What a nice day as we returned to Perris for the first time in two months. It's 2 am and we just got home in Vegas, so Ill put up what I have and get some sleep. First Damion set fast time again at 16.966 and started 8th in the main event. Charles Davis Jr and Rickie Gaunt started up front, Davis next to Blake Miller and Super Rickie behind them. Charlie took the lead on the opening green and was never threathened, saying he agreed with my comment about patience was what won it for him. He had tire left and many others didn't. Many yellows stopped action, but each time Charlie just took off with Rickie getting the closest to him, but never really getting a shot. It was Charlie's first USAC/CRA win and he said it made up for the Tucson race where he led it late and lost his tires.
Damion moved up to third on the tricky one groove black slick track as it was a slider night. The only way to pass was by going low and sliding up in front of the car, but many times you banged the cushion and they would cut back under you. It looked like the Demon had a shot, but his tire went seriously low with a yellow with two laps to go. On that same lap, Rip had to go get a new tire and went to the back. On that last restart Danny Sheridan could see Damion's problem and slid him for third successfully. A little bit of a problem with the track for those who don't do dry slick, but there was some racing out there. Steve Ostling was the hard charger coming from 22nd to 13th.
42 cars checked in and the heats were won by Super Rickie, Cory Kruseman, Danny Sheridan, and Davis with Tony Jones winning the Semi. Main finish was Davis, Gaunt, Sheridan, Gardner, Jones, Ford, Miller, Mitchell, Rodriguez, Kruseman, Spencer, Ballard, Ostling, Pombo, Williams, Bloesfig, Stansberry, Kirby, Ellis, Becker, Cardey and Hicks who did not start when his gas pedel came unhooked it was reported. The demon pulled closer to the point leader.
USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: April 29, 2006 – Perris, California - Perris Auto Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.966; 2. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-17.150; 3. Tony Jones, 4, Alexander-17.308; 4. Johnny Rodriguez, 7, Preistley-17.397; 5. Matt Mitchell, 3m, Jory-17.442; 6. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-17.453; 7. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-17.522; 8. Danny Ebberts, 77, Acosta-17.558; 9. Rickie Gaunt, 2a, Zoriki/Smiley-17.560; 10. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.564; 11. Dwayne Marcum, 12, Pratt-17.575; 12. Charles Davis Jr., 8A, Zoriki/Smiley-17.590; 13. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.645; 14. Davey Pombo, 14, Lancaster-17.657; 15. Blake Miller, 5, Keller-17.710; 16. Seth Wilson, 17, Wilson-17.745; 17. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.828; 18. Tom Stansberry, 75, Stansberry-17.905; 19. Mike Kirby, 96, Kirby-17.907; 20. J Hicks, 66, Miller-17.945; 21. Alan Ballard, 0, Shoemaker-18.080; 22. Rick Becker, 11, Wilkerson-18.186; 23. Bobby Cody, 92, Sertich-18.195; 24. Cal Smith, 39, Smith-18.222; 25. Greg Bragg, 33, Blair-18.228; 26. Robert Ellis, 43, Ellis-18.265; 27. J.J. Ercse, 84, Keene-18.283; 28. Chad Boespflug, 90, Gatten-18.317; 29. Josh Williams, 34, Williams-18.497; 30. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-18.507; 31. Steve Ostling, 19, Argo-18.509; 32. Jim Giardina, 58, Giardina-18.647; 33. Brandon Springstead, 36, Springstead-18.877; 34. Bruce St. James, 7k, St. James-18.897; 35. Eric Severson, 36x, Severson-19.079: 36. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-19.131; 37. Steve Paden, 56, Farrier-19.223: 38. Jonny Bates, 29, Bates-19.416; 39. Dwight Cheney, 42, Cheney-19.520; 40. Royal Adderson, 38x, Adderson-19.916; 41. Mel Murphy, 23, Bellegante-20.562; 42. Ludwig Solberg IV, 13, Solberg- NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. Stansberry, 3. Gardner, 4. Ellis, 5. Mitchell, 6. Cardey, 7. Becker, 8. Keller, 9. Bates, 10. St. James. 3:04.26
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. Ostling, 3. R.Williams, 4. Kirby, 5. Pombo, 6. Cody, 7. Spencer, 8. Ercse, 9. Severson, 10. Cheney. 3:08.68
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Sheridan, 2. Hicks, 3. Miller, 4. Boespflug, 5. Jones, 6. Stewart, 7. Smith, 8. Adderson, 9. Giardina, 10. Marcum. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Ford, 3. Rodriguez, 4. Ballard, 5. Bragg, 6. Ebberts, 7. J.Williams, 8. Springstead, 9. Paden, 10. Murphy. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Mitchell, 3. Cardey, 4. Spencer, 5. Becker, 6. Pombo, 7. J.Williams, 8. Ebberts, 9. Marcum, 10. Cody, 11. Ercse, 12. St. James, 13. Keller, 14. Severson, 15. Smith, 16. Springstead, 17. Murphy, 18. Stewart, 19. Cheney, 20. Bragg, 21. Adderson, 22. Paden, 23. Giardina, 24. Bates. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Rickie Gaunt, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Tony Jones, 6. Josh Ford, 7. Blake Miller, 8. Matt Mitchell, 9. Johnny Rodriguez, 10. Cory Kruseman, 11. Mike Spencer, 12. Alan Ballard, 13. Steve Ostling, 14. Davey Pombo, 15. Rip Williams, 16. Chad Boespflug, 17. Tom Stansberry, 18. Mike Kirby, 19. Robert Ellis, 20. Rick Becker, 21. David Cardey, 22. J Hicks. NT
**Solberg flipped during practice. Boespflug flipped on the final lap of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-30 Davis.
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Kruseman-513; 2-Gardner-504; 3-Sheridan-376; 4-Spencer-369; 5-Gaunt-349; 6-Jones-341; 7-Davis-338; 8-R.Williams-298; 9-Ford-296; 10-Cardey-285.
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: May 13 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway – “Sokola Classic”