This message was edited on
August 11, 2012 at
01:47:28 PM by stevenblakesley
MIKE SPENCER CONTINUES STRONG USAC/CRA SEASON WITH OCEAN WIN
WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (August 11, 2012) - Temecula's
Mike Spencer led the final 16 laps en route to a dominating victory at Ocean
Speedway Watsonville on Friday night in the fourth and final USAC Sprint Car
race at the venue in 2012. Spencer's win
extends his points lead in the USAC/CRA as he
drives for a record five-consecutive series championships.
Spencer inherited the lead from
Hollister's Ryan Bernal, a two-time Ocean Speedway champion, after Bernal was
sent to the rear for stopping during a lap 14 yellow flag. The win is Spencer's seventh in the last 11 USAC/CRA races.
"I kinda
screwed up in qualifying," Spencer said. "But we had a good race car all night. It was tough to pass but the track widened
out. I love coming up here to Northern California and I'm happy to get the win
tonight. It would have been a good race
between me and Ryan but we'll take it how we can get it."
Santa Rosa's Terry Schank, Jr. led lap one
from the outside pole before Buena Park's Brody Roa took over the top spot
on lap two. The caution came out on lap
two when Ocean Sprints points leader Shane Golobic of Fremont rode over Spencer in turn three and
was out with a broken shock tower.
Bernal
started fourth but moved past Roa on the restart to take the lead with Schank
moving up to second as well.
The only
red flag of the race came on lap three when Watsonville's Justin Sanders slowed with a flat
tire. A resulting series of incidents in
turn one included USAC Western points leader Shauna Hogg suffering heavy rear
end damage, Ventura's Cory Kruseman sustaining right front damage, Scott
Pierovich taking wild evasive action on the off ramp and hitting the tires, and
most notably new track recorder holder "Cadillac" Cody Williams
flipping. Williams, Kruseman, and Hogg
were all done for the evening but Pierovich and Sanders were able to rejoin the
field.
Racing
settled down on the next restart and went green through lap 14 with Bernal
holding down the lead and sixth starting Spencer jumping up to second by lap
six. Benicia's Billy Aton, from 15th, was up to
sixth by lap ten while working the cushion.
San Jose's Tommy Laliberte spun out of
seventh place on lap 14 to bring out a caution and the race leader Bernal
stopped on the front straightaway. Bernal reportedly saw a red light but no other cars stopped and USAC
officials had called a yellow over the radio to both the drivers and to the
starter. Bernal had to be restarted and
was sent to the rear for stopping.
Bernal's
misfortune handed the lead to Spencer who took the bull by the horns to drive
away to a ten car length advantage over the final 16 laps. Despite a 16 lap green flag run, Spencer
encountered very little lapped traffic against the competitive field.
Spencer
took the victory by 1.3 seconds over Schank, Roa, Aton, and new track recorder
holder Austin Williams rounded out the top-five. Schank and Aton made it two 360s in the
top-four finishers and Schank is making the move up from carbureted Spec
Sprints after a storied career in those cars.
"It
really changes the car from the carburetor to the injected motor," Schank
said. "It just makes it really
tight. And with the moisture tonight we
had to fight to keep it loose."
Heat race
wins went to Kruseman, Roa, and Lincoln's Tony Hunt. Hunt went on to be the highest USAC Western
finisher with a ninth place run in the feature. The 12 lap semi was won by Cody Williams, who also set a new USAC/CRA track record with a 12.701 second
lap around the speedway.
The USAC/CRA and Western Sprints move on to
Santa Maria Speedway on Saturday night.Up next for Ocean Speedway Watsonville is the fourth Johnny Key Classic
Qualifier for the Ocean Sprints on Friday August 17.
For more
information on the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo log onto http://www.oceansprints.com
and for more on the Ocean Speedway visit http://www.oceanspeedway.com
www.stevenblakesley.com
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