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Ventura, Ca....Oct 19.......Former
track champion Kevin Kierce scored his first feature win of the 2002 season in
the 30 lapper for the VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars as Ventura Raceway closed
it's point season Saturday night. Only a part time competitor at the track this
year, Kierce came from 4th starting for the $1,000 win with SCRA regular Steve
Ostling charging all the way from 19th for the $750 second. Pole starter Jeff
Wilson was a $500 third. The event was made a qualifier for the Wags Dash action
during the SCRA show on Oct 26 and both Kierce and Ostling earned invitations.
Senior Sprint Car point champion Wiley Miller closed with another 16 lap feature
win. He won 8 of the 15 races in 2002 and he was chased to tonight's win by
Santa Maria Speedway regular John Jewett with third ranked point racer Ron Bach
in third. The very tight five way battle for the track championship in the VRA
Modifieds produced a tie as defending champion George Krieder IV used a second
place finish to climb into a tie with fifth place finisher Mark Gallimore. Rick
Rodarte won the 20 lap feature for his 7th win in 15 races, but spent the whole
season battling back from an early season disqualification and finished just 45
points behind the co-champions. The pony stock title was also decided on the
final night as Mike Frazier collected just his 2nd win of 2002, but it was good
enough for him to overtake Cliff Ashlock. Frazier got 140 points more than
Ashlock on the final night and won the championship by 85 points as Ashlock
could only manage a 13th place finish.
The VRA unwinged 360 sprint
cars had a 37 car entry for the final point race even though previous week
winner Tom Stansberry elected to race the USAC show at Irwindale instead. The
most successful season ever for this series saw a record 101 different drivers
collect points in 2002. The large field was split into the usual four qualifying
heat races with the top four finishers in each advancing to the A Main. Josh
Ford took the checkered flag first in the first heat, but was penalized back to
4th with the win going to Jeff Heaton ahead of Mike Knopf. Tony Dighera used a
last lap pass around Jeff Wilson to win heat 2. Gary W Howard drove the Buzz
Shoemaker car to a win in the third heat ahead of track champion Jimmy Crawford
and Steven Conrad, who was in a brand new mount. Kierce won heat 4 with Ronnie
Case wowing the crowd with a series of slide jobs. Case broke before checkered
flag and Clark Templeman III ran second ahead of Oren Prosser Jr. The track
elected to run two B Mains and transfer two cars out of each. In the first,
early leader Rob Kershaw spun and collected Steve Chuhaloff. Drag racer John
Geyer took the lead, but was passed by Ostling in the Sandy and Jim Kroupa car.
Ostling then spun to hand the lead to Chris Wakim. Bill Camarillo flipped in a
tangle with Steve Gresham and the race was called with Wakim winning ahead of
the hard charging Ostling and Geyer. The second B Main had a torrid battle for
the win between Mike Davis, Larry Lloyd, 16 year old Alan Ballard and John
Wright. Davis was leading when Ballard was sent to the rear for spinning Lloyd
out. Driving the Preiss Movius car, Sean Buckley took the lead from Davis and
Case made a wild charge, taking the final transfer slot with an outside move on
the last lap. Lloyd ran third ahead of Wright and Davis.
The drivers knew that the 30
lap feature would award Wags Dash invitations to the race winner and the hard
charger. J Wilson and Knopf shared the front row for the 20 car lineup. Wilson
took a quick lead while early incidents sidelined point runnerup Greg Taylor,
Heaton, Prosser Jr and Knopf. Wilson was riding the high line with Kierce giving
chase. Wilson fought off Kierce's effort, but Kierce even climbed the fence in
his attempts. Kierce finally picked off the top spot and 17th starter Wakim and
19th starter Ostling had worked their way into fifth and sixth. Wakim's race
ended as he lost a muffler and Ostling switched to the inside berm to climb up
to second at the checkered flag. Wilson ran third ahead of Crawford, Conrad,
Howard, Dighera, Trevor Brillman, Buckley and Templeman. Crawford ended up with
a 1870 point lead on Taylor with Dighera just 210 points ahead of Wakim in the
third place duel.
There were 23 entries in the
unwinged sprint car action for the Senior Drivers (45 years old and older). The
track elected to start everyone in the 16 lap feature. Jewett made a return to
Ventura Speedway with a win in heat 1 ahead of Chuck Tyler and John Richards.
Jim Porter drove his Stinger to a win in heat 2 as stock car legend Oren Prosser
Sr ran second ahead of Mike Cook. Sponsored by Roy Miller Freightlines, W Miller
won heat 3 ahead of Rick Lewis and Sparky Edmonston. Tyler and Porter shared the
front row for the 16 lap feature and Tyler raced into the lead. Tyler spun in
turn 4 and collected both Porter and Prosser Sr. Tyler's night was over and
Jewett was the new leader ahead of Miller. Several cautions slowed the action
and Richard Terry flipped. Both Jewett and Miller were riding in the bottom
groove, but a bobble by Jewett gave Miller the opening that he needed. Miller
won with Jewett second ahead of Bach, John Woodward, Porter, Cook, Lewis and
Sammy Iaconis, who came from 20th. Bach had started 14th and Woodward 12th.
Miller ended the season with a 2355 point lead on Porter with Bach another 290
points back.
The VRA Modifieds
had a 15 car turnout. Ray Martinez beat Jack Fullerton in heat 1 and Marty
Desbrow outraced Rodarte in heat 2. Rodarte won the 20 lap feature ahead of
Kreider, Ric Bronson, Marty McLaughlin and Gallimore. Those five drivers were
the five contending for the track title and points ended in a tie between
Kreider and Gallimore. Rodarte was just 45 points back, McLaughlin trailed by
105 and the red hot Bronson closed to within 135 points in fifth. Desbrow was
sixth in the feature ahead of Andy Frank, Martinez and Joe Henderson. The pony
stock count improved to 27 cars, but only 23 survived to start the 20 lap
feature. Jon Everhart beat James Brown in heat 1 with M Frazier on top of Julie
Masters in heat 2. Darren Gunnell won heat 3 ahead of Tom Fish and Dave Revard.
M Frazier then outraced Gunnell in the feature with Randy Miller third ahead of
Everhart, Masters, John Duque, Jack Fullerton, Brown and Adam McPhail. Ashlock
paced the points starting the night, but ran 7th in his heat and 13th in the
feature to fall 85 points back of champion M Frazier. Brown ended up 70 points
ahead of Duque in third.
Ventura Raceway's season
closes Oct 26 with a full SCRA sprint car show and the always exciting Wags Dash
as an added feature.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Jon Everhart, James Brown, Andrew Greiman, Randy Miller, Lindsey
Klingberg. Heat 2-Mike Frazier, Julie Masters, Adam McPhail, Tim Frazier, Morgan
Cole.
Heat 3-Darren Gunnell, Tom Fish, Dave Revard, Bruce Blackman Jr, John Duque.
Main-M Frazier, Gunnell, Miller, Everhart, Masters, Duque, Jack Fulleton, Brown,
McPhail, Greiman, Blackman, Klingberg, Cliff Ashlock, John Mikkelsen, Scott
McNichols, Jon Mortensen, Mike Weigel, Tracy Scaffire, Candice Raney, Fish,
Cole, T Frazier, Revard.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Ray Martinez, Jack Fullerton, Marty McLaughlin, George Kreider IV, Travis
Wickenden.
Heat 2-Marty Desbrow, Rick Rodarte, Ric Bronson, Jody Davis, Mark Gallimore.
Main-Rodarte, Kreider, Bronson, McLaughlin, Gallimore, Desbrow, Andy Frank,
Martinez, Joe Henderson, Wickenden, Dave Ellison, Fullerton, Davis, David Lidren.
Senior Sprint Cars
Heat 1-John Jewett, Chuck Tyler, John Richards, John Woodward, Mark Chuhaloff.
Heat 2-Jim Porter, Oren Prosser Sr, Mike Cook, Preiss Movius, Ron Bach.
Heat 3-Wiley Miller, Rick Lewis, Sparky Edmonston, Dayle Henry, Eddie Wirth.
Main-Miller, Jewett, Bach, Woodward, Porter, Cook, Lewis, Sammy Iaconis, Dale
Harwood, Wirth, Curtis Richards, Tim Moon, Bruce Douglas, Roger Hendrix,
Prosser, Edmonston, Richard Terry, Henry, Bill Jones, Chuhaloff, John Richards,
Movius, Tyler.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Jeff Heaton, Mike Knopf, Bill Welch, Josh Ford, Trevor Brillman.
Heat 2-Tony Dighera, Jeff Wilson, Russell DeBlauw, Luis Espinoza, Mike
Davis.
Heat 3-Gary W Howard, Jimmy Crawford, Steven Conrad, Greg Taylor, Rob Kershaw.
Heat 4-Kevin Kierce, Clark Templeman III, Oren Prosser Jr, Chris Tramel, Allan
Ballard.
1st B Main-Chris Wakim, Steve Ostling, John Geyer, Denny McVey, Steve Gresham,
Bill Camarillo, Kershaw, Steve Chuhaloff, Jake Ford.
2nd B Main-Sean Buckley, Ronnie Case, Larry Lloyd, John Wright, Mike Davis,
Ballard, John Reynolds, Mark Weitzman, Mark Deskovich, Cory Witheral.
A Main-Kierce, Ostling, Wilson, Crawford, Conrad, Howard, Brillman, Buckley,
Templeman, Tramel, Wakim, DeBlauw, Welch, Case, Espinoza, Prosser, Knopf,
Heaton, Taylor.
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