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Perris, CA...March 20...A
driver who splits his time between the 360 and 410 ranks, Steve Ostling charged
to wins in both the B and A Mains as the VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars made their
first 2004 season appearance at Perris Auto Speedway Saturday night. Saddled
with a 4th row starting spot in the heat action, Ostling only managed a 5th
place run and that gave him pole position for the 12 lap B Main. He was a wire
to wire winner in the B Main, then put on a passing clinic in the 30 lap A Main
as he battled from 13th starting for the $1000 win. Fourth row starter Kevin
Kierce was second at the checkered flag for a $750 payday and Bakersfield's Tom
Stansberry came from 7th starting to finish 3rd. That paid $500 and rewarded
Stansberry with the early season point lead. In the first two races of the year
at Ventura, Stansberry came from the back to finish second behind Chris Tramel.
Tramel struggled at Perris with a 16th place run to fall 525 points behind
Stansberry. Kierce climbed to 4th in the standings behind Bill Welch, who
skipped the Perris race.
On the bigger half-mile Perris track, the 28 car turnout was split into three
heat races, but only the top four advanced into the 30 lap A Main. Front row
starter Shawn Kautz won the first heat race over 2nd row starter Steve Conrad
and 3rd row starter Stansberry. Luis Espinoza also turned an outside front row
start into a win in heat 2 ahead of Rick Becker. The versatile Becker races only
the Perris portion of the VRA schedule and he charged from 7th to finish second
ahead of Ron DiDonato. Will Perkins won heat 3 from 4th starting ahead of fellow
second row starter Tom Downing and third row starter Kierce.
Interestingly, every starter finished lead lap in the heat action. Scratches by
Terry Foster, Tom Hendricks and Jeremy Ellertson left the B Main with 13
starters chasing ten transfer spots. Ostling won the from the pole while Chris
Wakim put on a show coming from 10th to 2nd in the 12 rounds. Tramel was also
forced to run the B Main after turning a 9th starting spot into a 5th in his
heat. Tramel started outside front row in the B Main and finished 3rd ahead of
Rob Kershaw, back of the pack starter Ronnie Case and Dwight Cheney. Las Vegas
NV racer Jay Ervine, who normally races with the Arizona group, was 7th in the B
Main.
The 22 car A Main lineup had heat winners Perkins and Kautz in the front row
ahead of Espinoza, Becker, Conrad and Downing. The fans were treated to lots of
passing with the top 11 finishers on the lead lap. Ostling came from 13th to
win, Kierce charged from 8th to finish second and Stansberry continued his
strong 2004 season with a 3rd place run from 7th. Becker hung on for 4th, 18th
starter Dwight Cheney was 5th and Ervine came from the 10th row to finish sixth.
Ervine actually got as high as 4th, but a couple scraps with the fence in the
closing rounds dropped him back to 6th. The top ten was rounded out by Larry
Lloyd, Perkins, Kautz and Downing. Newcomer Tony Lima was the final lead lap
finisher.
The VRA sprint cars now return to their home track in Ventura to race every
weekend except for Easter Weekend and will return to Perris for a May 15th race.
The series will visit Perris four times during the season and goes to
Bakersfield twice.
Summary
Heat 1-Shawn Kautz, Steve Conrad, Tom Stansberry, Larry Lloyd, Steve Ostling.
Heat 2-Luis Espinoza, Rick Becker, Ron DiDonato, Tony Lima, Chris Tramel.
Heat 3-Will Perkins, Tom Downing, Kevin Kierce, Jesse Denome, Terry Foster.
B Main-Ostling, Chris Wakim, Tramel, Rob Kershaw, Ronnie Case, Dwight Cheney,
Jay Ervine, David Sinsley, Darren Slater, Jonas Reynolds.
A Main-Ostling, Kierce, Stansberry, Becker, Cheney, Ervine, Lloyd, Perkins,
Kautz, Downing, Lima, Sinsley, Denome, Case, Espinoza, Tramel, DiDonato, Conrad,
Kershaw, Wakim, Slater, Reynolds.
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