MITCHELL SWEEPS PERRIS USAC CRA OPENER
Perris, California (February 24, 2024)………Matt Mitchell is highly familiar with victory lane at Perris Auto Speedway.
After all, nine of his 10 career Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car victories have come at the southern California half-mile dirt oval.
However, during Saturday night’s 2024 USAC CRA season opener at The PAS, the Yorba Linda, Calif. driver achieved a feat he’d never accomplished before – a complete sweep.
Mitchell posted the fastest time in Woodland Auto Display Qualifying, then raced from sixth to first to score the opening heat race win. Once again starting sixth in the 30-lap feature, Mitchell charged his way to the front by mid-race, then bested Ricky Lewis in a brief duel to take over for good by the 17th circuit.
From there, Mitchell led the remaining 14 laps to defeat impressive USAC CRA Rookie of the Year contender David Gasper (Goleta, Calif.) who finished as the runner-up after starting ninth. Lewis (Camarillo, Calif.) took third while R.J. Johnson (Laveen, Ariz.) grabbed fourth and Charles Davis Jr. (Buckeye, Ariz.) rounded out the top-five.
Austin Grabowski advanced from 19th to 10th to earn hard charger honors in memory of Jim & Chet Gardner.
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AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: February 24, 2024 – Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, California
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.241; 2. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-16.571; 3. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-16.658; 4. Tye Mihocko, 5, Wilson-16.675; 5. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-16.701; 6. Ricky Lewis, 41, Brown-16.746; 7. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-16.827; 8. R.J. Johnson, 2, Yeley-16.856; 9. Sterling Cling, 11o, O’Brien-16.866; 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-16.899; 11. David Gasper, 73x, Ford-16.919; 12. Logan Williams, 5w, McCarthy-16.929; 13. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.003; 14. Logan Calderwood, 73, Ford-17.127; 15. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-17.223; 16. Jeff Dyer, 39, Cal-Sun-17.233; 17. Braden Chiaramonte, 73B, OCC-17.343; 18. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-17.378; 19. Matt Westfall, 11c, Turner/Wheeler-17.474; 20. Grant Sexton, 22, Sexton-17.500; 21. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-17.624; 22. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-17.907; 23. Shane Sexton, 74, Sexton/Gatlin-17.980; 24. Brent Sexton, 44s, Sexton-18.212; 25. Gary Marshall Jr., 23, Bellegante-18.328; 26. Blake Hendricks, 14, Hendricks-18.460; 27. Elexa Herrera, 5E, Herrera-19.157.
FLOWDYNAMICS INCORPORATED / SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Matt Mitchell, 2. A.J. Bender, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 5. Jeff Dyer, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Verne Sweeney, 8. Matt McCarthy. NT
BILLSJERKY.NET / FACTORY WRAPS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Calderwood, 2. R.J. Johnson, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Cody Williams, 5. David Gasper, 6. Braden Chiaramonte, 7. Grant Sexton, 8. Blake Hendricks, 9. Shane Sexton. 2:52.74
WC FRIEND COMPANY / IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tommy Malcolm, 2. Austin Williams, 3. Sterling Cling, 4. Ricky Lewis, 5. Logan Williams, 6. Austin Grabowski, 7. Brent Sexton, 8. Elexa Herrera, 9. James Turnbull II. NT
FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps, top-10 transfer to the feature) 1. David Gasper, 2. Braden Chiaramonte, 3. Logan Williams, 4. Austin Grabowski, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Verne Sweeney, 7. Jeff Dyer, 8. Grant Sexton, 9. Blake Hendricks, 10. Brent Sexton, 11. Gary Marshall Jr., 12. Elexa Herrera, 13. Matt McCarthy. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Matt Mitchell (6), 2. David Gasper (9), 3. Ricky Lewis (2), 4. R.J. Johnson (1), 5. Charles Davis Jr. (12), 6. Tommy Malcolm (14), 7. Logan Williams (10), 8. Braden Chiaramonte (16), 9. Matt Westfall (17), 10. Austin Grabowski (19), 11. Austin Williams (5), 12. A.J. Bender (11), 13. Logan Calderwood (13), 14. Jeff Dyer (15), 15. Brent Sexton (21), 16. Verne Sweeney (20), 17. Grant Sexton (18), 18. Tye Mihocko (4), 19. Sterling Cling (7), 20. Cody Williams (3), 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (8), 22. Blake Hendricks (22). NT
**James Turnbull II flipped on the second lap during the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Ricky Lewis, Lap 15 Matt Mitchell, Lap 16 Ricky Lewis, Laps 17-30 Matt Mitchell.
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER HARD CHARGER: Austin Grabowski (19th to 10th)
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Matt Mitchell-84, 2-David Gasper-71, 3-Ricky Lewis-70, 4-Charles Davis Jr.-69, 5-R.J. Johnson-68, 6-Tommy Malcolm-63, 7-Logan Williams-54, 8-Braden Chiaramonte-52, 9-Austin Williams-52, 10-Matt Westfall-47.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: March 16 – Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, California