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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| TWO STRAIGHT VENTURA WINS
FOR KRUSEMAN by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, VRA Modifieds, Pony Stocks and Dwarf Cars |
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Ventura, CA....April 9.......After earlier winning his heat race, Cory
Kruseman battled from fifth starting and took the lead on outside of turn 4 on
lap 22 to score his second straight $1000 win in the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360
sprint car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Kruseman was chased to the
checkered flag by outside front row starter Greg Taylor, who won $750. Two time
defending VRA champion Tom Stansberry from Bakersfield won $500 for third after
starting fourth. Visitor Mike Kirby had taken the lead from Taylor on lap 5 and
he was leading when he broke at the midway mark of the 30 lapper. Tom Morley
gained the lead when David Lidren spun in the VRA Modified feature and he posted
the 12 lap win over Marty McLaughlin and Jammy Earnest. The pony stocks made
their second 2005 appearance and Andrew Greiman won from 4th starting in the 12
lap feature. Mike Frazier started fifth and ran second ahead of third starting
David Peterson, Randy Miller came from 12th to round out the top four. The VRA
Dwarf Cars had another big turnout in their second 2005 race. Jim Scribellito
from San Diego won the 20 lap pro division feature from 8th starting. He grabbed
the lead from sixth starter Brent Stevens on lap 11. Opening race winner Brian
Saxton ran second and Chuck Lippert was third. The Senior division feature went
10 laps and 2004 champion Mike Sweeney got his first 2005 win from fifth
starting. Opening race winner Bill VanPraag flipped in the feature and CDCRA
invader David Quigley was second ahead of Jon Prechtl. Another huge 40 car turnout raced in the unwinged sprint car action. The four heat races advanced the top four into the A Main. Stansberry won heat 1 ahead of Kirby, Ron Bach and Ron Wade. Luis Espinoza outraced Rob Kershaw, Tom Hendricks and rookie Angel Figueroa in the heat 2. Figueroa was a star in the dwarf cars before moving over to the sprint cars in 2005. Point title contender Chris Wakim won heat 3 ahead of Joe Henderson and Kevin Kierce with point leader Blake Miller transferring in fourth. Kruseman and Taylor previewed their feature duel with a 1-2 finish in heat 4 ahead of Oren Prosser Jr and Ryan Devitt. There were two B Mains and each transferred three cars into the 22 car A Main. John Nock won the first B Main ahead of Jeremy Ellertson, popular Hobie Conway, Tom Harper and Tim Moon. Brandon Thomson came out on top in the second B Main with Nick Lima second ahead of Victor Davis, Bill Welch and Ronnie Case. The A Main had an 8 car inversion that placed Joe Henderson on the pole, but he failed to fire and had to tag the feature following a pit stop. Kershaw started 1st with Taylor alongside. Kirby and Stansberry made up row 2 with Kruseman and Wakim in row 3. Bach and Espinoza shared row 4. The track was dry and dusty for the feature action. Wakim led four laps and Kirby took over on lap 5. Kirby broke leading at midway and Taylor was back out front until Kruseman made his winning move on the top of turn 4 on lap 22. Taylor ran second ahead of Stansberry, Kierce, Wakim and Espinoza. B Miller battled from 13th to finish 7th and protect his early season point lead. Kershaw settled for 8th in front of Devitt and Hendricks. Miller is 395 points up on Kershaw with Taylor another 160 points back in third. Wakim and Welch round out the top five and part time racer Kruseman climbed to 8th in points behind Espinoza and Kierce. There were only 8 VRA Modifieds and Lidren did win the heat from the pole. M McLaughlin ran second ahead of Morley. In the feature, third starting Morley took the lead when Lidren spun and he won the 12 lapper ahead of M McLaughlin, Earnest and Lidren. Tom Stephens Jr and Lance McLaughlin also finished lead lap. Fourteen pony stocks were divided into two heat races. Frazier won the first 7 lap heat ahead of Jim Evans and Jack Hoyt. Greiman had a perfect night as he won heat 2 from third with pole starting Tom Fish second ahead of Peterson. Greiman started fourth in his 12 lap feature win with fifth starter Frazier second ahead of third starter Peterson and 12th starting R Miller. Evans was fifth as Lulu Strub, Paul Johnson and Hoyt also finished lead lap. There were 16 Pro Dwarf Cars and fifth starting Stevens won heat 1 over 2004 champion Jeff Shelton and Chris Taylor. Shawn Crawford came from fifth as he won heat 2 over Saxton and C Lippert. Scribellito started and finished 4th in heat 2. Stevens led the first 10 laps of the feature from 6th, but Scribellito took over on lap 11 and won the 20 lapper. Saxton ran second ahead of C Lippert, Shelton, John Lynch, Stevens and the lapped car of Paul Hinton. Both Michael Hunt and Dean Couch were feature scratches. Marc Lippert missed his heat, but tagged the feature and ran 4 laps before falling out. There were 14 Senior Dwarfs but only 11 survived to start their 10 lap feature. VanPraag won heat 1 from fifth ahead of Jerry Doolittle and James Soltis. Fourth starter Sweeney won heat 2 with his M&M mount ahead of former Ascot Park racer Danny Arant and Prechtl. Soltis, Mike VanAcker and Glen Monk were all main event scratches. Ed Niedzwiecki had a tough night, falling out on the start of his heat and only completing one lap in the feature along with former mini stock racer Dave Revard. Sweeney won the feature from fifth with 7th starter Quigley second ahead of Prechtl, Doolittle, Arant and Linda Taylor. Jerre Hinton was a lap down in 7th. On April 16, the VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars return and the senior sprint cars get their own show again. The IMCA Modifieds will be the third division in action. Summary Senior Dwarf Cars Pro Dwarf Cars Pony Stocks VRA Modifieds Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars |
