Racing News - 2005

THE DEMON MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW AT PERRIS BETWEEN RAINSTORMS
By Ken Wagner

March 6, 2005 - Damion “The Demon” Gardner, from Concord, California, came south to Perris Auto Speedway one more time to set fast time at 17.018 in the third race of the Valvoline USAC/CRA sprint car series.  He started eighth and won for the second race in a row. The Demon didn’t fool around as he went straight from his eighth starting spot to take the lead on lap 12. He quickly checked out on the pack in the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Eagle Chassis, Shaver motor powered # 50. In passing seven cars, he was the hard charger of the night, and was so excited in victory circle he said” I could go anywhere on the track, my car was awesome!”

Steve “the Hired Gun” Ostling was called in to sub for Rickie Gaunt, who came down with the flu. Steve drove the Smiley Crane Service # 2A car to a second place finish in his first ever ride in the car. He was too late in arriving to hot lap the car because he was at work when he got the call. Steve did outstanding and is still looking for a full time ride for the season. Mike Kirby took the Mark Alexander car from tenth to third with some great moves in the feature and continues to be the point leader. Danny “Showtime” Sheridan put on a good show earning fourth in his new Kittle Motorsports entry. There were 38 cars checking in with 24 starting the 30 lap main event that went green to checkered, set a track record at 8:39:11, and was done by 10 PM.

The rains that have plagued Southern California for week’s, were all around the area but never materialized at the track. National USAC travelers in town to race were Josh Wise, finishing sixth, Dave Darland, ninth, and Josh Ford, twelfth. Rodney Argo returned in the Don Argo owned Ford powered car for the first time in over a year. He flipped in his heat and returned to run strong in the Semi, until the motor smoked him back to the pits. Mike Spencer was in a brand new TCR car after destroying the team car the last time here, four weeks ago. He made the main as an alternate and ran 18^th.

Gregg Bragg jumped into Hall of Fame driver Billy Wilkerson’s # 11 car, and ran 14^th in his first go around in the car. Bobby Cody destroyed his car at the last race of the season in 2004 and made this his first race of the new season and secured 11^th. He is not running for points this year, only his first win and let the point’s fall as they may.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS:
3/5/05 – Perris Auto Speedway, Perris Ca.

QUALIFICATIONS:
1.  Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin - 17.018, 2.  Rip Williams, 3, Jory -17.137, 3.  Josh Ford, 73, Ford - 17.250,  4. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander - 17.313,  5.  Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno - 17.347,  6. Josh Wise, 7, Priestley - 17.367, 7.  J Hicks, 66, Miller - 17.423, 8.  Charles Davis Jr, 8A, Smiley 17.443, 9.  Tony Jones, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira -17.482, 10.  Jordan Hermansader, 92, Sertich - 17.492, 11.  Rick Ziehl, 14, Lancaster - 17.530, 12.  Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford - 17.587, 13.  David Cardey, 59, Giardina - 17.660, 14.  Rodney Argo,19, Argo -17.671, 15.  Steve Ostling, 2A, Smiley - 17.710, 16.  Dave Darland, 42, Cheney - 17.712, 17.  Danny Ebberts, 77, Acosta - 17.749, 18.  Troy Rutherford, 5, Keller 17.764, 19.  Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle - 17.771, 20.  R. J. Johnson, 15 AZ, Martin - 17.867, 21.  Bobby Cody, 41, Cody - 17.901, 22.  Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom - 17.912, 23.  Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg - 17.933, 24.  Greg Bragg, 11, Wilkerson - 17.959, 25.  Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard - 17.970, 26.  Dwayne Marcum, 12, Pratt - 18.025, 27.  Gary W. Howard, 84, Keene - 18.103, 28.  Matt Rossi, 2, Rossi - 18.227, 29.  Mark Heidenreich, 22, Heidenreich - 18.353, 30.  Jason York, 25N, York - 18.377, 31.  Rick Williams, 6X, Williams -18.427, 32.  Steve Paden, 1, Farrier - 18.438, 33.  Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics - 18.652, 34.  Randy Waitman, Y69, Waitman - 18.715, 35.  Nadine Keller, 16, Keller - 19.568, 36.  Joshua Williams, 34, Williams - 20.423, 37.  Nate Ziegler, N8, Ziegler - , 20.788, 38.  Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart - 20.999.

TROPHY DASH: (3 laps)
1. Josh Ford, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Damion Gardner. Time 53:26

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps)
1.  Alan Ballard, 2. Tony Jones, 3. Bobby Cody, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Cory Kruseman, 6. Mark Heidenreich, 7. Seth Wilson, 8. David Cardey, 9. Nate Ziegler, 10. Dany Ebberts.    Time 2:54:34

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Dwayne Marcum, 2. Jason York, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Troy Rutherford, 5. Jordan Hermansader, 6.Mike Spencer, 7. Josh Wise, 8. Randy Waitman, 9. Matt Stewart,   10. Rodney Argo. No Time

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Rick Williams, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Gary W Howard, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Dan Hillberg, 6. Rick Ziehl, 7. Josh Ford, 8. J Hicks, 9. Nadine Keller. Time 2:52:94

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Steve Paden, 2. Charles Davis Jr, 3. Greg Bragg, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Matt Rossi, 6. Jimmy Crawford, 7. RJ Johnson, 8. Mike Kirby, 9. Joshua Williams. Time 2:58:54

SEMI: (12 laps)
1. Mike Kirby, 2. Josh Ford, 3. Josh Wise, 4. Cory Kruseman, 5. Jimmy Crawford, 6. Danny Ebberts, 7. J Hicks, 8. Mike Spencer, 9. Jordan Hermansader, 10. RJ Johnson, 11. Mark Heidenreich, 12. Dan Hillberg, 13. Randy Waitman, 14. Seth Wilson, 15. Nadine Keller, 16. Matt Stewart, 17. Rodney Argo, 18. Rick Ziehl, 19. Matt Rossi, 20. Joshua Williams. No Time

FEATURE: (30 laps)
1. Damion Gardner, 2. Steve Ostling, 3. Mike Kirby, 4. Danny Sheridan, 5. Charles Davis Jr, 6. Josh wise, 7. Tony Jones, 8. Rip Williams, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Cory Kruseman, 11. Bobby Cody, 12. Josh Ford, 13. Troy Rutherford, 14. Greg Bragg, 15. Danny Ebberts, 16. Jason York, 17. Alan Ballard, 18. Mike Spencer, 19. Steve Paden, 20. Gary W. Howard, 21 Rick Williams, 22. Dwayne Marcum, 23. Jimmy Crawford. Time 8:39:11
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Argo crashed on lap 1 of Heat 2, Joshua Williams flipped on lap 1 of the Semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS:
Lap 1 Troy Rutherford, 2-11 Danny Sheridan and 12-30 Damion Gardner.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:
1-Kirby-170; 2-Davis-164; 3-Rip Williams-145; 4-Gardner-144; 5-Kruseman-129; 6-Ostling-109; 7-Rick Williams-103; 8-Spencer-97; 9-Jones-86; 10-Wilson-84.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
March 12 – Bakersfield, CA – Bakersfield Speedway