---

CRA Sprints Eyes September 24 Race at Perris; Gardner Takes Cali Sprint Week Title With a Flair!

Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif., riding the crest of his recent All Coast Construction “California Sprint Week” championship, leads the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Cars back to Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway for the September 24 “Glenn Howard Classic.” He’s the defending winner of the race and now owns a 106-point lead over Richard Vander Weerd in the latest series standings.

Gardner, eked out the “California Sprint Week” championship last week on a night that didn’t start well for him. On the fourth lap of the main event in Saturday’s race at Keller Auto Speedway at Kings Fairgrounds in Hanford, Gardner flipped. He restarted and, after hasty repairs, was able to work him way back to 12th by race’s end.

Meanwhile, Thomas Meseraull, who appeared headed for the mini-series title, was involved in a spin on lap 23 while running fourth and was relegated to 14th at the finish, leaving him 23 points behind Gardner in the final standings. Defending “California Sprint Week” champ Ryan Bernal ended up third in the final 2016 points.

Gardner passed Brady Bacon with seven laps remaining in Thursday night’s “Gold Cup Race of Champions” feature at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico and put his Mark Alexander Scott Sales Company/Weld Racing Spike/J & D in victory lane. Bacon took second ahead of Meseraull, Bernal and Danny Faria, Jr.

Meseraull, of San Jose, Calif., came back on Friday to snatch the 30-lap feature win away from Gardner on the final corner of the final lap at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. Trailing Meseraull’s Josh Bates SportClips/LRB Manufacturing Maxim/Kistler were Gardner, Chad Boespflug, Bernal and Jake Swanson.

Bacon, of Broken Arrow, Okla., dominated Saturday’s finale at Hanford, leading all 30 laps in the Keith Ford Sun Valley AG Transport/Walker Filtration Systems Triple X/Claxton Mopar. Bernal was second ahead of Richard Vander Weerd, Brody Roa and Jace Vander Weerd.

Woodland Auto Display fast qualifiers were Jake Swanson (twice) and Gardner, while BR Motorsports Racing Products hard chargers were Jake Morgan, Bacon and Jace Vander Weerd.

Back to News