|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BALLOU CLAIMS SATURDAY NIGHT LOUIE
VERMEIL CLASSIC IN A THRILLER
SACRAMENTO,
CALIFORNIA (September 4, 2011) – The Madman Robert Ballou finally picked up a Calistoga
Speedway win as he snared a thrilling Saturday night portion of the “Louie
Vermeil Classic” for USAC/CRA and Western Classic Sprint Cars on the historic
half-mile. Ballou led the final 15 laps
for the $3,000 victory.
“We’ve only
been here in a winged car maybe two or three times, and last year for Ted
Finkenbinder,” Ballou said. “Fought it
all night and it was a little evil to drive but I was good on the bottom where
nobody else was. Luck was on our side
tonight.”
Danny
Sheridan of Santa Maria led from outside pole ahead of
Ballou in the early laps, while the USAC Western Classic drivers Scott
Pierovich and Sebastopol’s Geoff Ensign battled for their
respective lead for points in eighth.
Ensign
began to charge forward in his WCRS legal car with an intake restrictor,
passing Roseville teen Colby Copeland on lap five. Nic Faas and Matt Mitchell had a
back-and-forth battle for fifth before Mitchell finally took the spot on lap
seven.
Lapped
traffic was in the mix early by lap eight in the caution free affair for the 22
car starting grid. Ballou jumped
underneath Sheridan off of turn two on lap 15 to seize
the lead in the thick of the traffic.
USAC/CRA
points leader Mike Spencer closed down on the top two and a thrilling duel
ensured. Spencer and Sheridan went
three-wide splitting lapped cars to the near sellout crowd’s approval. Spencer wrestled his way to second while
Ballou built up a small lead.
Spencer
eventually faded being passed by not only Sheridan but a very hard-charging
Mitchell who reeled in the top-three.
Mitchell perhaps had the fastest car on the track in the closing stages.
Ensign
engaged in a nice battle with Hollister rookie sensation Ryan Bernal to take
the seventh position as highest USAC WCRS car in the field.
Ballou nursed
brake issues throughout the race but drove cleanly to defend from a few
challenges from Sheridan to take the victory. Sheridan came home second, Mitchell third,
with Spencer and Damion Gardner rounding out the top-five. Faas was sixth ahead of Ensign, Bernal,
Copeland, and Greg Bragg.
Heat race
wins went to Ballou, Spencer, and Bragg while Bernal won the semi. Gardner timed in on top with a 20.011
second lap ahead of the 25 car field on hand.
USAC WCRS
points leader Tony Hunt had a pushrod come loose in hot laps that prevented him
from qualifying but he recovered to finish 16th in the feature. The finish was good enough for fourth among
WCRS cars but his lead over Ensign in the standings fell to just 18 points
going into Sunday’s $5,000 to win feature.
Scott
Pierovich finished second among WCRS entries with an 11th place
effort in his 360 powered entry for Ken Pierson and Dave Vertullo. Pierovich won the $2,000 to win USAC Western
Midgets feature leading all 25 laps in his family-owned #35 car.
Fan gates
will swing open at 4 p.m. tonight for the conclusion of the
2011 Louie Vermeil Classic with racing at 7 p.m.
More
information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook
at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com
The USAC
Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West,
and Kaeding Performance.
USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR
SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 3, 2011 – Calistoga, California – Calistoga
Speedway – “Louie Vermeil Classic”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion
Gardner, 71, DG-20.011; 2. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-20.298; 3. Nic Faas, 4,
Alexander-20.375; 4. Jason York, 25N, York-20.448; 5. Mike Spencer, 50,
Chaffin-20.450; 6. Ryan Bernal, 11D, Olmstead-20.530; 7. Colby Copeland, 24,
Copeland-20.612; 8. Scott Pierovich, 14, Pierson-20.615; 9. Danny Sheridan, 18,
Kittle-20.643; 10. Robert Ballou, 72, Ford-20.660; 11. Cody Williams, 44,
Jory-20.766; 12. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-20.809; 13. Austin Williams, 2,
Jory-20.878; 14. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-20.941; 15. Greg Bragg, 92,
Sertich-21.084; 16. Jeff Griffin, 50x, Griffin-21.234; 17. Scott Hall, 56x,
Hall-21.465; 18. Tim Sherman, 1x, Sherman-21.694; 19. Marty Hawkins, 3m,
Hawkins-21.708; 20. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-22.156; 21. Tim Barber, 3T,
Finkenbinder-22.330; 22. Jim Richardson, 8, Richardson-22.771; 23. Jerry Cisco,
4B, Basden-23.079; 24. Todd Miller Jr., 96, Miller-NT; 25. Tony Hunt, 56,
Phulps-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
Ballou, D.Gardner, 2. A.Williams, 4. Copeland, 5. Richardson, 6. Hunt, 7. York, 8. Griffin. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
Spencer, 2. Ensign, 3. Pierovich, 4. Mitchell, 5. C.Williams, 6. Hall, 7. Hogg,
8. Cisco. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
Bragg, 2. Sheridan, 3. Faas, 4. R.Williams, 5. Bernal, 6. Barber, 7.
T,Sherman, 8. Miller. NT
SEMI: (10 laps) 1. Bernal,
2. C.Williams, 3. York, 4. Hall, 5. Barber, 6. T.Sherman, 7. Hogg, 8. Miller, 9. Cisco, 10.
Hunt, 11. Richardson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1.
Robert Ballou, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Matt Mitchell, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Damion
Gardner, 6. Nic Faas, 7. Geoff Ensign, 8. Ryan Bernal, 9. Colby Copeland, 10.
Greg Bragg, 11. Scott Pierovich, 12. Jason York, 13. Tim Barber, 14. Austin
Williams, 15. Scott Hall, 16. Tony Hunt, 17. Tim Sherman, 18. Shauna Hogg, 19.
Jerry Cisco, 20. Cody Williams (#3), 21. Todd Miller Jr., 22. Jim Richardson,
23. Rip Williams (#44). NT
------------------------------
**Griffin flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Sheridan, Laps 16-30 Ballou.
NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Spencer-683; 2-Faas-643;
3-Mitchell-641; 4-A.Williams-528; 5-Bragg-445; 6-C.Williams-414;
7-Sheridan-397; 8-R.Williams-387; 9-David Cardey-380; 10-Ronnie Gardner-370.
NEW USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Hunt-621; 2-Ensign-603;
3-Hogg-522; 4-Pierovich-506; 5-Barber-466; 6-Audra Sasselli-314; 7-Jerry
Kobza-286; 8-Cody Gerhardt-281; 9-Tim Skoglund-263; 10-T.Sherman-244.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR RACE: September 4 –
Calistoga (CA) Speedway - “Louie Vermeil Classic”
www.stevenblakesley.com
|
