KRUSEMAN WINS “FIRECRACKER 30” at THE PAS

Perris, Calif…(July 4, 2009) Cory Kruseman, Ventura, Calif., took home his first Lucas Oil USAC/CRA sprint car win at the Perris Auto Speedway since April of last year during Saturday’s running of the “Firecracker-30”.
 
“I have to thank Glenn Crossno and Viper Chassis for this five-bar car which has been pretty exceptional.  David Cardey’s been doing pretty well lately with one and I’m glad Glenn talked us into making the switch…It’s a really happy racecar,” added Kruseman, who is now only one win shy of his 50th sprint car win at the Perris Auto Speedway.
 
Driving the Kruseman Motorsports / Lucas Oil No. 21k Viper, Kruseman watched from the inside of the third row as Danny Sheridan passed pole-sitter Rip Williams for the lead during the opening lap of the race.
 
Cardey saw his race, and his series points lead, come to an abrupt end on the second lap after his car suddenly slowed exiting turn-four and collected Ludvig Solberg IV.
 
Defending series champion Mike Spencer, Temecula, Calif. looked strong early.  After starting outside of Kruseman in the third row, Spencer quickly powered his Ron Chaffin / Grubstake Storage No. 50 Maxim into the lead on the sixth circuit.  Sheridan maintained his composure and was able to regain the lead from Spencer on lap-12.
 
Rickie Gaunt had a spectacular first ride in the David Miller No. 66.  After passing Kruseman for third-place a few laps earlier, Gaunt slid ahead of Spencer on lap-19 for the runner-up spot.  Kruseman would later move back ahead of Gaunt and into second-place.  Unfortunately for Gaunt, his night would end on lap-22 after a wild attempt to pass Kruseman entering turn-three result in his car bicycling high off the ground before slamming nose-first into the wall.  Gaunt was not injured.
 
The yellow flag laps for Gaunt’s incident were only a few of the many caution period laps that plagued the event.  Sadly for Sheridan, his car began to run out of fuel shortly after the restart helping Kruseman take the lead.  With the Jeff Gardner / Roy Miller Freightlines No. 93 Sled driven by fast qualifier Blake Miller, Yorba Linda, Calif., now up to second-place, Sheridan’s car finally ran out of fuel four laps from the finish bring out the final caution period of the race.
 
Kruseman had been running the cushion for most of the event, but elected to stay on the bottom for the restart.  Entering turn-one, Kruseman appeared to miss the bottom line leaving a wide enough opening for Miller to slip into the lead.  Using the turn-four cushion to perfection, Kruseman pulled alongside Miller on the front-straight before taking the lead back good on the following lap.
 
“I screwed-up there on the restart going into (turns) one and two,” Kruseman later admitted.  “I knew I wanted to be on the bottom and I drove past the bottom and Miller found the bottom.  I knew I better do something now, so we just got our elbows up as far as we could.”
 
Miller’s ride suffered rear-end problems coming now for the checkered flag, but was stilled credited with second-place since another incident involving Greg Alexander and Jordan Hermansader forced another yellow flag after the checkered flag had already been presented to Kruseman.  The runner-up finish help put Miller back on top of the USAC/CRA points standing s, but only four points ahead of third-place finisher Spencer.
 
Garrett Hansen of Manhattan Beach, Calif., had another fine showing driving his M-M Motorsports / Roy Miller Freightlines No. 7 Maxim to a fourth-place finish.  Another driver who continues to impress is Greg Bragg of Visalia, Calif., driving the Tom & Laurie Sertich / Huntington Beach Glass No. 92- Buckley to another top-five finish.  Gilbert, Arizona driver Andrew Reinbold earned “Hard Charger” honors with his 21st to seventh-place drive.

LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 4, 2009 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – “Firecracker 30”


 


QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Blake Miller, 93, Gardner-17.521; 2. David Cardey, 38, Crossno-17.689; 3. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-17.779; 4. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Kruseman-17.855; 5. Tyler Brown, 16, Gardner-17.990; 6. Garrett Hansen, 7, Priestley-17.997; 7. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-17.998; 8. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-18.142; 9. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-18.148; 10. Jordan Hermansader, 32, Serna-18.204; 11. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-18.237; 12. Greg Bragg, 92, Sertich-18.267; 13. John Aden, 7a, Aden-18.309; 14. Jonny Bates, 33, Bates-18.455; 15. Dennis Howell, 62, Howell-18.566; 16. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-18.608; 17. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-18.625; 18. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-18.657; 19. Greg Alexander, 75, Stansberry-18.728; 20. Ludvig Solberg IV, 84, Persall-18.748; 21. Ronnie Gardner, 96, Gardner-18.913; 22. Mathew Shedarowich, 8z, Shedarowich-18.976; 23. Robert Ellis, 12, Blair-19.017; 24. Andrew Reinbold, 19x, Reinbold-19.018; 25. Kenny Perkins, 5s, Perkins-19.260; 26. Mike Steele, 29, Steele-19.314; 27. Royal Adderson, 40, Adderson-19.518; 28. Jerry Welton, 62x, Welton-19.671; 29. Jimmy Crawford, 11, Crawford-19.706; 30. Lance Butler, 2b, Butler-19.877; 31. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-20.320; 32. Ed McWilliams, 27, Kershaw-20.447; 33. John Butler, 54, Butler-21.648.


 


FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Crawford, 2. R.Williams, 3. Ford, 4. Miller, 5. Brown, 6. Aden, 7. Gardner, 8. Perkins, 9. J.Butler. 3:01.20


 


SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hermansader, 2. Hansen, 3. Cardey, 4. A.Williams, 5. Bates, 6. Steele, 7. L.Butler, 8. Shedarowich. NT


 


THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Gaunt, 3. Mitchell, 4. Alexander, 5. Howell, 6. Ellis, 7. Adderson, 8. Everhart. NT


 


FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bragg, 2. Kruseman, 3. Reinbold, 4. Sheridan, 5. Solberg, 6. C.Williams, 7. Welton, 8. McWilliams. 3:03.07


 


SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Brown, 2. Howell, 3. Aden, 4. Solberg, 5. C.Williams, 6. Shedarowich, 7. Bates, 8. Gardner, 9. Adderson, 10. Ellis, 11. Everhart, 12. Welton, 13. J.Butler, 14. L.Butler. NT


 


FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Blake Miller, 3. Mike Spencer, 4. Garrett Hansen, 5. Greg Bragg, 6. Josh Ford, 7. Andrew Reinbold, 8. Mathew Shedarowich, 9. Ronnie Gardner, 10. Greg Alexander, 11. Jordan Hermansader, 12. Jimmy Crawford, 13. Danny Sheridan, 14. Rickie Gaunt, 15. John Aden, 16. Tyler Brown, 17. Austin Williams, 18. Rip Williams, 19. Dennis Howell, 20. Cody Williams, 21. David Cardey, 22. Matt Mitchell, 23. Ludvig Solberg IV. NT


------------------------------------


 


FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Sheridan, Laps 6-11 Spencer, Laps 12-21 Sheridan, Laps 22-26 Kruseman, Lap 27 Miller, Laps 28-30 Kruseman.


 


NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Miller-471; 2-Spencer-467; 3-Cardey-458; 4-Hansen-434; 5-Bragg-369; 6-Sheridan-335; 7-Kruseman-301; 8-R.Williams-286; 9-Mitchell-275; 10-Brown-218.
 


NEXT LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: August 1– Perris (CA) Auto Speedway