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Ventura, CA....May 11....Second year racer Josh Ford used his $1,000 win in Saturday night's 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature at Ventura Raceway and an unusual incident with just two laps remaining to take over the season point lead. Ford started on the pole and took the lead on lap 6, but stopped when Jeff Heaton flipped on lap 28 thinking that a red flag had fallen. The track had just went yellow and runnerup Greg Taylor, the incoming point leader, got into the back of Ford's car and was damaged too much to continue. Taylor finished 15th and has fallen 185 points back of new point leader Ford. Jimmy Crawford was a $750 second and Chris Wakim ran third ahead of previous week winner Tony Dighera. In the IMCA Modified action, Donald Houghton not only won his first 20 lap feature of 2002, but proposed to girl friend Dawn in victory circle and she accepted. Mike Furlong ran second and cut Randy McGraw's season point lead to 10 points as McGraw placed third. The VRA Modifieds ran two features on the night, making up for the one not held due to curfew problems on their last appearance. The wins by both Marty Desbrow and Ric Bronson were their first of 2002. Defending champion George Kreider IV was second in both races and cut Mark Gallimore's point lead to just 15 points. Gallimore combined a 4th and a 5th.
There were 37 unwinged 360 sprint cars on hand for this night's action. Among the missing was defending champion Gary Howard and the Gary Howard that did race, SCRA racer Gary W Howard ended up being disqualified from a 4th place finish for having illegal engine block modifications. Engine builder Tom Downing won the first heat from an outside front row start with Ronnie Case battling forward from 6th to place second. Improving Oren Prosser Jr won heat 2 from the pole with 4th starter Crawford second. Chris Wakim took heat 3 from the pole with Gary W Howard losing the 2nd place finish that earned from 5th starting with his postrace disqualification. Point leader Taylor won heat 4 from third starting as outside front row starter Ford ran second ahead of Heaton. The usual two B Main format was used with just 2 cars advancing from each to join the top 4 finishers from each heat in the rich 30 lap feature. John Wright won the first B Main from an outside front row start as 7th starter Bill Welch was second over Bill Camarillo and Ryan Devitt. David Sinsley posted his first Ventura win in the second B Main from 2nd starting with teenaged Allan Ballard from Bakersfield second as Ron Butler and Chris Tramel just missed the transfer slots. The inversion draw for the 30 lapper came up an 8 that put Ford and Crawford in the front row. Crawford used the preferred outside front row slot to race to an early lead that he held for five laps as all the top runners were rim riding on the clay 1/4 mile. Welch flipped for a red flag that saw Dighera, Mike Davis, Prosser Jr and Gary W Howard all pit. Prosser was the only one not back for the restart. Ford was able to take the lead from Crawford on the restart while point leader Taylor worked his way forward from 8th starting slot. Taylor eventually took second from Crawford and appeared ready to make a move on leader Ford when Heaton flipped for a lap 28 caution. Seeing the flipped car, Ford thought it was a red flag and stopped. He was clipped by Taylor and Taylor's night was over. Ford led those two remaining laps to win over Crawford, Wakim, a hard charging effort by Dighera, Case, Russell DeBlauw and Ron Bach. Bach has been a top runner with the Senior division, but tried the regular action on this night and made the transfer through the heat action. The top ten was rounded out by John Wright, Steve Hess and Ballard after Gary W Howard was stripped of his fourth place run. Dighera is third in points, 505 points back of Ford and just 25 ahead of Crawford.
There were 15 IMCA Modifieds. Furlong enjoyed a strong night as he won his heat race ahead of Ed Shelton and the 2002 debut for Bill Waltman. Houghton had a perfect evening as he won heat 2 with the track's leading all time feature winner Steve Greenland second. Greenland lost oil pressure and scratched from the main event. Houghton won the 20 lap feature over Furlong, point leader McGraw, Don Wright Jr, Waltman, Joe Porche, Mark Fullerton and Lyle Slater. McGraw's point lead is 10 over Furlong with Daman Redman falling 14 points back with a 9th. Wes Richardson also lost ground in the point race with a 10th, standing 16 points back of McGraw.
The VRA Modifieds had a 17 car turnout. Marty Desbrow won the first heat over Marty McLaughlin and Mark Gallimore. Bronson beat Kreider and Rick Rodarte in heat 2. The cars that were on hand for the April 20th curfew cancellation ran the first 20 lap feature. Desbrow won the first feature ahead of Kreider, Rodarte, Gallimore, Bronson, Jody Davis and Travis Wickenden. Bronson was chased to his win in the second race by Kreider, McLaughlin, Desbrow, Gallimore, Davis and Tommy Fowler. Gallimore ended the busy night with a 15 point lead on Kreider and 90 point advantage on McLaughlin. Bronson is now 4th in points, 175 behind the point leader.
The May 18th race will see the VRA sprint cars, senior sprints, VRA Modifieds and pony stocks racing.
Summary
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Marty McLaughlin, Mark Gallimore, Joe Henderson, David Lidren.
Heat 2-Rick Bronson, George Kreider IV, Rick Rodarte, Ray Martinez, Art Justus.
1st A Main-Desbrow, Kreider, Rodarte, Gallmore, Bronson, Jody Davis, Travis Wickenden, Henderson, Dino Delao, Lidren, McLaughlin, Justus, Andy Frank.
2nd A Main-Bronson, Kreider, McLaughlin, Desbrow, Gallimore, Davis, Tommy Frazier, Lidren, Martinez, Frank, Mike Frazier, Henderson, Wickenden, Rodate, Daniel
Shrubb.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Mike Furlong, Ed Shelton, Bill Waltman, Daman Redman, Jeff Graham.
Heat 2-Donald Houghton, Steve Greenland, Randy McGraw, Mark Fullerton, Wes Richardson.
Main-Houghton, Furlong, McGraw, Don Wright Jr, Bill Waltman, Joe Porche, Fullerton, Lynn Slater, Redman, Richardson, Graham, Shelton, Peter Jankovskis, Brett
Lynsky.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Tom Downing, Ronnie Case, Tony Dighera, Steve Chuhaloff, A J Reyer.
Heat 2-Oren Prosser Jr, Jimmy Crawford, Steve Hess, Ron Bach, Chris Tramel.
Heat 3-Chris Wakim, Mike Davis, Luis Espinoza, John Wright, Bill Camarillo.
Heat 4-Greg Taylor, Josh Ford, Jeff Heaton, Russell DeBlauw, David Sinsley.
1st B Main-Wright, Bill Welch, Camarillo, Ryan Devitt, Richard Terry, Reyer, Renee Boudreau.
2nd B Main-Sinsley, Allan Ballard, Ron Butler, Tramel, Jake Ford, Eric Severson, Ron Rector, Larry Lee, Larry Lloyd.
A Main-Josh Ford, Crawford, Wakim, Dighera, Case, DeBlauw, Bach, Wright, Hess, Ballard, Sinsley, Davis, Espinoza, Chuhaloff, Taylor, Heaton, Downing, Prosser Jr, Welch.
*eot
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