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Ventura, CA...May 8......On a
warm night at the ocean front racetrack, Chris Wakim dominated Saturday night's
30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature from his pole position start at
Ventura Raceway. Wakim had battled from fifth to second in his heat to earn the
fourth best heat race performance and the four car inversion put him on the pole
for his $1000 win. Fellow front row starter Rob Kershaw was a $750 second and
fourth starting Bill Welch pocketed $500 for third. It was Wakim's 2nd win of
2004. Donald Houghton's tough luck season put him on the pole for both his heat
and the feature in the IMCA Modified lineup procedure and he drove to wins in
both events. It was his second feature win of 2004 and Kathy Pierson put herself
back in track title contention with a 2nd place run ahead of point leader Gary
Curtis. Ric Bronson battled from third starting to win his second VRA Modified
20 lap main event of 2004 and Jody Davis came from 9th to finish second ahead of
point leader Rick Rodarte. Mike Bradley's 20 lap VRA Pro Dwarf Car win gave that
class four different winners in their four events to date while Mike Sweeney won
his fourth straight VRA Senior Dwarf Car 20 lap feature. Thomas Velasquez and
Chad Kincaid followed Bradley to the checkered flag in the Pro action while Gary
Conditt and Jon Prechtl placed 2-3 in the Senior race.
The VRA unwinged
360 sprint cars fielded 26 entries and split them into three heat races. The top
four from each heat advanced into the 30 lap A Main and they were joined by
eight transfers from the 12 lap B Main. Welch came from third to win the opening
heat race ahead of front row starters Brett Butler and Guy Woodward. Pole
starter Kevin Kierce won heat 2 over fifth starting Wakim and third starter
Blake Miller. Kershaw won heat 3 from the pole with fellow front row starter
Luis Espinoza second ahead of Mike Broome. The four best heat point totals were
earned by Welch, Kierce, Kershaw and Wakim. Steve Conrad won the B Main from the
pole while point leader Tom Stansberry had to come from the rear to place second
ahead of usual senior division racer Rick Lewis, Jesse Denome and Tom Hendricks.
Clark Templeman III crashed in both his heat and the B Main. Kim Lewis finished
7th in the B Main, making Rick and Kim the first husband-wife combination to
qualify for a VRA sprint car A Main. Wakim, Kershaw, Kierce and Welch had the
front two rows for the 30 lap A Main and Wakim led all the way for the win.
Kierce flipped on lap 6 and both John Woodward and Joe Henderson rolled in a
turn 4 incident on lap 20. The only other car not running at the checkered flag
was Espinoza as Wakim won ahead of Kershaw, Welch, 13th starter Conrad, 14th
starter Stansberry, Ron Wade, B Miller and Broome. The top 12 were on the lead
lap. Welch, Kershaw and Conrad continue to run 2-3-4 in points behind the very
consistent Stansberry.
The IMCA Modifieds split 12 cars into a pair of heat races. D Houghton won heat
1 from the pole with third starter Pierson second ahead of Chris Tonoli. Former
street stock star Brad Prows won heat 2 from the pole ahead of Jack Parker and
Wes Richardson. It was a tough night for impressive rookie Josh Houghton, a
street stock champion on the pavement at Kern County Raceway in 2003. He faded
to last in his heat and dropped out of the 20 lap feature. The other 11 cars
finished with 9 on the lead lap as D Houghton turned his pole start into his
second win. Pierson came from 4th to finish second ahead of Curtis, Parker, Mark
Fullerton, Prows, Will Smith, Tonoli and Richardson. Curtis stretched his point
lead to 6 points over Tonoli, 9 ahead of Richardson and 13 in front of Pierson.
Smith is 16 points out of first and 8 ahead of J Houghton.
The VRA
Modifieds had a 13 car turnout and Bronson joined point leader Rick Rodarte as a
two time winner in 2004. Marty McLaughlin came from 4th to win heat 1 over Joel
Chavez and John Duque. David Lidren also came from 4th to capture heat 2 with
third starter Bronson second ahead of Andy Frank. The top 8 finished on the lead
lap in their 20 lap feature with third starter Bronson beating 9th starter Davis
and sixth starting Rodarte. Mark Gallimore was 4th ahead of Lidren, Tom Morley,
Frank and Chavez. McLaughlin was out on lap 4 and Duque's race ended on lap 12.
The dwarf car
action found 11 Pro entries and 9 seniors. Marc Lippert won the first Pro heat
race over Kincaid and Velasquez. In just his second start, John Lynch won heat 2
from the pole ahead of Bradley and point leader Jeff Shelton. The feature had 7
finishers with the top five on the lead lap. Kevin Ireland was out on lap 5,
Lynch on lap 8 and Lippert on lap 11. Shelton's race ended on lap 14 and Bradley
won from third starting ahead of pole starter Velasquez, 9th starter Kincaid,
Dean Couch and rookie Ryan Blade. Bradley climbed to third in points behind
Shelton and Lippert. Wheeling a new M&M Chassis in 2004, Sweeney has
completely dominated the senior action, but settled for a 2nd place heat finish
tonight behind front row starter Ed Niedzwiecki. Sweeney had lined up 7th in the
7 lap race and Jim Stutzman finished third ahead of Conditt. The feature grid
had Stutzman, Niedzwiecki, Conditt and Sweeney in the front two rows and Sweeney
gained his fourth straight 20 lap win with Conditt second. Jon Prechtl came from
7th to finish third as Rick Denny and Jim Kojaku also finished lead lap. Jerry
Doolittle was a main event scratch to leave an 8 car event. Niedzwiecki,
Stutzman and Wes Harris all dropped out on lap 14.
Summary
Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat-Ed Niedzwiecki, Mike Sweeney, Jim Stutzman, Gary Conditt, Jim Kojaku.
Main-Sweeney, Conditt, Jon Prechtl, Rick Denny, Kojaku, Niedzwiecki, Wes Harris,
Stutzman.
Pro Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Marc Lippert, Chad Kincaid, Thomas Velasquez, Ryan Blade, Kevin Ireland.
Heat 2-John Lynch, Mike Bradley, Jeff Shelton, Dean Couch, Peter Holladay.
Main-Bradley, Velasquez, Kincaid, Couch, Blade, Holladay, Dawn Stutzman,
Shelton, Lippert, Lynch, Ireland.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty McLaughlin, Joel Chavez, John Duque, Tom Morley, Jody Davis.
Heat 2-David Lidren, Ric Bronson, Andy Frank, Rick Rodarte, Jeff Goddard.
Main-Bronson, Davis, Rodarte, Mark Gallimore, Lidren, Morley, Frank, Chavez,
Travis Wickenden, Bruce Blackman Jr, Duque, McLaughlin.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Donald Houghton, Kathy Pierson, Chris Tonoli, Mark Fullerton, Will
Smith.
Heat 2-Brad Prows, Jack Parker, Wes Richardson, Luke Ailken, Gary Curtis.
Main-D Houghton, Pierson, Curtis, Parker, Fullerton, Prows, Smith, Tonoli,
Richardson, Ailken, Rick Johnston, Josh Houghton.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Bill Welch, Brett Butler, Guy Woodward, Ron Wade, Steve Conrad.
Heat 2-Kevin Kierce, Chris Wakim, Blake Miller, John Nock, Brandon
Thompson.
Heat 3-Rob Kershaw, Luis Espinoza, Mike Broome, Joe Henderson, John
Woodward.
B Main-Conrad, Tom Stansberry, Rick Lewis, Jesse Denome, Tom Hendricks, J
Woodward, Kim Lewis, Dennis Rodriguez, Mike Whitcomb, Alex Pruett.
A Main-Wakim, Kershaw, Welch, Conrad, Stansberry, Wade, B Miller, Broome, R
Lewis, Denome, Butler, Hendricks, Nock, Rodriguez, G Woodward, Henderson, J
Woodward, Espinoza, K Lewis, Kierce.
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