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THREE STRAIGHT FOR JONES AT THE PAS
by Robert Mayson
Perris, Calif…(September 27, 2008) Showing the form that led him to the 2007 Lucas Oil USAC/CRA Sprint Car Championship, Tony Jones of Norco, Calif. drove his Alexander Trucking / La Villa Restaurant No. 4 DRC to his third straight 30-lap feature win at the Perris Auto Speedway Saturday night.
Jones’ recent resurgence at the PAS shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering he had won 23 sprint car races at Perris heading into the 2008 season. Perhaps the bigger surprise was that it took him until August to get his first win of the season.
“It feels really good,” Jones said after climbing the front straight-away fence. “We’ve won three straight at Perris and finished second at Ventura a couple weeks ago and I’m living the dream right now. Until a few weeks ago we had gone a year without a win and I think we were a little spoiled after winning 13 main events in two years. We were consistent and running in the top-five, but we were just a little off. Right now, we’re having fun which is what sprint car racing is all about.”
Jones lined-up for the main event in the third position behind Rickie Gaunt, Torrance, Calif., and the Kittle Motorsports / Scott Sales No. 18 Stinger driven by Santa Maria, California’s Danny Sheridan. Heading into turn-one on the opening lap, Gaunt slid his Jeff Gardner / Gardner Pipe & Mechanical No. 93J Sled ahead of Sheridan.
The early stages of the race provided some intense fighting directly behind Gaunt. Gaunt manage to hold the top-spot until lap-12 when Sheridan muscled his way ahead of him entering turn-one. One lap later, Jones made a brave move for second-place squeezing between a lapped car and Gaunt.
The next couple laps also provided some daring moves past lapped cars from both Sheridan and Jones. Unfortunately for “Showtime” Sheridan, he skated a little wide entering turn-one on lap-15 giving Jones the opening he needed to take the lead.
It looked for a time that Jones might dominate the balance of the race until Sheridan began finding a rhythm running through the middle of the race track. In fact, Sheridan appeared poised to challenge for the lead on lap-20 until Jordan Hermansader stopped in turn-three bring out the yellow flag.
Jones briefly moved to Sheridan’s line after the restart before heading back to his familiar line on the cushion. Sheridan stayed close throughout the closing laps, but could never get close enough to attempt a pass and eventually finished only .496 seconds behind Jones.
“Danny showed me a lot of pressure, that’s why I changed my line after that last yellow,” Jones explained. “When you’re leading you have to stay in the groove where you’re comfortable. After he showed me a wheel I had nothing to lose.”
Blake Miller, Yorba Linda, Calif., passed his teammate Gaunt late in the race to give the Jeff Gardner / Roy Miller Frieghtlines No. 93 Sled a third-place finish. Mike Spencer, Temecula, Calif., continued to maintain his series point lead after driving the Ron Chaffin / Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply No. 50 Maxim to a fifth-place finish.
Fast-time qualifier Josh Ford, Camarillo, Calif. finished sixth in the Keith Ford / V-Mac No. 73 Ellis, while rookie driver Brein Kinney won his first Hard-Charger Award with his 21st to 14th run.
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