RIP WILLIAMS CAPTURES HISTORICAL 100^th SPRINT CAR RACE!!!

By Ken Wagner

Rip Williams of Yorba Linda, California started 5^th in the Valvoline USAC/CRA 30 lap main event at Perris Auto Speedway Saturday night. The Ripper then charged forward and took the lead on lap nine and pulled away to his historic 100^th win. His first sprint car win came at Ascot on Memorial day of 1983 so it took nearly 22 years to add 99 more. Rip was extremely happy to get what he called the biggest victory of his life. Rip said in the winners circle “the car was working real well tonight, it was real easy because the car, the crew and the sponsors did their job and I did mine. I just kicked er’ in the tail a little bit and knew if I kept it nice and smooth, I’d win.”! Rip is only 3 wins behind all time leader Dean Thompson.

Damion Gardner set his sixth fast time out of seven races and finished second on the night followed by Mike Kirby, Rickie Gaunt and Josh Ford. Jordan Hermansader was the hard charger of the night coming from 19^th place to finish tenth.

Dwayne Marcum crashed hard as the main event started and then was transported to a local hospital. In addition to a broken collarbone, Dwayne had plenty of bruises and pains from the crash that will keep him around for a week or so until he goes home to Fresno and heals up.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: 4/16/05 Perris, Ca. - Perris Auto Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin - 16.140, 2. Tracy Hines, 7, Priestley - 16.439, 3. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard - 16.474, 4. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander - 16.539, 5. Rip Williams, 3, Jory - 16.673, 6. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom - 16.683, 7. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster - 16.758, 8. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley - 16.759, 9. Charles Davis Jr, 8A, Smiley - 16.769, 10. Rodney Argo, 19, Argo - 16.815, 11. Josh Ford, 73, Ford - 16.830, 12. R. J. Johnson, 51AZ, Martin - 16.865, 13. Steve Ostling, 5, Keller - 16.900, 14. Tony Jones, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira - 16.900, 15. Dwayne Marcum, 12, Pratt - 16.912, 16. Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg - 16.959, 17. Bobby Cody, 41, Cody - 16.970, 18. David Cardey, 59, Giardina - 16.989, 19. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno - 17.047, 20. Rick Becker, 67, Becker - 17.092, 21. Jordan Hermansader, 92, Sertich - 17.174, 22. Kevin Urton, 51, Urton - 17.215, 23. Greg Bragg, 11, Wilkerson - 17.235, 24. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle - 17.271, 25. Randy Waitman, Y69, Waitman - 17.321, 26. Mark Heidenreich, 22, Heidenreich - 17.350, 27. Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford - 17.367, 28. ® Joshua Williams, 34, Williams - 17.374, 29. J J Ercse, 33, Blair - 17.525, 30. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics - 17.554, 31. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller - 17.595, 32. Tom Stansberry, 48, Bach - 17.610, 33. Danny Ebberts, 77, Acosta - 17.612, 34. Jimmy Thornell, 25, Ruth - 17.747, 35. Ronnie Case, 07, Gresham - 18.015, 36. Brandon Springstead, 36, Springstead - 19.282.

TROPHY DASH: (3 laps) 1. Alan Ballard, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Tracy Hines. Time 53.24


FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hermansader, 2. Gardner, 3. Williams, 4. Waitman, 5. Ebberts, 6. Ostling, 7. Ercse, 8. Davis 9. Cody. No time

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cardey, 2. Wilson, 3. Argo, 4. Hines, 5. Jones, 6. Urton, 7. Spencer, 8. Heidenreich, 9. Thornell. Time 2:55:09

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Crawford, 2. Kruseman, 3. Ford, 4. Marcum, 5. Ballard, 6. Case, 7. Keller, 8. Bragg, 9. Graham. No time

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Becker, 2. Gaunt, 3. Kirby, 4. Johnson, 5. Stansberry, 6. Hillberg, 7. Springstead, 8. Sheridan, 9. Williams.

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Davis 3. Jones, 4., Graham, 5. Ballard, 6. Hillberg, 7. Urton, 8. Cody. 9. Ercse, 10. Stansberry, 11. Case, 12. Thornell, 13. Ebberts, 14. Sheridan, 15. Keller, 16. Springstead, 17. Ostling, 18. Bragg, 19. Heidenreich. No time

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1.Rip Williams, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Mike Kirby, 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Josh Ford, 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Rodney Argo, 8. Charles Davis Jr, 9. Tony Jones, 10. Jordan Hermansader, 11. Mike Spencer, 12. RJ Johnson, 13. Cory Kruseman, 14. Alan Ballard, 15. Bobby Graham, 16. Dan Hillberg, 17. Seth Wilson, 18. David Cardey, 19. Rick Becker, 20. Randy Waitman, 21. Jimmy Crawford, 22.Dwayne Marcum.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Rip Williams-463; 2-Davis-433; 3-Kirby-417; 4-Gardner-385; 5-Kruseman-378; 6-Gaunt-351; 7-Ford-310; 8-Wilson-233; 9-Jones-207; 10-Spencer-205.