By Richie Murray
Perris, California (November 3, 2021)………Tanner Thorson recorded the fastest lap in Wednesday night’s practice session at southern California’s Perris Auto Speedway, the final tune-up prior to the start of the 25th running of the Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by All Coast Construction.
The Minden, Nev. driver circled the 1/2-mile dirt oval with a time of 16.264 seconds in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy, the same team which won the most recent Oval Nationals with driver C.J. Leary in 2019.
Thorson is in the midst of his first full USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season and, likewise, is making his first Oval Nationals appearance this weekend.
Jake Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.), a 2019 USAC CRA victor at Perris, was second overall in practice at 16.269. Three-time series champ and current point leader Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was third at 16.329. Two-time Oval Nationals prelim feature winner Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) was fourth at 16.358. Brody Roa, a two-time Perris AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Car winner this year, rounded out the top-five at 16.469.
Thirty-nine cars are expected for this week’s running of the Oval Nationals, which kicks off Thursday night, Nov. 4 with three-straight full nights of racing, with each evening offering qualifying, heats, semi-feature and feature events. The program resumes the following night on Friday, Nov. 5, with the grand finale taking place on Saturday night, Nov. 6.
The drivers meeting takes place at 4:30pm PT during each night of racing with cars slated to be on track at 5:30pm.
All three nights of racing will be shown LIVE on FloRacing at at https://bit.ly/3frPoW6.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PRACTICE RESULTS: November 3, 2021 – Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, California – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 25th Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented By All Coast Construction
PRACTICE: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.264; 2. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-16.269; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.329; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.358; 5. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-16.469; 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-16.555; 7. C.J. Leary, 77m, Michael-16.587; 8. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.609; 9. Carson Short, 17, Snow-16.662; 10. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-16.736; 11. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-16.839; 12. Logan Seavey, 5, Baldwin/Fox-16.840; 13. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-16.872; 14. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-16.893; 15. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-16.966; 16. Max Adams, 73 Ford-17.047; 17. Alex Banales, 5A, Baldwin/Fox-17.103; 18. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-17.109; 19. Dennis Gile, 13G, Gile-17.157; 20. Danny Faria Jr., 17v, Hollywood-17.202; 21. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-17.238; 22. Chase Johnson, 2, Yeley-17.239; 23. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-17.376; 24. Dan Taylor, T5, Taylor-17.572; 25. Shane Sexton, 74, Sexton/Gatlin-17.954; 26. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-18.337; 27. Chris Muraoka, 25, Sure Can-19.089.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: November 4-5-6, 2021 – Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, California – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 25th Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented By All Coast Construction