Racing News - 2005

CORY KRUSEMAN WINS 50 LAPPER AT PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY FOR THIRD WIN OF YEAR
By Ken Wagner

MAY 28, 2005...Cory Kruseman, of Ventura, California won the Valvoline USAC/CRA “Salute to Indy” 50 lap race at Perris Auto Speedway this week. Driving the ITI Performance, Sander Engineering, Bullitt, Downing # 38, The Kruser started 14^th in the main event and chased early leader, Rip Williams, down and led the final 24 laps to win his third race of the season. His win stopped the win streak by Damion Gardner at four, The Demon was involved in a shunt in the main that bent his front end so severely that he fought it until he spun out with a few laps to go as he was charging into 4^th place from the back. Rip Williams increased his point lead over Damion to 34 points as he finished third while Gardner was tenth.

RJ Johnson graduated from high school on Thursday and then finished second in the main event on Saturday. It was his first podium finish with CRA. The two time AMRA Midget champion beat Rip Williams and Mike Kirby for his best finish ever. R J was followed by the Ripper, Mike Kirby and David Cardey who also had his best ever finish with CRA.

Rookie Joshua Williams, cousin to Rip Williams, made his first ever main event and finished sixth coming from 21^st to get the hard charger award for the night. In a race of attrition, 22 cars started and only seven finished as a variety of ails took out a large number of cars. There was a red flag fuel stop at lap 36 because of the many yellow flag laps.

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS:
May 28, 2005 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 
1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin - 16.502, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 8A, Smiley - 16.560, 3. Tony Jones, 87, Vermeer/Ferreira - 16.651, 4. Steve Ostling, 5, Keller - 16.675, 5. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom - 16.685, 6. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley - 16.733, 7. Rip Williams, 3, Jory - 16.836, 8. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin - 16.882, 9. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander - 16.979, 10. Bobby Graham, 14, Lancaster - 17.006, 11. Bobby Cody, 41, Cody - 17.017, 12. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics - 17.022, 13. Gary Howard, 25, Ruth - 17.105, 14. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard - 17.115, 15. Dan Hillberg, 82, Hillberg - 17.146, 16. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno - 17.177, 17. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller - 17.320, 18. Tom Stansberry, 48, Bach - 17.346, 19. Jordan Hermansader, 92, Sertich - 17.393, 20. Rick Becker, 67, Becker - 17.420, 21. David Cardey, 59, Giardina - 17.447, 22. Ronnie Case, 33, Blair - 17.448, 23. Jimmy Crawford, 17C, Crawford - 17.642, 24. Shawn Kautz, 29, Kautz 18.277, 25. Josh Williams, 34, Williams - 18.281, 26. Richard Rose, N8, Ziegler - 19.158, 27. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle - NT.

TROPHY DASH: (3 laps) 
1. Steve Ostling, 2. Tony Jones, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Damion Gardner. 51:98.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. David Cardey, 2. Mike Spencer, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Josh Williams, 5, Gary W. Howard, 6. Mike Kirby, 7. Nadine Keller. 2:56:41.

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Bobby Graham, 2. Rickie Gaunt, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Tom Stansberry, 5. Richard Rose, 6. Alan Ballard, 7. Ronnie Case. 2:56:64.

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Bobby Cody, 2. Jordan Hermansader, 3. Tony Jones, 4. Rip Williams, 5. Jimmy Crawford, 6. Dan Hillberg, 7. Danny Sheridan (DNS) .2:53:82.

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Cory Kruseman, 2. R.J. Johnson, 3. Seth Wilson, Steve Ostling, 5. Rick Becker, 6. Shawn Kautz. 2:53:61

SEMI: (12 laps) 
1. Mike Kirby, 2. Rick Becker, 3. Jimmy Crawford, 4. Ronnie Case, 5. Alan Ballard, 6. Danny Sheridan, 7. Shawn Kautz, 8. Gary W. Howard, 9. Nadine Keller, 10. Richard Rose, 11. Dan Hillberg. 3:34:08.

FEATURE: (50 laps - With Starting Positions) 
1. Cory Kruseman (14th), 2. R.J. Johnson (1st), 3. Rip Williams (2nd), 4. Mike Kirby (9th), 5. David Cardey (18th), 6. Josh Williams (21st), 7. Ronnie Case (19th), 8. Steve Ostling (5th), 9. Bobby Graham (10th), 10. Damion Gardner (8th), 11. Rickie Gaunt (3rd), 12. Bobby Cody (11th), 13. Rick Becker (17th), 14. Alan Ballard (13th), 15. Danny Sheridan (22nd), 16. Jordan Hermansader (16th), 17. Seth Wilson (12th), 18. Charles Davis Jr. (7th), 19. Tom Stansberry (15th), 20. Tony Jones (6th), 21. Jimmy Crawford (20th), 22. Mike Spencer (4th). NT.
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Hillberg flipped during the semi. Crawford flipped on lap six of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS:
Laps 1-26 Rip Williams, Laps 27-50 Kruseman.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:
1-Rip Williams-745; 2-Gardner-711; 3-Kruseman-695; 4-Kirby-677; 5-Davis-672; 6-Gaunt-523; 7-Jones-384; 8-Wilson-381; 9-Ballard-380; 10-Josh Ford-365. 

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
June 4 – Hanford, CA – Kings Speedway