Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif. caught Mike Spencer on lap 37 and led the final four laps to win Saturday night’s 14th ”Budweiser Oval Nationals” 40-lap feature at Perris Auto Speedway, claiming the $12,500 winner’s prize in his Pace Lighting Eagle/Shaver. Spencer took second ahead of Levi Jones, Bryan Clauson and Bud Kaeding.
Jones, of Avon, Ind., emerged from the 40-lap race with a 178-point lead over Dave Darland and has a mathematical lock on the 2009 title, looking forward to officially being crowned the USAC National Sprint Car Champion at next weekend’s series finale, the 30th “Pacific Coast Nationals” at the Tulare (Calif.) Thunderbowl Raceway. It will be Levi’s third series crown. Darland suffered car damage in a “B Main” incident and was unable to start the feature.
Jones’ finish also left the Tony Stewart Racing Team with an insurmountable point lead in the 2009 USAC National Car Owner standings.
Rip Williams led the first 21 laps of the race and Spencer led the next 15 before Gardner finally took the top spot.
Spencer, of Temecula, Calif., extended his Lucas Oil USAC/CRA point lead over David Cardey to 78 points going into next weekend’s Tulare races.
Austin Williams won Saturday’s C Main and Cole Whitt took the B Main. Whitt was one of five drivers who flipped during the 40-lap feature.
“C” MAIN: (20 laps) 1. Austin Williams (#2 Jory), 2. Keith Bloom Jr. (#27 Braund), 3. Chad Boat (#30 Boat), 4. Dave Darland (#2B RWB), 5. Richard VanderWeerd (#10 VanderWeerd), 6. Brent Camarillo (#51 Camarillo), 7. Peter Murphy (#21t Tarlton), 8. Jace VanderWeerd (#88 VanderWeerd), 9. Austin Mero (#71k Kruseman), 10. Justin Grant (#5 Baldwin), 11. Matthew Shedarowich (#8z Shedarowich), 12. Marty Hawkins (#3m Hawkins), 13. Rusty Carlile (#151 Carlile), 14. Jonny Bates (#33 Bates), 15. Blake Miller (#93 Gardner), 16. Ludvig Solberg IV (#84 Persall), 17. Cody Williams (#44 Jory), 18. Cody Kershaw (#51k Camarillo), 19. Kenny Perkins (#0K Perkins). NT
“B” MAIN: (20 laps) 1. Cole Whitt (#67k Kunz), 2. Tracy Hines (#21 Stewart), 3. Tony Jones (#4 Alexander), 4. Darren Hagen (#4x Alexander), 5. Kevin Swindell (#83 Roth), 6. Bud Kaeding (#29 BK Racing), 7. Cory Kruseman (#21k Kruseman), 8. Bloom, 9. Greg Bragg (#92 Sertich), 10. Garrett Hansen (#7x Priestley), 11. Ronnie Gardner (#96 Gardner), 12. Boat, 13. Davey Pombo (#11p Buster & Ziggy), 14. Jimmy Crawford (#11 Crawford), 15. Murphy, 16. J.VanderWeerd, 17. Brent Camarillo, 18. John Aden (#7a Aden), 19. Steve Sussex (#0 Price), 20. Darland, 21. Bruce St. James (#7k St. James), 22. R.VanderWeerd, 23. A.Williams, 24. R.J. Johnson (#15 Martin). NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Damion Gardner (#71 DG), 2. Mike Spencer (#50 Chaffin), 3. Levi Jones (#20 Stewart), 4. Bryan Clauson (#7 Tucker), 5. Bud Kaeding, 6. Garrett Hansen, 7. Rip Williams (#3 Jory), 8. Cory Kruseman, 9. Henry Clarke (#67 Kunz), 10. Brady Short (#36 Short), 11. Greg Bragg, 12. Keith Bloom Jr., 13. Danny Sheridan (#18 Kittle), 14. Ronnie Gardner, 15. Austin Williams, 16. Tony Jones, 17. David Cardey (#38 Crossno), 18. Blake Miller, 19. Kevin Swindell, 20. Nic Faas (#17F Faas), 21. Cole Whitt, 22. Tracy Hines, 23. Chad Boat, 24. Jon Stanbrough (#37 Indiana Underground), 25. Matt Mitchell (#37x Mitchell), 26. Darren Hagen. NT
**Hagen flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Hines flipped on lap 10 of the feature. Whitt flipped on lap 11 of the feature. Swindell flipped on lap 29 of the feature. Cardey flipped on lap 32 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 R.Williams, Laps 22-36 Spencer, Laps 37-40 Gardner.
NEW USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS:
1-L.Jones-1,735; 2-Darland-1,557; 3-Whitt-1,545; 4-Jerry Coons Jr.-1,352; 5-Hines-1,312; 6-D.Gardner-1,295; 7-Hagen-1,004; 8-Clauson-933; 9-Boat-889; 10-Stanbrough-831.
NEXT USAC NATIONAL & LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACES: November 13-14 – Tulare, CA – Thunderbowl Raceway – 30th “Pacific Coast Nationals”