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Ventura, CA.....April 17......On
a night when rainy weather wiped out the remainder of Southern California's
racing action including a pair of unwinged 410 sprint car events, Ventura
Raceway was spared and Chris Wakim took the lead from Greg Taylor on lap 16 and
drove to a $1000 win in the 30 lap feature for the VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars
Saturday night. Taylor settled for a $750 second on the dry slick track as cold
temperatures and brisk winds took their toll. Luis Espinoza was a $500 third and
point leader Tom Stansberry from Bakersfield ran fourth. The USAC Western States
Midget 30 lap feature saw Ford Focus graduate Garrett Hansen pacing the final 6
laps for the win after earlier setting fast time. Hansen's car is a Fontana
powered Stealth sponsored by Hansen's Welding. The 19 year old climbed to sixth
place in points with the win in a race that was slowed by ten caution flags.
Former mini sprint star Dallen McKenney from Clovis ran second ahead of former
winged sprint car star Johnny Rodriguez. With his finish, Rodriguez climbed to
within one point of point leader Michael Lewis. The dry slick conditions found
the sprint cars racing right against the crash wall while the midgets tended to
hug the bottom groove on the 1/4 mile clay oval. The pony stocks rounded out the
three division card and 2003 champion Mike Frazier drove from sixth starting to
post his second win of 2004. Previous race winner Andrew Greiman was second
ahead of Jon Everhart. The win improved Frazier's point lead to 120 points over
both Everhart and David Peterson.
The unwinged 360 sprint cars had a 32 car turnout and were divided into the
usual four qualifying heat races. The top four finishers in each heat advance
into the 30 lap A Main. Mike Whitcomb beat Bill Camarillo in heat 1 and Joe
Henderson took heat 2 ahead of Blake Miller. Shawn Kautz and Taylor were 1-2 in
heat 3 and Wakim won heat 4 ahead of Ronnie Case. The B Main lined up 14 cars
chasing the four transfers and Rob Kershaw won that event with three feature
winner Chris Tramel second ahead of Oren Prosser Jr, Steve Conrad and David
Sinsley. The inversion for the 30 lap feature was an 8 that put Taylor and
Miller on the front row. Case was slated to start fifth, but was forced to move
to the rear because his car did not have the spec mufflers required at Ventura.
The wild A Main was checkered a lap early and only 11 of the 20 starters saw the
checkered flag. On lap 3, contact sent Larry Lloyd into the back fence and he
flipped. Chris Tramel and Will Perkins got collected in the incident and Perkins
was briefly knocked out. Perkins walked to the ambulance under his own power.
Oren Prosser Jr and Conrad were eliminated in a lap 6 incident. Taylor turned
his pole start into the lead for the first 15 laps of the 30 lapper. Wakim
worked his way forward from sixth starting and led the final half of the race
for the rich win. Case came from the rear to third only to get tangled up with
Miller forcing the early checkered flag. Espinoza drove from 9th to 3rd and
Stansberry came from 8th to finish 4th. Whitcomb was fifth ahead of Henderson,
Bill Welch, Mike Broome and Kershaw. Stansberry's point lead is 470 points over
Welch with Tramel now 1190 back in third. Wakim stands sixth behind Kershaw and
Conrad.
There were 24 USAC Western States Midgets and Hansen opened the night by posting
quick time of 12.306. Rodriguez ran a 12.343 and Josh Wise a 12.572. McKenney
was fourth ahead of Tyler Brown and Wally Pankratz. Twelve of the 24 cars timed
in the 12 second bracket. The heat action for the midgets saw three abreast
action on a racy track. Bobby Boone won the first heat ahead of Hansen.
Rodriguez took heat 2 with Mike Leslie second. Jimmy Christian was victorious in
heat 3 ahead of Matt Mitchell. Driving the Sala car, Wise was a first lap crash
victim in the heat races and that allowed 7th quick Danny Stratton to sit on the
pole for the 30 lap feature with the usual USAC six car inversion. Stratton led
the first 24 laps before Hansen worked his way from sixth to take command. A lap
later, Stratton pulled off the track. An early incident forced point lead Lewis
to restart in the rear. With everyone else running the bottom line, Lewis then
took his car to the extreme outside line and worked his back to the top five
before breaking his engine. The blown engine produced a huge ball of flames, but
Lewis was unhurt. Hansen won ahead of McKenney, Rodriguez, Pankratz, Robby
Flock, Christian, Rick Hendrix, mini sprint graduate Shannon McQueen, Shane
Mathews and Jerome Rodela. The USAC Western States Midgets now race at Perris on
the big half-mile on April 24.
The 19 pony stocks were divided into a pair of heat races. Frazier won the first
ahead of Greiman and Tom Fish. Dave Revard took the second with Jody Davis
second ahead of Matt Sweeney. The feature lineup had Fish and Mortenson on the
front row, but sixth starter Frazier drove to the win. Third starter Greiman ran
second ahead of Everhart, Davis, 14th starting Joel Chavez, Fish and David
Peterson. Frazier's point lead is 120 over both Everhart and Peterson with
Chavez another five points back in 4th. Greiman and Revard are tied for fifth,
180 points behind the point leader.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Mike Frazier, Andrew Greiman, Tom Fish, Jon Everhart, Adam McPhail.
Heat 2-Dave Revard, Jody Davis, Matt Sweeney, Jon Mortenson, Ashley Utts.
Main-Frazier, Greiman, Everhart, Davis, Joel Chavez, Fish, David Peterson,
Sweeney, Revard, Ed Cutler, Ed Niedzwiecki, Lindsey Klingberg, Jim Evens,
McPhail, Jesse Farless, Mortenson, Paul Johnson, Utts, Candice Raney.
USAC Midgets
Fast Time-Garrett Hansen 12.306
Heat 1-Bobby Boone, Hansen, Robby Flock, Danny Stratton, Dallen McKenney.
Heat 2-Johnny Rodriguez, Mike Leslie, Tyler Brown, Shane Mathews, Sparky Howard.
Heat 3-Jimmy Christian, Matt Mitchell, Wally Pankratz, Michael Lewis, Shannon
McQueen.
Main-Hansen, McKenney, Rodriguez, Pankratz, Flock, Christian, Rick Hendrix,
McQueen, Mathews, Jerome Rodela, Mitchell, Stratton, Lewis, Jimmy Voitel, Kirk
Kubik, Robert Ellis, Josh Wise, Howard, Stephen Graves, Brown, Jimmy Crawford,
Michael Simpson, Leslie.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Mike Whitcomb, Bill Camarillo, Mike Broome, Jimmy Crawford, Chris Tramel.
Heat 2-Joe Henderson, Blake Miller, Luis Espinoza, Larry Lloyd, Kim Lewis.
Heat 3-Shawn Kautz, Greg Taylor, Tom Stansberry, Will Perkins, Rob Kershaw.
Heat 4-Chris Wakim, Ronnie Case, Kevin Kierce, Bill Welch, Mark Weitzman.
B Main-Kershaw, Tramel, Oren Prosser Jr, Steve Conrad, David Sinsley, Ron
Butler, Weitzman, John Nock, Jesse Denome, Tom Hendricks.
A Main-Wakim, Taylor, Espinoza, Stansberry, Whitcomb, Henderson, Welch, Broome,
Kershaw, Case, Miller, Camarillo, Kautz, Crawford, Kierce, Prosser, Conrad,
Lloyd, Tramel, Perkins.
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