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(Ventura, Ca.....March 16)
Coming forward from sixth starting, Greg Taylor outran opening night winner Josh Ford to win the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Taylor was the leading feature winner at the track in 2001 and plans to move his racing into the unwinged 410 SCRA action in 2002. Taylor’s win paid $1,000 while Ford battled from 8th starting to pocket the $750 runnerup prize. Bakersfield’s Tom Stansberry returned to Ventura action with a $500 third. Stansberry was a top runner when this division debuted at the 1/4 mile clay oval following a strong dwarf car career and then moved onto the USAC pavement series. The IMCA Modifieds made their 2002 season debut and three of the best ever at the track dueled for the win. The winningest modified driver in track history, Steve Greenland, posted his 24th win in the 20 lap feature with 2001 champion Randy McGraw second ahead of 2000 champion Mike Furlong. Having been disqualified from an opening night win, Rick Rodarte won the VRA Modified 20 lap feature and this week it stuck. Mark Gallimore ran second ahead of Marty McLaughlin.
There were 34 entries in the unwinged 360 sprint car action this week. Ventura uses four heat races and a pair of B Mains to determine the lineup for the rich 30 lap features. The drivers draw for their starting order in the heat action and a passing point system is used. Richard McCormick rebounded from his opening week flip to win the first heat over Stansberry and Steven Conrad. Opening night winner Josh Ford won heat 2 with John Wright second ahead of Jimmy Crawford. Taylor won the third heat with Bill Welch second. Having missed the opening night, top runner Chris Wakim won the 4th heat ahead of fast improving Luis Espinoza and last year’s champion Gary Howard. There were two Gary Howards in action this week and Gary W Howard finished 4th behind Gary Howard, but was a feature scratch with power steering problems. Larry Lloyd won the first B Main over Russell DeBlauw and Ron Bach. Ronnie Case won the second B Main over Rob Kershaw and Jake Ford. Normally, only the top 2 in each B Main would advance to join the top 4 finishers from each heat, but the scratch of Gary W Howard allowed Bach to also move forward.
For the second straight week, McCormick was sidelined early in the 30 lapper with Denny McVey flipping out of the race. McVey was returning after a lengthy absence. The feature inversion came up an 8 meaning that the top 8 point totals from the heat race action were inverted at the front of the 20 car grid. Taylor battled from 6th to the win with Ford coming from 8th to place second and front row starter Stansberry salvaged a third. Several times, both Taylor and Ford had passes nullified by caution flags. The feature had plenty of passing as 4th place Crawford came from 9th, fifth place Gary Howard came from 11th and 6th place Conrad came from 10th. Espinoza, Dwayne Marcum, Tony Dighera and Wright rounded out the top 10 finishers.
The IMCA Modifieds had a 19 car turnout for their opener. Chris Tonoli won the first heat over Donald Houghton and Furlong. Greenland took heat 2 with Daman Redman second over Bill Saltzman. Mark Fullerton won the third heat with McGraw second over Bill Hiney. Greenland captured the 20 lap feature over McGraw, Furlong, Saltzman, Ed Shelton, Redman, rookie Jeff Graham and Wes Richardson. The VRA modified heat races had 13 entries, but only 11 cars survived to run their 20 lap feature. David Lidren beat Mark Gallimore and division champion George Kreider IV in heat 1. Rodarte won heat 2 over McLaughlin and Joe Henderson. Henderson and Mike Frazier were the feature scratches. Rodarte won the feature race ahead of Gallimore, McLaughlin, Marty Desbrow, Lidren, Kreider and Andy Frank.
Summary
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-David Lidren, Mark Gallimore, George Kreider IV, Mike Frazier, Marty Desbrow.
Heat 2-Rick Rodarte, Marty McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Mike Schwellinger, Dino Delao.
Main-Rodarte, Gallimore, McLaughlin, Desbrow, Lidren, Kreider, Andy Frank, Rick Bronson, Schwelliinger, Travis Wickenden, Delao.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Chris Tonoli, Donald Houghton, Mike Furlong, Randy Gens, Kathy Pierson.
Heat 2-Steve Greenland, Daman Redman, Bill Saltzman, Ed Shelton, Jeff Graham.
Heat 3-Mark Fullerton, Randy McGraw, Bill Hiney, Paul Lane, Wes Richardson. Main-Greenland, McGraw, Furlong, Saltzman, Shelton, Redman, Graham, Richardson, Hiney, Lane, Pierson, Gens, Lyle Slater, Don Wright, Houghton, Tonoli, Joe Porche, Fullerton, Brett Lynsky.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Richard McCormick, Tom Stansberry, Steven Conrad, Tony Dighera, Larry Lloyd.
Heat 2-Josh Ford, John Wright, Jimmy Crawford, Dwayne Marcum, Rob Kershaw.
Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Bill Welch, Jeff Heaton, Denny McVey, Russell DeBlauw.
Heat 4-Chris Wakim, Luis Espinoza, Gary Howard, Gary W Howard, Ronnie Case.
1st B Main-Lloyd, DeBlauw, Ron Bach, Chris Tramel, Jeff Wilson, Ron Recktor, Richard Terry, Allan Ballard, David Sinsley.
2nd B Main-Case, Kershaw, Jake Ford, John Geyer, Max McNutt, Jim Thomson, Bill Camarillo, Brett Butler, Renee Boudreaux.
Main-Taylor, Josh Ford, Stansberry, Crawford, Gary Howard, Conrad, Espinoza, Marcum, Dighera, Wright, Case, Lloyd, Heaton, Kershaw, Bach, DeBlauw, McVey, Wakim, Welch, McCormick.
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