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Ventura, CA...April 3......Having
gained the lead in a late race incident with point leader Tom Stansberry, Will
Perkins from Hesperia captured Saturday night's 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint
car feature at Ventura Raceway. The $1000 win moved Perkins into fifth place in
points and it was his first of the 2004 season. In his victory interview, he
apologized for the contact in the lead duel with Stansberry. Bill Welch moved
into second place in points with his $750 runnerup finish and Josh Ford was a
$500 third. Gaining the top spot when an encounter with a lapped car put
pacesetter Wiley Miller briefly in the infield, Bruce Douglas improved his
Senior Sprint Car point lead with his first ever 21 lap feature win. W Miller
recovered for second ahead of John Jewett. Chris Tonoli's bid for a fourth
straight IMCA Modified feature win ended on lap 7 and Gary Curtis picked off the
20 lap win to pull within five points of Tonoli in the track title fight. Wes
Richardson placed third behind Steve Greenland and is tied with Curtis for
second in points. San Diego veteran Jim Scribellito made his first dwarf car
appearance of 2004 and won the VRA Pro Division 20 lap feature after earlier
winning his heat race. Brent Stevens also joined the VRA action and ran second
ahead of point leader Jeff Shelton. Wheeling his M&M Chassis, Mike Sweeney
made it three wins in three starts in 2004 as he won the Senior Dwarf Car main
event ahead of Ed Niedzwiecki and point runnerup Jon Prechtl.
The VRA sprint cars split a 29 car turnout into the usual four heat format with
the top four finishers in each advancing into the 30 lap A Main. Outside front
row starter Stansberry beat Ford in heat 1 and Welch also came from an outside
front row start in his heat 2 victory over pole starter Kevin Kierce. Perkins
won heat 3 from the pole with third starter Chris Wakim in second. Luis Espinoza
captured heat 4 from the pole and third starter Rob Kershaw was second. Eleven
cars started the 12 lap B Main with four transferring into the rear of the A
Main grid. All 11 cars finished lead lap with Joe Henderson winning ahead of
rookie Blake Miller, David Sinsley and Mike Broome. Steve Chuhaloff was fifth
ahead of Mark Weitzman and Victor Davis. Kershaw and Wakim had the front row for
the 20 car A Main and Wakim led the early laps before contact from Espinoza sent
him spinning. Both restarted in the rear. The feature ended early for three time
winner Chris Tramel as he was out on lap 2 along with Jonas Reynolds. Fourth
starter Perkins found himself leading sixth starter Stansberry. Wakim battled
his way back to third place by passing Welch, but clipped the fence and was out
on lap 27. Stansberry tried to make a slide job pass on leader Perkins, but they
made contact and Stansberry ended up in the turn 2 fence, collecting Steve
Conrad. Stansberry and Conrad restarted in the rear and Perkins led the
remaining laps for the win ahead of Welch, Ford, Kierce, Kershaw, Shawn Kautz
and Mike Whitcomb. Conrad finished 8th and Stansberry 10th. Stansberry's point
lead is 315 over Welch as Tramel fell 430 behind the leader. Conrad is 4th in
points, just 95 in front of Perkins.
The Senior Sprints split their 18 car turnout into three heat races. Douglas
came from fifth to win heat 1 over Jewett and Mike Cook. Ron Butler also came
from fifth to win heat 2 over Danny Miller. Fourth starter W Miller won heat 3
ahead of pole starter Rick Lewis. Jewett, W Miller, Butler and Douglas made up
the front two rows of the main event. Mark Chuhaloff, Mike Cook and Dayle Henry
were all main event scratches to leave a 15 car grid. W Miller set the pace
until his late race encounter with the lapped car cost him the lead. Douglas
drove by for the 21 lap win with W Miller second ahead of Jewett, point runnerup
Ron Bach, D Miller, Dale Harwood, Curtis Richards and Lewis. The top 11 cars
were on the lead lap with Tony Lima 9th ahead of Oren Prosser Sr and Tim Moon.
Douglas holds a 165 point lead on Bach with W Miller another 45 points back in
third. Harwood is fourth in points, 325 behind the leader.
The IMCA Modifieds had a 14 car turnout, but Donald Houghton's tough year
continued as he loaded up after hot laps. Kathy Pierson charged from 4th to beat
Brad Prows in heat 1 and pole starter Ed Shelton won heat 2 over third starter
Will Smith. Tonoli only managed a fifth in his heat and joined newcomer Luke
Ailken on the sidelines early in the 20 lap feature. Fifth starter Curtis
battled to the win with 9th starting Greenland second ahead of fourth row
starter Richardson. Smith placed fourth ahead of Shelton and rookie Josh
Houghton, the final lead lap finisher. Smith and J Houghton are tied for 4th in
points, 8 behind leader Tonoli.
The best dwarf car turnout of the season found 15 Pros and 11 Seniors in action.
Scribellito came from 4th to win heat 1 over Stevens and Dean Couch. Outside
front row starter Shelton won heat 2 ahead of Jeff Thompson and the return of
Thomas Velasquez. Shelton, Scribellito, Stevens and Velasquez made up the front
two rows of the 10 car feature. Mike Bradley had broken in hot laps and the heat
action ended the nights of Errol Sack, Couch, Peter Holladay and Cindy Addison.
The flying Scribellito left just the top 3 cars on the lead lap after 20 rounds.
He won ahead of Stevens and Shelton. John Lynch was one lap down in 4th and
rookie Ryan Blade beat Velasquez for fifth, both two laps down. Point runnerup
Marc Lippert was out on lap 3 and dropped 70 points back of Shelton. Kevin
Ireland is third in points, but only completed six laps in tonight's feature. On
the Senior Dwarf side, third starter Niedzwiecki beat second starter George Sack
in the heat race. Niedzwiecki had joined the pony stock action the previous week
at Ventura. Sweeney came from 8th to 3rd in the heat race. Sack and Niedzwiecki
had the front row for the feature ahead of Prechtl and Sweeney. Sweeney got the
15 lap win with Niedzwiecki second ahead of Prechtl, Jim Stutzman, Taft's Rick
Denny and Gary Conditt, the final lead lap car. Wes Harris was a lap down in
7th. With his perfect record over three races, Sweeney has stretched his point
lead to 115 points over Prechtl. Conditt is now 15 behind Prechtl and 40 ahead
of Denny.
After being idle on Easter Weekend, Ventura Raceway will return to action on
April 17 with the USAC Midgets, VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars and pony stocks.
Summary
Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat-Ed Niedzwiecki, George Sack, Mike Sweeney, Jon Prechtl, Jim Stutzman.
Main-Sweeney, Niedzwiecki, Prechtl, Stutzman, Rick Denny, Gary Conditt, Wes
Harris, Jim Kojaku, Sack, Jerry Doolittle, Ed McBride.
Pro Dwarfs
Heat 1-Jim Scribellito, Brent Stevens, Dean Couch, Kevin Ireland, Errol Sack.
Heat 2-Jeff Shelton, Jeff Thompson, Thomas Velasquez, John Lynch, Dawn Stutzman.
Main-Scribellito, Stevens, Shelton, Lynch, Ryan Blade, Velasquez, Stutzman,
Thompson, Ireland, Marc Lippert.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Kathy Pierson, Brad Prows, Damon Redman, Mark Fullerton, Chris Tonoli.
Heat 2-Ed Shelton, Will Smith, Steve Greenland, Gary Curtis, Wes Richardson.
Main-Curtis, Greenland, Richardson, Smith, Shelton, Josh Houghton, Steve Bulpit,
Fullerton, Pierson, Prows, Redman, Tonoli, Luke Ailken.
Senior Sprints
Heat 1-Bruce Douglas, John Jewett, Mike Cook, Mark Chuhaloff, Ron Bach.
Heat 2-Ron Butler, Danny Miller, Tony Lima, Bob Alderman, Sammy Iaconis.
Heat 3-Wiley Miller, Rick Lewis, Curtis Richards, Tim Moon, Dale Harwood.
Main-Douglas, W Miller, Jewett, Bach, D Miller, Harwood, Richards, Lewis, Lima,
Oren Prosser Sr, Moon, Iaconis, Brian Kittle, Alderman, Butler.
Unwinged 360 Sprints
Heat 1-Tom Stansberry, Josh Ford, Larry Lloyd, Steve Conrad, Joe Henderson.
Heat 2-Bill Welch, Kevin Kierce, Chris Tramel, Bill Camarillo, Blake Miller.
Heat 3-Will Perkins, Chris Wakim, Mike Whitcomb, Ron Wade, David Sinsley.
Heat 4-Luis Espinoza, Rob Kershaw, Jonas Reynolds, Shawn Kautz, Mike Broome.
B Main-Henderson, B Miller, Sinsley, Broome, Steve Chuhaloff, Mark Weitzman,
Victor Davis, Kim Lewis, Dennis Rodriguez, John Nock, Charles Turner.
A Main-Perkins, Welch, Ford, Kierce, Kershaw, Kautz, Whitcomb, Conrad,
Camarillo, Stansberry, Wade, Sinsley, Wakim, Broome, Henderson, B Miller,
Espinoza, Lloyd, Tramel, Reynolds.
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