PERRIS, Calif. — Rickie Gaunt took advantage of a late restart Saturday at Perris Auto Speedway and earned his first USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series triumph since 2006.
“I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen again,” Gaunt said after his 10th-career win at the half-mile dirt track. “It’s funny because I was telling my wife this week that maybe I’ve lost it and that I don’t have what it takes anymore. We were close last year, but could never quite get it done. But tonight it happened. I had to drive really aggressive to make it happen, but I did what I had to do.”
Driving the Jack Gardner, Jr. / Gardner Pipe & Mechanical No. 25 Chalk, Gaunt started the 30-lap race on the pole next to David Cardey.  Gaunt slid in front of Cardey in turn one on the opening lap, only to watch Cardey drive past him along the backstraight.
Gaunt took the lead from Cardey on a lap-four restart, but only held it for one circuit after Cardey slid ahead of him entering turn one.  One-lap later, fifth-place Cody Williams flipped high into the air after hooking the turn-three cushion. 
Following the restart, Danny Sheridan took second from Gaunt on lap 11.
Sheridan took advantage of a Cardey miscue while passing a slower car on lap 21 and jumped into the lead. 
Cardey replied with a nice turn-one slide job on a lap-23 restart and took the lead back.  With less than four laps to go, Sheridan attempted a turn-one slide job that resulted in contact with Cardey, who flipped hard entering the second turn. 
Gaunt dove to the bottom on the restart and aggressively slid past Sheridan for the lead. Sheridan finished second, ahead of Garrett Hansen, Tony Jones and fast-qualifier Josh Ford.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Josh Ford, Ford 73, 17.258; 2. Tyler Brown, Gardner 96, 17.261; 3. Blake Miller, Gardner 93, 17.298; 4. Tony Jones, Alexander 4, 17.411; 5. Mike Spencer, Chaffin 50, 17.448; 6. Danny Sheridan, Kittle 18, 17.505; 7. Alan Ballard, Stansberry 75, 17.520; 8. Eric Severson, Leonard 48n, 17.529; 9. Garrett Hansen, Preistley 7, 17.533; 10. Rodney Argo, Argo 19, 17.543; 11. Cody Williams, Jory 3, 17.545; 12. David Cardey, Crossno 38, 17.637; 13. Jordan Hermansader, Rase 32, 17.699; 14. J.J. Ercse, Persall 84, 17.752; 15. Rickie Gaunt, Gardner 25x, 17.831;16. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 41k, 17.980; 17. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 18.010; 18. Nic Faas, Faas 117, 18.469; 19. Alex Schutte, Kruseman 5, 18.477; 20. Luis Espinoza, Sertich 92, 18.578; 21. Brein Kinney, Persall 85, 18.948; 22. Joe Gunderson, Bellegante 23, 19.454; 23. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, no  time.
First Heat (10 laps): Jones, Clarke, Argo, Schutte, Hermansader, Ballard, Ford, Gunderson.
Second Heat (10 laps): Spencer, Mero, Kruseman, Williams, Severson, Brown, Espinoza, Ercse.
Third Heat (10 laps): Gaunt, Sheridan, Hansen, Cardey, Faas, Miller, Kinney.
Semi (10 laps): Ford, Brown, Miller, Severson, Espinoza, Ercse, Kinney, Faas, Hermansader, Ballard.
Feature (30 laps): Gaunt, Sheridan, Hansen, Jones, Ford, Spencer, Kruseman, Miller, Ballard, Faas, Schutte, Severson, Clarke, Espinoza, Mero, Hermansader, Ercse, Kinney, Cardey, Williams, Argo, Brown.