Tony Jones Rebounds With Friday Oval Nationals Prelim Win
PERRIS,
Calif. ? He was bruised and beat from Thursday, but Tony Jones revived
his ?Budweiser Oval Nationals? title hopes Friday at Perris Auto
Speedway with his seventh USAC CRA Sprint Car Series victory of the
season and first National win of 2006 after a spirited run to the front
of the field.
Jones, who flipped in Thursday?s preliminary at
the half-mile and trashed his primary car, came back with vengeance
Friday, taking advantage of a bobble by 16-year-old Brady Bacon to win
the race by about a car length over the teenager. ?This car is
brand-new, right out of the box,? said Jones, one of the most improved
drivers on the CRA circuit this season. ?I?ve got a lot of people to
thank, but this crew did an excellent job getting this car ready for
me. They really worked their butts off.?
The Norco, Calif.
driver Jones started seventh in the 27-car field, but didn?t quite show
his hand until the end. Instead, it was the National contingent that
was making the noise early.
Critter Malone, who frequents the
Indiana weekly races and runs some on the National tour, took the lead
from the pole on the opening green and held it for the first four laps
before Bacon went top shelf in Turn 3 and completed the pass coming off
Turn 4.
Then, the Broken Arrow, Okla. native, poised to win his
first 410 Sprint car race in any division, drove off in the distance,
leaving Malone, Jon Stanbrough and a host of others to battle for Top 5
positions.
Bacon was more than a straightaway ahead by Lap 10
and lapping the tail end of the field by Lap 17, but at that point, his
lead was in jeopardy, even though he was still multiple car lengths
ahead.
Jones began his charge at about Lap 12. He challenged
Stanbrough inside and out before claiming the third position on Lap 13
narrowly at the flag stand. He caught Malone a couple laps later, and
tried time after time to complete a slide job on the Speedway, Ind.
native before accomplishing the feat in Turn 1. Malone fought back on
the inside on the backstretch, but couldn?t grasp the position back.
Slowly,
Bacon?s lead was slipping. He weaved in and out of traffic with less
ease as Jones before the eventual winner started setting Bacon up for a
last-ditch effort.
That last-ditch effort never came though.
Instead, Bacon, without the aid of anyone else, jumped the cushion in
Turn 2. While recollecting it on the high side, Jones seized the
opportunity and dived to the inside, just barely missing Bacon as he
pulled his car and momentum back together. Jones slipped by and charged
down the backstretch as Bacon chased after him.
The race wasn?t
sealed until the last turn of the final lap. Jones kept the throttle
down in the No. 4 Alexander Motorsports machine to beat Bacon?s No. 67
Keith Kunz Motorsports machine by about a car length as the checkered
flags flew.
Trailing were Stanbrough, Clayton and Malone.
Jones,
obviously ecstatic about the victory, celebrated with his traditional
climbing of the frontstretch fence, pushing away any pain he suffered
from the end-over-end tumble Thursday. He came down and credited his
team with the victory.
?This is the best team out there; I told
you that earlier this season,? shouted Jones to the remaining fans. ?We
knew we could come out here and do this. Now, we?re just looking
forward to coming out here and doing it again tomorrow.?
Even
more excited, he did it with several of his family members in
attendance, including his father, Bubby, who wrenches on Clayton?s car.
Bacon wasn?t overly upset with the mistake. It was the best finish of his young career, which is only six races old.
?I just allowed him enough room to get by,? he said.
For
the second straight night, championship contenders from both divisions
suffered trouble. This time, in CRA competition, Kruseman ? running
midpack ? brought out a caution when he fell off the pace on Lap 3,
suffering problems with the rear of the car. He entered the work area
but failed to return to competition, and was credited with 26th. That
gave defending series champion Damion Gardner the chance to close on
him with five races to go in series competition.
National point
leader Josh Wise, who also flipped Thursday, finished 11th, while
teammate and defending series champion Levi Jones had to take a
provisional and finished 19th.
Danny Sheridan and Seth Wilson were involved in the feature?s only flip, which came on Lap 2.
Mike
Spencer, Thursday?s winner, finished seventh in the feature after
taking the night?s fast qualifying time. Todd Hunsaker won the 10-lap D
Main and David Cardey the 10-lap C Main.
Ten-lap heats were won by Hagen, Wilson, Stanbrough, Charles Davis Jr. and Rip Williams. Jones won the 12-lap B Main.
The
40-lap ?Budweiser Oval Nationals? program is scheduled for Saturday. A
complete list of the 12 transfers will be available shortly.
USAC
NATIONAL & USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 3,
2006 ? Perris, California ? Perris Auto Speedway ? 11th ?Budweiser Oval
Nationals? Presented by Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mike Spencer, 44c, Engstrom-16.596; 2. Tony Jones,
4, Alexander-16.664; 3. Jon Stanbrough, 44s, Pace-16.698; 4. Daron
Clayton, 92d, Clayton-16.716; 5. Levi Jones, 21, Stewart-16.716; 6.
Josh Wise, 20, Stewart-16.747; 7. Johnny Rodriguez, 7,
Preistley-16.777; 8. Rodney Argo, 19, Argo-16.797; 9. Damion Gardner,
50, Chaffin-16.807; 10. Brady Bacon, 67k, Kunz-16.810; 11. Critter
Malone, 7c, Seven Inc.-16.827; 12. Matt Mitchell, 3m, Jory-16.837; 13.
Blake Miller, 94, Keller-16.853; 14. Dave Darland, 11,
Walker/Guiducci-16.856; 15. Darren Hagen, 67, Kunz-16.872; 16. Allan
Ballard, 97, Ballard-16.890; 17. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.897;
18. Casey Shuman, 12az, Massey-16.918; 19. Garrett Hansen, 70,
Hansen-16.931; 20. Mat Neely, 2b, 2B Racing-16.932; 21. Jimmy Crawford,
51, Crawford-16.949; 22. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-16.972; 23. Tyler
Brown, 34, Brown-16.976; 24. Jeremy Campbell, 10c, Campbell-16.980; 25.
Cary Faas, 37, Faas-16.989; 26. Jason York, 25n, York-16.995; 27.
Rickie Gaunt, 2a, Smiley-16.998; 28. Mike Leslie, 76,
Montgomery-17.028; 29. Dustin Morgan, 11d, Walker/Guiducci-17.043; 30.
Josh Ford, 73, Ford-17.068; 31. Bobby Cody, 92, Sertich-17.070; 32. Bud
Kaeding, 29, BK/Leffler-17.075; 33. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-17.102;
34. Greg Taylor, 47, Taylor-17.139; 35. Don Droud Jr., 44, Pace-17.152;
36. Seth Wilson, 17, Wilson-17.152; 37. Shane Cottle, 10E,
Edison-17.177; 38. Shain Matthews, 2x, Fontaine-17.195; 39. Charles
Davis Jr., 8A, Smiley-17.202; 40. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-17.230;
41. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.242; 42. Jesse Hockett, 2az,
Massey-17.257; 43. R.J. Johnson, 15AZ, Martin-17.283; 44. Jack DeArmond
Jr., 9, DeArmond-17.294; 45. Chad Boespflug, 90, Gatten-17.350; 46. Rip
Williams, 3, Jory-17.371; 47. Scotty Weir, 22w, Weir-17.397; 48. Brady
Short, 36, Short-17.406; 49. Brian Venard, 12, Blair-17.411; 50. Dickie
Gaines, 2h, Woodward-17.415; 51. Kevin Kierce, 11k, Kierce-17.430; 52.
Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-17.437; 53. Travis Rilat, X, Minks-17.453; 54.
Andy Forsberg, 93, Filipich-17.466; 55. Bret Mellenberndt, 97m,
Mellenberndt-17.477; 56. Brian Camarillo, 73c, Ford-17.529; 57. Todd
Hunsaker, 6x, Hunsaker-17.548; 58. A.J. Anderson, 66, Miller-17.702;
59. Ryan Devitt, 35, Devitt-17.715; 60. Michael Trimble, 15t,
Trimble-17.777; 61. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-17.810; 62. Nadine
Keller, 16, Keller-17.830; 63. Bill Rose, 11w, Wilkerson-17.838; 64.
Matt Forstie, 72, Forstie-17.907; 65. Tony Everhart, 55,
Everhart-17.921; 66. Jerome Warmerdam, 90t, Gatten-17.944; 67. Jesse
Mack, 71m, Mack-18.001; 68. Royal Adderson, 40, Adderson-18.163; 69.
Ross Millar, 67m, Millar-18.438; 70. Zack Hawthorne, 2,
Hawthorne-18.440. ?D? MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Hunsaker, 2.
Trimble, 3. Keller, 4. Devitt, 5. Anderson, 6. Stewart, 7. Forstie, 8.
Rose, 9. Warmerdam, 10. Mack, 11. Adderson, 12. Millar, 13. Hawthorne,
14. Everhart. 2:59.77 ?C? MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Cardey, 2.
Hockett, 3. Johnson, 4. DeArmond, 5. Camarillo, 6. Short, 7. Trimble,
8. Gaines, 9. Forsberg, 10. Rossi, 11. Boespflug, 12. Hunsaker, 13.
Mellenberndt, 14. Keller, 15. Venard, 16. Kierce, 17. Rilat, 18.
Devitt, 19. Weir. NT FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Wilson, 2. Spencer, 3. Malone, 4. York, 5. Crawford, 6. Ballard, 7. Wise, 8. Cody. 2:55.28 SECOND
HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Williams (#3m), 2. Kaeding, 3. Cottle, 4. Kruseman,
5. Gaunt, 6. Coons, 7. T.Jones, 8. Rodriguez. 2:56.27 THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Sheridan, 3. Brown, 4. Argo, 5. Miller, 6. Shuman, 7. Leslie, 8. Matthews. NT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Davis, 2. Taylor, 3. Darland, 4. Clayton, 5. Hansen, 6. Morgan, 7. Campbell, 8. Gardner. NT FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Ford, 3. Bacon, 4. Faas, 5. L.Jones, 6. Neely, 7. Droud, 8. Ballou. NT SEMI:
(12 laps) 1. T.Jones, 2. Wise, 3. Gardner, 4. Coons, 5. Rodriguez, 6.
Miller, 7. L.Jones, 8. Neely, 9. Gaunt, 10. Ballard, 11. Shuman, 12.
Hansen, 13. Crawford, 14. Morgan, 15. Cardey, 16. Leslie, 17. Cody, 18.
Hockett, 19. Johnson, 20. Campbell, 21. DeArmond, 22. Ballou. 3:33.83
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Tony Jones, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4.
Daron Clayton, 5. Critter Malone, 6. Damion Gardner, 7. Mike Spencer,
8. Darren Hagen, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Rodney Argo, 11. Josh Wise,
12. Bud Kaeding, 13. Cary Faas, 14. Rip Williams, 15. Josh Ford, 16.
Jason York, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Shane Cottle, 19. Levi Jones, 20.
Charles Davis Jr., 21. Blake Miller, 22. Greg Taylor, 23. Tyler Brown,
24. Brady Short, 25. Seth Wilson, 26. Cory Kruseman, 27. Danny
Sheridan. NT **Kierce flipped during the C-Main. Matthews flipped during the third heat. Sheridan and Wilson flipped on lap 2 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Malone, Laps 5-23 Bacon, Laps 24-25 T.Jones.
NEW
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Wise-1,550; 2-L.Jones-1,448;
3-Darland-1,410; 4-Neely-1,314; 5-Hagen-1,253; 6-Bryan Clauson-1,196;
7-Coons-1,105; 8-Stanbrough-967; 9-Short-837; 10-Jay Drake-800.
NEW
USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Kruseman-,1,838; 2-Gardner-1,785;
3-T.Jones-1,714; 4-Spencer-1,675; 5-Sheridan-1,539; 6-Williams-1,194;
7-Miller-1,179; 8-Ford-1,001; 9-Cardey-993; 10-Gaunt-870.
NEXT USAC NATIONAL & USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 4 ? Perris (CA) Auto Speedway ? 11th ?Budweiser Oval Nationals?
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