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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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TWO STRAIGHT FOR CHRIS TRAMEL AT VENTURA |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and VRA Modifieds |
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Ventura, CA....March 13-- Having scored his first ever sprint car feature win the previous weekend, Chris Tramel made it two straight victories to open the VRA unwinged 360 sprint car season Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. This week, Tramel had to come from sixth starting and he grabbed the lead from improving Joe Henderson after former VRA champion Jimmy Crawford had broken an engine leading early in the 30 lapper. For the second straight week, Tom Stansberry from Bakersfield put on a passing clinic as he ran a close second despite restarting in the rear after a lap 12 spin. Front row starter Rob Kershaw ran third ahead of 8th row starter Bill Welch. The Senior Sprints ran their first 2004 season event and former USAC TQ Midget racer Richard McCormick pulled off a clean sweep with wins in his heat and the feature. Bruce Douglas chased McCormick across the finish line in both races and Wiley Miller ran third. Teammates Chris Tonoli and Kathy Pierson were 1-2 in the first IMCA Modified race of 2004 at Ventura. Tonoli started 8th and Pierson 6th. The top 3 finishers were the only drivers in the field who have been racing out of town in 2004 as Wes Richardson placed third. After charging from 8th to 2nd in his 9 lap heat race, Rick Rodarte then made it from 8th to the win in the VRA Modified 20 lap feature. It was his second straight win in 2004. Third row starters Mark Gallimore and Marty McLaughlin finished 2-3. With the unwinged 410 sprint cars idle for the weekend, VRA had a couple odd entries and divided the 35 car turnout into the usual four heat format. The top four finishers in each of the heat races advanced into the 30 lap A Main. Crawford used the break in his 410 schedule to return to his Ventura roots and won heat 1 from the pole with fellow front row starter Josh Ford second ahead of another 410 regular Greg Taylor. Henderson turned an outside front row start in heat 2 into a win ahead of Ron Wade and Bill Camarillo. Steve Conrad came from 4th to capture heat 3 ahead of pole starter Mike Broome and Steve Hess. The top 3 feature finishers all raced in heat 4 as outside front row starter Kershaw beat 3rd starter Tramel and 6th starter Stansberry. The B Main moved the top four finishers forward and Blake Miller won ahead of Tom Downing, Steve Chuhaloff and Shawn Kautz. Just missing the transfer were Jeremy Ellertson and Tom Hendricks. It was a tough night for top runner Chris Wakim as he was out on lap 2 of his heat and ran 10th in the B Main. Crawford led early in the 30 lap feature before breaking his engine. Henderson gained the top spot with several challengers. Some contact racing sent Conrad spinning and Stansberry had to restart last after his lap 12 spin. Taylor broke a shock and retired after some contact racing with Kershaw. Tramel worked his way around Henderson for the lead and the win. Stansberry's drive from the rear to 2nd duplicated his effort of the previous week and Kershaw hung on for third ahead of Welch, Conrad, Ford, Henderson, last starter Kautz, Wade and Downing. The top 12 finishers were on the lead lap. On March 20, the VRA sprint cars will travel to Perris Auto Speedway to race on the much larger half-mile clay oval. The Senior Sprints, who race identical unwinged 360 sprint cars, fielded 20 cars for their season opener and used a two heat format. Pole starter Ron Bach won the first heat as he fended off the challenge of 4th row starter W Miller. McCormick won heat 2 from the pole with 4th starting Douglas second ahead of Oren Prosser Sr. The front two races for their feature put Douglas and W Miller ahead of McCormick and Bach. Those four drivers finished in the top four spots with McCormick beating Douglas, W Miller and Bach. 12th starter Ron Butler was fifth ahead of Dale Harwood, John Jewett, Prosser and 13th starting Tim Moon. The main event had 17 starters with the scratches of Mike Cook, John Woodward and Jim Porter. The IMCA Modifieds had a 14 car opener. Pierson and Tonoli were 1-2 in heat 1 as Pierson started 3rd and Tonoli 4th. Gary Curtis came from 4th to win heat 2 ahead of pole starter Richardson and Will Smith. Since it was opening night, the top ten from the heat action redrew for their starting order in the front of the A Main grid. John Aitken and Donald Houghton drew the front row ahead of Curtis and Tom Topping. Tonoli charged forward from 8th to win the 20 lapper ahead of 6th starter Pierson, 5th starter Richardson and pole starter Aiken. Topping finished fifth and young Josh Houghton made his IMCA Modified debut with a sixth ahead of Joe Porche and Mark Collins. J Houghton won the track championship in the street stocks at Kern County Raceway and was impressive in the big Turkey Classic weekend at Victorville last November. The track elected to run all 11 VRA Modifieds in a single 9 lap heat race. Dave Lidren won from 4th and 8th starter Rodarte ran second ahead of McLaughlin and Gallimore. Mark Moise was a main event scratch. Fourth row starter Rodarte won his second 20 lap main event in two events with third row starters Gallimore and McLaughlin finishing 2-3. Lidren settled for fourth ahead of Jody Davis, George Kreider IV, Jeff Goddard and John Duque. With the VRA sprints racing at Perris, the Ventura racing card on March 20 will feature the Senior Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, Pony Stocks and VRA Dwarf Cars. Summary VRA Modifieds IMCA Modifieds Senior Sprint Cars VRA Unwinged 360 Sprints |
