Perris Auto Speedway report 96-11-09

SCRA Event #33 Perris Auto Speedway Perris, CA 11/09/96

LEE BREWER, JR. SCORES EXCITING 1ST SCRA WIN

BY Robert Mayson

Perris, CA, November 9-Lee Brewer, Jr made a dramatic last corner pass on Rip Williams to score his first ever Sprint Car Racing Association main event win Saturday night at the Perris Auto Speedway. Better known for his success behind the wheel of a winged sprint car, Brewer, Jr. has now tasted victory in this, his only 14th SCRA race. "We've won World of Outlaw races, All Star races and races with a lot of other sanctioning bodies, and it really feels goad to win my first SCRA race," said a smiling Brewer, Jr. "These guys are great racers. They prepare their cars hard and they run'em hard. I feel honored just to be able to race with these guys...It's just great to be here." The win was also the first for the Cowherd Racing Team which lost a car the last time out as a result of a wild flip by Brewer, Jr. during the Oval Nationals at Perris. "We tore up our Clark Drake car here a couple weeks ago," said Brewer, Jr. "I had a winged car that's a Maxim and figured with Mark Kinser winning all those races this year it would be good enough." J.J. Yeley drove the Andy Morales "Tamale Wagon" to a win in the JE Pistons Dash and started an the pole of the 30-lap feature. At the drop of starter Steve Vodden's green flag, Rip Williams jumped into the lead. Rickie Gaunt was second followed by Steve Ostling, J.J. Yeley and Richard Griffin at the end of lap one. With Williams out front in the Sharon Jory Kurb King/Tracy Engines No.3 Stinger, it looked like it might be a run away. But, Gaunt driving the Jack Yeley/Blair's High Performance No. 7 Drake, found the bottom to his liking and stayed within striking distance of Williams. Meanwhile, Brewer, Jr. running in the middle of the turns pushed his C.G. Aero/Riverside Motorsports/Greer Machinery No. 48 up to third by lap seven after starting ninth. Brewer, Jr. quickly closed an Gaunt to set up a fierce three-car battle for the lead. Brewer, Jr. drove around Gaunt in turn one on lap 12 and stuck a wheel under Williams. Gaunt made it three-wide exiting turn two and emerged as the leader. At the halfway mark, Brewer, Jr. moved under Williams and by the end of the following lap relieved Gaunt of the lead. Yellow was out five laps later when Jeremy Sherman stopped in turn two. Gaunt fell to sixth one lap after the restart as Brewer, Jr. was now followed by Williams, Yeley and Bobby Michnowicz who started 15th. Brewer, Jr., who works for Shaver Specialties during the week and is powered by their engines on the weekends, was three laps from victory when Williams darted by him with smoke pouring from his right rear. Brewer, Jr. driving straighter and smoother, closed on the rear nerf bar of Williams as the white flag was displayed. With less than a half a lap to go, Brewer, Jr. dove to the bottom of turn three even with Williams. Exiting turn four, Brewer slid into the lead and was the first to receive the double checkered flags. "I have to thank Hoosier Tire because we ran a soft tire only because we didn't have a hard tire. All night long we just kept changing used tires so we could save our newest tire for the feature and it paid off," said Brewer in victory lane. Brewer, Jr.'s last lap pass prevented Williams from winning a record setting 13th SCRA main event. "I just made a mistake getting into three, he capitalized and won the race. He did a good job," said a disappointed Williams. Michnowicz came across the line behind Williams, but his car failed a post race inspection moving Yeley to third ahead of Ostling and Gaunt. In qualifying Gary W. Howard set the DURA-Light Fast Time (18.580) to give car owner Bill Jones his first SCRA fast time. With two races remaining, Richard Griffin leads Ron Shuman by only eleven points far the SCRA season driving championship.

Qualifying

Pos Driver           Hometown         Car Num Owner           Time
 1  Gary W. Howard   R.Cucamonga, CA       38 Jones           18.580
 2  Lee Brewer Jr    Lomita, CA            48 Cowherd Racing  18.681
 3  John Scott       Hesperia, CA          83 Scott           18.765
 4  Richard Griffin  Silver City, NM       50 Chaffin         18.795
 5  Jay Drake        Canyon Country, CA    77 Fischer         18.888
 6  Ricky Johnson    Phoenix, AZ          51A Johnson         18.977
 7  Steve Venard     Tustin, CA            97 Venard/Vest     19.148
 8  Steve Ostling    Lakewood, CA          12 Pratt           19.198
 9  Verne Sweeney    Lomita, CA            98 Sweeney         19.204
10  Rickie Gaunt     Torrance, CA           7 Yeley           19.217
11  Rip Williams     Yorba Linda, CA        3 Jory            19.438
12  Marc Hart        Ventura, CA           18 Hart/Smith      19.520
13  J.J. Yeley       Phoenix, AZ           21 Morales         19.530
14  Jeremy Sherman   Phoenix, AZ           17 Bergman         19.600
15  Alex Grigoreas   Orange, CA            25 Ruth            19.630
16  Ron Shuman       Tempe, AZ              2 Schuck          19.665
17  Mike English     Norwalk, CA           89 Alexander       19.722
18  Troy Cline       Hawthorne, CA          4 Geurin          19.750
19  Jimmy May        Oxnard, CA            47 May             19.762
20  Bobby Michnowicz Harbor City, CA       21 Michnowicz      19.770
21  Rodney Argo      El Segundo, CA        19 Argo            19.782
22  Mike Boat        Peoria, AZ            74 Boat            19.900
23  Jim Giardina     Riverside, CA         58 Giardina        20.130
24  Kevin Thomas     Danville, IN        91SM Carsten         21.130
25  Jerry Coons Jr   Tucson, AZ            23 Coons Jr        20.239
26  Wiley Miller     Yorba Linda, CA       75 Miller          20.292
27  Ron DiDonato     Riverside, CA         57 DiDonato        20.293
28  Tom Ball         Alberquerque, NM      16 MACH 2 Racing   20.458
29  Keith Williamson Pomona, CA            95 Williamson      20.467
30  Jack Keene       Corona, CA            28 Keene           20.624
31  Jim Watson       Sun Valley, CA        69 Watson          21.157
32  Cal Smith        Montclair, CA         53 Pratt           21.208
33  Scotty Burns     Mentone, CA           25 Teknidyne
34  Dwight Cheney    Temple City, CA       42 Cheney
35  Cary Faas        Peoria, AZ            37 Faas

1st Heat

1. Rodney Argo 2. Jerry Coons Jr 3. J.J. Yeley 4. Jay Drake 5. Mike English 6. Verne Sweeney 7.Gary W. Howard 8. Keith Williamson

2nd Heat

1. Jeremy Sherman 2. Troy Cline 3. Mike Boat 4. Rickie Gaunt 5. Lee Brewer Jr 6. Ricky Johnson 7. Wiley Miller 8. Jack Keene

3rd Heat

1. Rip Williams 2. Ron DiDonato 3. John Scott 4. Steve Venard 5. Jim Giardina 5. Alex Grigoreas 7.Jimmy May 8. Jim Watson

4th Heat

1. Bobby Michnowicz 2. Richard Griffin 3. Ron Shuman 4. Steve Ostling 5. Kevin Thomas 5. Marc Hart 7. Tom Ball 8. Cal Smith

JE Pistons' Passing Masters' Dash

1. J. 5. Steve Ostling 6. John Scott 7. Steve Venard 8. Jay Drake

B Main

1. Lee Brewer Jr 2. Gary W. Howard 3. Verne Sweeney 4. Wiley Miller 5. Cal Smith 6. Jimmy May 7. Keith Williamson 8. Ricky Johnson 9. Alex Grigoreas 10. Tom Ball 11. Jack Keene 12. Jim Giardina 13. Marc Hart. 14. Mike English. 15. Jim Watson. 16. Kevin Thomas

A Main

1. Lee Brewer Jr 2. Rip Williams 3. J.J. Yeley 4. Steve Ostling 5. Rickie Gaunt 6. Jay Drake 7. Troy Cline 8. John Scott 9. Ron Shuman 10. Rodney Argo 11. Mike Boat 12. Cal Smith 13. Richard Griffin 14. Jerry Coons Jr 15. Verne Sweeney 16. Ron Didonato 17. Jimmy May 18. Gary W. Howard 19. Wiley Miller 20. Keith Williamson 21. Jeremy Sherman 22. Bobby Michnowicz

Lap Leaders: Williams   1-11
             
             Brewer    16-27
             Williams  28-29
             Brewer    30

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