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Ventura, CA....Sept 20......A
caution flag with just 3 laps to go in Saturday night's 30 lap VRA unwinged 360
sprint car feature wiped out Oren Prosser Jr's lead and set up a shootout for
the win at Ventura Raceway. Racing about 2/3 of the VRA schedule, Will Perkins
made a late charge to his first $1000 win while Prosser Jr settled for a career
best $750 second. Bill Welch was a $500 third. The two drivers dueling for the
VRA championship had a tough night as point leader Chris Wakim was out after
just 8 laps and point runnerup Tom Stansberry crashed hard with early season
point leader Rob Kershaw for a lap 10 red flag. Wakim came out of the night with
a 90 point lead over Stansberry and Ventura's decision to cancel both their Sept
27 and Oct 4 race dates leaves the VRA sprint car next action to be Perris on
Oct 4. Russell DeBlauw won his third 20 lap VRA Senior Sprint Car main event as
he fended off the fierce late race challenge from point leader Ron Bach. John
Woodward was third ahead of point runnerup Wiley Miller. DeBlauw is third in
points. The cancelled Sept 27th date left this night the point finale for the
IMCA Modifieds and Jack Parker got his second 20 lap win. With a third place run
behind Joe Porche, Wes Richardson won the track championship by just 2 points
over fourth place finisher Paul Moore. The VRA Modifieds raced on Sept 13, but
their results were not available when I did that story. Rick Rodarte won his
fourth 20 lap feature awith Ric Bronson second ahead of the point leading duo of
George Kreider IV and David Lidren. The VRA dwarf cars were in action and Chuck
Lippert swept the Pro Division action for his third 20 lap win with only feature
runnerup Carl Behmer finishing on the lead lap with Lippert. George Sack won his
second 20 lap Senior dwarf car feature with feature runnerup Rick Denny from
Taft taking the season point lead by 30 points over 7th place finisher Gary
Conditt.
The VRA unwinged
360 sprint cars split 28 cars into four heat races. Santa Maria's Mike Knopf won
heat 1 over Steve Conrad. Point leader Wakim beat Prosser Jr in heat 2 and Welch
edged out Perkins in heat 3. J J Ercse and Luis Espinoza were 1-2 in heat 4.
Kyle Hancock won the 12 lap B Main with Jeff Wilson, Mike Whitcomb and former TQ
midget racer Ron Wade also transferring to the 30 lap A Main. The B Main had 12
starters and the top 7 finished lead lap. Wilson and Wakim were taken out in a
lap 8 A Main incident and the lap 10 hard tangle between Stansberry and Kershaw
was the final incident as 14 cars finished lead lap and two were just one lap
down. Ercse led much of the first part of the 30 lapper, but Prosser Jr appeared
to be headed to his first feature win when the lap 27 yellow flag allowed second
place duelers Perkins, Welch, Knopf, Kierce and Espinoza into the feature win
mix. Perkins won that late race duel for this first Ventura win with Prosser Jr
second ahead of Welch, Knopf, Kierce, Espinoza, Ronnie Case, Ercse and Chris
Tramel. A starting position in the Oct 18th WAGS Dash was up for the driver who
improved his starting spot the most in the 30 lapper. Case, Tramel, Hancock and
Whitcomb all improved 7 spots, so their names were placed in a hat and Tramel
was drawn as the winner. Wakim's point lead is 90 over Stansberry and 1395 ahead
of Kierce. Knopf is just 25 points back of Kierce.
The 21
Senior sprint cars were split into three heat races. Bach won the first ahead of
W Miller and Ron Butler beat DeBlauw in heat 2. Richard Terry and Danny Miller
were 1-2 in heat 3. Riding the high line, DeBlauw raced into the feature lead by
getting around Jim Porter, W Miller and John Woodward. His engine soured in the
closing laps and Bach challenged hard for the win after the final restart.
DeBlauw stayed out front to win ahead of Bach, Woodward, W Miller, D Miller,
Rick Lewis, Mark Chuhaloff and Dale Harwood. Bach is 1055 points ahead of W
Miller with DeBlauw another 540 back in third.
The 18 car
IMCA Modified field included 2002 Western Region champion Mark Allison from Las
Vegas. The rapidly improving Porche won heat 1 over Kathy Pierson and Mark
Fullerton. Damon Redman took heat 2 over Moore and Will Smith. Richardson was
one point in front of Moore going into this final point night. Parker won the 20
lap race from 8th starting with outside front row Porche second ahead of
Richardson. Moore chased Richardson to the checkered flag and finished 2 points
behind him. Allison ran
fifth after coming from 10th with 12th starter Gary Curtis sixth ahead of fellow
sixth row starter Chris Tonoli. Pierson, Don Wright Jr and Redman rounded out
the top ten. Curtis finished 12 points behind the champion and 11 in front of
Porche. Bill Waltman ran 15th and dropped two points back of Porche. The VRA
Modifieds had a 12 car field and Marty McLaughlin beat Rodarte in heat 1 with
Lidren beating Andy Frank in heat 2. The top 8 cars finished lead lap in their
20 lapper with Rodarte the 4 time winner ahead of Bronson, Kreider, Lidren,
McLaughlin, Frank and Jody Davis. Kreider ended the night with a five point lead
on Lidren with Bronson just 50 points out of first.
There were 8 Pro Dwarfs
and 9 Senior Dwarfs. Lippert beat Mike Bradley in the Pro heat race and lapped
everyone but runnerup Behmer in their 20 lap feature. Newcomer Tom Bebensee was
one lap down in third and fourth place Dawn Stutzman was two laps down. Point
leader Jeff Shelton fell out after 14 laps, but still holds a 380 point lead
over Behmer. Mike Denton was a main event scratch. Sack beat double duty Bach in
the heat race for the Senior division. Steve Addison scratched from their 20 lap
feature and only the top 3 finished lead lap as Sack beat Denny and Jon Prechtl.
Jim Kojaku, Bach and Jim Stutzman were all one lap down. Denny moved 30 points
ahead of Gary Conditt with Prechtl 355 behind the point leader.
Summary
Senior Dwarfs
Heat-George Sack, Ron Bach, Gary Conditt, Jim Kojaku, Rick Denny.
Main-Sack, Denny, Jon Prechtl, Kojaku, Bach, Jim Stutzman, Conditt, Glen
Monk.
Pro Dwarfs
Heat-Chuck Lippert, Mike Bradley, Carl Behmer, Jeff Shelton.
Main-Lippert, Behmer, Tom Bebensee, Dawn Stutzman, Cindy Addison, Shelton,
Bradley, Denton.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty McLaughlin, Rick Rodarte, George Kreider IV, Jody Davis, Jeff
Goddard.
Heat 2-Dave Lidren, Andy Frank, Ric Bronson, Travis Wickenden, Kimberly Rice.
Main-Rodarte, Bronson, Kreider, Lidren, McLaughlin, Frank, Davis, Goodard, Joel
Chavez, Bobby Hill, Rice, Wickenden.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Joe Porche, Kathy Pierson, Mark Fullerton, Bill Waltman, Wes
Richardson.
Heat 2-Damon Redman, Paul Moore, Will Smith, Jack Parker, Mark Allison.
Main-Parker, Porche, Richardson, Moore, Allison, Gary Curtis, Chris Tonoli,
Pierson, Don Wright Jr, Redman, Smith, Rich Wolfe, Steve Bulpitt, Fullerton,
Waltman, Ralph Jones, Brad Prows, Donald Houghton.
Senior Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Ron Bach, Wiley Miller, John Woodward, Bruce Douglas, Mark Chulahoff.
Heat 2-Ron Butler, Russell DeBlauw, Dale Harwood, Sparky Edmonston, Curtis
Richards.
Heat 3-Richard Terry, Danny Miller, Jim Porter, Rick Lewis, Dave Marini. Main-DeBlauw,
Bach, Woodward, W Miller, D Miller, Lewis, Chuhaloff, Harwood, Edmonston, Oren
Prosser Sr, C Richards, Tim Moon, Porter, John Richards, Sammy Iaconis, Marini,
George Tuttle Jr, Butler, Bob Hedlund, Terry, Douglas.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Mike Knopf, Steve Conrad, Ryan Devitt, Ronnie Case, Steve Hess.
Heat 2-Chris Wakim, Oren Prosser Jr, Steve Chuhaloff, Blake Miller, Mike
Whitcomb. Heat 3-Bill Welch, Will Perkins, Rob Kershaw, Tom Stansberry, Joe
Henderson.
Heat 4-J J Ercse, Luis Espinoza, Kevin Kierce, Chris Tramel, Jonas
Reynolds.
B Main-Kyle Hancock, Mike Wilson, Whitcomb, Ron Wade, Guy Woodward, Reynolds,
Shawn Torbert, Bill Camarillo, Kim Lewis, Hess, Tom Hendricks, Henderson.
A Main-Perkins, Prosser Jr, Welch, Knopf, Kierce, Espinoza, Case, Ercse, Tramel,
Hancock, Conrad, Whitcomb, Devitt, B Miller, Chuhaloff, Wade, Stansberry,
Kershaw, Wakim, Wilson.
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