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Ventura, CA....May 18......Grabbing
the lead early after a pair of restarts forced a single file start to the 30 lap
feature, Greg Taylor retook the season point lead with his fourth $1,000 win in
the VRA unwinged sprint cars Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. The four drivers
battling for the track title finished in the top four positions in the 30 lapper
as 3rd ranked Tony Dighera won $750 for second and fourth ranked Jimmy Crawford
was a $500 third. Last week's winner Josh Ford fell back to second in points
with his 4th place run. Legendary Oren Prosser Sr scored his first feature win
in two years of action with the senior sprint division as he fought off
the challenge of point leader Wiley Miller. Prosser was a major feature winner
in the super stock ranks in the 60's and 70's at Saugus Speedway and throughout
the Southwest. The 61 year old driver did race quite a bit on the dirt at Ascot
Park in his stock car days. Rick Rodarte won his third VRA Modified 20 lap
feature with point leader George Kreider IV second. Kreider gained the point
lead when point leader Mark Gallimore spun leading the feature. Tom Fish got his
first win in the Pony Stock 20 lapper with Mike Frazier nipping point leader
Cliff Ashlock for second.
The regular VRA unwinged
360 sprint cars saw their count drop to 28 cars this week. Jeff Heaton beat
Crawford in heat 1. Clark Templeman III returned to action with a win in heat 2
over Mike Davis. Bill Welch crossed the line in third, but broke an engine in
the process to end his night. Dighera beat Luis Espinoza in heat 3. Chris Wakim
was a flip victim in this race. Taylor won heat 4 over Chris Tramel and Allan
Ballard. Last week's winner Josh Ford couldn't get his car to fire for the heat
action, but he won the B Main over Steve Chuhaloff, Oren Prosser Jr and Renee
Boudreau. A multi-car tangle at the start of the B Main ended the night for
Wakim. The first attempt to start the 30 lap A Main saw Crawford ride the back
fence, forcing the field to stack up. Jake Ford got into the tires at the pit
entrance. On the next attempt, Templeman III slid high and David Sinsley flipped
in front of the grandstand to end his race. The third attempt saw the remaining
cars lined up single file. Third starter Taylor took little time to gain the top
spot. Fifth starter Dighera challenged for a few laps before falling back. Front
row starter Crawford finished third and Josh Ford worked his way forward from
12th starting to finish fourth. Rookie Chris Tramel started on the pole and
finished fifth ahead of Heaton, Mike Davis, teenaged rookie Allan Ballard, Case
and Prosser Jr. With his four wins, Taylor has now accumulated six top five
finishes and 8 top tens as he holds just a 15 point lead on Josh Ford. Dighera
is 370 points out of the point lead in third and Crawford is 80 points back of
Dighera.
The Senior Sprints had a 17 car
turnout. Ron Butler won heat 1 over Ron Bach and Mike Cook. Miller took heat 2
with Jim Porter second ahead of Prosser Sr. Porter and Bach shared the front row
for the feature race. Prosser Sr started fifth, but worked his way into the
lead. The track was going away during the feature and Prosser Sr charged into
the corners and used lots of brake to protect the inside line from the challenge
of point leader Miller. Porter ran third over Bach, Butler, Mike Frith-Smith,
Rick Lewis and Sammy Iaconis. Miller's point lead is 575 over Bach with Porter
another 140 points back in third.
The VRA Modifieds
continued with record car counts as 16 cars turned out. Gallimore beat Rodarte
and Marty McLaughlin in heat 1. Kreider IV won heat 2 over Tommy Fowler and Ric
Bronson. Rodarte was the feature winner over Kreider, Bronson, McLaughlin,
Fowler, Ray Martinez and Gallimore. Gallimore spun leading the 20 lapper at the
midway point. Gallimore is just 35 points back of Kreider and 70 ahead of
McLaughlin in the track title fight.
With a 25 car turnout,
the Pony Stocks used three heats and a B Main to determine their 20 car feature.
The top 4 in each heat advanced and Jim Nakashima beat point leader Ashlock in
heat 1. David Peterson won heat 2 over Jack Fullerton. Fish had a perfect night
as he also won heat 3 over Frazier. The scratch of Dave Revard allowed 9
transfers from the B Main where Morgan Cole won ahead of Julie Masters and James
Brown. Fish is ranked 15th in points, but he posted his first feature win ahead
of Frazier, Ashlock, Nakashima, Fullerton, Masters, Peterson and Adam McPhail.
John Duque is still third in points, but his 10th place run dropped him 180
points back of Ashlock. Brown ran 19th and fell 100 points back of Duque.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Jim Nakashima, Cliff Ashlock,
Adam McPhail, Steve Klingberg, Wade Zimmerman.
Heat 2-David Peterson, Jack Fullerton, Phillip Stevenson, Joel Chavez, Morgan
Cole.
Heat 3-Tom Fish, Mike Frazier, Dave Revard, Bruce Blackman Jr, Dennis
O'Brien.
B Main-Cole, Julie Masters, James Brown, Travis Furr, John Mikkelsen, John Duque,
O'Brien, Jon Mortensen, Brian Burroughs, Zimmerman.
A Main-Fish, Frazier, Ashlock, Nakashima, Fullerton, Masters, Peterson, McPhail,
Furr, Duque, Blackman, Mikkelsen, Chavez, O'Brien, Burroughs, Mortensen, Cole,
Klingberg, Brown, Stevenson.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Mark Gallimore, Rick Rodarte,
Marty McLaughlin, David Lidren, Jody Davis.
Heat 2-George Kreider IV, Tommy Fowler, Ric Bronson, Art Justus, Dino Delao.
Main-Rodarte, Kreider, Bronson, McLaughlin, Fowler, Ray Martinez, Gallimore,
Travis Wickenden, Davis, Andy Frank, Lidren, Joe Henderson, Delao, Daniel Shrubb,
Justus.
Senior Sprints
Heat 1-Ron Butler, Ron Bach, Mike
Cook, Mike Frith-Smith, Richard Terry.
Heat 2-Wiley Miller, Jim Porter, Oren Prosser Sr, John Woodward, Eddie Wirth.
Main-Prosser, Miller, Porter, Bach, Butler, Frith-Smith, Rick Lewis, Sammy
Iaconis, Cook, Dayle Henry, Curtis Richards, Larry Otani, Mark Chuhaloff,
Woodward, Larry Lee, Wirth, Terry.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Jeff Heaton, Jimmy Crawford,
Russell DeBlauw, Jake Ford, Steve Chuhaloff.
Heat 2-Clark Templeman III, Mike Davis, Bill Welch, Ronnie Case, Ryan Devitt.
Heat 3-Tony Dighera, Luis Espinoza, Steve Hess, David Sinsley, Eric
Severson.
Heat 4-Greg Taylor, Chris Tramel, Allan Ballard, Bill Camarillo, Oren Prosser
Jr.
B Main-Josh Ford, Chuhaloff, Prosser Jr, Renee Boudreau, Devitt, Ron Rector,
Severson, Larry Lloyd, Jerry Welton, Steve Stasa.
A Main-Taylor, Dighera, Crawford, Josh Ford, Tramel, Heaton, Davis, Ballard,
Case, Prosser Jr, DeBlauw, Espinoza, Devitt, Jake Ford, Chuhaloff, Boudreau,
Camarillo, Templeman, Hess, Sinsley.
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