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(Ventura, CA....March 30) Taking advantage of a two week break in the schedule for the SCRA sprint cars, Troy Rutherford returned to the track that he once dominated, Ventura Raceway, and raced to a $1,000 win in the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday night. Rutherford will also race the April 6 race before returning the SCRA 410 sprint cars. Rutherford became the fourth different winner in four races in 2002 for the VRA group and he came from 4th starting for his win. Young 19 year old Larry Lloyd came from 19th starting to finish a career best $750 second. Front row starter Ronnie Case led a lot of laps and finished a $500 third.
Defending track champion Randy McGraw took the lead on lap 9 and won the 20 lap IMCA Modified main event. McGraw had finished second in the season opener and had now stretched a six point lead over Daman Redman in the track title chase. Redman finished third behind Mark Fullerton. Rick Rodarte won the VRA Modified 20 lap feature for the second time in 2002 and has climbed into fourth in points despite getting disqualified from another win on opening night. Marty Desbrow was second this week. James Brown improved his point lead in the pony stocks by scoring his 2nd win of the season with 4th ranked Cliff Ashlock in second.
The unwinged 360 sprint cars had a 37 car turnout and were split into the usual four heat format with the top four finishers in each advancing into the 30 lap A Main. SCRA racer Gary W Howard won the first heat from the outside front row with pole starter Jimmy Crawford second. Defending series champion Gary Howard won heat 2 from the pole with fellow front row starter Case second. Point leader Greg Taylor took heat 3 from an outside front row start and pole starter Jeff Heaton was second. Tony Dighera won heat 4 from the pole with Rutherford coming from the second row for second. Randy Moody returned to action after a lengthy absence, but tangled up with Bill Welch in his heat and they both flipped end for end. In the 4th heat, last week's winner Chris Wakim and Central California racer Greg Keegan got together and both flipped in front of the grandstand. Only Welch was able to make repairs and start one of the B Mains with the other 3 out for the night. Cory Kruseman took over the Steve Chuhaloff car for the night, but missed the feature as he got collected in incidents in both his heat and his B Main. Oren Prosser Jr won the first B Main from the pole with Russell DeBlauw second. Young 16 year old Allan Ballard took the 2nd B Main from the pole with Jake Ford second.
The inversion factor for the 30 lap A Main came up an 8 that put Case outside front row, Rutherford 4th and the two Gary Howards sharing row 4. An incident on the opening lap of the 30 lapper took out pole starter Heaton and Tom Stansberry. Both Howard's were collected and had to restart the race in the back row. Point title contender Josh Ford also restarted in the rear after pitting while point leader Taylor was able to change a bent shock on the open red flag. Crawford led the field down for the restart, but Case quickly got around him. DeBlauw was eliminated in a turn 1 incident and Santa Maria Speedway star Jim Thompson climbed to the top 4 before he got hit on a caution flag and stopped on the track. Because he stopped, he was sent to the rear for the restart. Case now led Rutherford and Taylor. Taylor had a pass on Rutherford nullified by a caution when Dighera stalled. Both Rutherford and Taylor eventually got around Case for the 1-2 slots. Another Central California invader Jason Yount ran over Ballard's wheel and slammed into the turn 1 fence. The race had to be briefly halted while the fence was repaired. This time, Rutherford ran away from the field on the restart to win. Taylor faded with a broken shock as the impressive newcomer Lloyd ran second. Case settled for third and the impressive Thompson charged back through the pack to run 4th. Visitor Gary W Howard was fifth ahead of Gary Howard with Dighera, Taylor, Crawford and Josh Ford rounding out the top ten.
There were only 14 IMCA Modifieds this week. McGraw beat Fullerton and Wes Richardson in heat 1 with Mike Furlong on top of Redman and Paul Lane in heat 2. Opening race winner Steve Greenland got involved in a three car pileup early in the 20 lap feature and was done when he spun on lap 17. McGraw took the lead when Richardson spun out of the top spot on lap 9. McGraw won ahead of Fullerton, Redman, Richardson, rookie Jeff Graham, Jack Parker, Lyle Slater and Furlong. Greenland dropped to third in points, one behind Redman and one ahead of Furlong.
There were 15 entries in the VRA Modifieds. Rodarte won heat 1 with Desbrow second ahead of defending champion George Kreider IV. Joe Henderson beat Marty McLaughlin and Ray Martinez in heat 2. Rodarte won his 2nd straight 20 lap feature with Desbrow second ahead of McLaughlin, Mark Gallimore, Kreider, Henderson and Ric Bronson. Gallimore is the early season point leader with a 50 point margin on McLaughlin and 65 point advantage over Kreider. With his second straight win, Rodarte stands 155 points out of the point lead. The pony stock count was down to 21 cars, so no B Main was run. Heat winners were Steve Klingberg, Mike Frazier and John Duque. Brown was second in his heat race and started in the fifth row for the 20 lapper. He weaved his way to the front and charged to a 2nd win of 2002 with Ashlock second ahead of Duque, S Klingberg, Jack Fullerton, Frazier and Jim Nakashima. Brown's point lead is 105 on Frazier with S Klingberg just 5 points back of Frazier. Ashlock is 135 points out of the point lead in 4th.
Summary
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Steve Klingberg, Jim Nakashima, Jack Fullerton, Phillip Stevenson, Dennis O'Brien.
Heat 2-Mike Frazier, Cliff Ashlock, Bruce Blackman Jr, John Mikkelsen, Tom Burroughs. Heat 3-John Duque, James Brown, David Peterson, Dave Little, Dave Revard. Main-Brown, Ashlock, S Klingberg, Fullerton, Frazier, Nakashima, Peterson, Little, Revard, Masters, O'Brien, Chavez, Mikkelsen, Blackman, Charlie Faraci, Brian Burroughs, Peter Jankovskis, Lindsey Klingberg, Kim Rose, Stevenson.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Rick Rodarte, Marty Desbrow, George Kreider IV, David Lidren, Ric Bronson. Heat 2-Joe Henderson, Marty McLaughlin, Ray Martinez, Dino Delao, Andy Frank. Main-Rodarte, Desbrow, McLaughlin, Mark Gallimore, Kreider, Henderson, Bronson, Davis, Martinez, Mike Schwellinger, Lidren, Art Justus, Delao, Frank, Travis
Wickenden.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Randy McGraw, Mark Fullerton, Wes Richardson, Ed Shelton, Jeff Graham.
Heat 2-Mike Furlong, Daman Redman, Paul Lane, Joe Porche, Jack Parker. Main-McGraw, Fullerton, Redman, Richardson, Graham, Parker, Lyle Slater, Furlong, Steve Greenland, Don Wright Jr, Brett Lynsky, Shelton, Lane, Porche.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Gary W Howard, Jimmy Crawford, Ron Bach, Jason Yount, Oren Prosser Jr. Heat 2-Gary Howard, Ronnie Case, Jimmy Thompson, Rob Kershaw, Allan Ballard.
Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Jeff Heaton, Tom Stansberry, Luis Espinoza, Russell DeBlauw.
Heat 4-Tony Dighera, Troy Rutherford, Josh Ford, Larry Lloyd, Ron Recktor.
1st B Main-Prosser Jr, DeBlauw, John Wright, Bill Camarillo, Ron Butler, Max McNutt, Cory Kruseman, Chris Tramel, Renee Boudreau.
2nd B Main-Ballard, Jake Ford, Richard Terry, Dick Steven, Recktor, Bill Welch, Eric Severson, David Sinsley.
A Main-Rutherford, Lloyd, Case, Thompson, Gary W Howard, Gary Howard, Dighera, Taylor, Crawford, Josh Ford, Kershaw, Jake Ford, Ballard, Bach, Prosser, Yount, DeBlauw, Espinoza, Heaton, Stansberry.
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