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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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SATURDAY NIGHT OFF |
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Returning
from the NWWC tour, the SCRA racers had a week off to recoup from their journey
and check the inventory of spare parts, left after the grueling trip.
They will return for a two-day Labor Day extravaganza, running at Ventura
on Saturday and following up at Perris on Sunday. Well I had all my dirty clothes washed and ready to go, so I took this opportunity to visit my favorite track at Ventura for a regular Saturday evening program. This night’s show included VRA Modifieds (4 cylinder or V-6 engines), IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf Cars and the featured VRA Sprints. Ventura is one of the friendliest tracks I have ever visited. The racing teams in all classes are from the local area for the most part and will welcome you into their pits, often offering drinks or snacks. It is quite pleasant to stroll through the pits and renew acquaintances with the many competitors. Several of the SCRA regulars were in attendance, having secured rides in a 360 car for the night. Among those racers competing tonight, were Cory Kruseman, Gary W. Howard, Steve Ostling, Jimmy May and Tom Downing. A number of regular SCRA crew people were also visible in the pits as were a group of fans in the stands. There were thirty-four sprint cars in the pits tonight. Capturing the four heat race wins were Ronnie Case, Cory Kruseman, Greg Taylor and Gary W. Howard. Jeremy Ellertson put on an outstanding show in the Semi holding off current point leader, Jimmy Crawford. In the feature, Gary W. Howard appeared to have a good shot at victory, while closely pursued by Greg Taylor. Suddenly, Howard’s car bobbled, recovering, but allowing Taylor to slip by for the lead. Howard charged back and looked as if he would try to reclaim the point, when his car bobbled once again and ended up against the turn four-crash wall. After the race, it was discovered that Howard’s steering box had broken and he was glad that he didn’t really nail the wall. With Howard now sidelined, Taylor raced toward feature win #9, closely pursued by Steve Conrad, Cory Kruseman and Chris Wakim, each striving to gain an advantage. As the checkers fell, the line up remained the same; with the amazing Jeremy Ellertson gaining his first top five feature finish. Ventura offers down home racing, with most of the fans coming from the local area. While most of the heroes are guys who live in the area and spend their Saturday nights racing for family and fans, there have been a number of racers who started their careers at this track, who have gone on to gain higher acclaim. It wasn’t that long ago, that Cory Kruseman, Jay Drake, Jason Leffler, Page & P.J. Jones were turning laps on this racy small oval. It is likely that one or more of tonight’s regular competitors will move on to higher levels, including this evening’s winner, Greg Taylor.
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