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Ventura, CA....Nov
6.......Taking full advantage of his pole starting position, Chris
Wakim won the final 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature of
the 2004 season Saturday night as Ventura Raceway closed their
racing schedule. Wakim pocketed $1000 for the win and finished sixth
in the final VRA point standings. Blake Miller charged forward from
8th starting to grab the $750 runnerup slot and usual unwinged 410
sprint car pilot Mike English was the $500 third. Tom Stansberry was
eliminated in a lap 2 incident, but easily won the series
championship over Rob Kershaw and Steve Conrad. Third starting John
Woodward won the Senior Sprint Car season finale ahead of outside
front row starter Bob Alderman and sixth starting Tony Lima.
Wiley Miller finished off his second Senior Sprint championship with
a fifth place run as closest point rival Bruce Douglas ran 12th in
the finale and finished 1120 points back of W Miller. Forced to
charge forward from 10th starting, Mike Frazier won the pony stock
20 lap feature ahead of Brad Long and heat winner Andrew Greiman.
The track ended up racing the Pro Dwarf Cars and Senior Dwarf Cars
in a combined 20 lap feature and Senior racer Ed Niedzwiecki took
overall honors. Jeff Shelton won both the heat and feature for the
Pro racers with Thomas Velasquez second in the 20 lap feature.
Niedzwiecki was chased to his Senior win by Mike Sweeney and Gary
Conditt.
Thirty VRA sprint cars were divided into four qualifying heat races.
Pole starter Wakim won heat 1 over Stansberry and fifth starting
Kershaw. English came from sixth to win heat 2 over David Sinsley
and Jerry Ellertson. Outside front row starter Kierce won heat 3
over third starter Conrad and fourth starting Kenny Brown. Luis
Espinoza won heat 4 from third with pole starter B Miller second
over Steve Chuhaloff. With four transfers out of each heat, four
more cars advanced from the 12 lap B Main were fifth starting Ryan
Devitt beat fourth starter Bill Welch. Front row starters Joe
Henderson and Clark Templeman III also advanced with Oren Prosser Jr
and Mike Knopf just missing the move up. The lap 2 incident in the
30 lap feature took out top runners Stansberry, Greg Taylor and
Espinoza. The top 9 cars finished lead lap with four more one lap
down and a couple more two down. Wakim won from the pole with 8th
starting B Miller second ahead of English, 9th starting Kershaw,
Conrad, Kierce, Jeremy Ellertson, Devitt and Welch. Kierce and Welch
were fourth and fifth in the final VRA point standings.
The Senior division had great car counts all year and 23 ran their
season finale. Lima won heat one from 4th ahead of Alderman and pole
starter Ron Butler. Bill Jones also came from 4th to capture heat 2
over 6th starting Woodward and fifth starter W Miller. Outside front
row starter Dave Marini won heat 3 over pole starter Bob Hedlund and
John Richards. Oren Prosser Sr was a feature scratch to leave 22
starters and 16 cars finished on the lead lap in the 20 lapper.
Woodward won from third with second starting Alderman second. Lima
came from 6th to finish third and 9th starter Butler ran fourth. W
Miller ran fifth ahead of 12th starting Tim Moon, 16th starter Ron
Bach, Stasa, Marini and Tom Harper. Danny Miller came from 22nd
starting to finish 11th and Douglas ran 12th. W Miller won the point
battle over Douglas, Moon, D Miller and Bach.
The 16 pony stocks were divided into two heat races and Greiman won
heat 1 over Long and Jim Evans. Jon Everhart also came from 4th
starting to win heat 2 over Jon Mortenson and Adam McPhail. McPhail
was eliminated on the first lap of the feature as Frazier came from
10th to win the 20 lapper over Long, Greiman, Dave Revard, Everhart,
Randy Miller, David Peterson, Joe Weaver and Mortenson. Those nine
finished on the lead lap.
The VRA
pro dwarf cars had just 7 entries and Shelton won the heat race
ahead of Marc Lippert and Velasquez. In the combined feature,
Shelton won the pro portion ahead of Velasquez, Chris Taylor, Paul
Hinton and Cindy Addison. Lippert was out on lap 3 and John Lynch
finished just 2 laps. The Senior division had 10 entries, but the
combined feature ran a car short as Steve Addision and Cindy Addison
share the same car. Niedzwiecki had a perfect night as he won the
Senior heat over Sweeney, John Prechtl and Jerry Doolittle. In the
feature run, it was Niedzwiecki winning ahead of Sweeney, Conditt,
Doolittle, Prechtl and Jim Kojaku.
Summary
Senior Dwarf Cars
Heat-Ed Niedzwiecki, Mike Sweeney, Jon Prechtl, Jerry Doolittle,
Gary Conditt. Main-Niedzwiecki, Sweeney, Conditt, Doolittle, Prechtl,
Jim Kojaku, Jerry Hinton, Mike Bailey-Henderson.
Pro Dwarf Cars
Heat-Jeff Shelton, Marc Lippert, Thomas Velasquez, Chris Taylor,
Paul Hinton. Main-Shelton, Velasquez, Taylor, Hinton, Cindy Addison,
Lippert, John Lynch.
Pony Stocks
Heat 1-Andrew Greiman, Brad Long, Jim Evans, Joel Chavez, David
Peterson.
Heat 2-Jon Everhart, Jon Mortenson, Adam McPhail, Dave Revard, Mike
Frazier. Main-Frazier, Long, Greiman, Revard, Everhart, Randy
Miller, Peterson, Joe Weaver, Mortenson, Evans, Travis Furr, Chavez,
Ken Haley, Anthony Mestes, Lance McLaughlin, McPhail.
Senior Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Tony Lima, Bob Alderman, Ron Butler, Steve Stasa, Mark
Chuhaloff.
Heat 2-Bill Jones, John Woodward, Wiley Miller, Tim Moon, Oren
Prosser Sr.
Heat 3-Dave Marini, Bob Hedlund, John Richards, Curtis Richards,
Sammy Iaconis. Main-Woodward, Alderman, Lima, Butler, W Miller,
Moon, Ron Bach, Stasa, Marini, Tom Harper, Danny Miller, Bruce
Douglas, Jones, Dale Harwood, Chuhaloff, Iaconis, C Richards, Grady
Winkler, J Richards, Hedlund, Tom Fish, Jim Stutzman.
VRA Unwinged Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Chris Wakim, Tom Stansberry, Rob Kershaw, Ron Wade, Joe
Henderson.
Heat 2-Mike English, David Sinsley, Jeremy Ellertson, Bill
Camarillo, Clark Templeman III.
Heat 3-Kevin Kierce, Steve Conrad, Kenny Brown, Guy Woodward, John
Nock.
Heat 4-Luis Espinoza, Blake Miller, Steve Chuhaloff, Greg Taylor,
Bill Welch.
B Main-Ryan Devitt, Welch, Henderson, Templeman, Oren Prosser Jr,
Mike Knopf, Hobie Conway, Jesse Denome, Nock, Nicholas Lima.
A Main-Wakim, B Miller, English, Kershaw, Conrad, Kierce, Ellertson,
Devitt, Welch, Brown, Chuhaloff, Sinsley, Wade, Henderson,
Camarillo, Templeman, Woodward, Espinoza, Stansberry, Taylor.
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