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January 16, 2006...Damion
Gardner of
Concord
,
Calif.
opens defense of his 2005
USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series Championship Saturday night in the 2006 series opener
at Manzanita Speedway in
Phoenix
,
Ariz.
Gardner
will be hard pressed to repeat
his success of last year, posting 15 feature victories and 22 fast qualifying
times! He added six seconds and four thirds in 38 CRA appearances last year and
finished the season with a 161-point cushion over runner-up Cory Kruseman.
Gardner
won three of his seven starts
at the 1/2-mile dirt
Phoenix
oval in 2005 and finished third
in two others. Three of his record 22 fast qualifying efforts also came at
Manzanita. He also won three of the eight
Phoenix
races contested last year.
Dave Darland of
Lincoln
,
Ind.
is the defending winner of the Phoenix
opener and won last year’s “Western World” finale at
Phoenix
. Other 2005 Manzanita CRA
winners included Jerry Coons Jr., Rickie Gaunt and Mike Kirby.
A 30-lap feature event is on tap Saturday, following complete
preliminaries. Racing is expected to begin at 7 pm. Defending USAC National
Sprint Car Champion Levi Jones established the 1-lap track record of 18.301
seconds drivers will be aiming at when qualifications begin.
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