|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| LUIS ESPINOZA GETS VENTURA SPRINT CAR WIN by Gary Jacob |
|
|
|
Wingless Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and Pony Stocks |
|
Ventura, CA...April 16.....Having moved up from the pony stocks several years ago and showing steady improvement in his wingless sprint car career, Luis Espinoza from Woodland Hills turned heads as he drove from 13th starting to win Saturday night's 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature at Ventura Raceway. Espinoza is locked in a four way duel for second in points and his $1000 win left him just 180 points back of runnerup Rob Kershaw. Blake Miller maintained his solid point lead with a $750 second place drive after starting 4th in the 20 car feature. B Miller had taken the lead from Ryan Devitt on lap 12, but paced just five rounds before Espinoza took over for the final half of the 30 lapper. Devitt started 2nd and finished a career best third for a $500 payoff. Veteran Kevin Kierce was fourth ahead of B Main winner Larry Lloyd, who started 17th. Third starter Steve Stasa dueled early with outside front row starter Jim Porter before posting his first Senior Sprint feature win in their 12 lapper. Fourth starter John Woodward was second and outside front row starter Porter ran third. Seeking another championship, Wiley Miller ran 4th and holds a slim 60 point lead over fifth place finisher Ron Bach. Stasa did climb to 4th in points with his win. Donald Houghton won the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature from 4th starting and took over the track point lead in the process. Houghton paced just the final 3 laps after Chris Tonoli broke leading. Jack Parker followed up his recent win with a 2nd and Will Smith's third left him just 2 points back of Houghton. Tonoli was able to restart in the rear and finished on the lead lap in 10th, but fell 12 points back of Houghton. The pony stocks had just a ten car turnout and the season long duel between defending champion Mike Frazier and Andrew Greiman continued. Both won heat races and Frazier's 10 lap feature win left him 10 points in front of Greiman, who finished 2nd ahead of Tom Fish. Thirty one VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars were split into four qualifying heat races. John Nock turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 1 over 4th starting John Wright and second row starter Joe Henderson. Espinoza came from 7th to finish fourth in this heat. Chris Wakim also started second and won in heat 2 with sixth starting B Miller putting on a show with a second place run over 4th starter Bill Welch. Ron Kershaw won heat 3 from the pole and third starter Devitt edged out 2nd starting Kierce for third. Former IMCA Modified star Wes Richardson qualified for his first A Main with a 4th. Jeremy Ellertson became the third outside front row winner as he outdueled pole starter Bill Camarillo in heat 4. Oren Prosser Jr was fourth. Lloyd started 3rd and won the 8 lap B Main over fifth starter Steve Conrad. Tom Hendricks came from 10th to finish third and outside front row starter Steve Chuhaloff gained the final transfer in 4th. Hobie Conway and Dereck Buckley just missed. A fierce tangle at the start of the B Main between Tony Lima, Brandon Thomson and Guy Woodward badly damaged the flagstand and slightly injured the flagman and his assistant. Camarillo and Devitt shared the front row for the 30 lap feature with Wright and B Miller in row 2. Kershaw and Ellertson started in row 3. Dana Point's Devitt led 11 laps with Kershaw challenging. B Miller moved around Devitt for the top spot on lap 12 and paced five rounds before the hard charging Espinoza drove by for the exciting win. B Miller found Espinoza racing in his line and could only chase him to the checkered flag. Devitt hung on for third ahead of 12th starter Kierce, Lloyd, Wakim, Clark Templeman III and Henderson. The top 17 cars were all on the lead lap with Greg Taylor 9th over Kershaw and Welch. B Miller's point lead is 810 over Kershaw. Wakim is only 35 points back of Kershaw and 90 ahead of Taylor. Espinoza moved into fifth, 55 behind Taylor. Many of the senior sprints had been racing with the VRA teams the last couple races, but they returned to their own class for their third point race of 2005. Twenty two cars were split into three heat races. W Miller won heat 1 from 4th ahead of front row starters Porter and Mark Chuhaloff. Tom Harper won heat 2 from fifth with outside front row starter Dave Marini second ahead of 7th starter Bach. Woodward won heat 3 from 2nd and was impressive in the 12 lap feature. Stasa started 4th and ran second in heat 3 with legendary Oren Prosser Sr in third. Marini had the pole for the feature with Porter alongside. Stasa and Woodward shared row 2 and W Miller started fifth. Stasa and Porter dueled early before Stasa moved ahead for the win. Woodward got around Porter to finish second and Porter salvaged third ahead of W Miller, Bach, Danny Miller and 12th starter Bruce Douglas. 19 of the 22 starters finished lead lap. W Miller is 60 points up on Bach and Prosser Sr fell 530 points back of the leader with a 12th place run. Stasa raced to 4th in points, but trails the consistent W Miller by 835 tallies. Two Bakersfield Speedway racers joined the IMCA Modified action on an off night for their track and Santa Maria's Doug Thornton also made a raw Ventura appearance. 15 cars were split into a pair of heat races. W Smith came from fifth to win heat 1 with Bakersfield's Nick Sylvester a solid second from 7th starting. Randy McGraw ran third. D Houghton won heat 2 from 4th starting and Bakersfield's Chett Reeves ran second after starting on the pole. Parker was third ahead of Thornton. Ed Cutler and Reeves had the front row for the 20 lap feature and third starter Tonoli took a quick lead. Tonoli led until he had problems with just 3 laps to run. Fourth starter Houghton was out front for the final three rounds and Parker got around W Smith to finish second. Brad Prows came from 11th to 4th and Sylvester had another solid run from 9th starting to 5th. Reeves ran sixth ahead of Thornton, Cutler, Joel Chavez, Tonoli and Joe Weaver. Prows is 4th in points, two behind Tonoli. Frazier beat Jim Evans and young female racer Ashley Utts in heat 1 for the pony stocks and Greiman outraced the front row of Fish and Randy Miller in heat 2. The short 10 lap feature had a six car inversion off the heat results, but third row starters Frazier and Greiman dominated as they drove to a 1-2 finish. Fish ran third ahead of Evans, David Peterson, Miller, Jack Hoyt and Paul Johnson. Those 8 cars finished lead lap. Summary Pony Stocks IMCA Modifieds Senior Sprint Cars Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars |
