By Ken Wagner
June 21, 2008

Garrett "the kid" Hansen rides roughshod over the field on a night when delays and dust send the crowd home in spurts. Severe heat on the first day of the summer didn't allow whatever moisture was in the track to stay there, no surprise, and it was a tad dusty after the Modified feature blasted it before the 30 lap main. Garrett was 7th quick and ran 4th in his heat to put him on the outside of the second row in the main. He quickly went to second and then put a big slider on the early leader Matt Mitchell and pulled away from the field. After numerous yellows, on lap 19 they shortened the race 5 laps to 25, but there was little scintillating action after that, Roy. Garrett just continued to run the top groove and nobody had anything to challenge him with. It was his first win of the year and second lifetime with CRA. It came in his own Maxim car with the Priestley crew still turning the wrenches.

The pics are here Click here. Doug Allen's Pics Click here.

After two straight weeks of Gardner wins, one by Super Rickie Gaunt and the other Tyler Brown it was kiddingly suggested it was Bullet Blake Miller's time to score. He gave it his all as he was 8th quick and then second in his heat to start on the outside of the front row of the main event. Thru all the early dusty action he hung in there and eventually finished a close second in the end. Blake was really running the bottom early on, trying to lure it into play, but nothing down there worked much, so he rode behind the winner hoping for a mistake that never came.

This week the "Cowboy" Tony Jones had a chance to use his spurs a bit. He won his heat and started where he qualified earlier in 10th spot on the main event grid. During the red flag watering stop, he kiddingly told the crowd he would hook the water truck on and go for a ride to calm the dust down, but he had his hands full with the rough track. Still he "cowboyed up" and closed to third late in the race and seemed to have found something. One might wonder, no five more laps wouldn't have done it probably, but another podium made his crew a happy one under the conditions.

Yes it was hot, and yes there was a little breeze, but this 12 year old track has been in this spot many times before. At least the sprints could run before the companion feature and maybe some track would be left. Or maybe qualifying could be eliminated for a while, but with small car counts that isn’t reasonable. This was the second time the sprints followed a Modified main with similar results and the modified winner talked about the bad ol’ slick track! The 4th of July race is next, lets hope the track can hold some water on that hot day or the fireworks will be lonely after the race. It was a shame to see the crowd filter out as the evening played out, what do they tell their friends and potential fans now?

Brien Kenney has been with us this season as a raw rookie. He is in the old Matt Stewart # 85 car and is having the time of his life driving this car. He has no 4 wheel racing experience and did motocross some years ago. He is starting slow and not pushing it, but we know jumping right into a sprint car is not what one would usually do. He figured that going to a Ford Focus or other open wheel car would mean he would ultimately have to change up anyway, so why not start up here now. Interesting spelling of his name, Brien, and we’ll see how it goes with him. This week he had a problem with the car early in the main and was done too soon as he told me right now "I need laps"!

Mrs Wags stayed home to work on the two 2009 Wagtimes calendars and they are coming along fine. The first is a driver only, no race cars, number that features the driver’s personal look caught by Doug Allen. The ladies will love this one. Jim Fargo is sponsoring the racing calendar again this year and has supplied all the photos for it. Both will be going to the printers very soon as the Wagsdash is in early September this year. Thanks to both photographers for their help. Get ready to get yours as all the money goes into the Wagsdash like normal.

We get a week off and I guess I don’t have to bug you about the 4th of July race at the PAS because it is one of the most attended races of the year. The main grandstand is always reserved, so get your seats or sit in the end stands.

FEATURE: (25 laps - With Starting Positions) 1. Garrett Hansen (4th), 2. Blake Miller (2nd), 3. Tony Jones (10th), 4. Mike Spencer (8th), 5. Danny Sheridan (5th), 6. Tyler Brown (6th), 7. Brian Venard (13th), 8. Alex Schutte (14th), 9. Austin Mero (17th), 10. Todd Hunsaker (20th), 11. Cody Williams (12th), 12. Rickie Gaunt (11th), 13. Henry Clarke (16th), 14. Eric Severson (7th), 15. Ronnie Case (18th), 16. Matt Mitchell (1st), 17. Brein Kinney (21st), 18. Alan Ballard (3rd), 19. J.J. Ercse (19th), 20. David Cardey (9th), 21. Jonny Bates (15th). NT.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Mitchell, Laps 8-25 Hansen.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Spencer-756; 2-Miller-694; 3-Sheridan-680; 4-Hansen-651; 5-Cory Kruseman-639; 6-Brown-537; 7-Jones-473; 8-Josh Ford-366; 9-Cardey-363; 10-Levi Jones-350.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: July 4 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway