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Ventura, Ca...June 5...Having
impressed with rim riding exhibition of driving as he came from sixth to the win
in his heat race, Mike Kirby was handicapped back to sixth starting spot for the
VRA unwinged 360 30 lap sprint car main event Saturday night at Ventura Raceway
but he made short work of the task, scoring a $1000 win ahead of third starting
Steve Conrad and point leader Tom Stansberry, who lined up 2nd. It was only
Kirby's 2nd appearance with VRA in 2004 and Conrad won $750 with Stansberry
adding to his large point lead with his $500 third place run. In the Senior
Sprint 20 lapper, former champion Wiley Miller made it 8 different winners in
the first 8 races of 2004 as he edged out point leading Bruce Douglas and Dayle
Henry. With the win, W Miller is now just 50 points back of Douglas in their
track championship duel. The IMCA Modified lineup procedures reward a driver
having bad luck with up front starting spots and top runner Donald Houghton is
taking advantage of his front row assignments as he won his third 20 lap main
event and second in a row. Kathy Pierson actually down D Houghton and won the
heat race, but she settled for second in the feature after coming from fifth
starting. Mark Fullerton started and finished third. VRA Modified point leader
Rick Rodarte came from 7th to win their 20 lap feature for his third win. Jody
Davis had a solid run to second and 11th starting Marty McLaughlin finished
third.
Twenty nine cars appeared for the VRA sprint car heat races and Rob Kershaw won
heat 1 from third starting over pole starter Chris Tramel. Pole starting Ron
Wade won heat 2 over sixth starter Stansberry while Conrad won heat 3 from the
pole ahead of fifth starter Chris Wakim. Using the crashwall as his cushion,
Kirby came from sixth to win heat 4 ahead of pole starting Mike English. Sixteen
cars advanced from the heat action and dwarf car graduate Mike Broome won the B
Main ahead of Ronnie Case, Blake Miller and John Nock. When Tramel pulled in off
the track during the pace laps for the 30 lap feature, sixth place B Main
finisher Kim Lewis was prepared as an alternate and she was allowed to race in
her second A Main action. The six car inversion for the A Main lineup put Wakim
and Stansberry on the front row ahead of Conrad, Wade, Kershaw and Kirby. Coming
down for the initial green flag, pole starter Wakim was unable to get his car to
accelerate, but everyone avoided contact. Kirby wheeled to the feature win ahead
of third starter Conrad, front row starter Stansberry, 8th starting English, 9th
starter Clark Templeman III and fifth starter Kershaw. Larry Lloyd battled from
16th to finish 7th and 17th starter B Miller ran 8th ahead of visiting driver
Greg Taylor and Shawn Kautz. The consistent Stansberry has stretched his point
lead to 1785 points over Kershaw with Conrad another 10 points back in third.
Bill Welch ran 20th and fell 435 behind Conrad. Kevin Kierce rounds out the top
five in points after his 16th place run.
The Senior Sprints who run identical 360 ci unwinged sprint cars had 19 cars in
action. Rick Lewis, husband of VRA racer Kim Lewis, won heat 1 from sixth
starting over Mike Cook and Ron Butler. Pole starter Bob Alderman won heat 2
over W Miller and Danny Miller. Douglas also turned a pole start into a win in
heat 3 ahead of Richard McCormick. It is truly amazing that a division like this
could start it's season with 8 different winners but front row starters W Miller
and Douglas finished 1-2 ahead of 11th starter Henry, D Miler, Alderman,
McCormick, Lewis, Butler and Dale Harwood. Richard Terry, Tim Moon and Curtis
Richards rounded out the top 12. While Douglas is only 50 points ahead of W
Miller, he has stretched a 1465 point lead on third ranked D Miller. Lewis is
125 behind D Miller and 135 ahead of C Richards while Ron Bach stands sixth in
points after a 17th place run.
The IMCA Modified action drew 14 cars, but all time race winner Steve Greenland
was done in hot laps. Pierson came from fifth to beat outside front row starter
D Houghton in heat 1 and Wes Richardson battled from fifth to win heat 2 over
point leader Gary Curtis, who shared that third row. The main event lineup had D
Houghton and Braw Prows on the front row ahead of Fullerton and Will Smith.
Pierson again started fifth and she battled her way to a second place finish
behnd winner D Houghton. Fullerton salvaged third and 8th starter Curtis ran
fourth ahead of Smith, rookie Josh Houghton, Chris Tonoli, Brett Lynsky and
Prows. Curtis now holds a 9 point lead on Tonoli with Pierson two more points
back in third. Richardson was out on lap 9 and dropped five points back of
Richardson. A first lap incident took out Rick Johnston and John Aitken. Smith
is one point behind Richardson and 9 ahead of J Houghton.
The 12 VRA Modifieds were split into two heat races. Travis Wickenden beat Mark
Gallimore in heat 1 and David Lidren beat Jody Davis in heat 2. Wickenden and
Frank brought the field down for the green flag, but 7th starter Rodarte won
ahead of 4th starter Davis, 11th starter McLaughlin, Lidren, Ric Bronson,
Gallimore, Frank and Wickenden. Jeff Goddard also finished lead lap with both
Mark Moise and Bruce Blackman Jr one lap down. Tom Morley, who won the main
event May 15th in just his second race ever, was out in six laps this night.
Rodarte's point lead is 85 points over Lidren, 95 ahead of Bronson and 160 ahead
of Davis. Gallimore is now 40 points behind Davis.
The two sprint car classes and the IMCA Modifieds all return on June 12 when the
pony stocks will return to action.
Summary
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Travis Wickenden, Mark Gallimore, Ric Bronson, Mark Moise, Bruce Blackman
Jr.
Heat 2-Dave Lidren, Jody Davis, Rick Rodarte, Andy Frank, Tom Morley.
Main-Rodarte, Davis, Marty McLaughlin, Lidren, Bronson, Gallimore, Frank,
Wickenden, Jeff Goddard, Moise, Bruce Blackman Jr, Morley.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Kathy Pierson, Donald Houghton, Mark Fullerton, Chris Tonoli, John Aitken.
Heat 2-Wes Richardson, Gary Curtis, Brad Prows, Brett Lynsky, Will Smith.
Main-D Houghton, Pierson, Fullerton, Curtis, Smith, Josh Houghton, Tonoli,
Lynsky, Prows, Steve Bulpit, Richardson, Aitken, Rick Johnston.
Senior Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Rick Lewis, Mike Cook, Ron Butler, Dave Marini, Grady Winkler.
Heat 2-Bob Alderman, Wiley Miller, Danny Miller, Dayle Henry, Bob Hedlund.
Heat 3-Bruce Douglas, Richard McCormick, Jim Porter, Ron Bach, Dale Harwood.
Main-W Miller, Douglas, Henry, D Miller, Alderman, McCormick, Lewis, Butler,
Harwood, Richard Terry, Tim Moon, Curtis Richards, Marini, Porter, John
Richards, Winkler, Bach, Hedlund, Cook.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Rob Kershaw, Chris Tramel, Kevin Kierce, Bill Welch, Blake Miller.
Heat 2-Ron Wade, Tom Stansberry, Mike Knopf, Shawn Kautz, Mike Broome.
Heat 3-Steve Conrad, Chris Wakim, Clark Templeman III, Dennis Rodriguez, David
Fox.
Heat 4-Mike Kirby, Mike English, Greg Taylor, Larry Lloyd, Victor Davis.
B Main-Broome, Ronnie Case, B Miller, John Nock, Tony Garmey, Kim Lewis, Nadine
Keller, Tom Hendricks, Davis, Fox.
A Main-Kirby, Conrad, Stansberry, English, Templeman, Kershaw, Lloyd, B Miller,
Taylor, Kautz, Wade, Broome, Rodriquez, Lewis, Nock, Kierce, Case, Knopf, Wakim,
Welch.
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