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Ventura, CA......Sept 14......After
winning his heat race from third starting, Chris Wakim battled forward from 8th
position and paced the final 25 laps to win the 30 lap VRA Unwinged 360 sprint
car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. It was Wakim's third win of 2002
and paid $1,000. The victory on September 14 was especially important to Wakim
as it was the birthday of his father who died early in the season. The two
drivers battling for rookie of the year honors ran 2-3 with Chris Tramel a
season best second ahead of 16 year old Allan Ballard from Bakersfield. Tramel
won $750 and Ballard $500. Tramel is the cousin of Cory Kruseman, who made his
IRL Indy Car debut on the weekend. Steve Greenland won his third IMCA Modified
20 lap feature of the 2002 season and a track best 26th of his career on the 1/4
mile clay oval. Point leader Randy McGraw battled his way forward from behind
the inversion to place second and increase his point lead to 8 points over third
place finisher Mike Furlong. The leading rookie in the VRA Modifieds, Ric
Bronson won his second 20 lap feature after earlier winning his heat. Mark
Gallimore ran second and cut George Kreider IV's point lead to just 30 points as
Kreider ran third. Fourth ranked pony stock racer James Brown is out of the
track title fight, but he posted his fifth 20 lap win of 2002 with point leader
Cliff Ashlock in second.
The sprint cars had a 31
car turnout and the action was on a tacky, but rough surface as it was a very
foggy afternoon at the coastal facility. The cars were divided into the usual
four heat races with the top four in each advancing into the 30 lap A Main.
Wakim won heat 1 from third starting as fourth starter Mike Knopf ran second.
Troy Rutherford crossed the line second, but made heavy contact with Steven
Conrad on the final lap and was dropped to last for rough driving. Gary Howard
won heat 2 from the front row as third starter Ronnie Case ran second. After
getting married in the morning, Tony Dighera flipped in this event. Point title
contender Greg Taylor nearly flipped leading heat 3 and fell out of a transfer
as pole starter Jeff Wilson won ahead of 6th starter Kevin Kierce. Point leader
Jimmy Crawford won heat 4 from the pole in front of fellow front row starter
Josh Ford. The B Main was full of heavy hitters coming from deep in the pack,
but front row starter Mike Davis won ahead of 11th starter Taylor, 14th starter
Dighera and pole starter Larry Lloyd. On the final lap, Rutherford ran over a
wheel riding sixth and took a wild series of flips down the backstretch. Josh
Ford and Case shared the front row for the 30 lap A Main and Case took an early
lead. Crawford spun in turn 2 and the battle between Case and Ford resumed. They
made contact and Fost spun into the infield. Case made one more lap and stopped
against the fence. Wakim inherited the lead and paced the remainder of the race.
Tramel battled from 12th to place second and Ballard came from 15th to run
third. Taylor started 18th and placed fourth to cut Crawford's point lead to
1030 points with 1050 points available each night. Santa Maria's Mike Knopf ran
fifth ahead of Oren Prosser Jr, Kierce, Dighera, Crawford and Luis Espinoza.
Tramel is 8th in points, 695 ahead of Ballard. Ford ranks third in points, but
lost ground to the leaders with his 20th place finish.
The 16 car IMCA
Modified turnout included Kings Speedway star Jimmy Reeves and Bakersfield
Speedway regulars Mike Scott and Jeff Miller. Greenland won the first heat in
front of Mark Fullerton with Donald Houghton taking heat 2 over improving Paul
Lane. While it was Greenland's third feature win, it was his first since May.
McGraw had placed 7th in his heat, but battled to second in the feature with
Furlong third ahead of Fullerton, Jeff Graham, Brett Lynsky, Randy Gens and
Houghton. Miller was 10th, Reeves 12th and Scott 16th. Graham is third in
points, just 7 ahead of rookie Joe Porche. The VRA Modifieds had 14 cars in the
pits and Marty McLaughlin won heat 1 over Tommy Fowler. Ric Bronson won heat 2
ahead of Rick Rodarte. Ric Bronson won the 20 lap feature with Gallimore second
over Kreider, Rodarte, Andy Frank, Jody Davis, Ray Martinez and Joe Henderson.
Kreider is just 30 points ahead of Gallimore, 55 in front of Rodarte and 140
ahead of 12th place finisher McLaughlin. Ric Bronson is fifth in points.
There were 17 Pony Stocks and
they used a two heat format. David Peterson won heat 1 over Adam McPhail with
Andrew Greiman the winner of heat 2 in front of Bruce Blackman Jr. Brown got the
lead on lap 6 of the 20 lap feature and ran away with Ashlock second ahead of
Greiman, third ranked John Duque, McPhail, point runnerup Mike Frazier and
Morgan Cole. Frazier is 130 points back of Ashlock and just 15 ahead of rookie
Duque.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-David Peterson, Adam McPhail, Morgan Cole, John Duque, Jack
Fullerton.
Heat 2-Andrew Greiman, Bruce Blackman Jr, Joel Chavez, James Brown, Jon
Mortensen.
Main-Brown, Cliff Ashlock, Greiman, Duque, McPhail, Mike Frazier, Cole,
Peterson, Blackman, Julie Masters, John Mikkelsen, Lindsy Klingberg, Mortensen,
Peter Jankovskis, Candice Raney, Fullerton, Chavez.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty McLaughlin, Tommy Fowler, Mark Gallimore, Joe Henderson, Ray
Martinez.
Heat 2-Ric Bronson, Rick Rodarte, George Kreider IV, Andy Frank, Jody Davis.
Main-Ric Bronson, Gallimore, Kreider, Rodarte, Frank, Davis, Martinez,
Henderson, David Lidren, Art Justus, Travis Wickenden, McLaughlin, Rob Bronson,
Fowler.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Steve Greenland, Mark Fullerton, Mike Furlong, Jeff Miller, Jimmy
Reeves.
Heat 2-Donald Houghton, Paul Lane, Joe Porche, Daman Redman, Mike Scott.
Main-Greenland, Randy McGraw, Furlong, Fullerton, Jeff Graham, Brett Lynsky,
Randy Gens, Houghton, Lyle Slater, Miller, Porche, Reeves, Redman, Kathy
Pierson, Lane, Scott.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Chris Wakim, Mike Knopf, Bill Welch, John Wright, Larry Lloyd.
Heat 2-Gary Howard, Ronnie Case, Oren Prosser Jr, Luis Espinoza, Mike
Davis.
Heat 3-Jeff Wilson, Kevin Kierce, Jeff Heaton, Rob Kershaw, Richard Terry.
Heat 4-Jimmy Crawford, Josh Ford, Chris Tramel, Allan Ballard, Russell DeBlauw.
B Main-Mike Davis, Greg Taylor, Tony Dighera, Lloyd, Steven Conrad, DeBlauw,
Terry, Nate Robinson, Ron Butler, Steve Gresham.
A Main-Wakim, Tramel, Ballard, Taylor, Knopf, Prosser, Kierce, Dighera,
Crawford, Espinoza, Lloyd, Wilson, Wright, Kershaw, Davis, Welch, Howard, Case,
Heaton, Ford.
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