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| Press Release |
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Sheridan Finally Scores CRA Victory at
Perris |
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PERRIS, Calif. - It was all “Showtime” Saturday
night at the Perris Auto Speedway after Danny “Showtime” Sheridan of Santa
Maria, Calif., ran away and hid from the rest of the field to win his first
career USAC/CRA main event.
During the course of the last seven years, Sheridan has been a frequent podium visitor. And, even though Sheridan has won numerous Sprint car races and a track championship at Santa Maria Speedway, a victory in a 410 sprint division had eluded him until Saturday’s 30-lap triumph. “This is indescribable,” Sheridan said with a beaming smile. “The highs and the lows of this sport are astonishing. With all the work that we’ve put into this thing week in and week out it’s great to finally come out here and produce a win. I’m on cloud nine right now, and to be able to take some momentum into the Oval Nationals is just incredible.” Heading to the feature race all eyes were on Cory Kruseman of Ventura, Calif. and Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif., who were tied in series points prior to starting fourth and 14th respectively. “Rocket” Ronnie Case started of the pole with Matt Mitchell to his outside. Case and Mitchell touched wheels exiting turn-two on the opening lap before Case secured the top spot. Kruseman ran second by the end of the lap with the Kittle Motorsports / Red Line Oil No. 18 Stinger driven by Sheridan holding down the fifth position. Kruseman took the lead on the second lap exiting Turn 4. One lap later, Rip Williams spun after contact in Turn 2 with another car. Williams’ car was struck hard by the car driven by Nadine Keller, which ended both driver’s race. During the caution period, Gardner pulled his Ron Chaffin / Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply No. 50 Eagle into the work area for repairs to his draglink. The restart provided the biggest pile-up of the evening after Rodney Argo, Blake Miller and Seth Wilson tangled to a stop coming down for the green flag. Also involved was the Alexander Trucking / La Villa Restaurant No. 4 DRC driven by fast qualifier Tony Jones of Norco, Calif., which suffered front end damage. With Gardner and Jones restarting from the rear of the field, Kruseman’s chances for victory, as well as, claiming the point lead, looked good. Things quickly changed for the bottom-running Kruseman after Sheridan moved to the cushion and took the lead on Lap 6 with some authority. “The top is a great place to be, but one mistake and you’re into the fence,” Sheridan later said. “If you can get on the bottom, you’ve got 80 percent of the track to recover in case you make a mistake. Once we got by Cory we immediately took his line and I guess we just walked away from them.” Saying that he “walked away” was putting it mildly. Truth be known, Sheridan held nearly a quarter mile lead for most of the second-half of the race. In fact, Sheridan’s victory was only in doubt briefly on a couple of occasions. The first came on lap-17 after he made contact lapping Todd Hunsaker. Sheridan also touched wheels while lapping Mitchell five laps later. Fortunately, Sheridan emerged unscathed from both incidents and actually went on to extend his lead before taking the checkered flag. “The lappers did what they we suppose to do,” Sheridan said in victory lane. “They held their line, but they were all the way down to the bottom, which is where I wanted to be. As bad as it might have looked, they worked with me real good. The only person we had a little problem with was Matt Mitchell, but as soon as we were able to show him a nose he jumped out of the gas and let us go.” Mike Spencer of Temecula, Calif., continues to find a way to run near the front. After starting 12th, Spencer drove his Hal Engstrom / James Development No. 44 Maxim to a runner-up finish. Despite his unscheduled pit-stop, Gardner managed to earn a hard-fought third-place finish. Gardner’s podium run not only earned him the Hard Charger Award for the race, but moved him back into the series points lead after Kruseman faded to a sixth-place finish. Jason York of Chico, Calif., battled Spencer for the second position in the closing laps before being passed by Gardner on the final circuit. York’s Berdoo Auto Body No. 25N Maxim held on by a front nerf bar to edge Jones for the fourth position. |
