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MAY 8,
2005...Damion
Gardner, from Concord, California won his fourth Valvoline
USAC/CRA main event win of the season in his Temecula
Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Eagle, Shaver
powered # 50 sprinter. He came from the sixth starting
spot riding the high groove and taking the lead with two
laps to go from Mike Kirby who had led from the start in
the 30 lap feature at Ventura Raceway.
Kirby had
been enjoying a nice lead when a yellow flag flew with
five laps to go and Damion in a close second place. The
last restart quickly became a titanic battle for the lead.
Damion passed Kirby twice before it stuck with two laps to
go. The Demon was very patient and said in the winners
circle “I was so high up on the cushion, it didn’t
look like I was gaining on them at first, but then I
started reeling them in and we won this one in the end”.
He was followed by Kirby, Cory Kruseman, Blake Miller (the
local 360 VRA point leader) and Mike Spencer, with his
best finish of the year so far, across the stripe.
Point
leader, Rip Williams, suffered a flat tire early in the
feature and came all the way back to seventh for a great
drive. Young Alan Ballard missed a transfer to the main
when he was fifth in the Semi, but took a provisional to
start 21st in the main. He immediately got on
his head on the opening lap, but restarted and got the
hard charger award coming back to 10th.
On a
perfect night by the ocean, while other tracks around the
state suffered rainouts, the big crowd enjoyed great
racing and an early drive home. The 10 o’clock curfew
gets everyone in and out early and you just can’t beat
the racing on the small quarter mile bullring known as
“the best little dirt track by the sea”.
Earlier
in the night Damion took two hot laps to honor Marge
Bromme, the mother of his crew chief Bruce Bromme Jr, who
passed away last Tuesday. Marge, often called “Mom” by
all those who loved her, was the heart of the Bromme
Racing team from the beginning. She collected and
organized albums of racing items like decals, programs,
business cards, hat pins and more to document her love for
the sport. She leaves
behind her son Bruce, his wife Pam and her pooch Misty.
Any donations can be made to: Hospice
Partners of Central Coast, 277 South Street, San Luis
Obispo, CA 92401.
VALVOLINE
USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS:
May 7, 2005 – Ventura, California – Ventura Raceway
QUALIFICATIONS:
1. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-11.999; 2. J.Hicks, 66,
Miller-11.999; 3. Tony Jones, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira-12.018;
4. Charles Davis, Jr., 8A, Smiley-12.054; 5. Damion
Gardner, 50, Chaffin-12.065; 6. Danny Sheridan, 18,
Kittle-12.132; 7. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-12.137; 8.
Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-12.203; 9. Alan Ballard, 97,
Ballard-12.226; 10. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-12.244; 11.
Blake Miller, 5x, Keller-12.250; 12. Cory Kruseman, 38,
Crossno-12.250; 13. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-12.280; 14.
R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-12.326; 15. Seth Wilson, 17,
Racing Optics-12.369; 16. Dan Hillberg, 82,
Hillberg-12.391; 17. Steve Ostling, 5, Keller-12.399;
18. Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford-12.412; 19. Ronnie Case,
0, Shoemaker-12.431; 20. Clark Templeman III, 18T,
Luport-12.457; 21. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster-12.489; 22.
Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-12.709; 23. Steve Conrad, 91,
Ferro-12.795; 24. Ron Bach, 48, Bach-12.916; 25. Joshua
Williams, 34, Williams-13.249; 26. Hobie Conway, 29x,
Conway-13.273; 27. Dennis Rodriguez, 20, Rowher-13.402;
28. Shawn Kautz, 29, Kautz-13.431; 29. Ron Tjaarda, 0X,
Kruseman-14.341.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Damion Gardner, 2. Steve Ostling, 3. Rip Williams, 4.
Rickie Gaunt, 5. Joshua Williams, 6. Ron Tjarda, 7. Alan
Ballard, 8. Bobby Graham. NT.
SECOND
HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Mike Kirby, 2. J Hicks, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. R.J.
Johnson, 5. Hobie Conway, 6. Nadine Keller, 7. Jimmy
Crawford. NT.
THIRD HEAT:
(10 laps)
1. Steve Conrad, 2. Ronnie Case, 3. Blake Miller, 4. Mike
Spencer, 5. Dennis Rodriguez, 6. Seth Wilson, 7. Tony
Jones. NT.
FOURTH
HEAT: (10 laps)
1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Rodney Argo, 3. Ron Bach, 4. Clark
Templeman III, 5. Shawn Kautz. 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7.
Dan Hillberg. NT.
SEMI: (12
laps)
1. Tony Jones, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. Jimmy Crawford, 4.
Seth Wilson, 5. Alan Ballard, 6. Joshua Williams, 7. Shawn
Kautz, 8. Nadine Keller, 9. Dennis Rodriguez, 10. Dan
Hillberg, 11. Hobie Conway, 12, Ron Tjarda, 13, Bobby
Graham (DNS). NT.
FEATURE:
(30 laps - With Starting Positions)
1. Damion Gardner (6th), 2. Mike Kirby (2nd), 3. Cory
Kruseman (11th), 4. Blake Miller (1st), 5. Mike Spencer
(4th), 6. Tony Jones (9th), 7. Rip Williams (8th), 8.
Charles Davis Jr. (10th), 9. Rickie Gaunt (12th), 10 Alan
Ballard (21st), 11. Seth Wilson (14th), 12. Steve Conrad
(19th), 13. Danny Sheridan (5th), 14. R.J. Johnson (13th),
15. Steve Ostling (15th), 16. Ron Bach (20th), 17. Ronnie
Case (17th), 18. J Hicks (7th), 19. Rodney Argo (3rd), 20.
Jimmy Crawford (16th), 21. Clark Templeman III (18th). NT
-----------------------------------
**Ballard flipped at the start of the feature. Rodney Argo
flipped on the second lap of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS:
Laps 1-28 Kirby, Laps 29-30 Gardner.
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:
1-R.Williams-571; 2-Kirby-541; 3-Davis-537; 4-Gardner-521;
5-Kruseman-503; 6-Gaunt-395; 7-Jones-321; 8-Josh Ford-310;
9-Wilson-299; 10-Spencer-297.
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
May 14 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway |
