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(Ventura, CA.....Nov
10) Having earlier won his heat race, Greg Taylor raced to a $1,000 win in the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. His sixth win of the 2001 season climbed him into second in track points with just one race remaining on the 2001 schedule. Josh Ford continued his string of strong recent efforts with a $750 second ahead of John Wright, who won $500. The Senior Sprint Cars ran their final 2001 event and New Zealand transplant Greg Keegan from Clovis collected his second straight $300 win. He finished top five in all five of his Ventura visits and ended up 12th in the final points despite his limited starts. Brian King ran second and fourth ranked Ron Bach was third in the finale. Harvey Jones won the street stock feature from the pole for his first $100 win as fellow front row starter Erick Karlsen ran second. Craig Germanetti was fourth and will carry a 75 point lead over Bradley Prows into the Nov 17th as he seeks a third straight track title. Rookie Rick Rodarte picked off his third $100 win in the season finale for the VRA Modifieds. He ended up second in points as George Krieder IV closed his championship season with a second place run. Krieder ended up 180 points ahead of
Rodarte, who was the second winningest driver in the class behind Marty Desbrow’s 6 wins. The night’s racing was completed just minutes before heavy rains hit the coastal facility.
Nearly 40 cars were on hand in the VRA unwinged sprint cars. Taylor won the first heat ahead of Kenny Brown. Mike Knopf won heat 2 with rookie Steve Chuhaloff second. Clark Templeman III took heat 3 with Wright second ahead of usual SCRA racer Troy Cline. Ford won the fourth heat with track champion Gary Howard second ahead of last week’s feature winner Jimmy Crawford. The top four finishers in each heat advanced to the 30 lap A Main. They were joined by two transfers each from a pair of B Mains. Chris Wakim beat Rob Kershaw and Dwayne Marcum in the first B Main. Third ranked Richard McCormick won the second B Main ahead of rookie Gene Godepski as the two USAC quarter-midget graduates dueled. Mike Davis was third ahead of Dallen
McKenney. McKenney drives the Keegan car in the regular unwinged action when Keegan makes the tow to Ventura. Taylor raced to a win in the 30 lap A Main ahead of Ford, Wright, Tony Dighera, Chris Wakim, Crawford, Steve Conrad and Luis Espinoza. Howard was last in the 20 car rundown. Taylor’s win combined with McCormick’s 13th left Taylor just five points ahead of McCormick. Crawford is 4th in points, 245 behind Taylor and Wakim is 720 points back of Taylor in fifth.
The Senior Sprints had 20 cars racing this week. Eddie Wirth joined the action with a win in the first heat ahead of Bob Moody. Keegan won heat 2 with Mike Cook second. Jack Erickson won the third heat with Ron Butler second. Keegan, King and Bach were trailed in the feature rundown by John Richards, Tim Moon, Rick Lewis, Sam Vail, Butler and track champion Jim Porter. Porter finished 1235 points ahead of Moody. Dale Harwood was third in points, 225 behind Moody and just 85 ahead of Bach. Dayle Henry was 11th in the finale and ran fifth in points.
The street stocks had 11 cars racing and heat wins went to Tom Stephens and Jones. Front row starters Jones and Karlsen were 1-2 in the feature race with Prows third ahead of
Germanetti, Steve Bulpitt, John Hard, Frank Woodward and Joe Porche. Raap was last in the 11 car rundown and fell 90 points back of point leader
Germanetti. With a 9 car turnout, the VRA modifieds ran a single heat race with Desbrow winning that event over
Rodarte, Marty McLaughlin and David Lidren. Street stock graduate Rodarte posted his third feature win ahead of
Krieder, McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Daniel Shrubb, Ray Martinez and Desbrow. Henderson finished third in points ahead of McLaughlin and rookie Mark
Gallimore, who was last in the finale.
Summary
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Rick Rodarte, Marty McLaughlin, David Lidren, Mark Gallimore.
Main-Rodarte, George Krieder IV, McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Daniel Shrubb, Ray Martinez, Desbrow, Lidren, Gallimore.
Street Stocks
Heat 1-Tom Stephens, Craig Germanetti, Erick Karlsen, Bradley Prows, Stephen Suchowirsky.
Heat 2-Harvey Jones, Greg Raap, John Hard, Steve Bulpitt, Joe Porche.
Main-Jones, Karlsen, Prows, Germanetti, Bulpitt, Hard, Frank Woodward, Porche, Suchowirsky, Stephens, Raap.
Senior Sprints
Heat 1-Eddie Wirth, Bob Moody, Brian King, Dale Harwood, Oren Prosser Sr.
Heat 2-Greg Keegan, Mike Cook, Ron Bach, John Woodward, Sam Vail.
Heat 3-Jack Erickson, Ron Butler, Dayle Henry, Jim Porter, Richard Terry.
Main-Keegan, King, Bach, John Richards, Tim Moon, Rick Lewis, Vail, Butler, Porter, John Yount, Henry, Moody, Harwood, Wirth, Erickson, Cook, Prosser, Curtis Richards, Terry, Woodward.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Greg Taylor, Kenny Brown, Luis Espinoza, Bill Welch, Rob Kershaw.
Heat 2-Mike Knopf, Steve Chuhaloff, Steven Conrad, Tony Dighera, Gene Godepski.
Heat 3-Clark Templeman III, John Wright, Troy Cline, Ronnie Case, Chris Tramel.
Heat 4-Josh Ford, Gary Howard, Jimmy Crawford, Russell DeBlauw, Richard McCormick.
1st B Main-Chris Wakim, Kershaw, Dwayne Marcum, Tramel, Sean Buckley, Oren Prosser Jr, Trevor
Brilman, A J Reyer.
2nd B Main-McCormick, Godepski, Mike Davis, Dallen McKenney, Jason Yount, Kevin Briggs, Jeff Wilson, Ron Wade, David
Sinsley, John Geyer.
A Main-Taylor, Ford, Wright, Dighera, Wakim, Crawford, Conrad, Espinoza,
DeBlauw, Kershaw, Godepski, Cline, McCormick, Welch, Chuhaloff, Case, Knopf, Templeman, Brown, Howard.
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