Gardner, Brady, & Lewis Muffle the Competition on Flowmaster USAC-CRA Night
By Devin Mayo and Rick Faeth
A Monday show on Labor Day at Petaluma Speedway brought fans from all around to see the one visit of the season for the USAC CRA 410 Sprint Cars for Round #3 of California Sprint Week along with the Lumberjack Restaurant Super Stocks and Santa Rosa Auto Body 600’s. A full field of USAC CRA Sprint Cars saw 30 cars sign into the pits. Chase Johnson once again set quick, this time with no wings, with a time of 13.885. The four heat race format saw Austin Liggett, Chad Boespflug, Stevie Sussex, and Brody Roa pick up the 10-lap victories. Damion Gardner would win the 12-lap semi. Boespflug and Logan Williams led the field to green for 30 laps of racing on the hooked up Adobe oval. Boespflug would take the lead and hold off a charging Bernal and Williams. An early red flag and couple yellows would bunch up the field and Geoff Ensign would put a slide job on Boespflug to displace him form the top spot. Eight laps later it was Gardner, who would mimic the same move as he steadily moved up from his 8th starting position. The “Demon” would notch his second USAC-CRA win f the season as local favorite Ensign finished 2nd, Boespflug was 3rd.
The Lumberjack Restaurant Super Stocks made their return to Petaluma Speedway after a month off and put on an exhilarating show. Mitch Machado and Manny Avila won their heats respectively. Garrett Brady would lead the field to green with Matt While and Machado right behind him. A couple of yellow flags and restarts wouldn’t phase Brady as While was knocking on the door for the lead. While would make a late race change for the lead but it wouldn’t be enough to get around Brady who went on to win the main event with While in 2nd and Machado in 3rd.
The Santa Rosa Auto Body 600’s made the trip back to Petaluma Speedway for the 2nd straight week in a row. Anthony Valerio and George Nielson picked up heat race victories. Cody Gray would lead the field to green but it wouldn’t take long for Kelvin Lewis to get to the lead, which he took over on lap 2. After an early restart, the battle would heat up for the lead between Lewis, Nielson, and Valerio. Valerio would take the lead on lap 11 but would end up spinning with a lap car 2 laps later. Lewis would end up taking the lead back but Jared Morrison and Shayna Silvia were right behind him. Lewis would be able to hold them off to pick up the victory Morrison was 2nd and Sylvia in 3rd.
Petaluma Speedway returns to its normal schedule Saturday with the Pit Stop USA Winged 360’s, Spec Sprints, Dwarf (Twin 25’s), and Mini Stocks. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.petaluma-speedway.com
