GARDNER RESUMES FLORIDA DOMINANCE WITH LAST-LAP OCALA TRIUMPH!

 


Ocala, FL…….Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif. picked up right where he left off last February by winning Thursday night’s 2011 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car opener at the Ocala Speedway. Gardner trailed Jon Stanbrough for the first 29 laps, then took the lead coming off the final turn to beat Stanbrough to the checkered flag in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver. Gardner’s win in the first of three “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals” races at the 3/8-mile dirt Ocala oval left him as the early leader in the 2011 standings. The Ocala races continue Friday and Saturday nights, with a special appearance by the rock band Society Red spicing Saturday’s activities. Bryan Clauson, Levi Jones and Bud Kaeding rounded out the “top-five” at the finish. Drivers Justin Grant and Casey Riggs escaped injury in separate flips during the program. Gardner started the 2010 campaign with back-to-back victories at East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton, Fla.


 


AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: February 17, 2011 – Ocala, Florida – Ocala Speedway – 2nd “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals”


 


QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-14.801; 2. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-14.941; 3. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-15.028; 4. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-15.109; 5. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-15.186; 6. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-15.216’ 7. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-15.220; 8. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-15.258; 9. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-15.296; 10. Brady Short, 36, Short-15.299; 11. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-15.307; 12. Shane Cottle, 10E, Edison-15.349; 13. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-15.478; 14. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-15.510; 15. Casey Shuman, 4G, Cook-15.514; 16. Bill Rose, 10T, R & B-15.529; 17. Chris Windom, 5x, Baldwin-15.534; 18. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-15.572; 19. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.677; 20. Scotty Weir, 1G, Gorby-15.784; 21. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-15.822; 22. Dave Darland, 39, Goodnight-15.857; 23. Steve Irwin, 42G, R & M-15.933; 24. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-15.979; 25. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-16.032; 26. Kent Christian, 1c, Christian-16.188; 27. Wes McIntyre, 83, McIntyre-16.240; 28. Steve Thomas, 20T, Thomas-16.806; 29. Mike Weber, 22w, Weber-17.165; 30. Jimmy Simpson, 21, RacePro-NT.


 


FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Kaeding, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Jones, 5. Ballou, 6. Robbins, 7. Weber, 8. Grant. NT


 


SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Darland, 4. Short, 5. Riggs, 6. Fitzpatrick, 7. Christian. 2:21


 


THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Gulick, 3. Gardner, 4. Shuman, 5. Stockon, 6. McIntyre, 7. Irwin. NT


 


FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. East, 3. Weir, 4. Clauson, 5. Rose, 6. Gross, 7. Thomas. 2:08


 


SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Riggs, 2. Fitzpatrick, 3. Rose, 4. Ballou, 5. Grant, 6. McIntyre, 7. Robbins, 8. Gross, 9. Christian, 10. Stockon, 11. Thomas, 12. Weber. NT


 


FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Jon Stanbrough, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Levi Jones, 5. Bud Kaeding, 6. Brady Short, 7. Bobby East, 8. Coleman Gulick, 9. Bill Rose, 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 11. Chris Windom, 12. Robert Ballou, 13 Jerry Coons Jr., 14. Casey Shuman, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Scotty Weir, 17. Casey Riggs, 18. Tracy Hines, 19. Wes McIntyre, 20. Blake Fitzpatrick, 21. Justin Grant, 22. Shane Cottle. NT


 


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**Grant flipped during the first heat. Riggs flipped on lap 6 of the feature.


 


FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-29 Stanbrough, Lap 30 Gardner.


 


NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Gardner-70; 2-Stanbrough-65; 3-Clauson-59; 4-Jones-58; 5-Kaeding-55; 6-East-52; 7-Short-50; 8-Gulick-46; 9-Schuerenberg-45; 10-Windom-39.


 


NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: February 18 – Ocala, FL – Ocala Speedway – 2nd “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals”