The heat was on Damion Gardner after Cory Kruseman pulled to within 3 points last week. The heat was on everyone in the afternoon muggy 105 temps at Perris Auto Speedway, but a broom arrived in the form of the Demon. He set fast time for the 12th time this season, won his heat and then won his 5th race , 27th CRA, And 41st overall, of his sprint car career. He started 8th and grabbed the lead quickly on the third lap and ran away with this one taking a rare sweep of every event. Rip Williams was on fire running from the sixth row up to second with some great driving. Spencer was third from the fifth row with more of the same. Kirby ran hard the second half of the race and got 4th as he blew the motor on the last lap and barely beat Kruseman to the line. Josh Ford blew his motor badly and missed the main.
It was a great non stop 30 laps watching the moves of everyone. Damion was awesome as was Ripper and Spencer as the firecracker race is coming up! More tomorrow.
USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 24, 2006 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.454; 2. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-16.637; 3. Evan Suggs, 33E, Suggs-16.788; 4. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-16.946; 5. Charles Davis Jr., 8A, Zoriki/Smiley-17.013; 6. Mike Kirby, 96, Kirby-17.066; 7. Tony Jones, 4, Alexander-17.073; 8. Rickie Gaunt, 2a, Smiley-17.109; 9. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.143; 10. Chad Boespflug, 90, Gatten-17.147; 11. J.J. Ercse, 25, Ruth-17.167; 12. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.198; 13. Blake Miller, 5, Keller -17.210; 14. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-17.214; 15. R. J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-17.258; 16. Davey Pombo, 14, Lancaster-17.262; 17. Alan Ballard, 0, Shoemaker-17.291; 18. Seth Wilson, 17, Wilson-17.355; 19. Jordan Hermansader, 42, Cheney-17.386; 20. Bobby Cody, 92, Sertich-17.590; 21. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.613; 22. Verne Sweeney, 98s, Sweeney-17.770; 23. Cal Smith, 39, Smith-17.783; 24. Jonny Bates, 29, Bates-17.822; 25. J Hicks, 66, Miller-17.826; 26. Josh Williams, 34, Williams-17.860; 27. Eric Severson, 36x, Severson-18.002; 28. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-18.090; 29. Jim Giardina, 58, Giardina-18.100; 30. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-18.599; 31. Matt Forstie, 72, Forstie-18.706; 32. Joe Gunderson, 57X, Gunderson-18.791; 33. Ludwig Solberg IV, 13, Solberg-19.410; 34. Johnny Rodriguez, 7, Preistley-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Cardey, 3. Miller, 4. Davis, 5. Hicks, 6. Giardina, 7. Solberg, 8. Ford, 9. Ballard. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Wilson, 2. Kruseman, 3. Kirby, 4. Rodriguez, 5. Stewart, 6. Sweeney, 7. Boespflug, 8. Sheridan, 9. J.Williams. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Johnson, 3. Hermansader, 4. Suggs, 5. Ercse, 6. Smith, 7. Severson, 8. Forstie. 2:57.52
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Williams, 2. Cody, 3. Bates, 4. Gaunt, 5. Spencer, 6. Pombo, 7. Keller, 8. Gunderson. 2:55.44
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Sheridan, 2. Spencer, 3. Pombo, 4. Hicks, 5. Ercse, 6. Ballard, 7. Sweeney, 8. J.Williams, 9. Severson, 10. Smith, 11. Giardina, 12. Keller, 13. Forstie, 14. Gunderson, 15. Solberg, 16. Ford, 17. Stewart. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Mike Spencer, 4. Mike Kirby, 5. Cory Kruseman, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Tony Jones, 8. Evan Suggs, 9. Danny Sheridan, 10. Blake Miller, 11. David Cardey, 12. R.J. Johnson, 13. J.J. Ercse, 14. Johnny Rodriguez, 15. Seth Wilson, 16. Davey Pombo, 17. J Hicks, 18. Bobby Cody, 19. Jonny Bates, 20. Alan Ballard, 21. Jordan Hermansader, 22. Rickie Gaunt. NT
**Johnny Rodriguez and Alan Ballard flipped during qualifications.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Kirby, Laps 3-30 Gardner.
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Gardner-931; 2-Kruseman-914; 3-Spencer-742; 4-Jones-710; 5-Sheridan-707; 6-Gaunt-605; 7-R.Williams-577; 8-Kirby-541; 9-Davis-536; 10-Cardey-528.
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: July 1 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway