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Ventura, CA.....April 12.......With
the final 29 laps being run without a single caution flag, pole starter Tony
Dighera was a wire to wire $1,000 winner in the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 Sprint
Car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Third starting Luis Espinoza ran
a $750 second and fifth starting Chris Wakim was the $500 third. Greg Taylor
added to his point lead with a 7th place finish as chief point rival Tom
Stansberry was an early dropout in the 30 lapper. The winningest driver in the
VRA Modifieds in 2002, but unable to find a checkered flag in 2003, Rick Rodarte
had a perfect night as he led all the way from the pole in the 20 lap feature
after earlier winning the 7 lap heat from the pole. Last years co-track
champions ran 2-3 with George Krieder IV second ahead of Mark Gallimore. It was
the second night ever for the VRA dwarf cars. In the Pro Division, Curt Cook
drove the Bill Leonard owned, Ron Bach built, Honda powered car to a 20 lap
feature win. He has finished 1st and 2nd in two races in the car that Leonard
needs to sell to finance his new sprint car. Robert Hansen jumped into the Jon
Haag car and wheeled it to a second ahead of raw rookie Marc Lippert. Usual
Senior Sprint Car racer Ron Bach pulled one of the five dwarf cars that he is
trying to sell out of mothballs and drove to a win in the 20 lap feature for the
Senior Dwarf Cars. Rick Denny from Taft wheeled his new M&M Chassis to a
second ahead of Jim Koch.
The VRA sprint cars appeared 33
cars strong and were divided into their usual four heat format. The top four
finishers in each heat advance into the 30 lap A Main. Chris Tramel turned a
pole start into a win in heat 1 with Bill Welch second ahead of Ronnie Case.
Outside front row starter Espinoza outdueled pole starter Clark Templeman III to
capture heat 2 with Taylor third. Dighera was on the pole for heat 3 and he won
with fifth starter Wakim second ahead of Santa Maria's Mike Knopf. Rob Kershaw
came from third to win heat 4 with Ron Butler second. Four additional transfers
were available in a 12 lap B Main that had 15 starters. Thirteen cars finished
lead lap with Mike Davis beating former track champion Kevin Kierce, Oren
Prosser Jr and Steve Chuhaloff. Just missing transfers were Ryan Devitt and J J
Ercse. Usual Bandit racer Dick Stevens visited, but was a B Main scratch. The
front of the grid for the 30 lap read Dighera, Tramel, Espinoza, Kershaw, Wakim,
Welch, Templeman and R Butler. A four car tangle slowed the action after just
one lap had been scored, but eliminated no one. The talented field then ripped
off the 29 straight green flag laps and Stansberry dropped out after 12 rounds
to be the only non-finisher. The top 12 finished on the lead lap with inside row
starters Dighera, Espinoza and Wakim finishing 1-2-3. Tramel was fourth ahead of
Kershaw, Templeman, 10th starter Taylor, Knopf, 18th starting Kierce, Welch,
Jeremy Ellertson and Steve Conrad.
There were 12 VRA
Modifieds. Only 9 raced in the heat action, but all 12 started their 20 lap
feature. Gallimore beat Ric Bronson in heat 1 with former street stock racer
Rodarte on top of heat 2 ahead of Krieder. All dozen cars were racing at
the end of their 20 lapper with 7 on the lead lap. Rodarte won from the pole
with 5th starting Krieder in second ahead of 3rd starter Gallimore, Bronson,
Andy Frank, David Lidren and Mike Frazier.
There were 12
entries in the Pro Dwarf Cars. Jeff Shelton beat CDCRA racer Brent Stevens and
first timer Lippert in heat 1. Cook won heat 2 from the outside front row ahead
of Hansen and Loren Bradbury. VRA regulars Bradbury, Shelton and Cook started in
front of visitors Stevens, Hansen and Rob Brown in the 20 lap feature. Cook was
a wire to wire winner in the 20 lap feature with Hansen second ahead of Lippert
and Stevens, the final lead lap finisher. Bradbury was fifth a lap down. Both
Dave Dougherty and Dawn Stutzman finished three laps down. Nate Robins was
a feature scratch. Shelton lasted just one lap and Brown three. There were
11 entries in the Senior Division. George Sack won heat 1 with Gary Conditt
second. Another CDCRA racer Mike VanAcker won heat 2 with Koch second ahead of
Bach. Jon Prechtl had the pole for the 20 lap feature ahead of Koch, Ed
Niedzwiecki, Jim Stutzman and Conditt. For the first time in his short dwarf car
career, Prechtl led a feature lap as he paced the first five rounds before
winner Bach took over. Bach has quickly become a top runner in the Senior
unwinged sprint car class and the smoothness that he has developed there was
evident in his return to the dwarf cars. Bach won with fifth row starter Denny
second ahead of Koch, VanAcker, Conditt, Stutzman, Prechtl and Jim Kojaku, with
those 8 on the lead lap.
Summary
VRA Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-George Sack, Gary Conditt, Ed Niedzwiecki, Jon Prechtl, Jim Kojaku.
Heat 2-Mike VanAcker, Jim Koch, Ron Bach, Jim Stutzman, Rick Denny.
Main-Bach, Denny, Koch, VanAcker, Conditt, Stutzman, Prechtl, Kojaku, Sack,
Steve Addison, Niedzwiecki.
VRA Pro Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Jeff Shelton, Brent Stevens, Mark Lippert, Mike Brady, Dawn Stutzman.
Heat 2-Curt Cook, Robert Hansen, Loren Bradbury, Rob Brown, Dave Dougherty.
Main-Cook, Hansen, Lippert, Stevens, Bradbury, Dougherty, Stutzman, Cindy
Addison, Brady, Brown, Shelton.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Mark Gallimore, Ric Bronson, Dave Lidren, Andy Frank, Kimberly
Rice.
Heat 2-Rick Rodarte, George Krieder IV, Travis Wickenden, Darren Gunnell.
Main-Rodarte, Krieder, Gallimore, Bronson, Frank, Lidren, Mike Frazier, Gunnell,
Wickenden, Marty McLaughlin, Joel Chavez, Rice.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Chris Tramel, Bill Welch, Ronnie Case, Tom Stansberry, Mike Davis.
Heat 2-Luis Espinoza, Clark Templeman III, Greg Taylor, Will Perkins, J J
Ercse.
Heat 3-Tony Dighera, Chris Wakim, Mike Knopf, Steve Conrad, Ryan Devitt.
Heat 4-Rob Kershaw, Ron Butler, Jeremy Ellertson, Cory Witherill, Oren Prosser
Jr.
B Main-Mike Davis, Kevin Kierce, Prosser, Steve Chuhaloff, Devitt, Ercse, Randy
McGraw, Kyle Hancock, Brett Butler, Jake Ford, Blake Miller, Jonas Reynolds,
Bill Camarillo, Guy Woodward, Joe Henderson.
A Main-Dighera, Espinoza, Wakim, Tramel, Kershaw, Templeman, Taylor, Knopf,
Kierce, Welch, Ellertson, Conrad, Case, Witherill, R Butler, Perkins,
Chuhaloff, Prosser, Davis, Stansberry.
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