Drivers take crash course at Oval Nationals

It was a wild night at Perris Auto Speedway for the finale of the 11th Annual Budweiser Oval Nationals.

With preliminary main event winners Mike Spencer of Temecula and Tony Jones of Norco -- along with 10 other drivers -- already locked into the $30,000-to-win 40-lap championship race, the balance of the 70-car field was left to battle for the remaining 12 positions for the championship event to be held later Saturday night.

Much like Thursday and Friday nights, many drivers found the road to the championship race to be difficult.

Robert Ballou of Rocklin, Calif., won the D-Main event only to be involved in an incident in the C-Main that saw Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind., flip along the back-straightaway.

Danny Sheridan of Santa Maria returned from a tough flip Friday night to win the B-Main event. Unfortunately, this particular race was again tainted by several spectacular accidents. Most notable were flips were by Northern California drivers Andy Forsberg and Johnny Rodriguez, and Jesse Hocket of Warsaw, Mo. None of the drivers suffered serious injuries.

Defending Oval Nationals winner Dave Darland of Kokomo, Ind., is slated to start in the front row with Jones. Also in the field is defending USAC/CRA champion Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif., and current series point leader Cory Kruseman of Ventura. Kruseman is also a two-time Oval Nationals winner.

-- Robert Mayson