PERRIS, Calif. — USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series champion Cory Kruseman may not have had his normal crew with him Saturday at the Perris Auto Speedway, but that didn’t stop him from driving his Lucas Oil No. 21k Viper to his third victory of the year at the PAS.
“My hats off to these new (Viper) cars and my crew. We showed up here tonight with four race cars and five crew members,” Kruseman said. “Usually, you show up with one car and five crew members. All my guys did a great job tonight especially when you consider that we transferred all four cars to the feature from the heat races.”
Tony Jones sliced from third starting spot to lead the first lap, but Kruseman, who started seventh was the man on the move. Kruseman blasted past Jones for the lead on lap seven.
“I figured that the race track might get a little worn-out tonight, so we set the car up to be good at the beginning so we could at least get track position. Then, hopefully, we’d be out front and could just ride along the cushion,” Kruseman explained.
Kruseman pulled away during the middle stages of the race, but a late yellow flag allowed Jones a final shot at the leader.
“We were really good and really had our rhythm going until that yellow flag came out,” Kruseman recalled.  “We got about two laps into the restart and actually broke the Jacobs Ladder pin. At first, I thought the right-rear tire was going flat and it took me three or four laps to figure out what to do with the race car again. Once I did, I think we were able to pick the pace back up again. We never got back to where we were, but I think we were pretty decent the last two or three laps.”
Jones finished second, with Danny Sheridan, Blake Miller and Mike Spencer rounding out the top five.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Mike Spencer, Chaffin 50, 17.369; 2. Cory Kruseman, Kruseman 21k, 17.469; 3. Rickie Gaunt, Gardner 25x, 17.469; 4. Rodney Argo, Argo 19, 17.682; 5. Alan Ballard, Stansberry 75, 17.714; 6. Danny Sheridan, Kittle 18, 17.895; 7. Tony Jones, Alexander 4, 17.896; 8. Blake Miller, Gardner 93, 17.920; 9. Davey Pombo, Crossno 38, 17.965; 10. Cody Williams, Jory 3, 18.019; 11. Tyler Brown, Gardner 96, 18.071; 12. Garrett Hansen, Preistley 7, 18.097; 13. Josh Ford, Ford 73, 18.103; 14. J. Hicks, Miller 66, 18.169; 15. Todd Hunsaker, Hunsaker 6, 18.282; 16. Austin Mero, Kruseman 71k, 18.291; 17. David Cardey, Crossno 83, 18.349; 18. Jordan Hermansader, Rase 32, 18.415; 19. Alex Schutte, Kruseman 5, 18.619; 20. Henry Clarke, Kruseman 41k, 18.714; 21. Ronnie Case, Case 8, 18.722; 22. Billy Blinn, Blinn 26, 18.779; 23. Eric Severson, Leonard 48n, 18.877; 24. Keith Williamson, Williamson 95, 18.898; 25. Kenny Perkins, Perkins 0k, 19.180; 26. Luis Espinoza, Sertich 92, 19.201; 27. Ross Millar, Millar 67, 19.615; 28. Royal Adderson, Adderson 40, 19.749; 29. Joe Gunderson, Gunderson 57, 19.969.
First Heat (10 laps): Pombo, Spencer, Ford, Ballard, Perkins, Gunderson, Case, Cardey.
Second Heat (10 laps): Kruseman, Sheridan, Hermansader, Hicks, Espinoza, Williams, Blinn.
Third Heat (10 laps): Jones, Schutte, Gaunt, Severson, Hunsaker, Millar, Brown.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Hansen, Miller, Clarke, Mero, Williamson, Adderson, Argo.
Semi (12 laps): Adderson, Espinoza, Hunsaker, Millar, Williamson, Williams, Perkins, Gunderson, Brown, Cardey, Blinn.
Feature (30 laps): Kruseman, Jones, Sheridan, Miller, Spencer, Hansen, Ford, Gaunt, Pombo, Williams, Schutte, Clarke, Ballard, Hicks, Severson, Hermansader, Espinoza, Mero, Adderson, Perkins, Millar, Hunsaker.