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Ventura, CA...May 17.....Chris Wakim
scored a $1,000 win in the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday
night at Ventura Raceway after lining up fifth. The yellow flag marred race
found just 10 of the 20 A Main starters racing at the checkered flag. Chris
Tramel continued his recent successes by racing to 2nd ahead of young Kyle
Hancock and Rob Kershaw. An 8th place finish left Santa Maria's Mike Knopf with
a 20 point lead over Bakersfield's Tom Stansberry. Stansberry finished 11th.
After winning his heat race from the pole, defending Senior Sprint Car champion
Wiley Miller came from fifth starting to win the 20 lap A Main. It marked the
first time that the Senior Sprint division ran their entire feature race without
a caution flag. Richard McCormick finished second ahead of Richard Terry. W
Miller climbed to third in points, just 180 back of point leader Ron Bach and
just 130 behind runnerup Russell DeBlauw. Mike Frazier beat Tom Fish in the pony
stock main and a special Armed Forces Pony Stock race was run. Tom Colesant won
the special event and ran 13th in the regular Pony Stock feature. Steve Delarosa
and Damon Dubuque were 2-3 in the Armed Forces race.
The VRA unwinged
sprint car count was down to 26 cars, but they still used the normal four heats
and a B Main format to determine the 20 car A Main. Outside front row starter
Ronnie Case won the first heat ahead of Wakim. Pole starter Jeremy Ellertson won
heat 2 ahead of Tramel and Hancock. Former track champion Kevin Kierce won heat
3 from the pole with Steve Gresham second. Jake Ford ran out of room trying an
outside pass in heat 3 and flipped end for end. He was unhurt. Outside front row
starter Stansberry won heat 4 with Steve Conrad second ahead of Steve Chulahoff.
Blake Miller and Guy Woodward tangled in heat 4 and both rolled over. A sixth
place heat finish forced point leader Mike Knopf into the B Main. Knopf won the
B Main ahead of Shawn Kautz, IMCA Modified track champion Randy McGraw and Ryan
Devitt. The four car inversion for the A Main put Kierce and Ellertson in the
front row with Stansberry and Case in row 2. Kierce led the opening lap, but
bicycled on lap 2 and flipped. After a tech inspection, he was allowed to
continue, but dropped out later. Early in the action, Hancock drove into the
side of fourth place Conrad and Conrad also flipped to end his race. Once past
the early set of yellow flags, the race ran smoothly until lap 26. Wakim was
leading with Ellertson a season best second. Case put a slide job on Ellertson
on the restart and briefly held second, but Ellertson regained the slot. When
Case tried again on the next lap, they crashed and Wakim went on to win ahead of
Tramel, Hancock, Rob Kershaw, 14th starter Luis Espinoza and 19th starter
McGraw. Mike Davis was 7th ahead of Knopf and Bill Welch. Greg Taylor fell from
point contention as he missed another race to compete with the USAC pavement
sprint car group in Stockton. Knopf's point lead is 20 over Stansberry and 560
ahead of Kershaw. Wakim climbed to fifth in points, 635 behind the absent
Taylor.
The Senior division split
23 cars into three heat races. W Miller won the first heat ahead of DeBlauw and
Terry took heat 2 ahead of Danny Miller. Point leader Bach won heat 3 from 4th
starting with Dale Harwood second ahead of John Woodward. Jim Porter beat Oren
Prosser Sr and Rick Lewis in the B Main. W Miller came from fifth to win the
caution free 20 lap feature ahead of 9th starter McCormick, 4th starter Terry
and 3rd starter DeBlauw. Porter came from 11th to place fifth ahead of Harwood,
Steve Stasa and Bach. Bach's point lead is just 50 over DeBlauw and 180 over W
Miller. Stasa and Harwood round out the top five in points.
Summary
Senior Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Wiley Miller, Russell DeBlauw, Steve Stasa, Sammy Iaconis, Rick
Lewis.
Heat 2-Richard Terry, Danny Miller, Curtis Richards, Ron Butler, Jim
Porter.
Heat 3-Ron Bach, Dale Harwood, John Woodward, Richard McCormick, Oren Prosser
Sr.
B Main-Porter, Prosser Sr, Lewis, Tim Moon, Bruce Douglas, John Richards, Dave
Marini, Mark Chulahoff, Bill Leonard, George Tuttle Jr.
A Main-W Miller, McCormick, Terry, DeBlauw, Porter, Harwood, Stasa, Bach, Lewis,
D Miller, C Richards, Moon, Butler, Iaconis, J Richards, Chulahoff, Douglas,
Leonard, Marini.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Ronnie Case, Chris Wakim, Rob Kershaw, Bill Camarillo, Brett Butler.
Heat 2-Jeremy Ellertson, Chris Tramel, Kyle Hancock, Luis Espinoza, Randy
McGraw.
Heat 3-Kevin Kierce, Steve Gresham, Mike Davis, Jonas Reynolds, Ryan
Devitt.
Heat 4-Tom Stansberry, Steve Conrad, Steve Chulahoff, Bill Welch, Blake
Miller.
B Main-Mike Knopf, Shawn Kautz, McGraw, Devitt, Miller, Butler, Nadine Keller,
Guy Woodward, Joe Henderson.
A Main- Wakim, Tramel, Hancock, Kershaw, Espinoza, McGraw, Davis, Knopf, Welch,
Devitt, Stansberry, Chulahoff, Kautz, Ellertson, Case, Camarillo, Gresham,
Conrad, Kierce, Reynolds.
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