|
Ventura, CA....July 12.......His
fierce duel for the top spot with Jake Ford ending when leader Ford climbed the
front wall and flipped several times on lap 24, Bakersfield's Tom Stansberry was
the $1000 winner of the 30 lap VRA Unwinged 360 sprint car feature race Saturday
night at Ventura Raceway. A graduate of the dwarf cars, Stansberry is chasing
the VRA points for the first time in 2003 and stands fourth, just 1430 points
back of point leader Chris Wakim. Stansberry started on the pole and led early
before giving way to outside front row starter Ford. Wakim came from 4th to
place a $750 second. Seventh starter Kevin Kierce pocketed $500 for third and
former point leader Rob Kershaw ran fourth to fall just 50 points behind new
point leader Wakim. A great 39 car turnout competed in the unwinged sprint car
action. Enjoying his best IMCA Modified season, Gary Curtis won his third 20 lap
main event to close to within 7 points of point leader Paul Moore. Curtis is
fourth in points and was chased to his feature win by street stock graduate
Chris Tonoli and Bill Waltman. Moore is just 2 points ahead of Wes Richardson
and 4 ahead of Waltman. Chuck Lippert scored a first career clean sweep in the
VRA Pro Dwarf Car action. He won heat 1 from the pole and had the pole for the
20 lap feature that he won with fifth starting Carl Behmer second ahead of 7th
starter Mike Bradley. After six years of trying, Ed Niedzwiecki won his first 20
lap Senior Dwarf Car feature. He did it in dramatic fashion as he lapped the
entire field. Rick Denny from Taft finished second to close with 35 points of
point leader Gary Conditt, who ran third.
The huge field of
unwinged sprint cars were divided into four heat races. Clark Templeman III beat
Ford in heat 1 and Wakim outraced Kierce to take heat 2. Using an engine
borrowed from incoming point leader Kershaw, Greg Taylor won heat 3 from 7th
starting ahead of Stansberry and Kershaw beat Chris Tramel in heat 4. The sun
and wind produced a slick and rutty track for the heat races, but a watering job
before the pair of B Mains produced a good track for the feature action. Point
title contender Mike Knopf from Santa Maria got taken out in the heat action,
but came from last on the freshly watered track to finish 2nd in the first B
Main behind Blake Miller. Only the top 2 transferred out of the 11 car
race with Steve Chulahoff and Jonas Reynolds just missing. Jeremy Ellertson won
the second B Main over Kyle Hancock and Will Perkins. The six car inversion for
the 30 lap feature put Stansberry and Ford in the front row ahead of Templeman,
Wakim, Kershaw and Taylor. Taylor broke in the feature and was slowing for the
exit when he was rear-ended by Templeman. Templeman was out with a broken front
end. The crowd was entertained by the duel up front between Stansberry and Ford.
Stansberry led early with Ford soon taking over. Contact between the two sent
Ford into the front wall on lap 25 and he flipped several times. Ford jumped out
unhurt and Stansberry paced the final six laps for the $1000 win. Wakim moved
into the point lead with his second place run ahead of Kierce, Kershaw, Luis
Espinoza, 19th starter Knopf, Bill Welch, Tramel, John Wright and Steve DeMott.
With 1050 points available each night, Wakim's point lead is just 50 points over
Kershaw, 1290 ahead of Knopf and 1430 ahead of Stansberry. Taylor is only five
points ahead of Espinoza in the duel for fifth in points. Because of the fair,
the July 19th race at Ventura will be the last Ventura action for the VRA 360
sprint cars until Sept 13. They race at Bakersfield once and Perris four times
in between.
The 18 car
IMCA Modified field saw Curtis the feature winner ahead of Tonoli, Waltman,
Kathy Pierson, Damon Redman, Jack Parker, Richardson, Moore, Donald Houghton and
Mark Fullerton. Bakersfield's Phil Cook was 15th. The veteran racer Moore holds
just the 2 point lead on Ricardson, four point lead on Waltman and 7 point lead
on Curtis.
The Pro Dwarf Car class had 12
entries with Lippert outdueling fellow front row starter Loren Bradbury to win
heat 1. Outside front row starter Curt Cook won heat 2 with recent Bakersfield
winner Jeff Shelton coming from third to finish 2nd. The main
event saw pole starter Lippert winning ahead of fifth starter Behmer, 7th
starter Bradley, sixth starter Shelton and Cook. The final lead lap finisher was
Chad Kincaid. Dawn Stutzman was out on lap 1 and Mark McLeroy was a main event
scratch. The Senior Division had 11 cars racing. Outside front row starter
George Sack won heat 1 over Glen Monk and Conditt. Niedzwiecki won heat 2 from
an outside front row start with Mike Sweeney second. 80 year old Ed McBride was
a main event scratch. Niedzwiecki won the main event from 3rd starting as he
lapped everyone. The next five cars all finished 19 laps with Denny second ahead
of Conditt, Jim Stutzman, Monk and Jon Prechtl. Both Sack and Ron Bach were out
after just one lap.
The next Ventura
action for both the IMCA Modifieds and VRA Dwarf Cars is the second of two
nights of racing during the annual County Fair on Thursday, July 31. They will
be joined by the Open Comp figure 8 cars. On Wednesday night, July 30, the VRA
Modifieds, Pony Stock and Open Comp figure 8 race and both nights will close
with huge destruction derbies.
Summary
Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-George Sack, Glen Monk, Gary Conditt, Jon Prechtl, Ed McBride.
Heat 2-Ed Niedzwiecki, Mike Sweeney, Rick Denny, Jim Stutzman, Steve Addison.
Main-Niedzwiecki, Denny, Conditt, Stutzman, Monk, Prechtl, Addison, Sweeny,
Sack, Ron Bach.
Pro Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Chuck Lippert, Loren Bradbury, Carl Behmer, Mike Bradley, Josh
Newton.
Heat 2-Curt Cook, Jeff Shelton, Dawn Stutzman, Cindy Addison, Mark McLeroy.
Main-Lippert, Behmer, Bradley, Shelton, Cook, Chad Kincaid, John Lynch, Newton,
Addison, Bradbury, Stutzman.
IMCA Modifieds
Main-Gary Curtis, Chris Tonoli, Bill Waltman, Kathy Pierson, Damon Redman, Jack
Parker, Wes Richardson, Paul Moore, Donald Houghton, Mark Fullerton, Rick
Johnston, Brett Lynsky, Brad Prows, Joe Porche, Phil Cook, Lyle Slater, Tom
Topping, Will Smith.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Clark Templeman III, Jake Ford, Bill Welch, Ryan Devitt, Alex
Pruett.
Heat 2-Chris Wakim, Kevin Kierce, Steve DeMott, Ron Butler, Kyle Hancock.
Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Tom Stansberry, Luis Espinoza, Sean Buckley, Jonas Reynolds,
Jeremy Ellertson.
Heat 4-Rob Kershaw, Chris Tramel, John Wright, David Sinsley, Bobby Davis
Jr.
1st B Main-Blake Miller, Mike Knopf, Steve Chulahoff, Reynolds, Mike Davis,
Pruett, Oren Prosser Jr, Davis Jr, Rick Lewis, Jim Thomson.
2nd B Main-Ellertson, Hancock, Will Perkins, Guy Woodward, Steve Hess, Brett
Butler, Mike Whitcomb, J J Ercse, Brandon Thomson, Kenny Brown.
A Main-Stansberry, Wakim, Kierce, Kershaw, Espinoza, Knopf, Welch, Tramel,
Wright, DeMott, Butler, Devitt, B Miller, Sinsley, Ford, Hancock, Ellertson,
Taylor, Templeman, Buckley.
|
