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| The Demon Dominates by Ronnie Gardner |
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October 9, 2004...
Arriving at the track early around 2:30 I was amazed to see so
many racecars already there. At 2:30 there was almost no pits
spots left as everybody was pack in there like sardines. This
year Perris has done things different by putting to
"other" racing classes in the infield as well as the
sprint cars.
36 sprint cars packed the pits with one of the biggest fields of
the year showing up for "The Bagley Classic". Newly
crown 2004 SCRA and NWWC champion Rickie Gaunt and his Teammate
Charlie Davis were on had after competing at the last SCRA race
of the year a week before at the Hollywood Hills Raceway were
Rickie wrapped up the titles.
Action started with qualifications with 36 cars taking time on
the surprisingly slow PAS surface. "The Demon" Damion
Gardner circled the track posting the quickest time with a
17.005 (last car out). "Super" Rickie Gaunt was second
quick time with 17.185.Thrid was Kevin Urton with 17.212.
Heat races were as good as always as almost all of them came
down to the last lap for the win and the transfer. Heat won was
the packed heat as it saw the top three in USAC/CRA points all
in the same heat. The Demon Took the long way around as the
ripper took to the bottom with the point leader Rip coming out
on top and Damion finishing second with Kirby third. Danny
Ebberts looked sharp as he took his Brand new # 77 to the main
event with a last lap pass on Mike Spencer for the transfer.
Peter Murphy from down under did a Tommy tip over after making
contact with J. Hicks on the back straight away. They Had it
fixed for the B but came up one spot short from making the main
event.
Heat two saw another normal face take the win Cory Kruseman.
Bragg driving the Pratt # 12 pulled up along side The Kruser two
or three times before Cork beat Craig to the line for the win.
With Gaunt and Ford rounding out the top four.
Heat three saw a rookie with 410 sprints take the win,
"Dynamite" David Cardey Took the win with a wire to
wire victory over Former USAC champion Tony Elliott driving a
one race deal for Nadine Keller. Newly painted Alan Ballard
finished third and Jason York from Northern Ca. Beat out Tony
Jones on the last lap to transfer to the main event.
Forth heat was entertaining with a three car battle for the
transfer. "Back It In" Bobby Cody ran away with the
win of heat four. Back for the transfer "The Real
Deal" Rick Ziehl passed Gary Howard to put his Lancaster #
14 in the main event.
B-Main went to Tony Jones as he passed Charlie Davis and Kevin Urton for the win. Casey Shuman fresh off a summer in the mid-west posting one feature win and multiple top fives finished Fifth putting Wilkerson’s ride into the A main. Troy Rutherford rounded out the top six, seems to be struggling trying to get the #7 car to go the last few weeks.
A Main pull setter Bragg lead early. Lap two caution for Tony
Jones bunched the field up again. Josh Ford took the lead on the
restart and lead till the lap four caution for Spencer and Hagen
got together and spun in turn one. By this time Damion Gardner
was already up to third after starting 8th. Restart Gardner
quickly used the high side and drove around Bragg and Under Ford
to take the lead on lap six. Rip had made his way from six to
take second from Ford before the lap sixteen caution when Bobby
Cody biked it in turn three and was collected by Rutherford and Cardey. Gardner lead with Rip second Ford third and Kirby 4th for
the lap 16 restart. On the restart The top 5 held the positions
for a couple of laps as The Rocket had moved from his 22nd
starting spot to run tenth by the lap 25 caution for third
running Josh Ford in turn three. This put Kirby into third and
in a position to challenge Rip and Damion for the win. But him
or Rip had nothing for the Demon as he scored the win of the
Bagley classic. Rip grabbed second, Kirby third, Davis forth and
Bragg fifth. This was Damion’s 8th win of the year and 21st of
his career.
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