JONES WINS PERRIS THRILLER,
WIDENS NATIONAL POINT LEAD
By: Robert Mayson
Perris, Calif…(November 6, 2009) Levi Jones of Avon, Ind., took a giant step towards his third USAC National Sprint Car championship Friday night at the Perris Auto Speedway after winning a thrilling 25-lap preliminary feature during the 14th Annual Budweiser Oval Nationals.
Despite starting on the outside of the front row in his Tony Stewart / Bass Pro Shops No. 20 Maxim Jones’ victory was anything but easy. The early stages of the race saw Jones engaged in a fierce lead-swapping battle with the DG Racing / Pace Lighting No. 71 Eagle driven by Concord, California’s Damion Gardner.
The closing laps provided some of the best racing action of the season as Jones dueled with fast qualifier Jon Stanbrough, Avon, Ind. before edging the Indiana Underground Construction No. 37x Maxim at the finish line by .025 seconds.
“It feels great to come out on top,” Jones said in victory lane. “Jon and I battle three nights a week and its fun to come 2,000 miles away from home and be able to do it in front of the great fans here at Perris. This is the first time that I’ve won at Perris, so we should have some pretty good momentum going into tomorrow night.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Jones was able to extend his USAC National Sprint Car point over Dave Darland to 124 points after Darland’s car was too badly damaged to compete in the feature race resulting from a tangle with Davey Pombo for the final transfer position in his heat race.
“I hated to see Dave Darland have some bad luck in his heat race. We got lucky tonight and he didn’t, but we still have three races to go to win the championship,” Jones added.
Mike Spencer, Temecula, Calif., also help his chances of earning a second straight Lucas Oil USAC/CRA championship after driving his Ron Chaffin / Circle C Marketing No. 50 Maxim to a fourth-place finish, one spot behind Gardner. Heading into Saturday night’s 40-lap $12,500 to win finale, Spencer now enjoys a 40-point lead over David Cardey.
Riverside, California’s Darren Hagen rounded-out the top-five in the feature driving the Alexander Trucking / La Villa Restaurant No. 4x DRC. Cole Whitt, Alpine, Calif. won Hard-Charger honors finishing eighth after starting the event in the 25th position.
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