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Ventura, CA....Sept 28.......Sixteen
year old modified midget graduate Allan Ballard from Bakersfield has turned a
lot of heads with his rookie season performances in the VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint
Cars and Saturday night he scored his first feature win by leading all 30 laps
at Ventura Raceway. His efforts are sponsored by Matrix Processing, Dick's
Automotive and Brand X Racing and his win paid $1,000. Ballard had flipped hard
in the previous week's action. For the second straight race, Ballard's chief
competition for rookie of the year, Chris Tramel finished a $750 second.
Alternate Chris Wakim made the show with the scratch of Trevor Brillman and
finished a $500 third after starting last in the crash filled race. Young Brett
Lynsky won his first IMCA Modified 20 lap feature win. He finished 6th in the
final point standings as Randy McGraw used a second place finish to wrap up his
second straight track championship. McGraw finished 15 points in front of Mike
Furlong when Furlong could only manage a 10th in the point finale. Rookie Ric
Bronson won his third 20 lap VRA Modified main event and this division has a new
point leader. Incoming point leader and defending champion George Kreider IV
finished 14th and dropped to third in points as fourth place finisher Mark
Gallimore gained the point lead. The top four in points are seperated by only 95
points. Running for just the fifth time with his new car, Jim Jewett won his
first 20 lap pony stock feature of 2002 with Wade Zimmerman in second. The
drivers fought slippery track conditions all night long as the sky was spitting
rain drops.
The unwinged 360 sprint
cars had a 38 car entry that was split into four heat races. Each transferred
four cars into the 30 lap A Main with several strong runners missing the cut.
Mike Davis beat Tony Dighera in heat 1 with a pair of youngsters dueling for the
2nd heat win as Josh Ford edged out Ballard. Ronnie Case won heat 3 with
Brillman in second. Jake Ford and David Sinsley were 1-2 in heat 4 as the wet
track conditions produced an upper groove track only. The remaining cars were
split into a pair of B Mains with only the top 2 in each gaining spots in the 30
lapper. Dwarf car graduate Mike Broome from Bakersfield won the first B Main
ahead of Steven Conrad and Wakim, who had missed the call for his heat race. The
second B Main went to Luis Espinoza ahead of Bill Camarillo and Ron Butler.
Point leader Jimmy Crawford missed the feature with a 7th in his heat and a 6th
in the second B Main, but closest rival Greg Taylor also missed. Taylor was
running 2nd in the second B Main, but was ejected from the race when he
protested his positioning on a restart. The scratch of Brillman allowed Wakim to
tag the 20 car feature grid. The crash fest feature had just 9 cars running at
the checkered flag. Espinoza spun in turn 1. Ron Bach slowed and was hit hard by
Case. Gary W Howard spun on the restart and a spinning Dighera was hit hard by
Josh Ford. David Sinsley spun, collecting Espinoza and Case, who were eliminated
by the two caution rule. Kevin Kierce, Dighera and Conrad tangled on the front
stretch with both Conrad and Dighera ending up on their sides. Davis ran over
the front end of Mike Knopf as they ran 2-3 with Davis flipping and Knopf
pitting with a flat tire. Howard flipped in a tangle with Wakim and Knopf
returned to tangle with John Wright and flip hard. Ballard started on the pole
and stayed ahead of the mayhem to post his first win and fifth top five. He is
10th in points. Tramel stayed ahead of him in the point standings with a 2nd
ahead of Wakim, 10th starter Russell DeBlauw, Conrad, Larry Lloyd and Broome.
Crawford's point lead is now 980 over Taylor. Wakim moved past Josh Ford into
third. Wakim is 415 ahead of Ford and 825 ahead of Dighera.
Because the IMCA point window
ends on September 30, this was the final point race for that class. Bill Hiney
won the first heat ahead of McGraw and Lynsky. Furlong beat Daman Redman in heat
2. Lynsky posted his first feature win with McGraw second ahead of Redman,
rookie of the year Jeff Graham, Mark Fullerton, Ed Shelton, Randy Gens and Lyle
Slater. Graham finished 16 points ahead of rookie of the year rival Joe Porche
as Porche was last in the 12 car field. Redman and Lynsky rounded out the top 6
in points. The VRA Modifieds had a 16 car turnout. Marty Desbrow beat Gallimore
in the first heat and Bronson edged out Rick Rodarte in heat 2. Bronson's third
feature win of 2002 strengthened his hold on fifth in points as Marty McLaughlin
ran second ahead of Desbrow, Gallimore and Rodarte. Joe Henderson, David Lidren
and Jody Davis made up the top 8. With Kreider's 14th, the shuffled standings
find Gallimore leading Rodarte by just 35 points, Kreider by 75 and McLaughlin
by 95. Rodarte has spent the whole year battling back from an early season
disqualification.
The 21 Pony Stocks ran three
heat races and the 20 survivors started their 20 lap feature. Jewett won the
first heat ahead of Julie Masters with Zimmerman having a strong night with a
win in heat two ahead of Andrew Greiman. James Brown beat Morgan Cole in heat 3.
Jewett then added the feature win with Zimmerman second ahead of Darren Gunnell.
With a fourth place run, Mike Frazier cut Cliff Ashlock's point lead to just 15
points as Ashlock finished 14th. Greiman was fifth in front of Adam McPhail,
John Duque and Brown. Duque is only 35 points ahead of Brown in their duel for
third in points.
Ventura Raceway is dark
on Oct 5 with the VRA sprint cars, senior sprints, modifieds and pony stocks
returning for their final point shows on Oct 12 and Oct 19. The Ventura season
ends with the SCRA Sprint Cars on Oct 26 including the WagsDash.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Jim Jewett, Julie Masters, David Peterson, Jon Mortenson, Randy
Miller.
Heat 2-Wade Zimmerman, Andrew Greiman, Mike Frazier, Joel Chavez, Charlie Faraci.
Heat 3-James Brown, Morgan Cole, Adam McPhail, Darren Gunnell, Cliff Ashlock.
Main-Jewett, Zimmerman, Gunnell, Frazier, Greiman, McPhail, John Duque, Brown,
Masters, Bruce Blackman Jr, Cole, Faraci, Chavez, Ashlock, Jack Fullerton,
Lindsy Klingberg, Mortensen, Mike Gouldy, John Mikkelsen, Peterson.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Mark Gallimore, Marty McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Ray
Martinez.
Heat 2-Ric Bronson, Rick Rodarte, George Kreider IV, Andy Frank, Jody Davis.
Main-Bronson, McLaughlin, Desbrow, Gallimore, Rodarte, Henderson, David Lidren,
Davis, Frank, Mike Schwellinger, Travis Wickenden, Daniel Shrubb, Kimberly Rice,
Kreider, Art Justus, Martinez.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Bill Hiney, Randy McGraw, Brett Lynsky, Mark Fullerton, Jeff
Graham.
Heat 2-Mike Furlong, Daman Redman, Ed Shelton, Lyle Slater, Bill Badger.
Main-Lynsky, McGraw, Redman, Graham, Fullerton, Shelton, Randy Gens, Slater,
Badger, Furlong, Hiney, Joe Porche.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Mike Davis, Tony Dighera, Larry Lloyd, Kevin Kierce, Steven Conrad.
Heat 2-Josh Ford, Allan Ballard, Russell DeBlauw, Gary W Howard, Clark Templeman
III.
Heat 3-Ronnie Case, Trevor Brillman, Mike Knopf, Chris Tramel, Mike
Broome.
Heat 4-Jake Ford, David Sinsley, John Wright, Ron Bach, Luis Espinoza.
1st B Main-Broome, Conrad, Chris Wakim, Steve Hess, Steve Gresham, Trace Glove,
Gene Godepski, Richard Terry, Tim Moon, Oren Prosser Jr.
2nd B Main-Espinoza, Bill Camarillo, Ron Butler, Jeff Wilson, Steve Chuhaloff,
Jimmy Crawford, B J Bates, Mike Gilmore, Greg Taylor, Templeman.
A Main-Ballard, Tramel, Wakim, DeBlauw, Conrad, Lloyd, Broome, Wright, Jake
Ford, Sinsley, Knopf, Howard, Davis, Kierce, Dighera, Espinoza, Case, Josh Ford,
Camarillo, Bach.
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