Perris Auto Speedway (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
11/3/22
Perris Auto Speedway
Perris, CA
USAC National Sprint Cars
USAC-CRA
40 cars
CJ Leary (10th car out to time) set quick time over the field with a lap of 16.347 seconds. Brady Bacon (32nd car out) was second quick, ahead of Mitchel Moles (4th), Jason McDougal (38th), Justin Grant (28th), Robert Ballou (5th), Damion Gardner (14th), Sterling Cling (11th), Max Adams (19th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (39th).
Heat one (started): 1. Jake Swanson 21AZ (2) 2. Adams 73 (4) 3. Matt Westfall 33m (3) 4. Grant 4 (5) / 5. Leary 77m (6) 6. RJ Johnson 51 (8) 7. Tommy Malcolm 5x (7) 8. Logan Seavey 42 (1) 9. Chase Johnson 8m (10) 10. Kyle Edwards 39E (9)
10-lap heats took the top four to the feature. Swanson led the distance in this one. It was a rough start for both Grant and Leary, as a near disaster collision was avoided on the first lap. Leary did get up to fifth by lap four, but couldn’t nab the final transfer from Grant.
Heat two (started): 1. Brody Roa 91R (2) 2. Thomas Jr. 17GP (4) 3. Bacon 69 (6) 4. Ballou 12 (5) / 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr. 51T (1) 6. Chris Gansen 4G (7) 7. Jadon Rogers 14 (3) 8. Logan Calderwood 6 (8) 9. Logan Williams 5w (9) 10. Tony DeGaton 39T (10)
Roa led throughout. Bacon was on his game, moving by Tafoya for third on lap two. Ballou used the high side to get by Tafoya for the final transfer on lap four.
Heat three (started): 1. Charles Davis Jr. 47 (2) 2. Axsom 47BC (4) 3. Moles 19AZ (6) 4. Cody Williams 44 (3) / 5. Gardner 1 (5) 6. AJ Bender 21 (9) 7. Danny Sheridan 12A (1) 8. Austin Grabowski 72 (7) 9. Nate Schank 1$ (10) 10. Matt McCarthy 28M (8)
Davis led wire to wire. Moles was by Sheridan for third on lap two. On lap five, Gardner seized the final transfer spot from Sheridan at the halfway point, but C. Williams was stuck to the “Demon” in a great battle and passed him for the final transfer in turn four on the last lap.
Heat four (started): 1. Matt Mitchell 37 (4) 2. Austin Williams 2 (3) 3. McDougal 22AZ (6) 4. Ricky Lewis 41 (1) / 5. Chris Bonneau 15 (2) 6. Verne Sweeney 98 (8) 7. Daniel Whitley 3F (7) 8. Jake Neal 214 (9) 9. Dan Taylor T5 (10) 10. Cling 34 (5)
Cling was fed the right rear of another car and crashed wildly into the turn four fence. He was o.k. Mitchell led the distance. McDougal was in a transfer by lap two. A. Williams moved by Bonneau for second on lap three. Taylor brought a caution with two to go when he stopped. McDougal and Lewis used the restart to pass Bonneau for third and fourth respectively.
C main (started): 1. Sweeney (1) 2. Bender (4) 3. L. Williams (3) 4. C. Johnson (6) / 5. Schank (8) 6. Edwards (2) 7. Neal (5) 8. DeGaton (7) DNS – Taylor
The 10-lapper took the top four to the B. Sweeney led Bender, Edwards and L. Williams early. DeGaton brought the caution when he stopped one lap in. On lap four, L. Williams used a move on the low side of four to pass Edwards for third. C. Johnson used the same move a lap later to grab the final transfer.
B main (started): 1. Leary (1) 2. Malcolm (6) 3. Rogers (3) 4. Gardner (2) 5. Seavey (5) 6. Tafoya Jr. (4) 7. RJ Johnson (10) 8. C. Johnson (14) / 9. Gansen (9) 10. Grabowski (8) 11. L. Williams (17) 12. Bender (14) 13. Calderwood (13) 14. McCarthy (12) 15. Sheridan (7) 16. Whitley (11) 17. Sweeney (15) DNS – Bonneau, Cling
The 12-lapper took the top eight to the feature. Leary led Gardner, Rogers and Tafoya early. Sheridan, Whitley and Sweeney were caught up in a tangle on the backstretch, eliminating all three from competition. No one was injured. Malcolm moved up to fourth, while the jockeying for positions continued behind the leader. Gansen was in a transfer spot much of the race, while Malcolm climbed to third and then finished second in the end. RJ Johnson moved into a transfer about lap five. It was a free-for-all, with C. Johnson nabbing the final transfer on the last lap.
A main (started): 1. Bacon (6) 2. Grant (3) 3. Leary (11) 4. Ballou (2) 5. Thomas Jr. (13) 6. Adams (1) 7. Axsom (14) 8. Rogers (16) 9. Seavey (19) 10. McDougal (4) 11. Gardner (12) 12. Westfall (15) 13. C. Williams (17) 14. A. Williams (18) 15. Lewis (21) 16. Roa (9) 17. Malcolm (22) 18. Tafoya Jr. (20) 19. RJ Johnson (23) 20. Gansen (25, prov.) 21. Edwards (26, prov.) 22. Swanson (8) 23. C. Johnson (24) 24. Moles (5) 25. Davis Jr. (10) 26. Mitchell (7)
Ballou led Adams, Grant, Moles and Bacon early in the 3-lapper. Bacon used the high side of turn two to take fourth from Miles on lap two, before Mitchell slowed and exited with suspension issues. Bacon used the cushion to pass Grant for third on that restart. Adams bobbled on the high side of two on lap four, handing second to Bacon before Seavey slowed to bring caution. Bacon would pass Ballou on lap six. Leary took fourth on lap seven. Bacon hit lapped traffic on lap 12, and after a heated battle, Adams secured second from Ballou on lap 16. A caution on lap 19, saw a 3.1 second lead erased for Bacon ahead of Adams, Ballou, Leary, Grant and Swanson. Swanson shot to fourth, after getting by Grant and then having Leary attempt a slider on Ballou that saw him go backwards. Bacon was into lappers again with five to go, but the race was far from over. Swanson got into the turn four wall ending his night. On lap 27, Edwards came to stop. On that restart, Ballou and Grant both passed Adams when he got over the top of turn two. Grant would then pass Ballou on lap 29 for third. Roa was the next to bring caution, wetting upa green, white checker finish. Bacon was untouched up front, but plenty of seats for grabs behind him. Leary gained third on the last restart, and Thomas moved into the top five. Seavey was the hard-charger.