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LAST TURN PASS NETS TAYLOR WIN AND POINT LEAD
by Gary Jacob 

Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, VRA Modifieds and Pony Stocks

Ventura, CA.....May 31......Contact between leaders Chris Wakim and Troy Rutherford in the final corner of Saturday night's 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature gave Greg Taylor the opening he needed. He was able to squeeze between the dueling leaders and the crashwall and score the $1,000 win. Despite missing two events to race on the USAC sprint car circuit, Taylor has pulled back into the season point lead with the victory as he came out of the night with a 50 point lead on Bakersfield's Tom Stansberry and a 130 point advantage over Santa Maria veteran Mike Knopf. Taylor had led early from his outside front row start, but both 8th starter Wakim and 11th starter Rutherford got by him. Wakim ran a $750 second and Rutherford collected $500 for third. Gary Curtis from Camarillo climbed into third place in the IMCA Modified point standings with a win over a 17 car field in their 20 lapper. The track's winningest modified racer Steve Greenland ran second and Paul Moore closed to within a single point of point leader Wes Richardson with his third place run.  Point leader David Lidren won the VRA Modified main event ahead of George Kreider IV and Ric Bronson. Andrew Greiman closed a little ground on pony stock point leader James Brown with his feature win. Brown came from 8th starting to place second ahead of defending champion Mike Frazier. Brown holds a 140 point lead on Greiman and a 155 point lead on Frazier.

          A great turnout of 38 VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars were divided into four qualifying heats and they thrilled the crowd with a lot of passing on a very racy 1/4 mile clay oval. Wakim came from sixth to win the first heat ahead of front row starter Richard McCormick. Luis Espinoza started 9th and finished 3rd. Knopf won heat 2 from the pole, but Rob Kershaw came from row five to finish second. Outside front row starter Will Perkins won heat 3 with Taylor coming from 4th to place second. Outside front row starter Chris Tramel won heat 4 with 5th starter Jeremy Ellertson second. The top four in each heat advanced and the large field required two B Mains with just the top two finishers in each climbing into the 30 lap A Main. Bill Welch beat Steve Conrad in the first B Main with defending track champion Jimmy Crawford third. Crawford is just a part time racer in 2003. Wheeling the car often driven by Cory Kruseman, Cory Witherill rode the crashwall from his outside front row starting spot to win the second B Main ahead of John Wright, Jake Ford and Jim Thomson. The 30 lap A Main had an 8 car inversion that put Espinoza and Taylor on the front row ahead of Ellertson, Knopf, Tramel, Perkins, Kershaw and Wakim. A flat tire sidelined Espinoza and Ellertson spun twice to end his race. Taylor appeared headed for the win before both Wakim and Rutherford drove by him. On the final lap, Rutherford put a big slide job on Wakim going into turn 3. They touched, but didn't crash and third place Taylor saw an opening. Taylor squeezed between the two leaders and the crashwall and picked off the win in the top sprint car show of 2003. Wakim ran second ahead of Rutherford, Clark Templeman III, Tramel, McCormick, 15th starter Mike Kirby, 16th starter Kevin Kierce, Knopf and Stansberry. With 1,000 points available for a feature win and a 50 point drop per position, fourth ranked Kershaw is also in strong title contention as he stands just 470 points behind the new leader. Wakim is solidly in fifth, 935 out of first.

           The 17 car IMCA Modified field included a surprise visit by former regional champion Jason Pike from Pahrump, NV. Curtis won the feature race ahead of Greenland, Moore, Mark Fullerton, point leader Richardson, Joe Porche, Bill Waltman, Randy Gens, Pike, Brett Lynsky and Rick Johnston. 

Summary 

IMCA Modifieds
Main-Gary Curtis, Steve Greenland, Paul Moore, Mark Fullerton, Wes Richardson, Joe Porche, Bill Waltman, Randy Gens, Jason Pike, Brett Lynsky, Rick Johnston, Will Smith, Don Wright Jr, Brad Prows, Lyle Slater, Damon Redman, Kathy Pierson. 

Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Chris Wakim, Richard McCormick, Luis Espinoza, Tom Stansberry, Bill Welch.
Heat 2-Mike Knopf, Rob Kershaw, Clark Templeman III, Kyle Hancock, John Wright.
Heat 3-Will Perkins, Greg Taylor, Troy Rutherford, Kevin Kierce, Jimmy Crawford.
Heat 4-Chris Tramel, Jeremy Ellertson, Mike Davis, Mike Kirby, Cory Witherill. 
1st B Main-Bill Welch, Steve Conrad, Crawford, J J Ercse, Joe Henderson, Randy McGraw, Mike Whitcomb, Ron Butler, Steve Chulahoff, Guy Woodward. 
2nd B Main-Witherill, Wright, Jake Ford, Jim Thomson, Brandon Thompson, Blake Miller, Brett Butler, Tom Downing, Steve Gresham, Jonas Reynolds. 
A Main-Taylor, Wakim, Rutherford, Templeman, Tramel, McCormick, Kirby, Kierce, Knopf, Stansberry, Kershaw, Conrad, Perkins, Wright, Hancock, Welch, Davis, Espinoza, Witherill, Ellertson.

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