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CARDEY BATTLES HARD FOR FIRST CRA WIN JONES HURT DURING RACE By Robert Mayson |
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Perris, Calif. – September 1, 2007 – David Cardey, Riverside, Calif., had to battle Mike Spencer of Temecula, Calif., in the closing laps to win his first career Lucas Oil USAC/CRA Sprint Car feature Saturday at the Perris Auto Speedway. Cardey started the 40-lap race on the outside of second row in his Glen Crossno / ITI Performance No. 83 Bullet, and began closing on race leader Spencer with less than ten laps remaining. After trading the top spot with Spencer four times during the last eight laps, Cardey withstood one final charge from Spencer during the final set of corners to win by .29 seconds. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet, but this is real sweet. Perris is my home track and I have a lot of friends that come out here, so to be able to get my first win here is just awesome,” Cardey said after becoming the 14th different USAC/CRA winner this season. “We’ve had a couple of second-place finishes, but a second-place finish tonight wouldn’t have seemed that good.” In addition to Cardey’s first win, the evening might very well be remembered as the race where the 2007 Lucas Oil USAC/CRA championship chase suddenly became more interesting. Series point leader Tony Jones (Norco, Calif.) entered the event enjoying a nearly insurmountable point lead over Spencer. Things quickly changed after Jones suffered a broken collar bone during a wild flip that occurred on the white flag-lap, moments after he darted between Cardey and Spencer. Jones’ return to the cockpit is tentatively listed as week-to-week. Blake Miller and Garrett Hansen shared the front row for the race, with Hansen leading the first two laps. Miller would lead the next seven circuits until Spencer, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, put his Ron Chaffin / Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply #50 Maxim into the leader on the tenth lap. As the race progressed with the majority of the cars running the high groove, the cushion grew considerably with each lap. In fact, many of the drivers found turn-four to be most treacherous. Jonny Bates was the first of the turn-four casualties when he flipped just prior to the halfway mark. Miller hooked the cushion in the same spot 18 laps later and flipped after contact with the wall. Neither driver was hurt. With nine laps to go, Cardey began closing on Spencer. Cardey took the lead with a lap-34 slide-job. Spencer’s slide-job reply on the following lap resulted Cardey keeping the lead after they rubbed Hoosier tires exiting turn-two. Cardey maintained the lead until hit the turn-four cushion wrong on lap-38 and slapped the wall. , “Right before I hit the wall I was thinking that I was just going to check-out,” Cardey recalled. “The cushion in turn-four kept building up, and I hadn’t hit that one bad spot all night. I saw Spencer’s front nose and just stepped on it just a little too hard and hit that spot and it twisted my car around and sent me into the wall pretty hard.” Fortunately for Cardey, Spencer did the same thing in turn-four coming down to accept the white flag. Cardey quickly took advantage of the situation and jumped into the lead. Sensing an opportunity of his own to contend for the win Jones passed Spencer heading towards the first turn. Entering the corner, Jones’ mount bicycled before violently tumbling end-over-end. Eventually credited with an eighth-place finish, Jones returned to his pit area after the flip, but a trip to the hospital after the race later revealed a break in his clavicle. Accepting the green and white flags together on the restart, Cardey beat Spencer to the turn-one cushion and withstood his final challenge by protecting the bottom of turns three and four. R.J. Johnson, Phoenix, Ariz., won the “Hard-Charger” Award with his 15th to 3rd place drive behind the wheel of Bobby Martin’s Arizona Race Mart No. 15 Maxim. Cardey’s teammate, Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind., was fourth, one spot ahead of the Hansen’s Welding No.70 Eagle driven by Garrett Hansen of Manhattan Beach, Calif. Rickie Gaunt (Torrance, Calif.) started the evening by turning the fastest lap in time trials. Problems in the feature relegated Gaunt to a 14th-place finish. |
