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Ventura, Ca.....July 10...
Ventura Raceway swung back into action on Saturday night after two off weekends
and outside front row starter Clark Templeman III was a wire to wire $1000
winner in the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature. Templeman is only
racing a part time schedule in 2004 and the win came in just his sixth
appearance. With an opening in his schedule, unwinged 410 star Mike Kirby
returned to one of his favorite tracks and charged from 8th starting to the $750
runnerup prize. Fifth ranked Chris Wakim ran a $500 third and Bakersfield's Tom
Stansberry protected his strong point lead with a fourth place run ahead of
point runnerup Rob Kershaw. IMCA Modified point leader Gary Curtis chased down
pole starter Steve Greenland and won their 20 lap feature. His third win in ten
events has stretched Curtis' point lead to 13 tallies over 4th place finisher
Kathy Pierson. Curtis came from 8th for his win and Greenland ran second ahead
of Mark Fullerton. Pierson charged from 14th to run 4th and move past Chris
Tonoli into second place in points. Tonoli ran 8th and is one point back of
Pierson. VRA Modified point leader Rick Rodarte made it five wins in 9 starts in
their 20 lap main event and emerged with a 170 point lead on Ric Bronson.
Bronson ran third behind Tom Morley. Former CDCRA dwarf car champion Rob
Anderson made his first Ventura start in a couple seasons and won the VRA Pro
Dwarf Car 20 lap feature over another CDCRA visitor Brent Stevens. Marc Lippert
ran third and cut Jeff Shelton's season point lead down to just 20 points. Third
ranked Ed Niedzwiecki snapped Mike Sweeney's undefeated string at the 1/4 mile
clay oval at four races as he won the 15 lap feature for the VRA Senior Dwarf
Cars. Point leader Sweeney ran second ahead of second ranked Gary Conditt.
The
unwinged 360 sprint cars fielded 31 teams and Wakim won heat 1 over Blake
Miller. Mike Knopf returned to Ventura action and won heat 2 over Kevin Kierce.
Kirby came from fifth to beat pole starter Templeman in heat 3, but couldn't
duplicate that feat in the 30 lap feature. Stansberry won heat 4 from fourth
starting as pole starter Steve Stasa ran second over Brett Butler. Steve Conrad
fell to third in points as his night ended after just a single lap in the heat
action and an opening race tangle in the B Main. Dennnis Rodriguez was injuried
in the B Main melee. Troy Rutherford won the B Main ahead of Chris Tramel, Mike
Whitcomb, Tom Hendricks and Tim Moon. The 30 lap A Main started the top four
finishers from each heat and four transfers from the B Main. Fourth ranked Bill
Welch was a B Main scratch. The 30 lap feature lineup had Stasa and Templeman on
the front row ahead of Blake Miller, Kierce, Wakim, Knopf, Stansberry and Kirby.
Templeman was never headed in the 30 lap race, but Kirby put on a show with his
drive from 8th around all the other top runners. Wakim ran third over Stansberry
as Rob Kershaw came from 11th to place fifth in front of 13th starter Ronnie
Case, Dwight Cheney, Tramel, B Miller and Larry Lloyd. With 1050 points
available each night, the very consistent Stansberry has stretched his point
lead to 1855 points over Kershaw. Conrad is third, another 775 back and Welch
remains fourth over Wakim and Kierce. Knopf only went four laps in the feature,
Rutherford was out after 23 laps and everyone else finished with the top 12 on
the lead lap. Luis Espinoza and Mike Broome were the final lead lap finishers.
Fifteen IMCA
Modifieds were split into a pair of heat races. Greenland won the first from the
front row ahead of Tonoli and Fullerton. Donald Houghton won heat 2 from third
starting ahead of Curtis and improving Luke Ailken. Fifth ranked Will Smith was
a feature scratch and Curtis won the 20 lapper from the fourth row. Pole starter
Greenland ran second ahead of third row starter Fullerton. A first lap incident
sidelined Pierson in her heat and she had to come from 14th to finish 4th ahead
of fifth starting Wes Richardson and third starter Brad Prows. Steve Bulpit and
Tonoli also finished lead lap. Curtis is 13 points ahead of Pierson and 14 in
front of Tonoli. Richardson stands 7 points back of Tonoli and Smith dropped 33
points back of the point leader.
A dozen VRA
Modifieds raced with Marty McLaughlin outdueling fellow front row starter Morley
in heat 1. Outside front row starter Mark Gallimore won heat 2 over 4th starting
Rodarte. Rodarte added another 20 lap feature win from 8th starting as pole
starter Morley ran second. The other fourth row starter Bronson was third ahead
of Jody Davis, Dave Lidren, Bruce Blackman Jr and Jeff Goddard. Goddard was the
final lead lap car with both Mark Moise and newcomer Tom Stephens Jr a lap down.
Lidren is only 35 points back of second ranked Bronson and 25 in front of Davis.
With an 11th place finish, Gallimore fell 70 points back of Davis.
The dwarf cars had a good
turnout with 16 Pros and 9 Seniors. Anderson came from sixth to win the first
Pro heat race over front row starter John Lynch and Shelton. Lippert chased down
pole starter Stevens and won heat 2 from fourth starting. New father Thomas
Velasquez was fourth behind Bill Dillion. Anderson came from 7th in his feature
win over pole starter Stevens, fifth starting Lippert, third starter Ryan Blade,
Lynch, Chad Kincaid and Shelton. Shelton was the final lead lap finisher with
visitor Rob Brown, Velasquez and Mike Bradley all one lap down. Shelton is 20
points up on Lippert and 135 ahead of Bradley. Niedzwiecki swept the senior
action as he won the heat race from an outside front row start over sixth
starter Sweeney and fourth starting Conditt. The 15 lap feature had seven
starters with the scratches by Jon Prechtl and Jerry Doolittle. Niedzwiecki won
from the pole with 4th starter Sweeney second ahead of third starter Conditt.
George Sack, Wes Harris and Rick Denny also finished lead lap. Sweeney's point
lead is 165 over Conditt, 250 ahead of Niedzwiecki and 265 ahead of Denny.
Prechtl fell 90 points back of Denny.
Summary
Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat-Ed Niedzwiecki, Mike Sweeney, Gary Conditt, Rick Denny, George Sack.
Main-Niedzwiecki, Sweeney, Conditt, Sack, Wes Harris, Denny, Mike Bailey.
Pro Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-Rob Anderson, John Lynch, Jeff Shelton, Ryan Blade, Chad Kincaid.
Heat 2-Marc Lippert, Brent Stevens, Bill Dillion, Thomas Velasquez, Rob Brown.
Main-Anderson, Stevens, Lippert, Blade, Lynch, Kincaid, Shelton, Brown,
Velasquez, Mike Bradley, Chris Taylor, Paul Hinton, Peter Holladay, Cindy
Addison, Dillion, Dean Couch.
VRA Modifieds
Heat 1-Marty McLaughlin, Tom Morley, Jody Davis, Ric Bronson, Tom Stephens Jr.
Heat 2-Mark Gallimore, Rick Rodarte, Dave Lidren, Jeff Goddard, Bruce Blackman
Jr.
Main-Rodarte, Morley, Bronson, Davis, Lidren, Blackman, Goddard, Mark Moise,
Stephens, McLaughlin, Gallimore, Jammy Earnest.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1-Steve Greenland, Chris Tonoli, Mark Fullerton, Joe Porche, Brad
Prows.
Heat 2-Donald Houghton, Gary Curtis, Luke Ailken, Josh Houghton, Wes Richardson.
Main-Curtis, Greenland, Fullerton, Kathy Pierson, Richardson, Prows, Steve
Bulpit, Tonoli, D Houghton, Porche, Rick Johnston, Bill Waltman, Ailken, J
Houghton.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Chris Wakim, Blake Miller, Larry Lloyd, Ronnie Case, Tom Hendricks.
Heat 2-Mike Knopf, Kevin Kierce, Dwight Cheney, Luis Espinoza, Brandon Thomson.
Heat 3-Mike Kirby, Clark Templeman III, Rob Kershaw, Bruce Douglas, Chris
Tramel.
Heat 4-Tom Stansberry, Steve Stasa, Brett Butler, Mike Broome, Mike
Whitcomb.
B Main-Troy Rutherford, Tramel, Whitcomb, Hendricks, Tim Moon, Oren
Prosser Jr, John Nock, Victor Davis, Thomson, Dennis Rodriguez.
A Main-Templeman, Kirby, Wakim, Stansberry, Kershaw, Case, Cheney, Tramel,
Miller, Lloyd, Espinoza, Broome, Douglas, Butler, Stasa, Whitcomb, Kierce,
Hendricks, Rutherford, Knopf.
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