FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                        8/28/05

Contact: KEN WAGNER at winglesswarriors@aol.com

 

 

MIKE KIRBY TAMES SANTA MARIA OVAL FOR WIN NUMBER TWO OF YEAR

 

By Ken Wagner

 

Mike Kirby used something he rarely has at Santa Maria Speedway, a little luck, and won his second Valvoline USAC/CRA event of the year. After a spinning car took out leaders, Mike Spencer and local favorite Danny Sheridan, Kirby took over and led the final 11 laps of the 30 lap Main Event, with Damion Gardner as his shadow, for his second win of the year and 10th lifetime with the club.

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Gardner set his 17th fast time of the season as he claimed second followed by Rip Williams, Rickie Gaunt and Rodney Argo. Gardner now trails the point leader Williams by only 10 points with 10 weekends of racing left in the season.  Hard Charger was Charles Davis Jr who came from 18th to 9th.

 

 

VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2005 – Santa Maria, California – Santa Maria Speedway 

 

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-13.992; 2. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-14.143; 3. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-14.150; 4. Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-14.207; 5. Mike Kirby, 4, Alexander-14.238; 6. Davey Pombo, 3P, Pombo-14.277; 7. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-14.410; 8. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-14.463; 9. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-14.484; 10. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-14.580; 11. Evan Suggs, 33e, Suggs-14.582; 12. Jordan Hermansader, 5, Keller-14.765; 13. Danny Ebberts, 77, Acosta-14.777; 14. Darren Simas, 12, Simas-14.786; 15. Alan Ballard, 97, Ballard-14.790; 16. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-14.841; 17. Rusty Carlile, 36X, Carlisle-14.881; 18. Charles Davis Jr, 8A, Smiley-15.143; 19. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-15.280; 20. Ryan Devitt, 35R, Blenkarn-15.317; 21. Peter Murphy, 21, Tarlton-15.462; 22. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-15.462; 23. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-15.700; 24. Jeff Fiscus, 90, Dean-15.748. 
 
  FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Wilson, 2. Gardner, 3. Kruseman, 4. Johnson, 5. Sheridan, 6. Keller, 7. Argo, 8. Ebberts. 2:35:75 
 
  SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Suggs, 2. Gaunt, 3. Ford, 4. Kirby, 5. Carlile, 6. Simas, 7. Devitt, 8. Stewart. 2:33:00 
 
  THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Murphy, 2. Williams, 3. Hermansader, 4. Spencer, 5. Davis, 6. Pombo, 7. Ballard, 8. Fiscus. 2:28;97 
 
  SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Argo, 2. Pombo, 3. Ebberts, 4. Simas, 5. Ballard, 6. Keller, 7. Stewart, 8. Devitt. 
 
  FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Mike Kirby, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Rodney Argo, 6. Josh Ford, 7. Davey Pombo, 8. Jordan Hermansader. 9. Charles Davis Jr. 10. Peter Murphy, 11. Danny Sheridan 12. Evan Suggs, 13. Randy Carlile, 14. R.J. Johnson, 15. Mike Spencer, 16. Alan Ballard, 17. Seth Wilson, 18. Danny Ebberts, 19. Darren Simas, 20. Cory Kruseman. NT 
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**Ballard flipped during the feature. 
 
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Spencer, Laps 20-30 Kirby. 
 
NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,339; 2-Gardner-1,329; 3-Kirby-1,237; 4-Kruseman-1,187; 5-Davis-994; 6-Gaunt-909; 7-Spencer-846; 8-Ford-760; 9-Tony Jones-673; 10-Wilson-658. 
 
NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: September 3 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway

               

 

--USAC--