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Santa Maria Speedway 28 Cars on Hand HEAT 1 A good crowd was on hand for SCRA's last visit to Santa Maria Speedway during the 2001 Season. At SCRA's last visit on August 18th, it was "Hollywood" John Scott, who was victorious and he looked ready to repeat. The pits had 28 Sprinters ready for action. Northern California "wing" stars Jason Statler and Peter Murphy, who was the "hard charger" last week at Perris, were taking off the wing to battle the stars of SCRA. Santa Maria 360 local Gary Rayburn Jr., also signed in to try his luck. Mike Kirby was missing from this weeks race, as he was at Perris Auto Speedway competing in the Extreme Figure 8's. "Super" Rickie Gaunt would be driving the M&B Racing /Statewide Towing #5 on this night. The track proved to be tricky, as turns 1 & 2 were tacky and turns 3 & 4 were getting slick and developing ruts. In qualifying, Ronnie Clark & Glenn Crossno had troubles and took only one lap. Mark Nation scratched from the event, due to a busted oil pump. The Fast Time Award winner was Chandler Arizona's Charles Davis Jr. with a time of 13.548. In Heat 2, on lap 4, Rodney Argo got sideways in turn 3/4 and collected the 4th and 5th place cars of Rickie Gaunt and Bobby Graham. Argo continued on, while both Gaunt and Graham came to a stop- both restarted and failed to transfer. In Heat 3, on lap 9, Adam Mitchell was leading and then suddenly slowed. He did not finish the race and would have to transfer through the B-Main. Cory Kruseman was the victor in the Passing Masters Dash. He looked to shake off the bad luck at Santa Maria and add victory number 15 for the season in his Harlan Willis/Worldgate Networks #45. In the B-Main, a wild start had a tangle with Glenn Crossno and another car. Crossno had a broken front end, collected Lance Gremett and both came to a stop in turn 1/2. Crossno's car came to rest, pitched on the crash wall. In a separate incident, on the initial start, Dan Hillberg found himself upside down. Brian Venard pulled in with a punctured tire. Hillberg and Venard restarted. On lap 3, Jimmy Gardner Jr. flipped in turn 3, possibly after hitting a rut. All drivers were ok. In the A-Main, Troy Rutherford took command. On lap 3, Danny Sheridan and Rip Williams pulled in due to punctured tires. Danny had a busted left rear, while Rip's right rear needed replacement. Sheridan made the restart. On lap 5, a hard charging Charles Davis Jr, who had made his way to second from his sixth starting spot, took his car in too hard into turns 3/4 and parked it. He collected John Scott and Rodney Argo. Only Davis made the restart. The main event was filled with tight, "bumping" action. Richard Griffin attacked the cushion and tagged the turn 3/4 wall several times looking for room. On lap 8, he tagged the turn 3/4 wall and continued on. Jarrett Chaney tagged the turn 3 wall and rolled over. Chaney was ok, but done for the night. Lapped traffic played a major part in deciding the victor. Rutherford, Kruseman, and Griffin made their way through the lappers. Rutherford had held off several challenges and led through 27 laps, until receiving a tap from Griffin. Rutherford's car got out of shape and Griffin assumed the lead for the victory. |
