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KRUSEMAN LEADS CRA TO VEGAS; COTTLE TAKES “COPPER ON DIRT” AT PHOENIX

FEBRUARY 18, 2008 --- Cory Kruseman of Ventura, Calif. is atop the latest USAC/CRA Sprint Car standings after finishing 10th in Saturday night’s 40-lap race at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz. He will lead the series to back-to-back races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track in Nevada Feb. 28-29.

Shane Cottle of Kokomo, Ind. wheeled his Contos Racing Chalk/Chevy to victory in the “Copper on Dirt” presented by Sands Chevrolet at Phoenix, leading 33 of the 40 laps, including the final 21. He passed Jeremy Sherman on lap 20, then withstood repeated challenges from Sherman in the closing laps to post the win, his first in USAC/CRA competition. Sherman took second ahead of USAC National Sprint Car Champ Levi Jones, Jesse Hockett and Cole Whitt.

Bret Mellenberndt paced 45 qualifiers, while Chris Windom, Cottle, Jones, Jerry Coons Jr. and Gary Taylor won heats. Hockett and Mike Spencer took the semis.

Dave Darland, one of eight drivers who flipped during the event, escaped injury in a wild flip on the frontstretch during a heat race.

Last year’s USAC/CRA Sprint winners at Las Vegas included defending series champion Tony Jones, Josh Wise and Darren Hagen. Jones and Wise did not participate at Phoenix, while Hagen finished 13th.

Spencer, who failed to finish at Phoenix, trails Kruseman by 19 points entering the pair of races at Las Vegas.

Rains forced postponement of Friday’s scheduled Phoenix preliminaries, which were held Saturday afternoon.

USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1 Cory Kruseman 177
2 Mike Spencer 158
3 Levi Jones 145
4 Cole Whitt 143
5 Garrett Hansen 133
6 Blake Miller 131
7 R.J. Johnson 130
8 Danny Sheridan 123
9 Jesse Hockett 117
10 David Cardey 117

USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: February 16, 2007 – Phoenix, Arizona – Manzanita Speedway – Sands Chevrolet Presents “The Copper on Dirt”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-18.669; 2. Seth Wilson, 17, Wilson-19.143; 3. Levi Jones, 11, Walker/Guiducci-19.228; 4. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-19.268; 5. Rick Ziehl, 33, Tutco-19.349; 6. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-18.374; 7. Jeremy Sherman, 77, Bryan-19.447; 8. Charles Davis Jr., 50az, Massey-19.472; 9. Brad Sweet, 9, Kahne-19.489; 10. Thomas Ogle, 5az, DAR-19.489; 11. Jesse Hockett, 75, VKCC-19.491; 12. Shane Cottle, 4, Contos-19.521; 13. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-19.543; 14. Cole Whitt, 67k, Kunz-19.571; 15. Gary Taylor, 5, Tel-Star-19.606; 16. Dustin Morgan, 11D, Walker/Guiducci-19.689; 17. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Kruseman-19.689; 18. Kyle Wissmiller, 0, Price-19.689; 19. Garrett Hansen, 7, Priestley-19.727; 20. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Smiley-19.746; 21. Chris Urish, 77u, Urish-19.751; 22. Dave Darland, 2AZ, Massey-19.817; 23. R.J. Johnson, 15, Martin-19.846; 24. Nathan High, 12, Allen-19.857; 25. David Cardey, 83, Crossno-19.865; 26. Chris Windom, 17x, Windom-19.963; 27. Darren Hagen, 67, Kunz-19.970; 28. Tyler Brown, 96, Gardner-19.985; 29. Jerry Coons Jr., 32, Foster-19.987; 30. Nic Faas, 117, Faas-20.007; 31. Davey Pombo, 38, Crossno-20.053; 32. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-20.099; 33. Blake Miller, 93, Gardner-20.190; 34. Mike Leslie, 76, Leslie-20.240; 35. Jonas Reynolds, 48, Reynolds-20.263; 36. Hunter Scheurenberg, 1H, Triple Crown-20.328; 37. Casey Shuman, 61, Carsten-20.343; 38. Brady Bacon, 42, Cheney-20.370; 39. Alex Schutte, 71k, Kruseman-20.448; 40. Dakoda Armstrong, 7a, C & A-20.596; 41. Andrew Reinbold, 19x, Reinbold-20.618; 42. Kenny Perkins, 34, Perkins-20.757, 43. Royal Adderson, 40, Adderson-21.340; 44. Paul Whitehead, 21, Whitehead-23.124; 45. Jon Stanbrough, 5x, Massey-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Morgan, 3. Mellenberndt, 4. Scheurenberg, 5. Pombo, 6. Sheridan, 7. Reinbold, 8. Urish, 9. Hockett. 3:05.01

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Sherman, 3. Hagen, 4. Kruseman, 5. Boat, 6. Wilson, 7. Perkins, 8. Darland. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. L.Jones, 2. Davis, 3. Johnson, 4. Ford, 5. Miller, 6. Brown, 7. Wissmiller, 8. Bacon, 9. Adderson. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Sweet, 3. Whitt, 4. Hansen, 5. Spencer, 6. Leslie, 7. High, 8. Schutte. 3:43.76

FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Taylor, 2. Gaunt, 3. Ziehl, 4. Cardey, 5. Ogle, 6. Armstrong, 7. Reynolds, 8. Faas. 3:37.36

FIRST “B” MAIN (Semi): (12 laps) 1. Hockett, 2. Sheridan, 3. Boat, 4. Schutte, 5. Wissmiller, 6. Wilson, 7. High, 8. Reinbold, 9. Adderson, 10. Faas, 11. Leslie. NT

SECOND “B” MAIN (Semi): (12 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Bacon, 3. Ogle, 4. Brown, 5. Miller, 6. Urish, 7. Armstrong, 8. Reynolds, 9. Perkins, 10. Pombo. 4:25.26

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Jeremy Sherman, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Jesse Hockett,5. Cole Whitt, 6. Chad Boat, 7. Brad Sweet, 8. Bret Mellenberndt, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Cory Kruseman, 11. Danny Sheridan, 12. Ricky Johnson, 13. Darren Hagen, 14. Blake Miller, 15. Garrett Hansen, 16. Chris Windom, 17. David Cardey, 18. Alex Schutte, 19. Thomas Ogle, 20. Hunter Scheurenberg, 21. Rick Ziehl, 22. Tyler Brown, 23. Dustin Morgan, 24. Jerry Coons Jr., 25. Josh Ford, 26. Charles Davis Jr., 27. Gary Taylor, 28. Mike Spencer, 29. Rickie Gaunt. NT

**Hockett flipped during the first heat. Urish flipped during the first heat. Darland flipped during the the second heat. Perkins and Pombo flipped during the second B Main. Taylor flipped on lap 11 of the feature. Ford flipped on lap 13 of the feature. Morgan flipped on lap 19 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Cottle, Laps 8-10 Sherman, Laps 11-15 Cottle, Laps 16-19 Sherman, Laps 20-40 Cottle.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Cottle-68; 2-Jones-66; 3-Sherman-64; 4-Hockett-55; 5-Whitt-54; 6-Mellenberndt-51; 7-Sweet-49; 8-Boat-47; 9-Bacon-39; 10-Kruseman-38.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: February 28 – Las Vegas (NV) Motor Speedway Dirt Track