9/5/2011
Sprint Source
SPENCER SURVIVES TIRE WOES TO WIN SUNDAY LOUIE VERMEIL CLASSIC
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (September 5, 2011) – Temecula’s Mike Spencer won the $5,000 to win “Louie Vermeil Classic” at Calistoga Speedway on Sunday night, inheriting the lead when Saturday winner Robert Ballou was forced to the pits with a flat tire. Spencer’s win allowed him to extend his points lead in the USAC/CRA Sprint Cars, while in the co-sanction USAC Western Classic Racing Series, Sebastopol rookie Geoff Ensign finished fifth to take that series’ lead.
“Definitely this is the biggest win of the year,” Spencer said. “I always look forward to coming to Calistoga. It’s such a great event...it just makes it special. We were fortunate to come out on top.”
Ballou took the lead from outside pole at the start ahead of Austin Williams. Incoming USAC Western Classic points leader Tony Hunt was unable to start the race with engine problems on the Mike Phulps #56 Metal Works car, giving Ensign an opportunity to take over the points lead.
Problems for Santa Maria’s Danny Sheridan ended his night prematurely on lap one when he stalled in turn four. He was unable to continue in the Kittle Motorsports #18. On the restart Hollister rookie Ryan Bernal challenged Nic Faas for sixth.
The first red flag of the night flew on lap four when Concord’s Damion Gardner got upside down in turn one and briefly rode the wall. Gardner was uninjured but his night in the #71 Pace Lighting entry was over.
When racing resumed, Bernal faced a heavy challenge from newly crowned 2011 Placerville Speedway champion Andy Forsberg for sixth, loosing the position to the veteran.
The second red flag of the night saw Faas and Williams collide into turn three after a long battle for fourth, with Williams slamming the wall and turning over. Williams sprinted on foot over to Faas’s machine under the red flag to confront him within the cockpit before officials wrestled him away from Faas.
Under the prolonged open red flag, Bernal’s team fixed a broken tie rod while Saturday’s Midget winner Scott Pierovich made repairs to damage on the rear of his Ken Pierson #14 car. Bernal was unable to complete the repairs in time for push-off and had to restart at the back of the field.
The battling between the USAC Western Classic cars heated up on the restart as Pierovich passed Fair Oaks’ Shauna Hogg and went after Tim Barber and Marty Hawkins. After a torrid battle Pierovich finally moved past Hawkins on lap 20.
A potential top-five run for Forsberg in a 360 cubic inch powered car was thwarted on lap 23 when he stalled in turn two with a flat right rear. Under the caution period it was noted by several observers that the right rear on leader Ballou was also going down.
Ballou was ordered to take the #72 car to the pits and racing resumed with Spencer now assuming the lead. Spencer had no problem pulling away from Matt Mitchell and Faas who he had battled with heavily in Saturday’s feature.
With an eye on tire wear and on brake issues, Spencer was able to drive to a comfortable victory with Mitchell and Faas the top-three. Bernal made an amazing charge to drive back to fourth while Ensign was fifth.
“I was playing it conservative through about lap 20 just trying not to use my stuff up but stay with them,” Spencer said. “I thought I abused my brakes last night and had a soft pedal through the race so I didn’t want that to happen.”
Sunday’s heat races went to Faas, Williams, and Mitchell while it was Gardner with quick-time at 20.551. Hawkins was ninth quick as fastest USAC Western Classic entry.
Spencer will lead Faas by 46 points while Ensign leads Hunt by 10 points going into Thursday night’s USAC/CRA and USAC Western Classic Racing Series co-sanction of the “Tiner Family Classic” during the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway.
In USAC Western Midget action Stockton’s Johnathon Henry picked up his second big win in a month as he added the “Louie Vermeil Classic” to his credentials along with August’s win at “Wayne Sue Classic” in Chico. Henry took the lead from Redding’s Alex Shutte to take the #88 Graunstadt entry to a $3,000 win. Schutte won the two-day combined Arata Memorial championship for $1,000.
More information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance.
USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 4, 2011 – Calistoga, California – Calistoga Speedway – “Louie Vermeil Classic”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-20.551; 2. Ryan Bernal, 11D, Olmstead-20.723; 3. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-20.794; 4. Nic Faas, 4, Alexander-21.082; 5. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-21.110; 6. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-21.148; 7. Andy Forsberg, 92N, Forsberg-21.270; 8. Robert Ballou, 72, Ford-21.300; 9. Marty Hawkins, 3m, Hawkins-21.375; 10. Colby Copeland, 24, Copeland-21.510; 11. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-21.712; 12. Greg Bragg, 92, Sertich-21.775; 13. Scott Pierovich, 14, Pierson-21.881; 14. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-21.890; 15. Jason York, 25N, York-22.149; 16. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-22.273; 17. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-22.364; 18. Tony Hunt, 56, Phulps-22.369; 19. Tim Sherman, 1x, Sherman-22.765; 20. Tim Barber, 3T, Finkenbinder-22.992; 21. Scott Hall, 56x, Hall-23.180; 22. Todd Miller Jr., 96, Miller-23.406; 23. Pete Lawrence 87F, Lawrence-24.292; 24. Jerry Cisco, 4B, Basden-24.542.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Faas, 2. D.Gardner, 3. Pierovich, 4. Forsberg, 5. Copeland, 6. T.Sherman, 7. Hogg. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. A.Williams, 2. Bernal, 3. Ballou, 4. Ensign, 5. Barber, 6. Cisco, 7. Sheridan. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Mitchell, 2. Spencer, 3. Bragg, 4. York, 5. Hawkins, 6. Miller, 7. Hunt. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Mike Spencer, 2. Matt Mitchell, 3. Nic Faas, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Geoff Ensign, 6. Jason York, 7. Colby Copeland, 8. Greg Bragg, 9. Scott Pierovich, 10. Marty Hawkins, 11. Tim Barber, 12. Shauna Hogg, 13. Cody Williams, 14. Tim Sherman, 15. Jerry Cisco, 16. Andy Forsberg, 17. Robert Ballou, 18. Todd Miller Jr., 19. Austin Williams, 20. Damion Gardner, 21. Danny Sheridan, 22. Tony Hunt. NT
**Hall flipped during qualifying. A.Williams and D.Gardner flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Ballou, Laps 24-30 Spencer.
NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Spencer-754; 2-Faas-708; 3-Mitchell-707; 4-A,Williams-551; 5-Bragg-451; 6-C,.Williams-441; 7-Sheridan-412; 8-Rip Williams-387; 9-David Cardey-380; 10-Ronnie Gardner-370.
NEW USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Ensign-675; 2-Hunt-665; 3-Hogg-579; 4-Pierovich-576; 5-Barber-524; 6-Audra Sasselli-314; 7-Sherman-297; 8-Jerry Kobza-286; 9-Cody Gerhardt-281; 10-Tim Skoglund-263.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR RACE: September 8 – Chico, CA – Silver Dollar Speedway
Article Credit: Steven Blakesley / Blakesley Sports Media
Submitted By: Steven Blakesley
