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See You At The Races!!! |
| KRUSEMAN CHARGES FROM 7TH
FOR VENTURA WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 360 Sprints, TQ Midgets, Pony Stocks and Dwarf Cars |
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Ventura, CA....April 2.......Flying back from the Midwest after his USAC
event was rained out, Cory Kruseman charged from 7th starting and took the lead
from outside front row starter Jimmy Crawford on lap 9 enroute to his $1000 win
in the VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway.
Former track champion Greg Taylor shared the fourth row with Kruseman on the
start and he ran a $750 second while USAC/CRA star Mike Kirby was a $500 third
from fifth starting. A big 41 car field appeared for the sprint cars. Blake
Miller emerged as the new point leader after incoming point leader Chris Wakim
flipped on the second lap after starting on the pole of the 22 car feature.
Fifth starting Walt Johnson won the season debut race for the NMRA TQ Midgets
ahead of Kenny Wiley and Chuck West. The pony stocks got their season debut
event in after a couple rainouts and defending champion Mike Frazier won
the 15 lapper ahead of Andrew Greiman and Jon Everhart. The night also featured
the first 2005 runs for the VRA dwarf cars. Brian Saxton won the 20 lapper for
the Pro division ahead of Chuck Lippert and John Lynch. Bill VanPraag won the
senior division race in wire to wire fashion with 2004 champion Mike Sweeney
second ahead of Ed Niedzwiecki. The huge field of sprint cars found the track expanding the A Main field to 22 cars as four cars transferred from the four heat races and three cars each came from two B Mains. Bill Welch turned his outside front row start into a win in heat 1 over B Miller and invader Seth Wilson. Wilson had started 9th, but ended up as a feature scratch. Taylor put on a show in heat 2 as he won the 10 lapper from 9th starting. Sixth starter Larry Lloyd ran second and 10th starting Joe Henderson was third. Outside front row starter Bill Camarillo won heat 3 ahead of fifth starting Wakim and pole starter Ron Butler. Kirby started third in his heat 4 win with sixth starting Crawford second ahead of 11th starter Kruseman. The first 12 lap B Main was won by pole starting Ron Bach ahead of 10th starter Oren Prosser Jr and senior division star Bruce Douglas. Tom Hendricks and Hobie Conway rounded out the top five. Rob Kershaw won the second B Main from the pole with third starting Luis Espinoza second ahead of Ronnie Case, who charged from 9th. John Nock and Jim Thomson were 4th and 5th. Both Hendricks and Nock got into the feature when Wilson and Camarillo both scratched. Wakim and Crawford shared the front row for the 22 car, 30 lap feature with Lloyd and B Miller in row 2. Kirby and Welch filled row 3 ahead of Kruseman and Taylor. Wakim flipped on lap 2 for a red flag and Crawford set the pace until Kruseman drove by on lap 9. Taylor was a solid second in the closing laps as they worked lapped traffic. Kirby ran third and Welch was fourth. With a fifth place run, B Miller became the point leader. Kershaw battled from 18th starting to finish sixth ahead of Steve Conrad, Bach, Jeremy Ellertson, 22nd starter Case, Kevin Kierce and Lloyd. B Miller enjoys a 150 point lead on Welch with Kershaw another 205 points back in third. Wakim fell to fourth ahead of Taylor. The NMRA TQ Midgets had a solid 15 car turnout for their 2005 opener. Steve Lambert won heat 1 ahead of West Evans and Bruce Hiroshima. Jody Bandfield won heat 2 ahead of Johnson and Wiley. Fifth starting Johnson won the 20 lap main event ahead of third starter Wiley and 7th starting West. Ron Ahrendt came from 10th to finish fourth and pole starter Hiroshima was fifth ahead of Michael Bliffen, Cody Williams, Robert Ortega Jr and Lambert. There were 13 pony stocks and Frazier also won heat 1 ahead of Randy Miller and Peterson. Greiman won heat 2 ahead of Everhart and Jim Evans. Joe Romance was eliminated on lap 1 of the feature and both Jack Hoyt and Paul Johnson fell out early. The top 9 finished lead lap in a 15 lapper. Frazier won ahead of Greiman, Everhart, Miller, Peterson, Evans and Tom Fish. Mark Woellert was 8th and Lulu Strub 9th. The dwarf cars had a great turnout for their first 2005 race. The pro class had 15 entries and C Lippert won the first heat over Ryan Blade and Chris Taylor. Saxton had a perfect night as he won heat 2 over Jeff Shelton and Thomas Velasquez. C Lippert and Saxton shared the front row for the 14 car feature after Paul Hinton scratched. Marc Lippert fell out on lap 1 and Saxton outdueled C Lippert for the 20 lap win. Fourth row starter Lynch ran third ahead of 2004 champion Shelton. The top four lapped the field as Chad Kincaid was one lap down in fifth ahead of Velasquez, Las Vegas invader Rex Freymond and C Taylor. There were 12 seniors, but Steve Addison scratched from both his heat and the feature. VanPraag came from 4th to win heat 1 over 2nd starter Sweeney and James Soltis. Pole starter Niedzwiecki won heat 2 ahead of fifth starting Danny Arant and third starter Glen Monk. VanPraag and Niedzwiecki shared the front row for the 20 lap feature and VanPraag was never headed. Third starter Sweeney nipped Niedzwiecki for second and Arant ran fourth ahead of Monk. Mike Bailey was a lap down in sixth ahead of George Sack Jr and Jerre Hinton. Kruseman is scheduled to return on April 9th when the VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars will be joined by the VRA Modifieds, Pony Stocks and Dwarf Cars. Summary Senior Dwarf Cars Pro Dwarf Cars Pony Stocks TQ Midgets Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars |
