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FOUR IN A ROW FOR JONES AT THE PAS |
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Perris, Calif (October 4, 2008) "Cowboy" Tony Jones of Norco, Calif., led all 30-laps Saturday night at the Perris Auto Speedway en route to giving his Alexander Trucking / La Villa Restaurant No. 4 DRC its fourth consecutive Lucas Oil USAC/CRA Sprint Car win at the PAS. Even though the defending series champion started on the outside of the front row, Jones was force to withstand several challenges from rookie Nic Faas, Huntington Beach, Calif. and 2006 USAC/CRA Rookie of the Year Blake Miller, Yorba Linda, Calif. After the race, Jones seemed unusually winded after his customary celebratory fence climbing. "These young guys keep working my butt off and it's getting harder to get up and down that damn fence," Jones laughed. "It was a little easier starting outside front row tonight, but it wasn't a cake walk either. Faas and Blake gave me a run for my money and it was a hard fought battle." Coming down for the green flag, Jones pulled away from pole-sitter David Cardey and led the field through the first-turn. Three days shy of this 40th birthday, Rickie Gaunt was running fifth when he made contact with another car on lap-two and spun in turn-one. Remarkably, the only other car collected Gaunt was J Hicks. Hicks would return to action and go on to finish eleventh. The series championship suddenly became more interesting during the restart after series points leader Mike Spencer got sideways exiting turn-two and was hit hard by Greg Bragg. Neither driver was injured, but both were done for the night. Cardey bicycled in turn-one on the subsequent restart giving the second-position to the Simpson Race Products / Advanced Racing Suspensions No. 117 Maxim driven by Faas. While Faas tired to figure a way past Jones, Miller and was on the move from the eighth starting spot. Prior to completing the ninth circuit, Miller put his Jeff Gardner / Roy Miller Frieghtlines No. 93 Sled ahead of Cory Kruseman and into the third position. Kruseman would retire 12 laps later with ignition problems. A lap-21 caution flag for Danny Faria, Jr., who slammed into the turn-four wall, gave Faas and Miller their best shot at Jones. A slight miscue by Jones in turn-three on the restart lap allowed the 18 year-old Faas to briefly run even with him exiting turn-four. Faas made a similar miscue in turn-three on lap-26 leaving the door open for Miller to dart around the outside of him using the cushion. Enough though Miller and Faas were fighting hard during the final laps, they still managed to keep pace with Jones and would only be less than a second behind the leader when they crossed the finish line. Miller's second-place finish, combined his fastest lap time during time trials, pulled him to within 63 points of series points-leader Spencer with nine events remaining. Faas' third-place run helped pad his quest to become the first driver to earn Lucas USAC/CRA Rookie of the Year honors while claiming the USAC Western States Midget Championship in the same year. Keeping his championship hopes alive, Santa Maria, California's Danny Sheridan finished fourth and was the Hard-Charger of the race after his Kittle Motorsports / Scott Sales No. 18 Stinger started the event in the 14th position. Matt Mitchell, Yorba Linda, Calif., started the feature race in the ninth position before giving his J.W. Mitchell Motorsports / JM Realty No. 87 Maxim a fifth-place finish. |
