # 50, Damion set fast time for the ninth time this year before coming from his inverted eighth starting spot to overcome Jeremy Sherman on the 24th lap restart to win the 30 lap event and pull within 20 points of leader Rip Willaims.

On a searing 110 degree plus hot day in the Arizona desert, Damion turned out to be even hotter as he put behind him his three earlier races here this season that included a best of an eighth place finish and one missed main event. In beating Sherman, who has 8 wins at Manzanita against the So Cal based drivers, he proved his prowess from the small bullrings like Ventura up to and including the monster tracks like Williams Grove in PA and now even Manzanita. His patience won out for him in this one as he stalked the leaders until he was in position to win. This growing legendary driver in the making is beating some of the best drivers in the country on a regular basis. Who is going to step up and stop him?

Jeremy Sherman had to contend with Cory Kruseman early in the race before he passed him and led until Josh Wise came up from his seventh starting spot to take over the lead for a few laps. When Jeremy retook the lead with nine to go, he was stretching it out and seemingly headed for his first CRA win.  When Mike Kirby crashed helicopter style, after getting sucked into the turn two wall, the red flag stop allowed the Demon the opportunity he needed. Jeremy couldn’t hold him off, but still drove an outstanding race to finish second

Cory Kruseman made his fourth straight podium with his third place finish this week as he continues to move up in the points chase. He led the first lap, then fell back to fourth and rallied to run faster at the end. Josh Wise followed him in fourth with Josh Ford grabbing fifth as those two drivers had a week off from the National USAC trail. Now the club returns to Perris Auto Speedway for a big 50 lapper on Memorial Day.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 21, 2005 – Phoenix, Arizona – Manzanita Speedway 
 
  QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-18.883; 2. Josh Wise, 7, Priestley-18.982; 3. Steve Ostling, 5, Keller-19.177; 4. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-19.236; 5. Charles Davis, Jr., 8A, Smiley-19.290; 6. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-19.359; 7. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-19.391; 8. Jeremy Sherman, 77B, Bryan-19.403; 9. Troy Rutherford, 2J, Massey-19.412; 10. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-19.507; 11. Nathan High, 6A, Pritchett-19.531; 12. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-19.556; 13. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster-19.558; 14. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-19.616; 15. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-19.621; 16. Bob Ream, Jr., 8, BRAT-19.647; 17. Brandon Lane, 97H, Lane-19.649; 18. Chuck Buckman, 61AZ, Carsten-19.699; 19. Bobby Boone, 61, Ratz-19.716; 20. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-19.821; 21. Marty Miller 3W, WWS Racing-19.909; 22. Tom Ogle, 5x, Ogle-20.109; 23. Jason Tanner, 56, Tanner-20.133; 24. Keith Williamson, 95, Williamson-20.136; 5. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-20.137; 26. Bruce St. James, 7K, St James-20.185; 27. Jimmy Drinan, 91az, Carsten-20.428; 28. Robert Hall, 16AZ, Hall-20.655; 29. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-21.264; 30. Mike Leslie, 76AZ, Montgomery–NT. 
 
  FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Miller, 2. Gardner, 3. Lane, 4. Davis, 5. Graham, 6. Rossi, 7. Keller, 8. Rutherford. 3:20:70 
 
  SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1.Wise, 2. Ford, 3. Ballard, 4. Wilson, 5. Buckman, 6. St James, 7. Ogle. 3:21.43. 
 
  THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. High, 3. Kruseman, 4. Ostling, 5. Boone, 6. Tanner, 7. Drinan. 3:25.11 
 
  FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kirby, 2. Williams, 3. Sherman, 4. Ream, 5. Williamson, 6. Johnson, 7. Hall. NT 
 
  SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Rutherford, 2. Graham, 3. Johnson, 4. Tanner, 5. Buckman, 6. Hall, 7. Ogle, 8. Williamson, 9. Rossi, 10. St James, 11. Boone, 12. Keller. NT 
 
  FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Jeremy Sherman, 3. Cory Kruseman, 4. Josh Wise, 5. Josh Ford, 6. Steve Ostling, 7. Rip Williams, 8. Charles Davis, Jr., 9. R.J. Johnson, 10. Bobby Graham, 11. Rickie Gaunt, 12. Nathan High, 13. Marty Miller, 14. Alan Ballard, 15. Jason Tanner, 16. Bob Ream, Jr., 17. Mike Kirby, 18. Brandon Lane, 19. Troy Rutherford, 20. Seth Wilson. NT 
------------------------------- 
**Kirby flipped on the 24th lap of the feature. 
 
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kruseman, Laps 2-16 Sherman, Laps 17-20 Wise, Laps 21-24 Sherman, Laps 25-30 Gardner. 
 
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-686; 2-Gardner-666; 3-Davis-644; 4-Kruseman-627; 5-Kirby-622; 6-Gaunt-484; 7-Ford-365; 8-Tony Jones-361; 9-Wilson-356; 10-Ballard-354. 
 
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: May 28 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway 
 
 

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