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Perris, Ca.....Feb. 8..........Having
earlier won his heat race, young Josh Ford drove from fifth starting to win the
A Main Saturday as the VRA unwinged 360 Sprint Cars opened their 2003 season at
Perris Auto Speedway. Josh Ford's win paid $1,000 and veteran Santa Maria racer
Mike Knopf came from 7th to score a $750 runnerup run. Another heat race winner
Will Perkins was the $500 third place finisher. In 2002, the Ventura based group
ran a couple shows at Perris while Ventura was idled by their August fair and
they have greatly expanded the Perris portion of their 2003 schedule. The larger
half-mile clay oval at Perris is popular with the teams as 44 cars raced in the
opener.
The 44 car field was
divided into four large heat races as they headlined a six division show that
drew nearly 120 entries. Gary W Howard won the first heat race ahead of Greg
Taylor and Steve Conrad. Perkins beat Oren Prosser Jr and Mike Davis in heat 2
and Ronnie Case won heat 3 ahead of John Aden and Knopf. Josh Ford outraced
Jimmy Crawford and Alan Ballard in heat 4. The teenaged Ballard is going to be a
regular with the traveling SCRA 410 group, but raced the VRA opener with a
borrowed engine. Sixteen cars advanced out of the heat action and the top three
finishers from each of two B Mains were added to make a 22 car A Main. The
younger brother of the race winner Jake Ford won the first B Main in front of
Jessie Denome and Rob Kershaw. Arizona's Tony Smiley won the second B Main with
Ron DiDonato second ahead of Richard McCormick. The opening lap of the feature
saw a tangle between Case and Taylor with Taylor flipping. Behind them, Jake
Ford also flipped. The race was over for both Case and Jake Ford, but Taylor was
able to tag the field. Tom Stansberry put on a show as he came from 12th
starting up to 3rd before he also became a flip victim. His car wasn't damaged
and Stansberry restarted in the rear. Josh Ford won with Knopf second ahead of
Perkins. DiDonato charged from the tenth row to finish 4th and Taylor put on a
show as he raced up to 5th place. Rounding out the top ten were Mark Deskovich,
Smiley, Chris Wakim, Howard and Stansberry.
Two of the first
three races on the VRA schedule will be at Perris as they return there on both
March 1 and March 22. The Ventura portion of their schedule starts March 8.
After the March action, the teams do not return to Perris until August when four
races are run while Ventura is idled by their fair.
Summary
Heat 1-Gary W Howard, Greg Taylor,
Steve Conrad, Tom Stansberry, Jake Ford.
Heat 2-Will Perkins, Oren Prosser Jr, Mike Davis, Mark Deskovich, Trevor Brilman.
Heat 3-Ronnie Case, John Aden, Mike Knopf, Chris Wakim, Jesse Denome.
Heat 4-Josh Ford, Jimmy Crawford, Alan Ballard, David Sinsley, Ron
DiDonato.
1st B Main-Jake Ford, Denome, Rob Kershaw, Bill Camarillo, Steve Gresham, Steve
Demott, A J Reyer, Preiss Movius, Max McNutt.
2nd B Main-Tony Smiley, DiDonato, Richard McCormick, Steve Chuhaloff, Brilman,
Jonas Reynolds, Alex Pruett, Luis Espinoza, Shift Glover, Kevin Kierce.
A Main-Josh Ford, Knopf, Perkins, DiDonato, Taylor, Deskovich, Smiley, Wakim,
Howard, Stansberry, Denome, Sinsley, Kershaw, Crawford, Conrad, Prosser, Davis,
Ballard, Aden, McCormick, Case, Jake Ford.
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