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SPRINT: USAC Opener Goes To Gardner
Damion Gardner opened the 2010 Amsoil USAC sprint car season with a dominating victory Monday night at East Bay Raceway in the Bubby Army Sprint Nationals.
SPEED Staff  |  Posted February 09, 2010   Gibsonton, Fl
The 2010 USAC Sprint Car series got under way Monday night. (USAC)
Damion Gardner opened the 2010 Amsoil USAC sprint car season with a dominating victory Monday night at East Bay Raceway in the Bubby Army Sprint Nationals.

Slated to start fourth, Gardner advanced to the point when both front-row starters (Ricky Williams and Shane Hmiel) spun out and when the green flag finally flew for good, The Demon was long gone. He had the Pace Lighting/Eagle Shaver almost a straightaway ahead of Bryan Clauson at the checkered flag.

Clauson, the hottest driver in USAC last season with 19 wins in three divisions, managed to close up on Gardner after a yellow flag on Lap 23 but the California native gradually pulled away over the final seven laps.

Fast qualifier Brady Short finished third, followed by Shane Cottle and Jon Stanbrough as 32 cars made the trip down south for the first of three nights of racing.

Defending USAC sprint champ Levin Jones wound up seventh.

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brady Short, 36, Short-15.027; 2. Bryan Clauson, 2B, RWB-15.115; 3. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-15.275; 4. Shane Cottle, 10E, Edison-15.395; 5. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-15.437; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 4G, Cook-15.483; 7. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-15.589; 8. Caleb Armstrong, 7, Tucker-15.590; 9. Shane Hmiel, 17, 56 Inc.-15.596; 10. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-15.672; 11. Ricky Williams, 11w, Williams-15.809; 12. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.818; 13. Dave Darland, 67k, Kunz-15.828; 14. Jeff Bland Jr., 38, Bland-15.951; 15. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-15.982; 16. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-16.055; 17. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-16.128; 18. Kyle Cummins, 4u, Wild Ride-16.297; 19. Justin Grant, 5B, Baldwin-16.303; 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2, Epperson-16.323; 21. Kent Christian, 1c, Christian-16.329; 22. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-16.360; 23. Brett Burdette, 17B, Burdette-16.437; 24. Alex Shanks, 39w, Wade-16.439; 25. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-16.513; 26. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-17.061; 27. Mike Weber, 22w, Weber-17.226; 28. Eric Smith, 14, Smith-17.415; 29. Shane Wade, 66, Wade-17.427; 30. Rob Chaney, 9x, SC-17.460; 31. Frank Carlsson, 20x, Carlsson-17.738; 22. Dwayne Spille, 71s, Spille-18.154.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hmiel, 2. Hines, 3. Christian, 4. Short, 5. Darland, 6. East, 7. Wade, 8. Riggs. SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clarke, 2. Clauson, 3. Cummins, 4. Bland, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Meseraull, 7. Gross, 8. Chaney.

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Williams, 3. Jones, 4. Gardner, 5. Burdette, 6. Windom, 7. Weber, 8. Carlsson. FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Coons, 3. Ballou, 4. Cottle, 5. C.Armstrong, 6. Shanks, 7. Smith, 8. Spille.

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Riggs, 2. Windom, 3. Stanbrough, 4. C.Armstrong, 5. Darland, 6. Burdette, 7. East, 8. Gross, 9. Smith, 10. Chaney, 11. Shanks, 12. Wade, 13. Weber, 14. Carlsson, 15. Spille, 16. Meseraull. NT.

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Brady Short, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Casey Riggs, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Shane Hmiel, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Jerry Coons Jr., 13. Henry Clarke, 14. Chris Windom, 15. Justin Grant, 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 17. Kent Christian, 18. Brett Burdette, 19. Caleb Armstrong, 20. Bobby East, 21. Kyle Cummins, 22. Ricky Williams, 23. Jeff Bland Jr. NT

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