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(Ventura, Ca....March 9)
Having achieved a lot of success in the final couple months of his rookie of the year season in 2001, Josh Ford from Camarillo won a fierce duel with Greg Taylor to capture the season opening 30 lap feature for VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars Saturday night. Ford’s win was worth $1,000, Taylor pocketed $750 for second and defending champion Gary Howard was a $500 third. Taylor is racing the first couple races on the VRA schedule before moving his racing into the unwinged 410 shows with SCRA. Ford won a single feature in his rookie season. Former SCRA sprint car racer Wiley Miller made his debut in the senior sprint division a winning one as he was chased to his victory by last year’s most improved racer Dayle Henry and Ron Butler with 70 year old John Richards in 4th. Heat winner Marty McLaughlin gained the win in the 20 lap main for the VRA modifieds when Rick Rodarte was disqualified in post race tech. Rodarte had won 3 times in his rookie season in 2001. Joe Henderson and Mark Gallimore finished 2-3. James Brown passed David Peterson on the final lap to win the 20 lap pony stock feature. He dedicated his win to the memory of long time track employee Maureen Kauffman, who died in February. Peterson was disqualified from both his heat and feature finishes in post race tech and that moved B Main winner Dave Revard up to second ahead of Jon Everhart.
The VRA unwinged sprint cars had a solid 34 car turnout for the season opener. They were divided into four heat races with the top 4 finishers in each advancing into the 30 lap A Main. Bill Welch won the first heat from the pole with outside front row starter Ford second. Driving for new car owner Doug Kershaw, Howard won heat 2 from an outside front row start with pole starter Jeff Heaton second. Steven Conrad also turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 3 with 4th starter Kenny Brown second. Former USAC TQ Midget star Gene Godepski started his second VRA season with a win in heat 4 over 6th starter Richard McCormick. Godepski started 3rd. With the large field, the officials elected to run a pair of B Mains. Russell DeBlauw won the first B Main over Rob Kershaw and Luis Espinoza. This race was checkered early when Oren Prosser Jr and Steve Chuhaloff got together and both flipped very hard without injury. Racing under her married name of Denise Cline, Lightning Sprint veteran Denise Sczymczak made her sprint car debut with a win in the second B Main in front of Jimmy Crawford. When Jim Thomson’s engine woes forced him to scratch from the 30 lapper, alternate Espinoza got to tag the 20 car field. The inversion for the 30 lapper came up an 8 off the points earned in the heat action, putting Ford outside row 1 as Taylor started 12th and Howard 7th. Heaton started on the pole and took an early lead. McCormick flipped hard on the opening lap for a red flag. Ford took over as Howard worked his way into second.
Taylor stormed forward from his midpack start and began to pressure Howard for second. After getting tapped, Howard scrapped the back wall and fell back to third. Ford and Taylor then waged a side by side duel to the checkered flag with Ford winning. Taylor was second ahead of Howard, Conrad, Crawford, Heaton, Welch, Espinoza, Tony Dighera and Kershaw. Taylor was a 7 time winner at the track in 2001.
The senior sprint division had an 18 car opener. Dwarf car graduate Ron Bach won the first heat ahead of Miller after starting outside front row. Pole starters Jim Porter and Preiss Movius won their heat races from the pole with 70 year old J Richards second in heat 2 and Sam Vail second in heat 3. This division also had an 8 car inversion for their feature that put Henry and Butler on the front row with Yorba Linda’s Miller lined up 5th. Miller won the race ahead of Henry, Butler, J Richards, Porter, Vail, Movius, Bach and Sparky Edmonston. Mark Chuhaloff broke out a red flag when he flipped during the main event.
The VRA modifieds had a 13 car turnout. Defending track champion George Kreider IV won the first heat ahead of Henderson. McLaughlin took heat 2 with Gallimore second. Rodarte led the field to the checkered flag in the 20 lap feature before his disqualification which gave the win to McLaughlin. Henderson ran second over Gallimore, Andy Frank, Kreider, Mike McCurdy and Travis Wickenden.
The pony stocks had a 24 car turnout. Jack Fullerton beat Cliff Ashlock in heat 1 with Bruce Blackman Jr on top of Steve Klingberg in heat 2. Peterson was disqualified from his finish in heat 3 with Tom Fish winning over Joel Chavez. Julie Masters and Jon Everhart ran 1-2 in heat 4. The 20 car A Main grid will filled by four more transfers from a B Main where Revard won over Adam McPhail, John Duque and Eric Hedlund. Brown took the lead on the final lap of the 20 lap feature. Peterson crossed the line second, but was disqualified to move Revard into second over Everhart, S Klingberg, Chavez, Fish, Masters and Mark Frazier.
The March 16 show will see the IMCA Modifieds and CDCRA Dwarf Cars in their first appearance for 2002 as they join the VRA sprint cars and VRA Modifieds.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Jack Fullerton, Cliff Ashlock, James Brown, Jon Mortensen, Ed Graham.
Heat 2-Bruce Blackman Jr, Steve Klingberg, Wade Zimmerman, Gary Yeates, John Duque.
Heat 3-Tom Fish, Joel Chavez, Mike Frazier, Dave Revard, Eric Hedlund.
Heat 4-Julie Masters, Jon Everhart, Tom Burroughs, Phillip Stevenson, Jim Nakashima.
B Main-Revard, Adam McPhail, Duque, Hedlund, Ed Graham, Dennis O’Brien, Nakashima, Lindsey Klingberg.
A Main-Brown, Revard, Everhart, S Klingberg, Chavez, Fish, Masters, Frazier, Mortensen, Fullerton, Duque, Ashlock, McPhail, Stevenson, Zimmerman, Blackman, Hedlund, Yeates.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-George Kreider IV, Joe Henderson, David Lidren, Mike McCurdy, Jody Davis. Heat 2-Marty McLaughlin, Mark Gallimore, Ray Martinez, Andy Frank, Rick Bronson. Main-McLaughlin, Henderson, Gallimore, Frank, Kreider, McCurdy, Travis Wickenden, Martinez, Dino Delao, Lidren, Bronson, Davis.
Senior Sprints
Heat 1-Ron Bach, Wiley Miller, Dayle Henry, Mike Frith-Smith, Mike Cook.
Heat 2-Jim Porter, John Richards, Sparky Edmonston, Richard Terry, Oren Prosser Sr. Heat 3-Preiss Movius, Sam Vail, Ron Butler, Larry Otani, George Tuttle Jr.
Main-Miller, Henry, Butler, J Richards, Porter, Vail, Movius, Bach, Edmonston, Frith-Smith, Woodward, Terry, Cook, Curtis Richards, Tuttle, Mark Chuhaloff, Sammy Iaconis, Otani.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Bill Welch, Josh Ford, Ronnie Case, Tony Dighera, Steve Chuhaloff.
Heat 2-Gary Howard, Jeff Heaton, John Wright, Larry Lloyd, John Geyer.
Heat 3-Steven Conrad, Kenny Brown, Steve Stasa, Jeff Wilson, Rob Kershaw.
Heat 4-Gene Godepski, Richard McCormick, Greg Taylor, Jim Thomson, Denise Sczymczak.
1st B Main-Russell DeBlauw, Kershaw, Luis Espinoza, Chris Tramel, Allan Ballard, Chuhaloff, Oren Prosser Jr, Mike Gilmore.
2nd B Main-Sczymczak, Jimmy Crawford, Ron Recktor, Bill Camarillo, Jerry Welton, Renee Boudreau, Steve Hess.
A Main-Ford, Taylor, Howard, Conrad, Crawford, Heaton, Welch, Espinoza, Dighera, Kershaw, Brown, Godepski, Sczymczak, Wilson, Wright, Lloyd, Stasa, Case, DeBlauw, McCormick.
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