Yorba Linda’s Williams Takes Preliminary Main Competition
Yorba Linda’s Rip Williams, the United States Auto Club/California Racing Assn. points leader, won the second night of the ninth annual Budweiser Oval Nationals for non-winged sprint cars Friday at the Perris Auto Speedway.
With nearly 100 wins in his sprint-car career, Williams started on the front row and led all 25 laps of the preliminary main event.
Cory Kruseman of Ventura, the defending Oval Nationals champion, spent most of the race battling Concord’s Damion Gardner and finished second. Kruseman’s runner-up performance, combined with his third-place finish Thursday, earned him the Dean Thompson Award, presented to the driver who earns the most combined points during the two preliminary nights of racing.
Thursday night’s winner, Mike Kirby of Lomita, started 12th and finished fourth ahead of Josh Ford.
Heat competition provided some of the evening’s best action, with Williams, Kruseman, Gardner, Tony Elliott and Dickie Gaines each leading their 10-lap events.
The Oval Nationals will conclude tonight at Perris with a $30,000-to-win, 50-lap main event.
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-- Robert Mayson
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