CARDEY WINS SALUTE TO INDY

By Robert Mayson

(Perris, CA MAY 29, 2010) David Cardey, Riverside, Calif., took advantage of a late restart to win Saturday night’s 30-lap Amsoil USAC/CRA “Salute to Indy” sprint car at the Perris Auto Speedway.

Before the first race of the evening, Cardey took a ceremonial lap in his Circle Track Performance No. 59 Viper honoring his friend Jesse Hockett, who tragically lost his life early in the week while working on his trailer. 

“This one goes out to Jesse Hockett…it’s a sad deal,” Cardey said after his sixth career USAC/CRA as a driver and his first win as a car owner. 

Greg Bragg, Visalia, Calif., who won the last USAC/CRA race, jumped into the lead at the start of race beating the Steve Gresham Racing Engines No. 11 Triple X driven by Jimmy Crawford, Ventura, Calif., into the first-turn.  Bragg would hold the top spot until Crawford moved ahead of him entering turn-one on the sixth lap.

Fast qualifier and series points leader, Mike Spencer, Temecula, Calif., found the middle of turn-two to his liking and darted past Tony Jones for the third position on lap-seven.  Continuing his charge from the eighth starting spot, Spencer put his Ron Chaffin / Madera Produce No. 50 Maxim ahead for Bragg four circuits later. 

Waiting for lapped traffic to sort out a little before attempting to take the lead, Spencer powered his way past Crawford along the back-straight on lap-14.

While Spencer was busy making it look easy up front, Cardey was busy working hard from his eleventh starting position.  Ironically, Spencer may have contributed to a crucial caution flag that helped put Cardey in contention after he had contact with the car driven by Cody Kershaw trying to put him a lap down.  Kershaw eventually came to a stop near the turn-one wall on lap-25 with a flat left rear tire.

Cardey looked like he was shot out of a cannon on the restart, passing two cars for position and one lapper all in one set of corners.  One lap later, Cardey flew past Crawford for third-place.

A lap-27 caution for debris put Cardey in position to challenge Jones for the runner-up spot. Like a preview of things to come, Cardey jumped ahead of Jones on the restart, but would still need some help to catch Spencer with only a few laps remaining.  Unfortunately for third-place Jones, he provided Cardey with the caution he needed after he slipped over the turn-one cushion and flipped after hitting the wall on lap-28.  Jones was not hurt, in fact, he returned to action and went on to finish tenth.

Using a beautiful crossover move exiting turn-four coming down to accept the green flag on the restart, Cardey launched his car ahead of Spencer and into the lead.  Spencer continued to challenge for the lead until a lap-29 yellow flag for debris halted the action.

Hoping to return the favor on the restart, Spencer pulled nearly even with Cardey coming down for the green flag.  Holding the bottom line, Cardey comfortably pulled ahead of the cushion running Spencer exiting turn-two, essentially ending the battle for the lead. 

“My car was just great tonight and it was a lot of fun there.  All those yellows at the end were making me nervous and I was hoping they would put a cap of two or three on them,” Cardey laughed mindful still of the prior race at Perris when he ran out of fuel three laps from the finish while leading.  

Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria, Calif., who started seventh, used the final restart to put Kittle Motorsports / Pace Lighting No. 18 Stinger into the third position.  Former series champion Cory Kruseman, Ventura, Calif., drove his Lucas Oil No. 21k Viper to a fourth-place finish, one spot ahead of Crawford.    

Richard Vanderweerd won “Hard-Charger” honors after driving his family owned sprinter to a sixth-place finish after starting the event in the 17^th position.