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| DEFENDING CHAMPION HOWARD
WINS SECOND MAIN EVENT by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and Pony Stocks |
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Ventura, CA -April 14, 2001--Defending track champion
Gary Howard started on the front row of Saturday night's 30 lap VRA
unwinged 360 sprint car feature and he paced every lap to become the
first two-time feature winner of the 2001 season at Ventura Raceway.
Howard's $1,000 win saw Greg Taylor battle forward from 13th starting
for the $750 second as Chris Wakim rebounded from a crash to finish a
$500 third. The senior division of the unwinged 360 sprint cars ran
for the second time and Jim Porter collected the $300 win with point
leader Bob Moody a $130 second. It was also the second 2001 season
night for the IMCA Modifieds and defending track champion Mike Furlong
moved into the point lead with his 20 lap win worth $300. Steve
Greenland was a $240 second and gained second on the point listing.
Defending track pony stock champion Mark Gallimore has really been
struggling with a couple DNF features, but he rebounded to win the 20
lap main event and move back into the top ten in points. Point leader
Bryan Rungaitis advanced to second when Jody Davis was disqualified
from his second place finish. Fourth place Tom Burroughs was also
found illegal.
Even with the senior division racing, the regular sprint car action drew a 33 car field. The four heat winners were Wakim, Jimmy Crawford, Mark Hart and Casey Shuman. The top four finishers in each heat advanced into the 30 lap A Main and they were joined by the top four in the B Main where second year racer Luis Espinoza won ahead of Ronnie Case, J J Ercse and Jeremy Ellertson. The field included Bakersfield Speedway late model ace Rick Gifford making his Ventura debut, but he ran last in his heat race and did not start the B Main. Howard led every lap of the 30 lapper in posting his second straight win with Taylor second despite incidents with a couple of cars in the closing laps. Jimmy Crawford had to be towed from the track after an incident with Taylor. Wakim battled back from an altercation to run third ahead of point leader Richard McCormick, Clark Templeman III, Case, John Wright and Casey Shuman. McCormick started 3rd while Templeman came from 14th starting. McCormick's point lead is 385 over Taylor while Howard has climbed into third, just 80 back of Taylor. There were 15 entries in the Senior division for the sprint cars. Cory Kruseman's unwinged 410 sprint car owner, Harlan Willis, borrowed one of the school cars and won the first heat over Sparky Edmonston. Porter won heat 2 ahead of dwarf car graduate Ron Bach. Willis ran second in the main event before spinning and Porter went on to win over Moody, Bach, Dale Harwood, Greg Keegan, Mike Cook and Ron Butler. Moody's point lead is 185 over Porter while 8th place finisher John Jewett is third in points. The IMCA Modifieds had a solid 19 car turnout and the three heat races went to defending California State Champion Bill Saltzman, Ed Shelton and Furlong. Ed Cutler was the only scratch to leave an 18 car grid for the 20 lapper. Furlong won ahead of Greenland, Shelton, Bill Waltman, Steve Smith, John Aitken, Saltzman and Daman Redman. Opening night winner Donald Houghton was 9th. San Jose's Joe Chapman made the long tow south and was 14th in the main event. The Pony Stocks again filled the pits with 30 cars. Gallimore opened his night with a win in heat one and point leader B Rungaitis won heat 2. Mike Frazier and Jon Everhart won the other two heat races. This class also transfers four cars from each heat and another four from the B Main to make up a 20 car grid for their 20 lap features. Jake Ford won the B Main over Andy Frank and Adam McPhail. Gallimore then won the 20 lapper with second place Davis disqualified to move B Rungaitis into second. Fourth place Tom Burroughs was also disqualified with James Brown climbing up to third ahead of Cliff Ashlock, Bryan Weaver, Everhart and Jack Fullerton. B Rungaitis holds a 55 point lead over Weaver with Ashlock another 40 back in third. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Mark Gallimore, Bryan Weaver, Jack Fullerton, Andy Frank, Dennis O'Brien. Heat 2-Bryan Rungaitis, Jeff Graham, James Brown, Julie Masters, Laurie Richardson. Heat 3-Mike Frazier, Dave Revard, Scott Bulpitt, Adam McPhail, Steven Michael. Heat 4-Jon Everhart, Cliff Ashlock, Tom Fish, Bruce Blackman Jr, John Mikkelsen. B Main-Jake Ford, Frank, McPhail, Shane Rungaitis, Dan Clark, Joanna Reyes, Phillip Stevenson, Mikkelsen, Joel Chavez, Charlie Ross. A Main-Gallimore, B Rungaitis, Brown, Ashlock, Weaver, Everhart, Fullerton, Revard, Bulpitt, Masters, Blackman, Graham, Fish, Frazier, S Rungaitis, McPhail, Ford, Frank. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Bill Saltzman, Daman Redman, William Kruft, Joe Chapman, Bill Hiney. Heat 2-Ed Shelton, Steve Greenland, Donald Houghton, Chris Tonoli, Ed Cutler. Heat 3-Mike Furlong, Steve Smith, Bill Waltman, Al Adam, John Aitken. Main-Furlong, Greenland, Shelton, Waltman, Smith, Aitken, Saltzman, Redman, Houghton, Tonoli, Mark Fullerton, Adam, Hiney, Chapman, Brett Lynsky, Randy McGraw, Kruft, Gary Curtis. Senior Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Harlan Willis, Sparky Edmonston, Greg Keegan, Bob Moody, Dale Harwood. Heat 2-Jim Porter, Ron Bach, John Jewett, Dayle Henry, Mike Cook. Main-Porter, Moody, Bach, Harwood, Keegan, Cook, Ron Butler, Jewett, Jack Erickson, John Richards, Willis, Edmonston, Oren Prosser Sr, Craig Martin, Henry. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Chris Wakim, John Wright, Mike Davis, Clark Templeman III, Luis Espinoza. Heat 2-Jimmy Crawford, Gary Howard, Jeff Heaton, Greg Taylor, J J Ercse. Heat 3-Mark Hart, Steve Hess, Mark Weitzman, Steve Stasa, Jim Gresham. Heat 4-Casey Shuman, Richard McCormick, Kenny Brown, Rob Kershaw, Russell DeBlauw. B Main-Espinoza, Case, Ercse, Jeremy Ellertson, DeBlauw, Tony Dighera, Bill Welch, Steve Chuhaloff, Gene Godepski, Danny Miller. A Main-Howard, Taylor, Wakim, McCormick, Templeman, Case, Wright, Shuman, Weitzman, Brown, Heaton, Kershaw, Davis, Espinoza, Hess, Ercse, Crawford, Ellertson, Stasa, Hart. |
