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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| GARY HOWARD RETURNS TO
WINNING WAYS by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and VRA Modifieds |
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Ventura, CA -May 19, 2001--Having had his three race
winning streak snapped by Richard McCormick the previous weekend,
defending track unwinged 360 sprint car champion Gary Howard grabbed
the lead from Steven Conrad and went on to win the 30 lap feature for
the class Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Howard's win was worth
$1,000 and allowed him to stretch his season point lead to 720 points
over Chris Wakim, who won $750 for his second place run. Ironically,
third ranked in points is third place finisher Greg Taylor, who won
$500. McCormick appeared headed to repeating his win, but failed to
stop for a red flag just as he took the lead and was penalized to the
rear for the next restart. McCormick ended up 14th and dropped to 4th
in points. In the IMCA Modifieds, Mike Furlong made it two wins in
five starts and increased his season point lead to 13 points over
Randy McGraw. Furlong is trying to repeat as track champion and McGraw
is also a former champion. Paul Moore not only collected his second
win in the street stock feature, but took over the point lead in the
process as he emerged with a 5 point margin over Bradley Prows, who
ran second in the 20 lapper. Marty Desbrow made it two wins in two
starts in the new VRA Modified class, but the division has raced three
times and feature runner George Kreider IV is the early season point
leader.
The 30 sprint cars used four heat races and a B Main to set their 20 car grid for their 30 lap feature. Tony Dighera continued his great efforts as he won heat 1 over Bill Welch. Mike Davis was able to fend off Howard in heat 2 with McCormick beating Conrad in heat 3. Wakim beat Kenny Brown in heat 4. Fourteen cars battled for four spots in the B Main with Ronnie Case winning over Josh Ford, Jim Thomson and John Woodward. In the 30 lapper, Conrad led early from the pole, but McCormick had just passed him for the top spot when Case flipped for a red flag. Leader McCormick didn't get stopped for the light and he was sent to the rear for the restart. Howard had started 4th and he took the lead from Conrad shortly after green flag resumed. 8th starter Wakim ended up second ahead of 10th starter Taylor, Conrad and 12th starting Jimmy Crawford. Jeff Heaton, Rob Kershaw, Welch, Brown and Davis rounded out the top ten finshers. The 18 IMCA Modifieds were split into three heat races. McGraw beat Ed Shelton in heat 1 and former Pony Stock ace Mark Fullerton won heat 2 over John Aitken. Gary Curtis is enjoying his best season yet in the modifieds and he won heat 3 over Steve Greenland. In the 20 lap main event, both Shelton and Greenland were out early and Furlong collected the win ahead of Curtis, McGraw, visitor Bob Dias, Rich Wolfe, Aitken, Chris Tonoli and Donald Houghton. Furlong's point lead is 13 over McGraw and Houghton has fallen 18 points back in third. Aitken is just 4 points back of Houghton and three ahead of the tied duo of Curtis and Tonoli. The street stocks provided 15 cars for action and rookie Chris Tramel won heat one over John Romero and Greg Raap. Moore completed his perfect night by beating defending track champion Craig Germanetti in heat 2. Moore won the main event with Prows second ahead of Wayne Heurung, Steven Suchowirsky, Steve Bulpitt, Wil Smith, Frank Woodward and Romero. Ironically, the top five in this feature are also the top five in track points., While Moore only leads Prows by five points, Heurung is only 30 out of the point lead in third. Suchowirsky and Bulpitt are actually tied for fourth, 80 behind the point leader. The VRA Modifieds saw 12 cars split into a pair of heat races. Marty McLaughlin won heat 1 over Tommy Fowler with point leader Kreider in third. Desbrow had his second straight clean sweep as he also own his heat ahead of Joe Henderson. In the main, it was Desbrow on top of Kreider, Henderson, McLaughlin, Rick Rodarte, Garret Pegler and Fowler. Kreider has a 45 point lead over Henderson and 50 point lead over McLaughlin. Summary VRA Modified Heat 1-Marty McLaughlin, Tommy Fowler, George Kreider IV, David Lidren, Ray Martinez. Heat 2-Marty Desbrow, Joe Henderson, Rick Rodarte, Garret Pegler, Mark Gallimore. Main-Desbrow, Kreider, Henderson, McLaughlin, Rodarte, Pegler, Fowler, Lidren, Martinez, Mike Schwellinger, Joshua Nice, Gallimore. Street Stock Heat 1-Chris Tramel, John Romero, Greg Raap, Ernie Malone, Erick Karlsen. Heat 2-Paul Moore, Craig Germanetti, Frank Woodward, Steve Bulpitt, Wil Smith. Main-Moore, Bradley Prows, Wayne Heurung, Stephen Suchowirsky, Bulpitt, Smith, Frank Woodward, Romero, Tramel, John Hard, Paul Jankovskis, Raap, Germanetti, Malone, Karlsen. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Randy McGraw, Ed Shelton, Steve Smith, Chris Tonoli, Wes Richardson. Heat 2-Mark Fullerton, John Aitken, Rich Wolfe, William Kruft, Daman Redman. Heat 3-Gary Curtis, Steve Greenland, Donald Houghton, Mike Furlong, Bob Dias. Main-Furlong, Curtis, McGraw, Dias, Wolfe, Aitken, Tonoli, Houghton, Smith, Fullerton, Kruft, Richardson, Redman, Brett Lynsky, Bill Hiney, Shelton, Greenland, Ed Cutler. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Tony Dighera, Bill Welch, Rob Kershaw, Jeff Heaton, Errol Sack. Heat 2-Mike Davis, Gary Howard, Bob Moody, Russell DeBlauw, Mark Weitzman. Heat 3-Richard McCormick, Steven Conrad, Greg Taylor, Luis Espinoza, Ronnie Case. Heat 4-Chris Wakim, Kenny Brown, Jimmy Crawford, Steve Hess, Jim Thomson. B Main-Case, Josh Ford, Thomson, John Woodward, Sack, Steve Chuhaloff, Weitzman, Jeff Wilson, Oren Prosser Jr, Sparky Edmonston. A Main-Howard, Wakim, Taylor, Conrad, Crawford, Heaton, Kershaw, Welch, Brown, Davis, Espinoza, Dighera, Moody, McCormick, Hess, DeBlauw, Woodward, Thomson, Case. |
