By Dick Jordan
Perris, CA……..Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif. is the 2011 champion of the 16th “Budweiser Oval Nationals” after his wire-to-wire victory in Saturday night’s 40-lap AMSOIL USAC National and CRA Sprint race at Perris Auto Speedway. Gardner started on the pole and led all 40 laps in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver to beat Mike Spencer, Levi Jones, Bud Kaeding and Chris Windom. Spencer and Jones emerged as the leaders in the CRA and National series respectively going into next Saturday’s “The Finals” at Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif. Spencer capped the evening by winning the $10,000-to-win “Legends of Ascot Match Race.”
USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 5, 2011 (Night) – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – 16th “Budweiser Oval Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Cory Kruseman, 7H, Priestley-16.443; 2. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-16.467; 3. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.497; 4. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-16.636; 5. Ryan Bernal, 11D, Olmstead16.648; 6. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-16.662; 7. Casey Shuman, 21x, Roberts/Tate-16.707; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.727; 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-16.758; 10. Richard VanderWeerd, 10, VanderWeerd-16.762; 11. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-16.777; 12. Robert Ballou, 72, Ford-16.784; 13. Kyle Larson, 1L, Buster & Ziggy-16.790; 14. Ronnie Gardner, 93, Gardner-16.797; 15. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-16.803; 16. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-16.805; 17. Troy Rutherford, 11, Rutherford-16.855; 18. Shane Golobic, 121, BonSchriltz-16.914; 19. Greg Alexander, 23, Bellegante-16.991; 20. Dave Darland, 42, Cheney-16.993; 21. Andy Forsberg, 92x, Forsberg-17.003; 22. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.027; 23. Colby Copeland, 24c, Copeland-17.033; 24. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-17.050; 25. Danny Ebberts, 01, Carroll-17.133; 26. John Aden, 7A, Aden-17.185; 27. Jace VanderWeerd, 10x, VanderWeerd-17.203; 28. Danny Faria Jr., 2B, Bowman-17.285; 29. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-17.314; 30. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.400; 31. Seth Wilson, 75, Stansberry-17.489; 32. David Bezio, 37B, Bezio-17.614; 33. Royal Adderson, 40, Adderson-17.763; 34. Gavin Matlock, 25, Williams-18.133; 35. Raymond Potter, 33, Potter-20.981;
Greg Bragg, 92, Sertich-NT.
FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Kruseman, 3. Larson, 4. Bernal, 5. Forsberg, 6. Ebberts, 7. Rutherford, 8. Roa. NT
SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. R.VanderWeerd, 3. Gaunt, 4. R.Williams, 5. R.Gardner, 6. Golobic, 7. Aden, 8. Ford. 2:51.46
THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. C.Williams, 2. Shuman, 3. Alexander, 4. Copeland, 5. J.VanderWeerd, 6. Wilson, 7. Mitchell, 8. Sheridan. NT
FOURTH QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Johnson, 2. East, 3. Darland, 4. Bacon, 5. Bezio, 6. Faria, 7. Ballou, 8. Stanbrough. NT
B MAIN #1: (12 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Mitchell, 3. Larson, 4. R.Gardner, 5. Golobic, 6. Bezio, 7. Ballou (#73x Ford), 8. Roa, 9. Wilson, 10. Ebberts, 11. Alexander, 12. R.Williams, 13. Adderson. NT
B MAIN #2: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Bernal, 4. Aden, 5. Bragg, 6. Gaunt, 7. J.VanderWeerd, 8. Faria, 9. Matlock, 10. Sheridan, 11. Copeland. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Damion Gardner (#71 DG), 2. Mike Spencer (#50 Chaffin), 3. Levi Jones (#20 Stewart), 4. Bud Kaeding (#29 Buster & Ziggy), 5. Chris Windom (#5x Baldwin), 6. Nic Faas (#4x Alexander), 7. Tracy Hines (#4 Hines), 8. Bryan Clauson, 9. Bobby East, 10. Cory Kruseman, 11. Casey Shuman, 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 13. Kyle Larson, 14. Ryan Bernal, 15. Cody Williams, 16. R.J. Johnson, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Ronnie Gardner, 19. Danny Sheridan, 20. John Aden, 21. Keith Bloom Jr. (#27 Abreu), 22. Jon Stanbrough, 23. Matt Mitchell, 24. Richard VanderWeerd, 25. Brady Bacon, 26. Rip Williams. NT
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**Copeland flipped during the second B Main. R.VanderWeerd flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 D.Gardner.
NEW USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Jones-1,602; 2-Windom-1,569; 3-Schuerenberg-1,378; 4-Stanbrough-1,376; 5-Hines-1,250; 6-D.Gardner-1,248; 7-Ballou-1,238; 8-Clauson-1,187; 9-Darland-1,119; 10-East-994.
NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Spencer, 1,212; 2-Faas-1,159; 3-Mitchell-1,073; 4-A.Williams-741; 5-C.Williams-633; 6-Bragg-631; 7-Sheridan-570; 8-R.Williams-552; 9-Gaunt-520; 10-R.Gardner-484.
NEW USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Clauson-1,056; 2-Windom-1,024; 3-Larson-1,016; 4-Jones-1,007; 5-Hines-989; 6-East-942; 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-921; 8-Schuerenberg-864; 9-Stanbrough-834; 10-Darren Hagen-824.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 12 – Hanford, CA – Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway – “The Finals”