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KRUSEMAN WINS BAGLEY CLASSIC
by
Robert Mayson |
Ventura, California…(August 30, 2003) Cory Kruseman jumped into an unfamiliar car at a familiar track Saturday at Ventura Raceway and came away with his third NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA sprint car win of the month. The win also marked Kruseman's 60th career SCRA win tying him with Rip Williams for the most career SCRA main event triumphs. Of greater significance to Kruseman was that this was his second Jeff Bagley Classic win, which was especially important to him since Kruseman was extremely close to Jeff's parents, Paul and Helen, who were tragically struck by a sprint car during a race at the Perris Auto Speedway in April.
"I just can't say what it means to me to win this race. It's Ventura. It's my hometown. It's a car that I've never seen before, and there were two people that helped me drive this car tonight," a teary-eyed Kruseman said referring to his late friends Paul and Helen Bagley. "We were meant to win. We lost the brakes on about the fifth lap, so I had to go where no one else was. Then, the motor started missing during the last three laps, but the car just kept going around there. I think I could have aimed at the fence tonight and the car wouldn't have hit it."
Kruseman started the 40-lap race on the outside of the front row next to JE Pistons Dash winner Damion Gardner. At the drop of the green flag, Gardner beat the Mark Alexander / Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger driven by Kruseman into the first turn. SCRA point leader Richard Griffin ran third at the completion of the opening lap with Rip Williams and Troy Cline close behind. Kruseman turned up the pressure six laps into the race, and then, secured the lead two laps later after a slight tire rub with Gardner along the front chute. Griffin put his Ron Chaffin / Arizona Racemart #50 Jon Boy ahead of Gardner on the tenth lap, which was one lap before Josh Wise brought out the red flag after a nasty-looking front straightaway tumble. This year's Belleville Midget Nationals Champion was somewhat dazed after he flipped, but otherwise was okay. Gardner's crew changed a tire during the stoppage sending "The Demon" to the back of the field for the restart. Gardner would eventually pilot the Harlan Willis / TCR Performance #45 to a spectacular fifth-place finish.
Griffin used the bottom line to take the lead away from Kruseman on the restart, but Kruseman battled back and regained the lead on the 16th lap with a beautiful outside move exiting turn four. Kruseman quickly pulled away forcing Griffin to join him on the cushion. Griffin's ride on the cushion wasn't as smooth as him had hoped, particularly on lap 30, when he clipped the pit entrance wall in turn three before climbing the wall and billboards. Even though he avoided stopping, Griffins encounter with the barriers at the end of the wall flung a couple large safety tires onto the track. One of the tires caused fifth-place Tony Jones to spin. Even though he didn't hit either of the tires, Cline was less fortunate than Jones and flipped after sliding into the wall. Neither driver was hurt, in fact, Jones, who originally started 16th, returned to finish tenth.
Sander Engineering Fast Time Award winner Rip Williams had taken the runner-up spot away from Griffin just prior to the red flag and forced Kruseman to withstood a couple of challenges after the restart. As Kruseman struggled to maintain his emotions in the final laps, Griffin relieved Williams' Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners #3 Stinger of the second position on a restart with six laps remaining. "I thought about a lot of things during those last five laps," Kruseman later confessed. "I saw Rip on the bottom, and I know how much this would have meant to him. So, I just put my elbows up and drove it as hard as I could and tried to drive across that checkered flag first."
Twenty-one cars started the feature race in honor of Jeff Bagley, whose car carried the number 21 when he lost his life in a sprint car accident at Ascot Park in 1989.
FEATURE: (40 laps – With Starting Positions)
1. Cory Kruseman (2nd), 2. Richard Griffin (3rd), 3. Rip Williams (5th), 4. Steve Ostling (6th), 5. Damion Gardner (1st), 6. Greg Taylor (18th), 7. Rickie Gaunt (19th), 8. Alan Ballard (14th), 9. Seth Wilson (15th), 10. Tony Jones (16th), 11. Troy Rutherford (9th), 12. J Hicks (21st), 13. Jimmy Crawford (10th), 14. Danny Sheridan (12th), 15. Bobby Graham (8th), 16. Troy Cline (7th), 17. Dan Hillberg (11th), 18. Josh Ford (20th), 19. Mike Spencer (4th), 20. Josh Wise (13th), 21. Verne Sweeney (17th)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS:
Laps 1-8 Damion Gardner, Laps 9-10 Cory Kruseman,
Laps 11-15 Richard Griffin, Laps 16-40 Cory Kruseman.
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