THE KRUSER WINS FIFTH RACE OF THE SEASON AT PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY

 

By Ken Wagner – 08/06/05 – Perris, CA.

 

On a night when it looked like Mother Nature would win the day, Cory Kruseman made a dramatic charge at the end to earn his fifth Valvoline USAC/CRA race of the year. The 30 lap event wasn’t affected by the gale winds and some light rain earlier in the day at Perris Auto Speedway.  Cory drove the ITI Performance, Sander Engineering, Bullitt, Downing # 38 to victory circle. On the podium Cory said “we weren’t the fastest car out there tonight, but I’d rather have luck than be good”.  It gives Cory 72 West Coast wins behind Rip Williams total of 100 for active drivers. Dean Thompson still leads the list at 103.

 

The first two leaders of the night suffered equipment problems as Mike Kirby led the first 12 laps and then lost his brakes, but still finished third. Then point leader Rip Williams took over for 14 laps until he slowed with four to go and quickly slipped back to 15th. Damion Gardner set his 16th fast time of the year and was in second place when he did a wild 360 degree spin and continued on, but was called for causing a yellow flag, and he went to the back on the restart. He eventually settled for tenth place. In doing so, he gained 16 points on the leader, trailing “The Ripper” now by only 34.

 

Mike Spencer finished second on his best race of the season, with Kirby, David Cardey and Troy Rutherford following in that order. Carday was the hard charger of the night, passing the most cars. Harlan Willis famous # 45 car that Kruseman won a championship in, made it’s first race this year with Steve Ostling in the seat. They will run five races in the Midwest next week.

 

A horrendous looking crash that sent two sprinters flying high into the wall, trashed the cars of Bobby Cody and R. J. Johnson in their heat. Cody loaded up his dead soldier while Johnson pulled out his 360 powered back-up car and missed the main by one spot in the Semi. Nadine Keller, the lady Policewoman, tied her best ever main event finish with 14th this week. Heat winners were Damion Gardner, Rickie Gaunt, Cory Kruseman and David Cardey. Mike Spencer won the Snap-on Tools 3 lap Trophy Dash.

 

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 6, 2005 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway 
 
  QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.918; 2. Charles Davis, Jr., 8A, Smiley-17.122; 3. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-17.265; 4. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-17.281; 5. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.307; 6. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley 17.358; 7. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-17.415; 8. Troy Rutherford, 7, Priestley-17.442; 9. Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-17.452; 10. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-17.526; 11. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster-17.598; 12. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.602; 13. J Hicks, 66, Miller-17.695; 14. Jordan Hermansader, 5, Keller-17.705; 15. Steve Ostling, 45, Willis 17.839; 16. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-17.879; 17. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-17.892; 18. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.977; 19. Jason York, 25N, York-18.001; 20. Bobby Cody, 41, Cody-18.013; 21. Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg-18.209; 22. Joshua Williams, 34, Williams-18.213; 23. Greg Bragg, 33, Blair-18.296; 24. Mark Heidenreich, 22, Heidenreich-18.305; 25. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-18.324; 26. Brandon Springstead, 36, Springstead-18.452; 27. Nate Ziegler, N8, Ziegler-18.854; 28. Jim Thomson, 91, Thomson-18.938; 29. Robert Ellis, 43, Ellis-19.028; 30. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-19.177; 31. Brandon Thomson, 24, Thomson-19.548; 32. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-19.998; 33. Jimmy Evans, 76, Evans NT. 
 
  FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Keller, 3. R.Williams, 4. Ballard, 5. Argo, 6. Hicks, 7. Ellis, 8. Hillberg. NT 
 
  SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. J.Williams, 3. Kirby, 4. Ford, 5. Davis, 6. Hermansader, 7. Stewart, 8. Springstead. NT 
 
  THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. York, 3. Bragg, 4. Graham, 5. Wilson, 6. Ostling, 7. B.Thomson, 8. Ziegler. 3:01:55 
 
  FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cardey, 2. Spencer, 3. Rutherford, 4. Heidenreich, 5. Cody, 6. Johnson, 7. J.Thomson, 8. Everhart. NT 
 
  SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Hermansader, 2. Davis, 3. Wilson, 4. Argo, 5. Hicks, 6. Ostling, 7. Hillberg, 8. Johnson, 9. Stewart, 10. Ziegler, 11. B.Thomson. 3:37:64 
 
  FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Mike Spencer, 3. Mike Kirby, 4. David Cardey, 5. Troy Rutherford, 6. Charles Davis, Jr., 7. Jordan Hermansader, 8. Steve Ostling, 9. Bobby Graham, 10. Damion Gardner, 11. Rickie Gaunt, 12. Joshua Williams, 13. J.Hicks, 14. Nadine Keller, 15. Rip Williams, 16. Seth Wilson, 17. Josh Ford, 18. Jason York, 19. Mark Heidenreich, 20. Alan Ballard, 21. Rodney Argo, 22. Greg Bragg. NT 
---------------------------------- 
**Springstead flipped during the second heat. R.J. Johnson and Cody flipped during the fourth heat. 
 
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Kirby, Laps 13-26 R.Williams, Laps 27-30 Kruseman. 
 
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-R.Williams-1,231; 2-Gardner-1,197; 3-Kirby-1,120; 4-Kruseman-1,097; 5-Davis-954; 6-Gaunt-851; 7-Spencer-757; 8-Ford-676; 9-Tony Jones-652; 10-Ostling-619. 
 
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: August 20 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway 
 

               

 

--Home--