GARDNER SURVIVES LATE-RACE DRAMA TO WIN AT THE PAS

 


Perris, CA……..Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif. won Friday night’s 25-lap “Budweiser Oval Nationals” preliminary feature at Perris Auto Speedway, but not until he survived a late-race tangle with AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car point leader Levi Jones. The two tangled while battling for the lead in turn two of the 23rd lap and Jones suffered a flat tire, relegating Thursday night’s Perris winner to a 20th-place finish. Gardner sped on to victory in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver. Pro Source fast qualifier Bobby East finished second ahead of Tracy Hines, Bud Kaeding and Bryan Clauson. Jones led the first eight laps, Gardner led the next three and Jones led lap 12. Gardner then led for nine laps and Jones one before the two tangled. Darren Hagen flipped during the first heat race and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The 15th “Budweiser Oval Nationals” concludes Saturday night at the PAS.


 


USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 5, 2010 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – 15th “Budweiser Oval Nationals”


 


QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-16.534; 2. Justin Grant, 5x, Baldwin-16.644; 3. Bryan Clauson, 2B, RWB-16.660; 4. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-16.685; 5. Casey Riggs, 37, Riggs-16.751; 6. Darren Hagen, 7, Priestley-16.755; 7. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10F, Fitzpatrick-16.763: 8. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-16.794: 9. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-16.813; 10. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-16.838; 11. Robert Ballou, 73x, Ford-16.839; 12. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-16.871; 13. Tony Jones, 4x, Alexander-16.910; 14. Ronnie Gardner, 93, Gardner-16.940; 15. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-16.941; 16. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-16.968; 17. Klye Larson, 38, Crossno-16.973; 18. Dave Darland, 39, Goodnight-16.974; 19. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-17.010; 20. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-17.041; 21. Casey Shuman, 4g, Cook-17.059; 22. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-17.140; 23. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Kruseman-17.141; 24. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-17.147; 25. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-17.169; 26. Johnathon Henry, 71k, Kruseman-17.170; 27. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-17.213; 28. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.225; 29. Greg Alexander, 23, Bellegante-17.239’ 30. Greg Bragg, 92, Sertich-17.355; 31. Jace VanderWeerd, 88, VanderWeerd-17.369’ 32. R.J. Johnson, 15, Martin-17.377; 33. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-17.403; 34. Keith Bloom Jr., 27k, Braun-17.432; 35. Richard VanderWeerd, 10, VanderWeerd-17.433; 36. Seth Wilson, 1x, Wilson-17.508; 37. Matt Mitchell, 37m, Mitchell-17.534; 38. Marty Hawkins, 3m, Hawkins-17.656; 39. John Aden, 7a, Aden-17.771; 40. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.789; 41. Rusty Carlile, 51, Carlile-17.799; 42. Kenny Perkins, 0K, Perkins-17.890; 43. Marcus Niemela, 21x, Kruseman-17.898; 44. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-18.105; 45. Dennis Howell, 62, Howell-18.112; 46. Matt Goodnight, 39g, Goodnight-18.194; 47. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, Thomas-NT; 48. Shane Cottle 8, BRAT-NT; 49. David Cardey, 59, Cardey-NT. (Matt Mitchell, 37x, Mitchell-withdrawn).


 


FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Wilson, 2. J.VanderWeerd, 3. East, 4. Shuman, 5. Gaunt, 6. Ballou, 7. Carlile, 8. Goodnight, 9. Henry, 10. Hagen. NT


SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kaeding, 2. Fitzpatrick, 3. Grant, 4. Larson, 5. Mitchell (#37m), 6. Johnson, 7. C.Williams, 8. Perkins, 9. A.Williams. NT


THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. L.Jones, 2. Hughes, 3. T.Jones, 4. Kruseman, 5. Clauson, 6. Hawkins, 7. Niemela, 8. Darland, 9. R.Williams. NT


FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. D.Gardner, 3. Bloom, 4. Hines, 5. R.Gardner, 6. Aden, 7. Alexander, 8. Everhart, 9. Coons. 2:58.24


FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.VanderWeerd, 2. Sheridan, 3. Spencer, 4. Clarke, 5. Bragg, 6. Stanbrough, 7. Riggs, 8. Ford, 9. Howell. 2:59.97


 


SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Riggs, 2. Clauson, 3. Gaunt, 4. Stanbrough, 5. C.Williams, 6. Mitchell (#37m), 7. Coons, 8. Bragg, 9. Henry, 10. Alexander, 11. Carlile, 12. Niemela, 13. Everhart, 14. Darland, 15. Ballou, 16. Hawkins, 17. Howell, 18. R.Gardner, 19. Johnson, 20. A.Williams. NT


 


FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Bobby East, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Bud Kaeding, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Kyle Larson, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Mike Spencer, 9. Jon Stanbrough, 10. Danny Sheridan, 11. Justin Grant, 12. Casey Shuman, 13. Keith Bloom, 14. Cory Kruseman, 15. J.J. Hughes, 16. Rickie Gaunt, 17. Casey Riggs, 18. Jace VanderWeerd, 19. Austin Williams, 20. Levi Jones, 21. Blake Fitzpatrick, 22. Jerry Coons Jr., 23. Richard VanderWeerd, 24. Henry Clarke, 25. Seth Wilson, 26. Tony Jones, 27. Greg Bragg. NT


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**Mitchell flipped during qualifications. Hagen flipped during the first heat and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. Darland and Ballou flipped during the semi. Fitzpatrick flipped during the feature.


 


FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Jones, Laps 9-11 D.Gardner, Lap 12 Jones, Laps 13-21 D.Gardner, Lap 22 Jones, Laps 23-25 D.Gardner.


 


NEW USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-L.Jones-1,987; 2-D.Gardner-1,880; 3-Clauson-1,877; 4-Coons-1,686; 5-Hines-1,658; 6-Windom-1,602; 7-Clarke-1,268; 8-Darland-1,244; 9-Shane Hmiel-1,080; 10-Stanbrough-995.


NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR DIRT STANDINGS: 1-L.Jones-1,674; 2-D.Gardner-1,520; 3-Clauson-1,507; 4-Windom-1,346; 5-Coons-1,330.


NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Spencer-1,305; 2-Sheridan-987; 3-Kruseman-901; 4-Mitchell-877; 5-Blake Miller-770; 6-Bragg-621; 7-T.Jones-610; 8-Cardey-602; 9-A.Williams-587; 10-C.Williams-574.


 


NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 6 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway – 15th “Budweiser Oval Nationals”