Kruseman Scores Coastal Midget Triumph in Watsonville

By Robert Haugh

After overtaking Alamo's Scott Pierovich on Lap 16, 2011 USAC Western States Midget champion Cory Kruseman of Ventura cruised to victory in the Josh Ford Racing #73x Ellis/Fontana at the tacky ¼-mile Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, CA on Friday, July 6 as part of night one of the annual Howard Kaeding Classic event.

After a number of incidents in the first half of the 30-lap feature, including flips by Kruseman’s teammate Ryan Bernal of Hollister in the Josh Ford Racing #72 Ellis/Bob Wirth Chevy and San Rafael’s Frankie Guerrini III in the F&F Racing #63 Stealth/Gaerte, Kruseman cruised to the win by a second over USAC-Western States points leader Shannon McQueen of Bakersfield in the McQueen Racing #7 Spike/Esslinger.

Fremont’s Shane Golobic claimed a close third in Doug Bock’s #26 Spike/Esslinger, followed by Danny Ebberts in the Van Dyne Racing #5 Ellis/Van Dyne and Ronnie Gardner in Mitchell Johnson’s #68 Six-8 Motorsports Ellis/Fontana rounding out the Top five.

McQueen, Ebberts and Gardner all transferred to the feature through the Semi.

Bakersfield’s Sean Dodenhoff finished sixth in Brad Dodenhoff’s #9d Spike/Fontana ahead of hard chargers David Prickett in the David Prickett Racing/Neverlift Motorsports #15 Spike/Dyne and Manteca’s “Nitro” Nick Chivello in the Chivello Motorsports #27 Spike/Esslinger. Rounding out the top 10 were Pierovich in his #35 Spike/Bob Wirth Mopar who was battling ignition issues after setting fast time and Jimmy Christian in the Walker Racing/Bay Muffler #10 Stealth/Esslinger. Prickett started 16th while Chivello started 18th.

Anaheim’s Jake Swanson battled his way through the field in his #05 Spike/Honda, finishing 11^th followed by Pleasanton’s Pete Davis in his #00 Hothead Engine Heaters Stealth/Esslinger.

Three time BCRA champion Nick Foster, Jr. of San Jose placed 13^th, two laps down in his #1 “Blue Bayoo” Beast/Esslinger with Jimmy Voitel in his #21 Ellis/Chevy II in 14^th rounding out the cars running at the conclusion of the 30-lap feature.

Ebberts claimed the Semi over McQueen, Dodenhoff and Bakersfield’s Wink Schweitzer in Dodenhoff’s #9b EMC/Fontana. Just missing the transfer was 7-time BCRA champion “Ageless Wonder” Floyd Alvis in Bob Roza’s #21 Spike/Esslinger.

Dodenhoff claimed Heat 1 over Pierovich, Kruseman and Davis.

Christian claimed heat 2 over Cody Swanson, Jake Swanson and Guerrini.

Golobic claimed Heat 3 over Troy Rutherford in Calvin Marten’s #86 Stealth/Esslinger, Atascadero’s Randi Pankratz in her #8 Edmunds AutoResearch/Fontana and Foster.

Bernal claimed an incident-marred heat 4 over Chivello, Prickett and Voitel, with only the top three finishing the Heat.

Pierovich topped 27-car field in qualifying, posting a 13.463 lap followed closely by Cody Swanson, Golobic, Cole Carter in Mason Cook’s #10 Beast/Mopar and Ebberts. The Top 10 were separated by only two tenths of a second!

Summary:

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Shannon McQueen, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Danny Ebberts, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Sean Dodenhof, 7. David Prickett, 8. Nick Chivello, 9. Scott Pierovich, 10. Jimmy Christian, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Pete Davis, 13. Nick Foster, 14. Jimmy Voitel, 15. Wink Schweitzer, 16. Randi Pankratz, 17. Frankie Guerrini, 18. Cole Carter, 19. Cody Swanson, 20. Ryan Bernal, 21. Troy Rutherford. NT

LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Pankratz, Laps 3-15 Pierovich, Laps 16-30 Kruseman.

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Ebberts, 2. McQueen, 3. Gardner, 4. Schweitzer, 5. Alvis, 6. Kaeding, 7. Wood, 8. Shupe. NT

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dodenhoff, 2. Pierovich, 3. Kruseman, 4. Davis, 5. Wood, 6. Ebberts. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Christian, 2. C.Swanson, 3. J.Swanson, 4. Guerrini, 5. Kaeding, 6. Shupe, 7. Gardner. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Rutherford, 3. Pankratz, 4. Foster, 5. Schweitzer, 6. Alvis. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bernal, 2. Chivello, 3. Prickett, 4. Voitel, 5. McQueen, 6. Carter. NT

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-13.463; 2. Cody Swanson, 71, Swanson-13.531; 3. Shane Golobic, 26, Bock-13.614; 4. Cole Carter, 10, Cook-13.626; 5. Danny Ebberts, 5, VanDyne-13.640; 6. Frankie Guerrini III, 63, Guerrini-13.657; 7. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.659; 8. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.661; 9. Cory Kruseman, 73, Ford-13.679; 10. Ronnie Gardner, 68, Johnson-13.688; 11. Troy Rutherford, 86, Martens-13.735; 12. Ryan Bernal, 72, Ford-13.861; 13. Sean Dodenhoff, 9D, Dodenhoff-14.006; 14. Jimmy Christian, 10c, Walker-14.002; 15. Wink Schweitzer, 9B, Dodenhoff-14.034; 16. David Prickett, 15, Neverlift-14.037; 17. Pete Davis, 00, Davis-14.114; 18. Jake Swanson, 05, Swanson-14.180; 19. Floyd Alvis, 21x, Roza-14.231; 20. Connor Kassik, 115, Neverlift-14.483; 21. Adam Kaeding, 27c, Blackwell-14.796; 22. Nick Foster, 1x, Foster-14.871; 23. Jimmy Voitel, 21, Voitel-15.040; 24. Cole Wood, 17w, Wood-15.308; 25. Ryan Shupe, 10x, Shupe-19.162; 26. Nick Chivello, 27, Chivello-NT; 27. Alex Schutte, 28, Martens-NT.