From Dick Jordan
Ocala, FL — Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif. led all but the first lap of Saturday night’s 30-lap USAC AMSOIL National Sprint race at Ocala Speedway, posting his fourth feature win in the last five USAC Sprint races in the Sunshine State! Gardner passed Blake Fitzpatrick on lap two in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver and led the rest of the way to take the “Bubby Army Sprint Nationals” finale over Fitzpatrick, fast qualifier Levi Jones, Hunter Schuerenberg and Casey Shuman. The win put Gardner back atop the series standings going into April 8 and 9 races at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Fitzpatrick’s runner-up finish was his second in as many nights at the 3/8-mile dirt oval. Gardner also won Thursday night’s feature and won both races last year at East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: February 19, 2011 – Ocala, Florida – Ocala Speedway – 2nd “Bubba Army Sprint Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-14.758; 2. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-14.919; 3. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-14.928; 4. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-144.970; 5. Chris Windom, 5x, Baldwin-14.982; 6. Casey Shuman, 4G, Cook-15.008; 7. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-15.008; 8. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-15.080; 9. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-15.178; 10. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-15.223; 11. Scotty Weir, 1G, Gorby-15.281; 12. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-15.283; 13. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-15.293; 14. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-15.329; 15. Bill Rose, 10T, R & B-15.409; 16. Brady Short, 36, Short-15.425; 17. Shane Cottle, 10E, Edison-15.435; 18. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.439; 19. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-15.531; 20. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-15.554.643; 21. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-15.575; 22. Wes McIntyre, 83, McIntyre-15.643; 23. Dave Darland, 39, Goodnight-15.648; 24. Steve Irwin, 42G, R & M-15.752; 25. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-15.818; 26. Kent Christian, 1c, Christian-15.965; 27. Mike Weber, 22w, Weber-16.968; 28. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-NT; 29. Steve Thomas, 20T, Thomas-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Jones, 3. Stockon, 4. Gardner, 5. Ballou, 6. Gulick, 7. Windom. 2:04.00
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Fitzpatrick, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. McIntyre, 5. East, 6. Shuman, 7. Christian. 2:03.00
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Darland, 3. Clauson, 4. Weir, 5. Riggs, 6. Rose, 7. Weber. 2:04.00
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Irwin, 2. Grant, 3. Kaeding, 4. Hines, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Short, 7. Gross. 2:06.00
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Riggs, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Shuman, 5. Ballou, 6. East, 7. Short, 8. Rose, 9. Gulick, 10. Christian, 11. Gross, 12. Weber. 3:04.00.
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Blake Fitzpatrick, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Casey Shuman, 6. Casey Riggs, 7. Jon Stanbrough, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Bud Kaeding, 10. Bobby East, 11. Bryan Clauson, 12. Robert Ballou, 13. Tracy Hines, 14. Shane Cottle, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Brady Short, 17. Chris Windom, 18. Wes McIntyre, 19. Kyle Robbins, 20. Chase Stockon, 21. Steve Irwin, 22. Justin Grant, 23. Scotty Weir. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Fitzpatrick, Laps 2-30 Gardner.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Gardner-194; 2-Jones-172; 3-Clauson-171; 4-Schuerenberg-160; 5-Stanbrough-159; 6-Fitzpatrick-145; 7-Kaeding-137; 8-East-118; 9-Riggs-115; 10-Weir-110.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: April 8 – Rossburg, OH – Eldora Speedway