Las Vegas, NV – Levi Jones went into Thursday night’s Las Vegas Super Sprint Classic at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway hoping to cut into the points lead that Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif. held after winning 2 of the first 3 Amsoil National Sprint Car features. Things didn’t quite work out for him as he hoped when with 4 laps to go in the feature his car broke while in 5th place and gaining on the leaders.
Damion Gardner came from his 15th starting position to win Thursday night’s 30-lap feature. Gardner didn’t crack the “top-10” until lap 19, then methodically chased down the leaders and took the lead from Dave Darland on lap 28. He pulled away from the field in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver to beat Darland, Chris Windom, Tracy Hines and fast qualifier Jerry Coons Jr.
Gardner leads the National standings entering Saturday night’s “Sokola Shootout” at the Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway, but trails Coons by two points in the new CRA standings. Gardner also won the two National series openers in Tampa, Fla. earlier this month.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps)
1. Jones, 2. Spencer, 3. Hmiel, 4. Sheridan, 5. Shuman, 6. Bragg, 7. Coons, 8. Cummins, 9. Shedarowich. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps)
1. Gardner, 2. Sweet, 3. Windom, 4. Miller, 5. Hines, 6. Burdette, 7. Bloom, 8. Crawford. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps)
1. Clauson, 2. Ballou, 3. Kaeding, 4. Boat, 5. Kruseman, 6. Wilson, 7. Kershaw, 8. Ricky Williams. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps)
1. Darland, 2. Herrera, 3. Clarke, 4. Mellenberndt, 5. A.Williams, 6. C.Williams, 7. Mero, 8. Carlile. NT
SEMI: (12 laps)
1. Coons, 2. Shuman, 3. Hines, 4. Wilson, 5. Ricky Williams, 6. Burdette, 7. Mero, 8. Kruseman, 9. Crawford, 10. Bloom, 11. Cummins, 12. Bragg, 13. C.Williams, 14. Shedarowich, 15. A.Williams. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps)
1. Damion Gardner, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Seth Wilson, 7. Bryan Clauson, 8. Johnny Herrera, 9. Henry Clarke, 10. Robert Ballou, 11. Mike Spencer, 12. Casey Shuman, 13. Brad Sweet, 14. Blake Miller, 15. Bud Kaeding, 16. Chad Boat, 17. Shane Hmiel, 18. Danny Sheridan, 19. Bret Mellenberndt, 20. Cory Kruseman, 21. Brett Burdette, 22. Cody Williams, 23. Levi Jones, 24. Ricky Willliams. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Darland, Laps 2-7 Ballou, Laps 8-27 Darland, Laps 28-30 Gardner.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Gardner-259;2-Coons-225;3-Clauson-221; 4-Jones-193; 5-Darland-188; 6-Ballou-188; 7-Clarke-172; 8-Hines-171; 9-Windom-131; 10-Brady Short-122.
