CRA 1 AM RACE RESULTS

THE COWBOY IS WAY BACK!

On a night with emotional tributes to two fallen CRA family members, Pam Bromme and Big Jon Stallmo, it was fitting the two cars that did the two lap salute for them, fought for the win to the end of the 30 lapper. That would be the little red sucker for Pam and the Lavilla # 4 silver bullet for Big Jon.

The race started with a start and two restarts leaving only 16 cars left of the original 22 with 30 laps to go. It put the Kruser on the front row with the Demon right behind him in the second row. The Cowboy ended up right behind them and it was the Kruser to the front with the Demon battling his wild mount droppng back and the Cowboy in third until the next yellow that bunched them up. On the next restart, Damion took Kruseman and built a little lead while Tony Jones mounted a charge on Kruseman. Then The kruser found something and took the lead back from Gardner and now Jones was pressing the Demon.

Behind them there was a lot going on as Rip Williams jumped into his backup car, qualified by Matt Mitchell, after his car had some problem in the heat and they couldn't fix it. He started at the back and was up to about 6th when white smoke billowed out of the #3M car and he was done. Josh Ford was running in second when his motor quit during a restart line-up and he was done. Blake miller had to pull into the work area early and not long into the race he was stopped when a four car gathering in front of him sucked him into a stop and he was done. David Cardey started 3rd inside the second row and was a victim on the first start, getting a helecopter spin to the inside K-rail as his present, and he was done. Verne Sweeney and Davey Pombo encountered other cars and were done. "J Rod" Johnny Rodriguez, started up front and encountered the 2nd turn wall lightly, then after restarting and finding that corner was after him again, he retired wanting to save it for the next race. Charles Davis Jr had some problem and pulled off early after blasting forward, and all that happened within the first 5 laps!

The track stayed good in spite of the windy afternoon gusts and the racing was outstanding. Mike Spencer set fast time in a brand new Maxim, after destroying his car at Skagit last week, then overcame a faulty electronic gizmo in the main to come from the back to get 4th.

Back to the leaders: With Cory leading and the two chasing, Cory lost a motor and pulled into the pits on lap 17, he was done and didn't cause a yellow. Now after watching the Cowboy display a wicked slide Job to beat Seth Wilson in their heat, I knew he was itchin' to win and he pulled up slowly on the Demon with a half a dozen laps to go, then let a wild slider go down the back stretch. The move slid him by the leader and Damion couldn't come back by as Tony Jones won his third race of the year in spectacular fashion. Great race and he dedicated it to Big Jon with emotion. Nobody celebrates like Tony after a win and the crowd loved it.

USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2006 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-16.683; 2. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.933; 3. Tony Jones, 4, Alexander-16.997; 4. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-17.080;, 5. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-17.117,; 6. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.130;, 7. Johnny Rodriguez, 7, Preistley-17.132; 8. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.213;, 9. Charles Davis Jr., 8A, Smiley-17.257;, 10. Rickie Gaunt, 2a, Smiley-17.294;, 11. Blake Miller, 94, Keller-17.332; 12. Steve Ostling, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira-17.356;, 13. Evan Suggs, 33E, Suggs-17.364; 14. Matt Mitchell, 3m, Jory-17.365; 15. Rick Ziehl, 75, Stansberry-17.372; 16. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.386; 17. Alan Ballard, 0, Shoemaker-17.400; 18. J.J. Ercse, 25, Ruth-17.565; 19. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-17.587; 20. Josh Williams, 12, Blair-17.627; 21. Tom Ogle, 5az, Turner-17.679; 22. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-17.767; 23. Jeremy Sherman, 75J, Jake's-17.780; 24. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-17.840; 25. Bobby Cody, 92, Sertich-17.933; 26. Eric Severson, 36x, Severson-18.095; 27. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-18.137; 28. Brian Camarillo, 73x, Ford-18.305; 29. Bruce St. James, 7k, St. James-18.305; 30. Verne Sweeney, 98s, Sweeney-18.312; 31. Ronnie Case, 8, Case-18.352; 32. Jonny Bates, 33A, Bates-18.725; 33. Brandon Thomson, 19T, Thomson 18.745; 34. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-18.764; 35. Davey Pombo, 14, Lancaster-18.907; 36. Joe Gunderson, 57X, Gunderson-19.280; 37. Matt Forstie, 72, Forstie-19.900; 38. Ludwig Solberg IV, 13, Solberg-20.132; 39. Jim Giardina, 58, Giardina-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Davis, 3. Suggs, 4. Sheridan, 5. Ogle, 6. Ballard, 7. St. James, 8. Thomson, 9. Cody, 10. Forstie. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Mitchell, 2. Gardner, 3. Cardey, 4. Gaunt, 5. Sweeney, 6. Rossi, 7. Severson, 8. Ercse, 9. Everhart, 10. Solberg. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Wilson, 3. Miller, 4. Rodriguez, 5. Sherman, 6. Pombo, 7. Case, 8. Stewart. 3:00.83

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. Ford, 3. Ostling, 4. J.Williams, 5. Camarillo, 6. Bates, 7. Gunderson, 8. R.Williams, 9. Keller. 2:57.56

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Ballard, 2. Sherman, 3. Ercse, 4. Sweeney, 5. Pombo, 6. Ogle, 7. Camarillo, 8. Bates, 9. Everhart, 10. Solberg, 11. Case, 12. Severson, 13. Rossi, 14. Keller, 15. Ziehl, 16. Gunderson, 17. Stewart, 18. Forstie. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tony Jones, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Evan Suggs, 6. Alan Ballard, 7. Rickie Gaunt, 8. Seth Wilson, 9. Jeremy Sherman, 10. J.J. Ercse, 11. Tom Ogle, 12. Steve Ostling, 13. Cory Kruseman, 14. Johnny Rodriguez, 15. Rip Williams (#3m), 16. Charles Davis Jr., 17. Verne Sweeney, 18. Josh Ford, 19. David Cardey, 20. Blake Miller, 21. Josh Williams, 22. Davey Pombo. NT

**Keller & Rossi flipped together during the Semi, Case also flipped during the Semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Kruseman, Laps 8-16 Gardner, Laps 17-22 Kruseman, Laps 23-25 Gardner, Laps 26-30 Jones.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Gardner-1,189; 2-Kruseman-1,184; 3-Spencer-1,003; 4-Jones-973; 5-Sheridan-906; 6-R.Williams-783; 7-Gaunt-694; 8-Cardey-667; 9-Davis-634; 10-Ford-618.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACES: August 19 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway