CRA 1 AM RACE RESULTS

This race was a direct result of a difficult track that went dry and then took rubber so that the "skating" feature was one of those "only the strong survive" deals. Tire wear was critical for most with Damion Gardner's masterful abilities the difference. The heats were pretty lackluster with four groups of 8 having their hands full getting the quicker cars from the back to the front. The Demon made two exceptional moves on the night, the second being the winning move, as he was fun to watch. With Bruce Bromme Jr home with his ailing wife Pam, the phone lines were kept hot as they still used his leadership all night in keeping him involved during his difficult time. In the first heat, the Demon was last after again setting fast time and the track just wasn't giving much. At Manzy, heats are often follow the leader, especially when it is fast on the big half mile. It wasn't particularly fast, but the very low top cushion wasn't as fast as normal and Damion's normal high speed antics didn't work quite as well as needed. SO he had to improvise and when struggling in fifth trying to get the last spot, he made one of "those" moves that cut low and split the two ahead of him, coming out in third and moved on to the main. In the feature, it was already obvious the track was going to be an issue and tire choice would be critical. Damion started 8th behind Cory, Charlie and several other fast guys, but on the start he made the move of the night going into one and coming out of two. He followed Mike Spencer into the first turn and when they started around the big curve, Damion put the little red sucker under Mike and above another car, and they came out of two exactly three wide with Damion then pulling by both of them to launch into third place, and that was an awesome move.

I can't forget how David Cardey blew by Johnny Rodriguez to take the lead and pulled away from the pack trailing smoke behind him. Johnny Rodriguez continued on as Damion then surveyed him a few laps and then took him to give chase to the fast leading, and a smoking # 59 car, who was really doing well out front. When "Dancing DC's" tires gave up, Cardey was trying to get to the pits on the back stgretch and encountered Tom Ogle who was inadvertantly shuffled to the wall as he was going to get new tires. The restart left Damion in front and he never faltered, driving the little red sucker as straight as a slot car and never smoked a tire. He had no problems the rest of the way, even though Cory Kruseman cleared Rodriguez with a few laps to go and made a mini-chase of it. He pulled up on Damion and showed him a wheel, and the dimunitive giant then gassed er' up and finished the night with his 4th victory of the season, leaving Cory to smoke hjis tire viciously as he tried to catch him.

Don't mistaken this as a great sprint car race, as it was not the usual good stuff at manzy, but the track didn't build a good cushion up high, nor was the groove very fast, and therefore when the track took rubber, the racing was not titilating. You had to watch your favorite and hope they did well, but most abused their tires and were out of the running quickly. Damion did exactly what it took to win. It was so hot, how hot was it?, so hot, we passed on the afternoon pit walk for the first time there. I really need my mule there for these warm oven experiences.

USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 20, 2006 – Phoenix, Arizona – Manzanita Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-19.172; 2. Rickie Gaunt, 2a, Zoriki/Smiley-19.329; 3. Jeremy Sherman, 75J, Jake's-19.645; 4. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-19.673; 5. Jesse Hockett, 2az, Massey-19.685; 6. Ronnie Clark, 94, Clark-19.696; 7. Ben Gregg, 22B, Gregg-19.703; 8. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-19.745; 9. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-19.786; 10. Seth Wilson, 17, Wilson-19.801; 11. Tom Ogle, 5az, Ogle-19.844; 12. Charles Davis Jr., 8A, Smiley-19.884; 13. Johnny Rodriguez, 7, Preistley-19.942; 14. Bruce St. James, 7k, St. James-19.950; 15. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-19.954; 16. Brandon Lane, 97h, Lane-19.955; 17. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-19.971; 18. Bobby Cody, 92, Sertich-20.002; 19. Tony Jones, 4, Alexander-20.144; 20. Mike Martin, 57, Martin-20.151; 21. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-20.194; 22. Tom Stansberry, 75T, Stansberry-20.260; 23. Blake Miller, 5, Keller-20.264; 24. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-20.321; 25. J Hicks, 66, Miller-20.329; 26. Davey Pombo, 14, Lancaster-20.448; 27. Mike Leslie, 76az, Montgomery-20.562; 28. Steve Paden, 56, Farrier-20.724; 29. Chris Bonneau, 78, Bonneau-20.749; 30. Chad Boespflug, 90, Boespflug-20.827; 31. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-21.006; 32. J.T. Imperial, 29, Imperial-21.282; 33. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Sheridan, 2. Rodriguez, 3. Gardner, 4. Cardey, 5. Hicks, 6. Hockett, 7. Johnson, 8. Bonneau. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. St. James, 3. Stansberry, 4. Gaunt, 5. Clark, 6. Wilson, 7. Cody, 8. Pombo. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Williams, 3. Miller, 4. Ogle, 5. Sherman, 6. Leslie, 7. Gregg, 8. Stewart. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Kruseman, 3. Imperial, 4. Spencer, 5. Ford, 6. Martin, 7. Paden, 8. Lane. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Sherman, 2. Leslie, 3. Wilson, 4. Martin, 5. Hockett, 6. Ford, 7. Paden, 8. Pombo, 9. Lane, 10. Johnson, 11. Stewart, 12. Gregg, 13. Hicks, 14. Clark, 15. Cody, 16. Bonneau. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Johnny Rodriguez, 4. Charles Davis Jr., 5. Rickie Gaunt, 6. Jesse Hockett, 7. Mike Spencer, 8. Rip Williams, 9. Jeremy Sherman, 10. Blake Miller, 11. Tom Stansberry, 12. Mike Leslie, 13. Tony Jones, 14. Chad Boespflug, 15. Bruce St. James, 16. Mike Martin, 17. Danny Sheridan, 18. J.T. Imperial, 19. Bobby Cody, 20. David Cardey, 21. Josh Ford, 22. Seth Wilson, 23. Tom Ogle. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Rodriguez, Laps 2-10 Cardey, Laps 11-30 Gardner.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Gardner-633; 2-Kruseman-594; 3-Gaunt-470; 4-Sheridan-460; 5-Jones-438; 6-Spencer-437; 7-Davis-431; 8-Williams-365; 9-Cardey-358; 10-Ford-345.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: May 27 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway