By Robert Mayson
VENTURA, Calif. — After a difficult summer for his entire Kruseman Motorsports team, Cory Kruseman returned home to Ventura Raceway and won his fourth Lucas USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series feature of the season Saturday night.
Still nursing some sore ribs from an accident at Lawrenceburg, Ind., in July, Kruseman started outside the front row and led all 30 laps in his Agromin Soil No. 21k Viper.    
“My ribs are feeling better, and I’ve been able to put some other health issues behind me, but this is definitely a morale booster,” Kruseman said.
Running the bottom groove, Kruseman’s main challenge on the fifth-mile dirt oval came from defending series champion Tony Jones.
“I ran the top in turns one and two at the start, but the bottom was fast and I had to go there,” Kruseman explained.  “It was pretty slick down there and you had to run real straight while trying to keep your momentum up. It was pretty tough.”
Jones finished second, while Danny Sheridan romped from 13th on the grid to take third. Tyler Brown and Alan Ballard rounded out the top five.
After the USAC-CRA event, Kruseman watched from the press box as Austin Mero, one of his “development drivers,” led the final 18 laps of the 20-lap Wagsdash.  
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Josh Ford, Ford 73, 12.030; 2. Blake Miller, Gardner 93, 12.042; 3. Alan Ballard, Stansberry 75, 12.201; 4. Rick Hendrix, Hendrix 15, 12.261; 5. Greg Bragg, Sertich 92, 12.276; 6. Tony Jones, Alexander 4, 12.301; 7. Rip Williams, Jory 3, 12.301; 8. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, 12.309; 9. Rodney Argo, Argo 19, 12.328; 10. Garrett Hansen, Preistley 7, 12.345; 11. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 12.369; 12. Kevin Kierce, Kierce 02, 12.379; 13. Mike Spencer, Chaffin 50, 12.420; 14. Danny Sheridan, Kittle 18, 12.425; 15. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 41k, 12.503; 16. Luis Espinoza, Ingram 09, 12.509; 17. Cody Williams, Jory 44, 12.626; 18. Tyler Brown, Gardner 96, 12.643; 19. Brein Kinney, Persall 85, 12.685; 20. J, Hicks, Miller 66, 12.685; 21. Steve Conrad, Conrad 56, 12.742; 22. Bobby Michnowicz, Bach 48x, 12.776; 23. Jimmy Crawford, Crawford 51,12.848; 24. Tony Everhart, Everhart 55, 13.086; 25. Tom Hendricks, Hendricks 14, 13.113; 26. Ludvig Solberg IV, Persall 84, 13.147; 27. Aaron Altaffer, Dorathy 21, 13.192; 28. Dennis Rodriguez, Rodriguez 1d, 13.238; 29. David Cardey, Crossno 38, no time; 30. Eric Severson, Leonard 48n, no time.
First Heat (10 laps): Spencer, Argo, Cardey, Ford, Conrad, Hendricks, C. Williams, Bragg.
Second Heat (10 laps): Sheridan, Miller, Jones, Michnowicz, Brown, Solberg, Hansen.
Third Heat (10 laps): Crawford, Clarke, R. Williams, Ballard, Mero, Kinney, Altaffer.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Kruseman, Espinoza, Hicks, Hendrix, Kierce, Rodriguez, Everhart.
Semi (10 laps): Bragg, Brown, Hansen , Kierce, C. Williams, Conrad, Mero, Hendricks, Kinney, Everhart, Solberg, Rodriguez, Altaffer.
Feature (30 laps): Kruseman, Jones, Sheridan, Brown, Ballard, Cardey, Miller, Hansen, Hicks, C. Williams, Crawford, Spencer, Bragg, Espinoza, Clarke, Michnowicz, Argo, R. Williams, Hendrix, Ford.