GARDNER DOMINATES “BUBBA ARMY SPRINT NATIONALS” OPENERGibsonton (Tampa), Fla…….Damion (The Demon) Gardner of Concord, Calif. took advantage of first-lap spins by both front-row starters Monday night and ended up leading all 30 laps of the 2010 Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series opener at East Bay Raceway Park. The “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals” continue Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the third-mile dirt oval. Gardner was slated to start fourth but a spin by rookie pole starter Ricky Williams on the first lap and a subsequent spin by outside-front row starter Shane Hmiel on the restart left Shane Cottle and Gardner lined up on the revised front row. Gardner fought off Cottle’s challenge to lead the first lap and stretched his lead in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver to a full straightaway before the field bunched up under the yellow flag at lap 23. Gardner then pulled away in the closing laps to win the race over Bryan Clauson, fast qualifier Brady Short, Cottle and Jon Stanbrough. Defending series champion Levi Jones finished seventh after starting 14th. The finish left Gardner and Clauson tied for the series point lead after the opening race. AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: February 8, 2010 – Gibsonton, Florida – East Bay Raceway Park - “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals” QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brady Short, 36, Short-15.027; 2. Bryan Clauson, 2B, RWB-15.115; 3. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-15.275; 4. Shane Cottle, 10E, Edison-15.395; 5. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-15.437; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 4G, Cook-15.483; 7. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-15.589; 8. Caleb Armstrong, 7, Tucker-15.590; 9. Shane Hmiel, 17, 56 Inc.-15.596; 10. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-15.672; 11. Ricky Williams, 11w, Williams-15.809; 12. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.818; 13. Dave Darland, 67k, Kunz-15.828; 14. Jeff Bland Jr., 38, Bland-15.951; 15. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-15.982; 16. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-16.055; 17. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-16.128; 18. Kyle Cummins, 4u, Wild Ride-16.297; 19. Justin Grant, 5B, Baldwin-16.303; 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2, Epperson-16.323; 21. Kent Christian, 1c, Christian-16.329; 22. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-16.360; 23. Brett Burdette, 17B, Burdette-16.437; 24. Alex Shanks, 39w, Wade-16.439; 25. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-16.513; 26. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-17.061; 27. Mike Weber, 22w, Weber-17.226; 28. Eric Smith, 14, Smith-17.415; 29. Shane Wade, 66, Wade-17.427; 30. Rob Chaney, 9x, SC-17.460; 31. Frank Carlsson, 20x, Carlsson-17.738; 22. Dwayne Spille, 71s, Spille-18.154. FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hmiel, 2. Hines, 3. Christian, 4. Short, 5. Darland, 6. East, 7. Wade, 8. Riggs.  SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clarke, 2. Clauson, 3. Cummins, 4. Bland, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Meseraull, 7. Gross, 8. Chaney.  THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Williams, 3. Jones, 4. Gardner, 5. Burdette, 6. Windom, 7. Weber, 8. Carlsson.  FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Coons, 3. Ballou, 4. Cottle, 5. C.Armstrong, 6. Shanks, 7. Smith, 8. Spille.  SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Riggs, 2. Windom, 3. Stanbrough, 4. C.Armstrong, 5. Darland, 6. Burdette, 7. East, 8. Gross, 9. Smith, 10. Chaney, 11. Shanks, 12. Wade, 13. Weber, 14. Carlsson, 15. Spille, 16. Meseraull. NT FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Brady Short, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Casey Riggs, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Shane Hmiel, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Jerry Coons Jr., 13. Henry Clarke, 14. Chris Windom, 15. Justin Grant, 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 17. Kent Christian, 18. Brett Burdette, 19. Caleb Armstrong, 20. Bobby East, 21. Kyle Cummins, 22. Ricky Williams, 23. Jeff Bland Jr. NT-------------  FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Gardner. NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Gardner-69; 2-Clauson-69; 3-Short-65; 4-Cottle-59; 5-Riggs-51; 6-Stanbrough-50; 7-Jones-48; 8-Ballou-45; 9-Hmiel-41; 10-Hines-38. NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: February 9 – Gibsonton, FL – East Bay Raceway Park – “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals”