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Ventura, CA.....August 24......Ojai's
Greg Taylor won the won the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday
night at Ventura Raceway and closed ground on point leader Jimmy Crawford, who
ran 12th. It was Taylor's 9th win of 2002 and was worth $1,000 as Steve Conrad
ran a $750 second. Cory Kruseman joined the VRA action
and ran a $500 third after starting on the pole. The VRA unwinged 360 sprint
cars returned to action at the tight Ventura oval after being idled for a month
by the county fair. They did race two very successful shows on the much larger
Perris Auto Speedway during the down period. Fair race IMCA Modified winner Gary
Curtis appeared to be headed for a second straight win when he got run down by
Mike Furlong, who won by three feet. Steve Greenland was just a bumper back in
third and Las Vegas visitor Mark Allison picked off a fourth. Furlong's second
win left him just 7 points back of point leader Randy McGraw, who finished 15th.
Jody Davis won the 20 lap VRA Modified feature over Marty McLaughlin and Mark
Gallimore. It was the first win in his new class for the former pony stock track
champion.
The unwinged sprint car
action drew a 34 car field. Ronnie Case won the first heat over Steve Conrad and
John Wright. Kruseman won heat 2 over Tony Dighera. With the scratches of both
Luis Espinoza and Chris Tramel, the third heat had just 6 starters and Taylor
won ahead of Mike Davis and Russell DeBlauw. Gary W Howard beat sprint car
rookie Ron Bach in heat 4 with Tom Downing third. Gaining the four transfer
slots from the B Main were Jeremy Ellertson, point leader Jimmy Crawford, Oren
Prosser Jr and Ryan Devitt. The feature had just 19 starters as Prosser Jr did
not make the call. The two car Ford team for Josh Ford and Jake Ford both lost
engines in their heat action. Kruseman and Case shared the front row for the 30
lap feature with Howard and Taylor in row 2 as a four car inversion came up. The
two front row starters got together on the opening round and Howard gained the
lead. Howard led the race until he began to have steering woes in the Buzz
Shoemaker entry. A complete steering box failure ended the race for Howard and
Taylor paced the field the rest of the way. Tom Downing was a feature flip
victim and a sideways Ellertson triggered a flip by Case with Crawford and Ron
Butler also collected. Only ten cars finished the 30 lapper. Seventh starter
Tony Dighera passed Kruseman for 3rd on lap 29, but spun and Taylor won ahead of
fifth starter Steve Conrad, Kruseman, 13th starter Chris Wakim and 17th starter
Ellertson. Dighera ran sixth over DeBlauw and Davis. With 1050 points available
each race night, Taylor cut Crawford's point lead to just 590 points. Third
ranked Josh Ford is now just 585 points ahead of Dighera who is just 660
points ahead of Wakim.
The 18 car IMCA Modified
field included a couple surprise entries as Western Region point leader Mark
Allison elected to run Ventura to take advantage of his up front starting spot
due to his bad luck during the fair race. Mike Juarez from San Jose also made a
surprise visit. Allison won the first heat over Rick Johnston and rookie Joe
Porche. Curtis won heat 2 over Mark Fullerton and Greenland. Like he did at the
fair, point leader McGraw had a tough night with a sixth in his heat and a 15th
place feature run. Furlong chased down Curtis and scored the narrow win with
Greenland also challenging for the top honors. Allison ran a creditable fourth
ahead of Juarez, Porche, Bill Hiney, Lyle Slater and Johnston. Jeff Graham is
now just one point ahead of Porche in their fight for 3rd in track points.
The 12 VRA modifieds were split into
a pair of heat races with David Lidren winning heat 1 over Davis and Marty
McLaughlin. Mark Gallimore captured heat 2 over Tommy Fowler and point leader
George Kreider IV. Davis is 7th in points and his first feature win saw Marty
McLaughlin second over Gallimore, Rick Rodarte, Ray Martinez, Kreider and
Fowler. The track title fight has really tightened with four drivers in
contention. Kreider is just 40 points ahead of Gallimore, 50 ahead of Rodarte
and 60 ahead of McLaughlin with 220 points available each race night.
Summary
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-David Lidren, Jody Davis,
Marty McLaughlin, Dino Delao, Joe Henderson.
Heat 2-Mark Gallimore, Tommy Fowler, George Krieder IV, Ric Bronson, Andy Frank.
Main-Davis, McLaughlin, Gallimore, Rick Rodarte, Ray Martinez, Krieder, Fowler,
Bronson, Frank, Henderson, Lidren, Delao.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Mark Allison, Rick Johnston,
Joe Porche, Jeff Graham, Daman Redman.
Heat 2-Gary Curtis, Mark Fullerton, Steve Greenland, Paul Lane, Wes Richardson.
Main-Mike Furlong, Curtis, Steve Greenland, Allison, Mike Juarez, Porche, Bill
Hiney, Lyle Slater, Johnston, Graham, Brett Lynsky, Fullerton, Ed Shelton,
Richardson, Randy McGraw, Lane, Jack Parker, Daman Redman.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Ronnie Case, Steve Conrad,
John Wright, Chris Wakim, Josh Ford.
Heat 2-Cory Kruseman, Tony Dighera, Richard Terry, Larry Lloyd, Jeremy
Ellertson. Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Mike Davis, Russell DeBlauw, Ron Butler, Mike
Gilmore.
Heat 4-Gary W Howard, Ron Bach, Tom Downing, Jeff Wilson, Ryan Devitt.
B Main-Ellertson, Jimmy Crawford, Oren Prosser Jr, Devitt, Luis Espinoza, Steve
Chuhaloff, Bill Welch, Allan Ballard, Rob Kershaw, Kyle Hancock.
A Main-Taylor, Conrad, Kruseman, Wakim, Ellertson, Dighera, DeBlauw, Davis,
Wilson, Butler, Case, Crawford, Terry, Howard, Devitt, Wright, Downing, Bach,
Lloyd.
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