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(Ventura, CA....April 20) Capping
an incredible charge forward from 11th starting, young Greg Taylor scored a
$2,000 win in Saturday night's 30 lap A Main for the VRA unwinged 360 sprint
cars at Ventura Raceway. Sponsorship from Agromin allowed the increased winner's
share as second place was worth the normal $1,000 winner's check. Chris Wakim
ran second and defending series champion Gary Howard was a $750 third. The
increased purse saw a great 44 car field in action. It was Taylor's second
straight win and third overall in 2002. He opened the year with a plan to run
for rookie of the year honors with the SCRA 410 sprint cars, but his strong
start at Ventura has him now concentrating on a track championship run. He has
over a 500 point lead on runnerup Jimmy Crawford. Cliff Ashlock won his first 20
lap pony stock main event and took over the track point lead in the process.
Former point leader James Brown struggled to a 19th and fell to third in points.
The busy night that included both CDCRA dwarf car classes saw the VRA Modifieds
left without any time to run their main event. It will be added to the April
27th card at the track.
Even with the over 40 car turnout,
the track still used their usual four heat format. This led to 10 and 11 car
heat races, but all four wins went to front row starters. The top 4 finishers in
each heat advanced into the rich 30 lapper. Josh Ford won heat 1 from the pole
with 4th starter Wakim second. Making the A Main for the first time in 3 Ventura
appearances in 2002, SCRA champion Cory Kruseman won heat 2 from outside front
row with fellow SCRA racer Gary W Howard 2nd from 4th starting. Crawford came
all the way from 7th to finish third. Tony Dighera won heat 3 from the pole with
champion Gary Howard 2nd from 4th starting. Jeff Heaton took heat 4 from outside
front row with pole starting Oren Prosser Jr second as Taylor ran third after
starting there. The final four A Main slots came in a pair of good sized B
Mains. Rob Kershaw won the first from the pole with fifth starter Mike Davis
getting the other transfer slot. John Wright won the second B Main from an
outside front row start with pole starter Bill Floyd second. Floyd was a Ventura
regular before he moved to Indiana several years ago.
In the 30 lap A Main,
Dighera and Ford battled for the top spot early in the race. Ford was running an
extremely high line with Dighera down on the pole. Kruseman got around Dighera
for 2nd, but then got sideways collecting both Dighera and Gary W Howard. Wakim
then became to challenge Ford for the top spot and used a bottom groove run to
claim first. Wakim's lead was shortlived as Taylor drove by both champion Gary
Howard and Crawford on the same lap, then passed Wakim for the top spot. Bobby
Graham was making a strong move to the front when he lost his engine. A later
incident on the backstretch involved Tom Downing, Gene Godepski, Ronnie Case,
Ron Bach and Kershaw. Only half of the 20 starters were running at the checkered
flag. Taylor won from 11th starting, 2nd place Wakim started 5th and third place
Gary Howard came from 7th. Heaton ran fourth ahead of Ford, Kruseman, Crawford,
Jeff Wilson, Wright and Dighera. While Taylor has over a 500 point lead on
Crawford, both Gary Howard and Ford are within 20 points off Crawford. Dighera
stands fifth.
The pony stocks had a 21
car turnout and the track allowed all of them to start their 20 lap main event.
Adam McPhail won the first heat ahead of Mike Frazier and Jack Fullerton. Brown
did win heat 2 with Joel Chavez second over Ashlock. Bruce Blackman Jr won heat
3 over female racer Julie Masters and John Duque. Ashlock won the 20 lap feature
over Duque, Chavez, Steve Klingberg, Masters, John Mikkelsen, Jim Nakashima,
David Peterson and Eric Hedlund. Ashlock is just ten points ahead of
Klingberg with Brown 35 points out of the point lead. Duque is having a strong
season and stands fourth in points, 60 out of the point lead. Frazier rounds out
the top five.
The 13 VRA Modifieds did get their
two heats in. Marty Desbrow won the first heat over Joe Henderson and Andy
Frank. Rick Rodarte won heat 2 with Ric Bronson second over Marty McLaughlin.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Adam McPhail, Mike Frazier,
Jack Fullerton, David Peterson, Jon Mortensen. Heat 2-James Brown, Joel Chavez,
Cliff Ashlock, Jim Nakashima, Phillip Stevenson.
Heat 3-Bruce Blackman Jr, Julie Masters, John Duque, Steve Klingberg, John
Mikkelsen. Main-Ashlock, Duque, Chavez, S Klingberg, Masters, Mikkelsen,
Nakashima, Peterson, Eric Hedlund, Blackman, Mortensen, Ed Graham, McPhail, Doug
Cason, Frazier, Brian Burroughs, Lindsey Klingberg, Dennis O'Brien, Brown,
Fullerton, Stevenson.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Joe Henderson,
Andy Frank, Mark Gallimore, George Kreider IV.
Heat 2-Rick Rodarte, Ric Bronson, Marty McLaughlin, David Lidren, Dino Delao.
Main-Postponed.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Josh Ford, Chris Wakim, Gene
Godepski, Jeff Wilson, Rob Kershaw.
Heat 2-Cory Kruseman, Gary W Howard, Jimmy Crawford, Ronnie Case, Bill Floyd.
Heat 3-Tony Dighera, Gary Howard, Bobby Graham, Ron Bach, Luis Espinoza.
Heat 4-Jeff Heaton, Oren Prosser Jr, Greg Taylor, Tom Dowing, John Wright.
1st B Main-Kershaw, Mike Davis, Russell DeBlauw, Bill Welch, Jake Ford, Mike
Gilmore, Larry Lee, Espinoza, Richard Terry, Ronnie McNeely.
2nd B Main-Wright, Floyd, Carter Reyer, Chris Tramel, Ron Recktor, Ryan Devitt,
Renee Boudreau, Larry Lloyd, Eric Severson, David Sinsley.
A Main-Taylor, Wakim, Gary Howard, Heaton, Josh Ford, Kruseman, Crawford,
Wilson, Wright, Dighera, Case, Godepski, Kershaw, Bach, Downing, Gary W Howard,
Graham, Davis, Prosser, Floyd.
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