November 18, 2009

Don’t get me wrong, but Jon Stanbrough’s leading from start to finish, 40 lap victory for the big bucks was good stuff, yet the racing wasn’t in the barnburner variety that the Thunderbowl can give us. After last week running 2nd two nights before breaking in the main event at the PAS, Jon saved the best for last as he wasn’t going to be caught no matter how fast Chad Boat was. Jon was only 5th quick, but after running second in his heat, he started outside the front row in the A Main. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure he would take the lead on the tricky track from the top groove that had no cushion at one end and a tough one at the other. Once that transpired, he would have to lose the lead, and he didn’t.

Photo's of Wags pics from Saturday Click here. For my pics of Sunday Click Here. For Steve Lafond's Foto's Click Here. For Doug Allen's best Click here.

Behind him Chad Boat was as fast as anyone, including the winner, but there was no passing the # 37 car with Jon at the controls. Chad was 3rd quick on the night and after missing the main transfer by one spot, he ran away with the semi to start 4th in the A Main. It didn’t take him long to grab a-hold of Stanbrough’s wake and the two of them played follow the leader thru lap cars until the checkered flag flew. Chad was fast and was in position to take the lead if the leader faltered, but not tonight.

Bud Kaeding took advantage of his onetime crew chief Davey Jones wrenching for him and ended up third, just ahead of Damion Gardner. Davey was relieved of his duties on the Pace Gardner car the night before, so this was some poetic justice for him. Bud struggled a little early, but as the race went on, he hooked up better and passed his way past the Demon for his podium spot.

You knew the track was going to be interesting as soon as qualifying started. Those who barely brushed the wall in turn four on their qualifiers were the quickest of the bunch. Those who stayed down on the track were way slower. Cole Whittdid the best of this tricky maneuver at 14.874, just a little short of the new track record set on Saturday by Bryan Clauson at 14.646. The trickiness of the black surfaced oval claimed a dozen drivers who got on their head this night as some pretty nasty looking tumbles stopped the action regularly during the racing action. Although there was passing during the night, unlike the opener when everyone was pretty much “stringing them out nicely”, only two drivers were noticeably moving forward very much. David Cardey and Garrett Hansen passed 13 and 12 cars respectively while the rest of the field stayed near where they started or dropped back.

The opener had a west coast podium finish that is rare when the National boys come to town, but there wasn’t but one groove and if you were smart, nobody could get by you. The winner Garrett Hansen did just that as Cory Kruseman was probably faster, but no place to go around him. Garrett started outside the front row with Cory next to him and the opening advantage the top had gave the lead and the win to Garrett. Mike Spencer started and stayed in third for the30 laps. The heats were very frustrating for the faster cars in the back that couldn’t pass up to transfer spots. The Semi was one big main event, because so many didn’t make the transfer.

To say it was cool at night would be an understatement as both days the mid 60’s daytime warmth eroded away to less than 40 degree’s by feature end. If you didn’t dress warm, you were shaking in your seat like me. Thanks to Dean Mills for allowing me to sit in his “well” and take a few pictures. Don’t worry, there weren’t many worth sharing as the camera shaking in the cold weather gets the blame, Hah!

When it was all over many of the CRA boys had their problems and weren’t a factor for the big money. The CRA top ten were not home when the line-up was listed. Spencer did well enough with his third and 14th place finishes to clinch his 2nd CRA championship in a row. Cardey was never in the mix with his 16th and 9th place finishes. Hansen won Saturday and charged from the back to 11th on Sunday for the best of the group. Blake Miller really struggled as he missed the opening main and finished24th in the big A Main. Gregg Bragg was 12th and 25th as he had his troubles. Danny Sheridan was 13th on Saturday, but crashed in qualifying and the C Main to end his night, and that of the two cars he drove. Matt Mitchell was 20th and 16th. Ripper ran 10th on Saturday and turned his car over to his son Austin for the finale. Kruseman was 2nd and 26th in his quest for the gold. Rookie Ronnie Gardner had a great weekend with 23rd and 19th, his marks for his first Pacific Open.

The future includes a $5,000 to win USAC Midget race this coming weekend at Ventura Raceway following the Walt James visitation at the Peterson Museum in LA that morning. Next comes the Thanksgiving weekend, with some B-ball for me, and the Glenn Howard Memorial at the PAS on Saturday. That CRA final race will include a lot of extra money (like $20,000 plus) gathered by Steve Howard in honor of his father.

Look for the CRA schedule to come out soon as the year supposedly starts in Tucson, then a Thursday affair at Las Vegas, (UGH) and the PAS opener the next night. Even though it has only been 22 races with CRA this year, and we are looking forward to at least 30 in 2010, I am still worn out with all the travelling up and down the highways. Hopefully I will get a little Jet plane for Xmas and make it easier on me, NOT! I hope Santa is working on jobs and parts for the racers about now.

Saturday 11/14/09 FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions) 1. Garrett Hansen (2nd), 2. Cory Kruseman (1st), 3. Mike Spencer (3rd), 4. Levi Jones (10th), 5. Bryan Clauson (6th), 6. Tracy Hines (7th), 7. Damion Gardner (12th), 8. Jon Stanbrough (15th), 9. Davey Pombo (11th), 10. Rip Williams (9th), 11. Henry Clarke (26th), 12. Greg Bragg (13th), 13. Danny Sheridan (14th), 14. Kevin Swindell (23rd), 15. Cole Whitt (18th), 16. David Cardey (27th), 17. Dave Darland (16th), 18. Rusty Carlile (19th), 19. Brad Sweet (24th), 20. Matt Mitchell (22nd), 21. Peter Murphy (17th), 22. Cole Carter (21st), 23. Ronnie Gardner (25th), 24. Chad Boat (4th), 25. Nic Faas (5th), 26. Kyle Larson (20th), 27. Jesse Hockett (8th). NT

Sunday 11/15/09 FEATURE: (40 laps- With Actual Starting Posotions) 1. Jon Stanbrough (2nd), 2. Chad Boat (4th), 3. Bud Kaeding (3rd), 4. Damion Gardner (8th), 5. Bryan Clauson (7th), 6. Henry Clarke (1st), 7. Jerry Coons Jr. (12th), 8. Tracy Hines (5th), 9. David Cardey (22nd), 10. Brad Sweet (10th), 11. Garrett Hansen (23rd), 12. Levi Jones (11th), 13. Kyle Larson (13th), 14. Mike Spencer (9th), 15. Kevin Swindell (21st), 16. Matt Mitchell (18th), 17. Davey Pombo (19th), 18. Keith Bloom Jr. (17th), 19. Ronnie Gardner (16th), 20. Cole Whitt (6th), 21. Nic Faas (25th), 22. Dave Darland (14th), 23. Jesse Hockett (24th), 24. Blake Miller (27th), 25. Greg Bragg (26th), 26. Cory Kruseman (15th), 27. Richard VanderWeerd (20th), 28. Austin Williams (28th -#3). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Stanbrough

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Spencer-997; 2-Cardey-897; 3-Hansen-847; 4-Miller-719; 5-Bragg-700; 6-Sheridan-698; 7-Mitchell-634; 8-R.Williams-601; 9-Kruseman-564; 10-D.Gardner-443.

FINAL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-L.Jones-1,827; 2-Whitt-1,603; 3-Darland-1,601; 4-Hines-1,408; 5-Coons-1,401; 6-D.Gardner-1,399; 7-Clauson-1,040; 8-Hagen-1,006; 9-Boat-973; 10-Stanbrough-945.

Next USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 28th – Perris (CA), Perris Auto Speedway “Glenn Howard Memorial”