TONY JONES TAKES A TUMBLE BUT WALKS TO THE AMBULANCE.

By Ken Wagner 7/31/05

Damion Gardner , won his third Valvoline USAC/CRA race in a row, as he swept two nights at Skagit Speedway this past weekend. Damion set fast time, his 15th of the year, a new track record on Friday night, before going on to win his ninth race. On Saturday he passed the early leader on lap two and ran away with his 10th big win in the series. Damion has now won three in a row for the second time this year and is on another hot streak that only he seems to be able to sustain.

Damion, driving the red Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Eagle, Shaver #50, was second in his heat both nights and started 8th and 4th in the two mains. He led 17 laps the first night and 38 the second to dominate the Skagit weekend. The last time someone did that well in Washington for this traveling bunch was in 1995 when Hall of Famer, Lealand McSpadden, won two as well. Damion took charge both nights and weathered a tire rule question that held up the results on Friday. He now trails Rip Williams in the points chase by 50 points.

Mike Kirby had the second best weekend of the top five with his runner-up finish Saturday and a hard charger performance on Friday to get sixth. Mike drove the L.A. Prep, La Villa Restaurant, Stinger, RC Performance # 4 silver bullet to the podium with determination. It was his 8th podium of the year that includes one victory as he is heating up.

Tony Jones was hot in a local car he drove here last year, finishing 3rd the first night and then was running up front the second night when he crashed hard down the front stretch. He wasn’t thrilled to go to the hospital, but took the ride and should be fine in a few days. There were 14 teams with 16 cars traveling north to Skagit, not bad for a weekend 1200 mile jaunt. Hopefully next year, there will be a few extra races to dot the trip if they go again on the longest weekend of the year.

Congratulations to all who made the trip to Skagit, you put on a great show and the fans loved it! See ya at Perris this week. Sorry I didn’t make the trip up North, but my foot will go back into my shoe this week as the broken toe is mending and the crutch is gone.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 29, 2005 – Alger, Washington – Skagit Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-13.387; 2. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-13.505; 3. Tony Jones, 7k, Kirkpatrick-13.528; 4. Bud Kaeding, 26, Rudeen-13.624; 5. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-13.647; 6. Davey Pombo, 3p, Pombo-13.786; 7. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-13.797; 8. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-13.832; 9. Kelly Barnett, 17b, KGB-14.101; 10. Rick Becker, 67, Becker-14.112; 11. Allan Ballard, 97, Ballard-14.118; 12. Steve Ostling, 5, Keller-14.139; 13. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-14.147; 14. Danny Sheridan, 14, Lancaster-14.238; 15. Bud Ashe, 57, Ashe-14.262; 16. Jordan Hermansader, 16, Keller-14.358; 17. Alex Hantel, 99e, Hantel-114.396; 18. Kelsey Carpenter, 78t, Carpenter-14.406; 19. J.Hicks, 66, Miller-14.473; 20. Jimmy Dietz, 1, Dietz-14.473; 21. Roy Blumenhagen, 75, Blumenhagen-14.505; 22. Jeff Bell, 9x, Bell-14.517; 23. Travis Rutz, 8x, Rutz-14.545; 24. R.J. Johnson, 14L, Lancaster-14.554; 25. Robby Vaughn, 21, Vaughn-14.579; 26. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-14.611; 27. Alan Munn, 42, Munn-14.709; 28. Seth Bergman, 23b, Bergman-14.732; 29. Jim Richardson, 8R, Richardson-14.734; 30. Josh Dewitt, 5d, Dirt, Inc.-14.824; 31. Josh Edson, 76e, Edson-14.828; 32. Ronnie Case, 8, Case-14.970; 33. Kevin Smith, 75x, Smith-15.372; 34. Robert McNulty, 14R, McNulty-15.593; 35. Mark Hinkle, 9, Hinkle-15.684; 36. Bert Johnson, 01x, Johnson-15.800; 37. Axel Walker, 63, Walker-16.154; 38. Michael Harris, 44H, Harris-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Blemunhagen, 2. Gardner, 3. Kirby, 4. Barnett, 5. Spencer, 6. Richardson, 7. Smith, 8. Vaughn, 9. Walker. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Wilson, 2. Becker, 3. Kruseman, 4. Sheridan, 5. Carpenter, 6. Pombo, 7. Dewitt, 8. McNulty, 9. Bell. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Munn, 3. Williams, 4. Rutz, 5. Ashe, 6. Hicks, 7. Ballard, 8. Hinkle, 9. Edson. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Case, 2. Ostling, 3. Kaeding, 4. Hermansader, 5. R.J. Johnson, 6. Dietz, 7. Ford, 8. Bergman, 9. B.Johnson.

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Pombo, 3. Ford, 4. Ballard, 5. Hantel, 6. Ashe, 7. Hicks, 8. R.J. Johnson, 9. Dietz, 10. Vaughn, 11. Richardson, 12. McNulty, 13. Bergman, 14. Dewitt, 15. Smith, 16. Walker, 17. Carpenter, 18. Hinkle. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Tony Jones, 4. Rip Williams, 5. Bud Kaeding, 6. Mike Kirby, 7. Josh Ford, 8. Davey Pombo, 9. Mike Spencer, 10. Rick Becker, 11. Alex Hantel, 12. Roy Blemunhagen, 13. Seth Wilson, 14. Jordan Hermansader, 15. Alan Munn, 16. Ronnie Case, 17. Bud Ashe, 18. Danny Sheridan, 19. Kelly Barnett, 20. Steve Ostling, 21. Allan Ballard, 22. Travis Rutz. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Becker, Laps 3-12 R.Williams, Laps 13-30 Gardner.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,176; 2-Gardner-1,083; 3-Kruseman-1,007; 4-Kirby-997; 5-Charles Davis, Jr.-901; 6-Rickie Gaunt-811; 7-Spencer-633; 8-Jones-630; 9-Ford-601; 10-Ostling-542.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 30, 2005 – Alger, Washington – Skagit Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bud Kaeding, 26, Rudeen-13.673; 2. Tony Jones, 7k, Kirkpatrick-13.751; 3. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-13.796; 4. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-13.858; 5. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-13.902; 6. Jordan Hermansader, 16, Keller-13.952; 7. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-13.954; 8. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-13.954; 9. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-14.093; 10. Alex Hantel, 99e, Hantel-14.105; 11. Rick Becker, 67, Becker-14.128; 12. Jim Richardson, 8R, Richardson-14.148; 13. Steve Ostling, 5, Keller-14.153; 14. R.J. Johnson, 14L, Lancaster-14.158; 15. Danny Sheridan, 14, Lancaster-14.211; 16. Josh Edson, 76e, Edson-14.274; 17. J. Hicks, 66, Miller-14.275; 18. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-14.344; 19. Davey Pombo, 3p, Pombo-14.378; 20. Roy Blumenhagen, 75, Blumenhagen-14.464; 21. Robby Vaughn, 21, Vaughn-14.492; 22. Ronnie Case, 8, Case-14.524; 23. Allan Ballard, 97, Ballard-14.560; 24. Kelsey Carpenter, 78T, Carpenter-14.603; 25. Jeff Bell, 9, Bell-14.642; 26. Brock Lemley, 40, Kentch-14.661; 27. Jimmy Dietz, 1, Dietz-14.695; 28. Alan Munn, 42, Munn-14.986; 29. Jason Bloodgood, 47, Kentel-14.993; 30. Seth Bergman, 23b, Bergman-15.527; 31. Axel Walker, 63, Walker-15.573; 32. Lynn Reinstra, 13g, Reinstra-15.875; 33. Kevin Smith, 75x, Smith-16.348; 34. Bud Ashe, 57, Ashe-16.622; 35. Travis Rutz, 8x, Rutz-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hicks, 2. Kruseman, 3. Kaeding, 4. Williams, 5. Bell, 6. Vaughn, 7. Bloodgood, 8. Ostling, 9 Smith. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Lemley, 2. Wilson, 3. Hermansader, 4. Bergman, 5. Case, 6. Jones, 7. Ashe, 8. Hantel, 9. R.J. Johnson. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballard, 2. Gardner, 3. Pombo, 4. Ford, 5. Sheridan, 6. Deitz, 7. Walker, 8. Becker. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Munn, 2. Blumenhagen, 3. Kirby, 4. Carpenter, 5. Richardson, 6. Spencer, 7. Edson, 8. Rhinshed. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Spencer, 3. Richardson, 4. Ostling, 5. Sheridan, 6. Becker, 7. Hantel, 8. Vaughn, 9. Bell, 10. R.J. Johnson, 11. Ashe, 12. Deitz, 13. Bloodgood, 14. Smith, 15. Case, 16. Edson, 17. Rhinshed, 18. Walker. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Bud Kaeding, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Danny Sheridan, 6. Jordan Hermansader, 7. Josh Ford, 8. J. Hicks, 9. Steve Ostling, 10. Davey Pombo, 11. Seth Wilson, 12. Rick Becker, 13. Robby Vaughn, 14. Brock Lemley, 15. Allan Ballard, 16. Kelsey Carpenter, 17. Seth Bergman, 18. Rip Williams, 19. Cory Kruseman, 20. Jim Richardson, 21. Tony Jones, 22. Roy Blumenhagen, 23. Alex Hantel, 24. Alan Munn. NT

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,200; 2-Gardner-1,150; 3-Kirby-1,060; 4-Kruseman-1,029; 5-Charles Davis, jr.-901; 6-Rickie Gaunt-811; 7-Spencer-690; 8-Ford-652; 9-Jones-652; 10-Ostling-579.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: August 6 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway