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Ventura, Ca.....June 22.......Young
rookie VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Car racer Jake Ford from Camarillo posted his
first $1,000 win in the 30 lap feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. It was
a wild affair with only six of the 20 starters finishing the race. Jimmy
Crawford was a $750 second and took over the track point lead. Crawford hasn't
won in 2002, but he has posted ten top five finishes. Incoming point leader Greg
Taylor was a first lap flip victim and fell 540 points back of Crawford. Sixteen
year old rookie Allan Ballard from Bakersfield finished a season best third,
worth $500. Last year's Senior Sprint champion Jim Porter won that feature from
the pole and moved to second in points, 1270 behind feature runnerup Wiley
Miller. This was Porter's first win of 2002. Feature runnerup Ron Bach and 4th
place Ron Butler were both disqualified for moving their cars out of the tech
area without permission. IMCA Modified point leader Randy McGraw won just his
second 20 lap feature of the season. Mike Furlong came from the rear to finish
second in the borrowed Bill Hiney car and stay within 17 points of point leader
McGraw.
The regular VRA sprint
cars had a 31 car turnout and were divided into four qualifying heat races. Jake
Ford came from sixth starting to win the first heat over fellow rookie Chris
Tramel with Crawford third. Taylor won heat 2 from fifth starting as Mike Davis
nipped Chris Wakim for 2nd. Santa Maria ace Jimmy Thompson returned and won heat
3 from the pole with Clark Templeman III second. Tony Dighera took heat 4 from
the pole with Bakersfield's Tom Stansberry second. Ironically, Jake Ford's
biggest night came on another night of disappointment for slightly older brother
Josh Ford. Josh Ford was the season point leader just two races ago, but broke a
rear end in the B Main last week. This week, Josh Ford clipped the wall in his
heat and then pulled off the track before the green flag in the B Main. The two
fruitless weeks have left Josh Ford 1445 points back of Crawford. Four more A
Main starters came out of the B Main and Santa Maria regular Darren Simas won
the front row with Rob Kershaw second over Eric Severson. In the 30 lap A Main,
Taylor made contact with Dighera on the first lap and lost several positions
with his infield excursion. Davis got out of shape coming off turn 4 and tangled
with Taylor with both cars flipping down the front stretch. The race was over
for both. On the restart, Steve Stasa and Simas tangled with Stasa suffering
heavy front end damage. Templeman spun on the next attempt and collected Wakim,
Ronnie Case and Dennis Rodrigues. When they finally got some green flag laps in,
Stansberry put on a show pacing the race in his rim riding fashion. Stansberry
suddenly pulled into the infield with problems and a spinning Severson collected
Simas to leave just 8 cars in action. Thompson blew an engine running 2nd.
Fourth starter Jake Ford led the rest of the way with 8th starting Crawford
second over 9th starter Ballard. Luis Espinoza was 4th over Rob Kershaw and
Wakim.
There were 17 Senior
Sprint Car entries. Richard Terry beat Tim Moon in heat 1 with Bach and Butler
placing 1-2 in heat 2. Bach put on a real show coming from 8th to win his heat.
Porter won the feature race from the pole with sixth starting Bach second at the
checkered flag over third starter Miller and outside front row starter Butler.
When Bach and Butler removed their cars from tech before being told to do so,
they were disqualified and that moved Miller to 2nd ahead of John Woodward,
Sparky Edmonston, Curtis Richards and Preiss Movius. Butler is still third in
points while Bach dropped to fifth behind 13th place finisher Dayle Henry. Oren
Prosser Sr and Sammy Iaconis were feature scratches.
The IMCA Modified action
saw a true display of sportsmanship. When Bill Hiney pulled off the track after
winning the second heat race, he learned that Furlong had broken his engine
lining up for the same race. He quickly offered his car to Furlong for the
feature action to keep 2nd ranked Furlong in the track title fight. Improving
Paul Lane won the first heat over Steve Greenland with Mark Fullerton second
behind Hiney in heat 2. McGraw outdueled Furlong for the feature win with Lane a
career best third over Greenland, Jeff Graham, Joe Porche, Randy Gens and Brett
Lynsky. McGraw's point lead is 17 over Furlong, 26 over Wes Richardson and 40
ahead of rookie Graham.
Summary
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Paul Lane, Steve Greenland,
Wes Richardson, Jeff Graham, Joe Porche.
Heat 2-Bill Hiney, Mark Fullerton, Lyle Slater, Brett Lynsky, Randy Gens.
Main-Randy McGraw, Mike Furlong, Lane, Greenland, Graham, Porche, Gens, Lynsky,
Richardson, Ed Shelton, Fullerton, Daman Redman, Slater.
Senior Sprints
Heat 1-Richard Terry, Mike Cook,
Wiley Miller, Mark Chuhaloff, John Woodward.
Heat 2-Ron Bach, Ron Butler, Jim Porter, Dayle Henry, Preiss Movius.
Main-Porter, Miller, Woodward, Sparky Edmonston, Curtis Richards, Movius, John
Richards, Larry Otani, Cook, Chuhaloff, Terry, Tim Moon, Henry.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Jake Ford, Chris Tramel,
Jimmy Crawford, Dennis Rodrigues, Steve Stasa.
Heat 2-Greg Taylor, Mike Davis, Chris Wakim, Luis Espinoza, Russell
DeBlauw.
Heat 3-Jimmy Thompson, Clark Templeman III, Bill Camarillo, Allan Ballard, Jeff
Wilson.
Heat 4-Tony Dighera, Tom Stansberry, Ronnie Case, Larry Lloyd, Darren Simas.
B Main-Simas, Rob Kershaw, Eric Severson, Stasa, DeBlauw, Wilson, Steve Gresham,
Gene Godepski, Steve Chuhaloff, Trace Glove.
A Main-Jake Ford, Crawford, Ballard, Espinoza, Kershaw, Wakim, Camarillo,
Thompson, Severson, Simas, Stansberry, Lloyd, Rodrigues, Dighera, Templeman,
Case, Stasa, Davis, Taylor, Tramel.
*eot
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