Remembering Shawn McDonald
11/5/22
Perris Auto Speedway
Perris, CA
26th Perris Oval Nationals
USAC National Sprint Cars
USAC-CRA
36 cars
Six drivers locked themselves into the Dash with their point totals from the two preliminary nights. They were Brady Bacon, CJ Leary, Robert Ballou, Kevin Thomas Jr., Justin Grant and Emerson Axsom.
The remaining 30 drivers qualified. Mitchel Moles (4th car out to time) set quick time at 16.222 seconds, the fast mark of the week. Damion Gardner (9th car out) was second quick, followed by Cody Williams (13th), Max Adams (26th), Daniel Whitley (19th), Jake Swanson (27th), Matt Westfall (8th), Austin Grabowski (2nd), Brody Roa (28th) and Jason McDougal (29th).
Heat one (started): 1. RJ Johnson 51 (2) 2. Tommy Malcolm 5x (1) 3. Westfall 33m (4) 4. Moles 19AZ (6) / 5. Adams 73 (5) 6. McDougal 22AZ (3) 7. Austin Williams 2 (8) 8. AJ Bender 21 (9) 9. Logan Williams 5w (7) 10. John Neal 214 (10)
10-lap heats transferred the top four to the feature. RJ Johnson led the distance in this one over Malcolm and Westfall. McDougal held down the final transfer until Moles drove around him on the high side of turn two on lap five.
Heat two (started): 1. Charles Davis Jr. 47 (2) 2. Grabowski 72 (4) 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr. 51T (1) 4. Gardner 1 (6) / 5. Whitley 3F (5) 6. Matt Mitchell 37 (3) 7. Logan Seavey 42 (8) 8. Chase Johnson 8m (7) 9. Chris Bonneau 15 (9) 10. Troy DeGaton 39T (10)
Davis led wire to wire over Grabowski and Tafoya. Mitchell was fourth until Gardner slid under him in turn two on lap four.
Heat three (started): 1. Swanson 21AZ (5) 2. Ricky Lewis 41 (1) 3. Roa 91R (4) 4. Sterling Cling 34 (2) / 5. C. Williams 44 (6) 6. Jadon Rogers 14 (7) 7. Logan Calderwood 6 (3) 8. Chris Gansen 4G (8) 9. Matt McCarthy 28M (9) 10. Gary Marshall Jr. 23 (10)
Cling led Swanson, Lewis and Calderwood early. Swanson took the lead on lap two, and Lewis moved by Cling for second on lap three. Roa moved by Calderwood into fourth with three to go and then took third from Cling with two to go. Cling was all over the track, preventing either a high riding Rogers, or a low moving C. Williams from getting by.
Dash (started): 1. Grant 4 (2) 2. Axsom 47BC (1) 3. Ballou 12 (4) 4. Bacon 69 (6) 5. Thomas Jr. 17GP (3) 6. Leary 77m (5)
The 6-lap Dash set up the first three rows of the feature. Grant led throughout. Bacon was the only real mover, going from the tail to fourth.
B main (started): 1. Adams (1) 2. Seavey (3) 3. Rogers (5) 4. C. Williams (2) 5. Whitley (7) 6. McDougal (11) / 7. A. Williams (4) 8. Bender (8) 9. Mitchell (9) 10. Gansen (12) 11. McCarthy (14) 12. L. Williams (6) 13. Bonneau (18) 14. C. Johnson (10) 15. Marshall (17) 16. Neal (15) 17. Calderwood (13) 18. DeGaton (16)
The 12-lapper took the top six to the feature. Adams led throughout. C. Williams was second early, over his brother Austin. Seavey took third from A. Williams on lap eighth and second from C. Williams on lap nine. C. Johnson spun with two to go, setting up a restart that saw A. Williams get shuffled out of a transfer by Whitley and McDougal.
A main (started): 1. Bacon (4) 2. Swanson (7) 3. Axsom (2) 4. Leary (6) 5. Ballou (3) 6. Grant (1) 7. Thomas Jr. (5) 8. Rogers (21) 9. Westfall (8) 10. Moles (16) 11. Roa (10) 12. RJ Johnson (13) 13. Davis Jr. (12) 14. C. Williams (22) 15. Seavey (20) 16. Tafoya (15) 17. Malcolm (11) 18. Cling (18) 19. McDougal (24) 20. A. Williams (25, prov.) 21. Adams (19) 22. Gardner (9) 23. Whitley (23) 24. Lewis (14) 25. Grabowski (17)
The 40-lapper was preceded by introductions on the stage. Once green, Axsom led Grant, Ballou and Bacon. Bacon used the high side of four to take third from Ballou on lap four, and then passed Grant low in four for second on lap seven. Ballou worked his way by Grant for third on lap ten. Bacon reeled in Axsom and shot around him high in turn two on lap 11 to take the point. On the same lap, Swantson claimed fourth from Grant. Lewis stopped 14 laps in, bringing the first caution. Bacon led Axsom, Ballou, Swanson, Grant and Thomas Jr. back to green. An incident on lap 16 was the last slowdown. Adams got up into the wall and came down on Malcolm. Gardner suffered a flat right rear in the fracus and Whitley retired with a lost wheel. Bacon pulled away from the field, while Swanson found his way by Ballou on the low side at the halfway point. Bacon was in lapped traffic with 11 to go, but would never be challenged. Swanson put a slider on Axsom with three to go to claim second. The win was Bacon’s first championship at the Oval Nationals and paid him $20,000. Rogers was the hard-charger.