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Ventura, Ca....Oct 25......Capping
an incredible rim riding display from 9th starting, Will Perkins passed Steve
Ostling in the final corner to score a $1000 win in the 30 lap VRA Unwinged 360
Sprint Car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Only a part time racer,
desert long tow Perkins from Hesperia climbed into 10th place in points with his
win. Ostling ran a $750 second and Tony Dighera raced from 8th to finish a $500
third. With his 7th place finish, Bakersfield's Tom Stansberry took the season
point lead from 16th place finisher Chris Wakim. Stansberry will carry a 420
point lead over Wakim into the track's Nov 1st season finale. On the senior
sprint car side, defending champion Wiley Miller kept alive his hopes of
overtaking Ron Bach for the 2003 title by winning the 20 lap main event from
third starting. Front row starters Ron Butler and Russell DeBlauw chased W
Miller to the win. Bach ran 7th and is 745 points ahead of W Miller with that
one race remaining. The battle for the VRA Modified championship had an exciting
conclusion. David Lidren won both a heat and the 20 lap feature, but fell five
points short in his bid to overtake Rick Rodarte for the title. Rodarte rallied
to a 2nd in the 20 lapper to claim the title. Third place feature finisher
George Kreider IV finished third in points ahead of Ric Bronson and Marty
McLaughlin. Kreider was just 20 points back of champioon Rodarte. The pony
stocks have one point race remaining but James Brown wrapped up the season title
with a second in their 20 lap feature. Brad Long won the main event ahead of
champion Brown, third ranked Mike Frazier, second ranked Andrew Greiman and
David Peterson. Greiman is 20 points ahead of Frazier in their duel for second
and they race the Nov 1 event also.
The VRA unwinged
360 sprint cars had a 28 car turnout and used a four heat format. Dighera won
heat 1 over Mike Knopf and Perkins. Kevin Kierce outraced Chris Tramel and Oren
Prosser Jr in heat 2 and Bill Camarillo won heat 3 over Rob Kershaw. Stansberry
gained some ground on Wakim with a win in heat 4 as Wakim only managed a
4th in his heat race. Ostling and Luis Espinoza chased Stansberry to his heat
win. The top four from each heat advanced and they were joined by four transfers
from the B Main. Kyle Hancock won the B Main ahead of Ron DiDonato, Joe
Henderson and Steve Chulahoff. Santa Maria's Darren Simas just missed the
transfer with a fifth. In the 30 lap feature, it took pole starter Ostling 14
laps to take the lead from outside front row starter Knopf. Perkins thrilled
everyone with his rim riding exhibition and he looked like he was going to tip
over when he drove hard into turn 1 on that final lap. Another hard charge into
turn 3 found him able to pass Ostling on the outside as they raced to the
checkered flag. Ostling ran second ahead of Dighera, Kierce, Tramel, Knopf,
Stansberry, Bill Welch and Camarillo. Knopf is third in points, 1235 behind
Stansberry and 665 ahead of Kierce. Espinoza holds just a 180 point lead on Rob
Kershaw in their duel for fifth in the standings. Santa Maria factory stock
racer Thad Bennett made his sprint car debut with a 10th in the B Main.
On the Senior Sprint
side, they allowed all 23 cars to start the main event after a three heat
format. Mike Cook beat Dale Harwood in heat 1 and W Miller outraced DeBlauw in
heat 2. Ron Butler beat Rick Lewis in heat 3. W Miller won the main event from
his second row assignment ahead of second starter R Butler and pole starter
DeBlauw. Lewis came from sixth to finish fourth ahead of 20th starter Oren
Prosser Sr. Harwood was sixth in front of 7th starter Bach and 19th starting Jim
Porter. DeBlauw is third in points with Porter and Lewis dueling for the 4th
position.
The VRA dwarf cars will
join the sprint cars, senior sprints and pony stocks at the Nov 1 season closer.
Summary Senior Sprint Car
Heat 1-Mike Cook, Dale Harwood, Curtis Richards, Steve Stasa, Danny
Miller.
Heat 2-Wiley Miller, Russell DeBlauw, Ron Bach, Richard Terry, Bruce
Douglas.
Heat 3-Ron Butler, Rick Lewis, Dave Marini, Tim Moon, John Richards.
Main-W Miller, Butler, DeBlauw, Lewis, Oren Prosser Sr, Harwood, Bach, Jim
Porter, C Richards, Moon, Terry, Douglas, Stasa, John Woodward, J Richards,
Sammy Iaconis, Marini, Bob Hedlund, Chris McArthur, George Tuttle Jr, Cook, D
Miller, Mark Chulahoff.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Car
Heat 1-Tony Dighera, Mike Knopf, Will Perkins, Jonas Reynolds, Kyle
Hancock.
Heat 2-Kevin Kierce, Chris Tramel, Oren Prosser Jr, Chris Wakim, Steve Chulahoff.
Heat 3-Bill Camarillo, Rob Kershaw, Bill Welch, Steve Hess, Brett Butler.
Heat 4-Tom Stansberry, Steve Ostling, Luis Espinoza, J J Ercse, Ron Wade.
B Main-Hancock, Ron DiDonato, Joe Henderson, S Chulahoff, Darren Simas, B
Butler, Kim Lewis, Ron Wade, Tom Hendricks, Thad Bennett, Ryan Devitt, Guy
Woodward.
A Main-Perkins, Ostling, Dighera, Kierce, Tramel, Knopf, Stansberry, Welch,
Camarillo, Ercse, Hancock, Henderson, Kershaw, Prosser Jr, Reynolds, Wakim,
Espinoza, Hess, DiDonato, S Chulahoff.
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