This message was edited on
May 28, 2007 at
01:10:55 PM by Gary Thomas
Kruseman wins at Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - May 28, 2007...Ventura’s Cory Kruseman took advantage of a restart miscue by current USAC/CRA point leader Tony Jones of Norco and cruised on to pick up the win at Thunderbowl Raceway’s first ever Salute to Indy on Sunday night. It was Kruseman’s second USAC/CRA victory of the year and fifth of his sprint car career at Thunderbowl Raceway. The former Chili Bowl & Oval Nationals champ last won at the 1/3 mile during the inaugural SCRA 360 event which was held during the same night as the World of Outlaw Sprint Series in February of 2005.
Kruseman, the defending USAC/CRA champ started from the pole in his Agromin Soil No. 21k machine and jumped into the lead in the first set of corners. It was short lived, however, as Jones took the lead from Kruseman with a low side pass off turn four that same lap. Jones opened up a commanding lead early on aboard the Alexander Trucking No. 4 machine and made a couple hair-raising moves in traffic splitting cars to give himself extra breathing room over the rest of the field. The whole race changed on lap 12 though as Bakersfield’s Alan Ballard broke in turn four and flipped after hitting the wall.
When the green flag came out again Jones led the field but jumped the cushion in turns one and two which resulted in him whacking the wall and losing multiple positions. Jones’ car had suffered some suspension damage near the front of the car but he continued on and remarkably was able to finish the race. With Jones out of the picture it gave Kruseman the lead and he would go on to easily pick up the victory. Torrance’s Rickie Gaunt drove from seventh starting finish runner-up in the Gardner Racing No. 94. Santa Maria’s Danny Sherdian certainly lived up to his nickname of "Showtime" as he was a flip victim in his heat race that forced him to run the B-main which he won. Sheridan then lined up ninth in the feature and drove the Kittle Motorsports No. 18 to a third place finish in the feature. Finishing fourth was the Decore Plating No. 19 of Long Beach’s Rodney Argo and rounding the top five was fast qualifier Blake Miller in the Gardner Racing No. 93. After hitting the wall on lap 12 Jones played it safe the last half of the race and brought home a sixth place finish. The rest of the top 10 was completed by Josh Ford, Charles Davis Jr, Jesse Mack and Peter Murphy.
The 12 lap B-main was picked off by Sheridan who had made repairs to from the heat race flip to lead every lap of the contest. Three exciting 10 lap heats were held and were won by Tony Jones, Davey Pombo and Cory Kruseman. Fast time was set by Blake Miller who topped the 25 car field in qualifying with a lap of 15.679.
The best excitement of the night occurred in the Western States Modifieds main event, however, as the mods could use every inch of the Thunderbowl Raceway surface. Tim Balding and Paul Stone made up the front row for the 25 lap feature. Balding won the Western States Modified main event at Thunderbowl Raceway on April 28 and jumped into the lead when the green flag came out. The action was intense as three wide racing was seen throughout the feature. Balding led the field through the first half of the race but Stone hounded him and was right on his back bumper for much of the contest.
As they raced through traffic with about seven laps to go Stone made a great high side pass to take the lead from Balding. Most of the competitors were running right up next to the wall banging off the cushion and it bit Larry Hood on the final lap as he got into the wall to force a one lap dash to finish. Hood had transferred through the B-main, started in the back of the feature and charged all the way up to third, running the high side only to have the incident on the final lap put him out of the race.
The final one lap restart saw Stone leading and when the green came out Balding gave him a slide job in turns one and two to take the lead. Stone wasn’t about to let it slip away and returned the favor in turn three with a slide job of his own to get under Balding and pick up the ultra exciting win. Balding held on for second and Richard Papenhausen rounded out the podium.
Steve Faria and the Thunderbowl Raceway crew put together a great track surface for the second week in a row and even with 90 plus degree weather the 1/3 mile stayed racy all night. A good crowd and great weather made for a very fun night at the track on a Memorial Day weekend.
Next up for the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will be an event on June 30 and feature’s the 410 winged sprint cars of the Golden State Challenge Series and the Western States Modifieds. For more visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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