THE RIPPER TAKES OVER POINT LEAD WITH PODIUM FINISH!

By Ken Wagner – March 27, 2005

The 10th anniversary of Perris Auto Speedway was celebrated in many ways this week. First, spectators got in for $5 each and many giveaways, including two season passes, made it more festive. Then, on a clear and clean racing night, Cory Kruseman overtook Mike Kirby halfway thru the race and went on to win his 7th Valvoline USAC/CRA race.

Mrs Wags finally got it done. Click here.

Cory had the ITI Performance, Sander Engineering/TCR/Downing Engines # 38, cooking as he banged the turn four cushion many times late in the race trying to stretch his lead out over the former driver of his car. Cory started 4th and quickly moved to second before pressing Kirby until he got by. It was his 70th West coast win in 410 sprint cars and second of the season.

Mike Kirby was coming off his big win at Manzanita last week, and was going for two in a row. He had the lead 15 laps before losing it on a restart and still had a shot to get back. He is happy driving the Alexander, La Villa Restaurant, State Wide Towing/Stinger/RC Performance # 4. He is third in the points chase and continues to run consistent each time out.

Rip Williams looked to get his 100th win this week, and for a while had the Jory Corporation, Weld Wheels/Stinger/Shaver # 3 in position to go for it. Late in the race the track changed, as dirt tracks always do, and he finished third, making the podium for the third straight race. In this early part of the season, Rip returned to the top of the points list as he passed Charles Davis Jr by four points.

Bobby Graham came off a two year layoff and qualified 4th quick. How’s that for a start. He went on to put the Lancaster # 14 in the show and started 7th. He was running well when he and another car spun out, but he came back to get 18th on his first night back.

Danny Sheridan came out late in qualifying and got his car number, the 18th spot. Showtime was third in his heat and started 20th in the main event. What he did then was just point it forward and let er’ fly. He ran all the way up to 6th and earned the hard charger of the week award.

Damion Gardner Looked like normal with fast time out of the box, his fifth this season. He took no prisoners in his heat, starting 8th and rolling up the outside to win in ten laps. In the main he started eighth and was on the move in the first lap, but something broke in the throttle linkage and it couldn’t be fixed in time to return.

Bobby Cody had one of those nights this week. He started it out by spinning into the wall in qualifying, but was still able to get a time in on his next lap. He won his heat and then started 22nd in the feature. It didn’t get any better as he was the second car out, but it rolled on the trailer!

Don Weaver announced that the Legends of Ascot gathering is on for Perris on October 22nd. Details to be announced soon, but if the last two years is any indication, you better get your tickets very soon.

Jordan Hermansader took yet another ride in a different car before he settles into his new ride with the Sertich Moosemobile. Their motor wasn’t back from the refresher course yet , so he hung out in Steve Ostling’s ride to be, the Keller team car # 5, and just missed the main. Ostling drove Buzz Shoemaker’s car to 10th this week.

With VRA running this coming Saturday night, look for Mike Kirby and Cory Kruseman to try on their 360 shoes. USAC/CRA is off two weekends in a row and will return to Perris on April 16, the day after the tax due date. I will be out cruisin’ in my red Vette as much as possible, but start thinking about the Wagsdash and how you can get involved.

I guess B Ball got a lot of my attention today, so this one is short and sweet.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: March 26, 2005 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.270; 2. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-16.347; 3. Charles Davis, Jr., 8A, Smiley-16.468; 4. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster-16.493; 5. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-16.538; 6. Tracy Hines, 7, Priestley-16.545; 7. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-16.584; 8. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-16.630; 9. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-16.648; 10. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-16.657; 11. Danny Ebberts, 77, Acosta-16.662; 12. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-16.672; 13. Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-16.698; 14. Jason York, 25N, York-16.780; 15. Steve Ostling, 0, Shoemaker-16.785; 16. Greg Bragg, 11, Wilkerson-16.851; 17. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-16.856; 18. Tony Jones, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira-16.904; 19. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-16.931; 20. Jordan Hermansader, 5, Keller-16.933; 21. J. Hicks, 66, Miller-16.999; 22. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-17.003; 23. Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford-17.050; 24. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-17.070; 25. Dwayne Marcum, 12, Pratt-17.076; 26. Gary W. Howard, 84, Keene-17.138; 27. J.J. Ercse, 33, Blair-17.192; 28. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-17.211; 29. Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg-17.226; 30. Bobby Cody, 41, Cody-17.410; 31. Joshua Williams, 34, Williams-17.493; 32. Mark Heidenreich, 22, Heidenreich-17.517; 33. Nate Ziegler, 8N, Ziegler-18.630; 34. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-19.103.

TROPHY DASH: (3 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Gardner, 3. Graham, 4. Ford. 51.58

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Spencer, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Hicks, 5. Ballard, 6. Argo, 7. Hillberg, 8. Marcum, 9. Ziegler. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cody, 2. Jones, 3. York, 4. Howard, 5. Ford, 6. Johnson, 7. Wilson, 8. Hines, 9. Stewart. 2:53.81

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ostling, 2. Gaunt, 3. Crawford, 4. Ebberts, 5. Davis, 6. Cardey, 7. Ercse, 8. J.Williams. 2:54.94

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kirby, 2. Kruseman, 3. Sheridan, 4. Graham, 5. Bragg, 6. Keller, 7. Hermansader, 8. Heidenreich. 2:56.77

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Hines, 3. Bragg, 4. Ford, 5. Wilson, 6. Johnson, 7. Cardey, 8. Ballard, 9. Argo, 10. Hermansader, 11. Hillberg, 12. J.Williams, 13. Ercse, 14. Marcum, 15. Heidenreich, 16. Keller, 17. Stewart, 18. Ziegler. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Charles Davis, Jr., 6. Danny Sheridan, 7. Josh Ford, 8. Tony Jones, 9. Tracy Hines, 10. Steve Ostling, 11. Jason York, 12. Greg Bragg, 13. Seth Wilson, 14. Mike Spencer, 15. R.J. Johnson, 16. Danny Ebberts, 17. J. Hicks, 18. Bobby Graham, 19. Gary W. Howard, 20. Jimmy Crawford, 21. J. J. Ercse, 22. Bobby Cody, 23. Damion Gardner. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Kirby, Laps 16-30 Kruseman.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Rip Williams-395; 2-Davis-391; 3-Kirby-354; 4-Kruseman-344; 5-Gardner-315; 6-Gaunt-293; 7-Ford-256; 8-Wilson-207; 9-Ballard-174; 10-Crawford-170.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: April 16 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway