Kruseman finished second to Gaunt at The PAS and leads defending series champion Damion Gardner by 26 points after Gardner failed to finish Saturday night’s race. On the 23rd lap, while battling for second place, he and Kruseman bumped and Gardner ’s subsequent tire problem forced him out of the race.

Gardner did, however, extend his streak of CRA fast qualifying times to seven dating back to last year’s finale. Last year at Tucson , Kruseman won and Gardner was second.

Trailing Gaunt and Kruseman at Perrris were Danny Sheridan, Rip Williams and Mike Spencer. Gaunt dedicated his victory to the memory of long-time series car owner Bill Pratt, who passed away last week.

USAC/CRA SPRINT CARS
PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY - PERRIS, CA - APRIL 1, 2006

39 CARS

TIME TRIALS: 
1. Damion Gardner, 50, Chaffin-16.599; 2. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-16.754; 3. Mike Spencer, 44, Engstrom-16.763; 4. Charles Davis Jr., 8A, Zoriki/Smiley-16.802; 5. Cory Kruseman, 38, Crossno-16.849; 6. Josh Ford, 73, Ford-16.934; 7. Johnny Rodriguez, 7, Preistley-17.052; 8. Blake Miller, 5, Keller-17.082; 9. Mike Kirby, 96, Kirby-17.246; 10. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-17.248; 11. Bobby Cody, 92, Sertich-17.250; 12. Eric Severson, 36X, Severson-17.275; 13. R.J. Johnson, 15, Martin-17.390; 14. Evan Suggs, 33E, Suggs-17.390; 15. Rickie Gaunt, 2A, Zoriki/Smiley-17.415; 16. Tony Jones, 4, Alexander-17.421; 17. David Cardey, 59, Giardina-17.465; 18. Davey Pombo, 14, Lancaster-17.514; 19. Tom Stansberry, 75, Stansberry-17.519; 20. Matt Mitchell, 3M, Jory-17.520; 21. Dwayne Marcum, 12, Pratt-17.560; 22. Michael Trimble, 15T, Trimble-17.607; 23. Nadine Keller, 16, Keller-17.623; 24. Greg Bragg, 33, Blair-17.636; 25. J Hicks, 66, Miller-17.651; 26. Kyle Hirst, 51, Urton-17.690; 27. Ryan Devitt, 35, Devitt-17.710; 28. Chad Boespflug, 90, Gatten-17.762; 29. Ludwig Solberg IV, 13, Solberg-17.895; 30. Robert Ballou, 12X, Ballou-17.932; 31. Mark Heidenreich, 22, Heidenreich-17.995; 32. J.J. Ercse, 84, Keene-18.023; 33. Matt Stewart, 85, Stewart-18.104; 34. Verne Sweeney, 98S, Sweeney-18.162; 35. Todd Hunsaker, 6X, Hunsaker-18.282; 36. Royal Adderson, 38X, Adderson-19.440; 37. Terry Foster, 19X, Foster-20.274; 38. Joe Gunderson, 57X, Gunderson-22.095; 39. Seth Wilson, 17, Racing Optics-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Damion Gardner , 3. Dwayne Marcum, 4. David Cardey, 5. J Hicks, 6. Mike Kirby, 7. R.J. Johnson, 8. Matt Stewart, 9. Ludwig Solberg IV, 10. Terry Foster. NT.

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Davey Pombo, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Kyle Hirst, 4. Danny Sheridan , 5. Evan Suggs, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Verne Sweeney, 8. Joe Gunderson, 9. Michael Trimble, 10. Josh Ford. NT.

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Rickie Gaunt, 2. Mike Spencer, 3. Nadine Keller, 4. Tom Stansberry, 5. Ryan Devitt, 6. Johnny Rodriguez, 7. Bobby Cody, 8. Todd Hunsaker, 9. Mark Heidenreich. 3:03.18.

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 
1. Tony Jones, 2. Chad Boespflug, 3. Greg Bragg, 4. Blake Miller, 5. Matt Mitchell, 6. Eric Severson, 7. Royal Adderson, 8. Charles Davis Jr., 9. J.J. Ercse. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 
1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Josh Ford, 3. Mike Kirby, 4. Johnny Rodriguez, 5. Matt Mitchell, 6. Bobby Cody, 7. R.J. Johnson, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Evan Suggs, 10. Eric Severson, 11. Ryan Devitt, 12. Michael Trimble, 13. Ludwig Solberg IV, 14. Verne Sweeney, 15. Todd Hunsaker, 16. Matt Stewart, 17. J Hicks, 18. Mark Heidenreich, 19. Royal Adderson, 20. J.J. Ercse, 21. Joe Gunderson. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions) 
1. Rickie Gaunt (2nd), 2. Cory Kruseman (5th), 3. Danny Sheridan (7th), 4. Rip Williams (3rd), 5. Mike Spencer (6th), 6. Mike Kirby (12th), 7. Charles Davis Jr. (9th), 8. Kyle Hirst (21st), 9. Josh Ford (10th), 10. David Cardey (14th), 11. Johnny Rodriguez (11th), 12. Chad Boespflug (22nd), 13. Davey Pombo (15th), 14. Tony Jones (1st), 15. Tom Stansberry (16th), 16. R.J. Johnson (23rd), 17. Greg Bragg (20th), 18. Dwayne Marcum (18th), 19. Nadine Keller (19th), 20. Matt Mitchell (17th), 21. Damion Gardner (8th), 22. Blake Miller (4th), 23. Bobby Cody (13th). NT

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**Note: Trimble and Ford flipped together during the second heat. Heidenreich flipped during the third heat. Davis flipped during the fourth heat. Heidenreich flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-30 Gaunt

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Kruseman-399; 2-Gardner-373; 3-Spencer-302; 4-Sheridan-264; 5-Williams-253; 6-Gaunt-240; 7-Jones-224; 8-Cardey-216; 9-Kirby-210; 10-Davis-207.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: April 8 – Tucson , AZ – USA Race Park