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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| CHRIS WAKIM GAINS POINT
GROUND WITH LATE RACE WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, Ford Focus Midgets and VRA Modifieds |
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Ventura, CA.....April 30....A caution flag with two laps to go gave Chris
Wakim a final shot at Saturday night's 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car
feature win. He managed to muscle around 2003 and 2004 track champion Tom
Stansberry to gain the $1000 victory. Despite making contact with the fence as
Wakim completed his contact pass, Stansberry hung on for the $750 second and
recent feature winner Luis Espinoza was a $500 third in the crash marred event.
With the win, Wakim cut Blake Miller's point lead down to 840 points. The senior
sprint feature was also slowed by numerous cautions and stopped after just ten
of the scheduled 20 laps when Bob Hedlund crashed and threw a wheel. Pole
starter Bob Alderman led wire to wire for his first ever feature win. Former
champion Ron Bach, who married Laura Hawley at the start-finish line earlier in
the day, finished second ahead of point leader Wiley Miller. Bach came out of
the night just 10 points back of W Miller and the Senior Sprints return on May 7
to join the USAC/CRA wingless 410 sprint cars. The USAC Ford Focus midgets raced
at the 1/4 mile clay oval for a second straight weekend. Former Plaza Park mini
sprint star Audra Sasselli gained her third career feature win with the
traveling series. She led the final half of that 20 lapper after top runner Alex
Harris broke leading. Double division racer Rob Kershaw ran second in just his
second weekend with the series and veteran Jet Davison was third. The Ford Focus
midgets have a crucial two race weekend to open the May portion of their
schedule as they run Friday night in Watsonville and Saturday night in Hanford.
They are keeping the dirt track points separate this year and Sasselli leads
those standings by just 4 points over rookie Robbie Whitchurch. Making only his
second Ventura start of 2005 as he is also racing his car on the pavement at
Willow Springs Raceway, Ric Bronson won the 15 lap VRA Modified main event ahead
of heat winner Dave Lidren and Marty McLaughlin. Lidren cut fourth place
finisher Tom Morley's point lead down to just 60 points with his effort.
McLaughlin is just 5 points back of Lidren. With the senior cars back in their own division, the VRA wingless sprint cars fielded 28 cars split into four heat races. Jeremy Ellertson broke in hot laps to end his night. Stansberry won heat 1 over Espinoza and Guy Woodward. Wakim had a perfect night as he won heat 2 over Bill Camarillo and Tom Hendricks. Point leader Blake Miller won heat 3 ahead of former champion Greg Taylor and Kershaw. A graduate of the IMCA Modifieds who has struggled in his early sprint car efforts, Wes Richardson was excited to win heat 4 over Kevin Kierce and Larry Lloyd. Veteran racer Bill Welch suffered two broken ribs and a concussion in his heat race crash. Only 7 cars answered the call for the B Main and Clark Templeman III won with Brandon Thomson, John Nock and Mark Weitzman also transferring to the back two rows for the 30 lap A Main. Richardson and B Miller shared the front row for the 30 lap feature with Stansberry and Wakim in row 2. Late in the action, Espinoza actually passed both Wakim and Stansberry to gain the lead only to have a yellow flag nullify that lap. Stansberry regained the lead, but that final restart with two to go saw the aggressive Wakim darted into an opening and made a contact pass for the win. Stansberry bounced off the crashwall and recovered to take second ahead of fifth starting Espinoza, sixth starter Taylor, B Miller, 14th starting Steve Conrad, 9th row starter Templeman, Kierce, Kershaw and Hendricks. Wakim is 555 points ahead of Kierce with Kershaw another 120 back in fourth. Espinoza is only 280 behind Kershaw and 15 ahead of Taylor. The senior sprints divided 23 cars into three heat races. W Miller beat 73 year old John Richards in heat 1 and Alderman had a perfect night as he won heat 2 over Danny Miller. Bach beat Oren Prosser Sr in heat 3. Prosser Sr was a feature race scratch and the team's car suffered damage in a VRA heat race with Oren Prosser Jr driving. Recent feature winner Steve Stasa also scratched to leave a 21 car feature. Prosser Sr had been scheduled to start alongside Alderman in the scheduled 20 lapper. Alderman led all ten laps of the crash shortened race. Fourth starter Bach ran second and third starting W Miller was third. J Richards came from fifth to place fourth ahead of Tim Moon, 13th starter John Woodward, Chris McArthur, Ron Butler, final starter Jim Porter and Dave Lowenstein. Alderman is third in points, but 970 tallies behind Bach and just 285 ahead of Moon. There were 18 Ford Focus Midgets and Cal Smith beat California Lightning Sprint champion Keith Janca in heat 1 with Harris third. Young Chase Barber outraced ageless Jet Davison in heat 2 with Sasselli third. Jake Vail won heat 3 ahead of Kershaw and Cameron Veach. Bobby Michnowicz was absent and fell to 8th in points. Sasselli won the 20 lap feature ahead of Kershaw, Davison, Janca, Barber, Whitchurch, Todd Carroll,double division Bill Camarillo, Smith and Brett Engstrom. Harris led 9 laps before breaking and Sasselli led the final 11. Carroll is 22 points back of Sasselli and just one point ahead of Davison. Bronson had the pole for the VRA modified heat race, but ran third in that 7 lapper behind outside front row starter Lidren and 4th starting Morley. Bronson and Lidren then shared the front row for the 15 lap feature with Morley and Tommy Fowler in row 2. Bronson gained the win ahead of Lidren, McLaughlin, Morley, Tom Stephens Jr, Austin Rodarte and Jammy Earnest. Summary VRA Modifieds Heat-Dave Lidren, Tom Morley, Ric Bronson, Tommy Fowler, Austin Rodarte. Main-Bronson, Lidren, Marty McLaughlin, Morley, Tom Stephens Jr, Rodarte, Jammy Earnest, Fowler, Wes Harris. Ford Focus Midgets Heat 1-Cal Smith, Keith Janca, Alex Harris, Nick Carlson, Robby Hawks. Heat 2-Chase Barber, Jet Davison, Audra Sasselli, Chris Veach, J R Williams. Heat 3-Jake Vail, Rob Kershaw, Cameron Veach, Todd Carroll, Robbie Whitchurch. Main-Sasselli, Kershaw, Davison, Janca, Barber, Whitchurch, Carroll, Bill Camarillo, Smith, Brett Engstrom, Williams, Tom Fish, Hawks, Carlson, Vail, Harris, Chris Veach, Cameron Veach. Senior Sprint Cars Heat 1-Wiley Miller, John Richards, Ron Butler, Tim Moon, John Woodward. Heat 2-Bob Alderman, Danny Miller, Bruce Douglas, Tom Harper, Bill Leonard. Heat 3-Ron Bach, Oren Prosser Sr, Chris McArthur, Dave Lowenstein, Bob Hedlund. Main-Alderman, Bach, W Miller, J Richards, Moon, Woodward, McArthur, R Butler, Jim Porter, Lowenstein, Jeff Culver, Grady Winkler, Mark Chulahoff, Leonard, Dave Marini, Jim Stutzman, Hedlund, Douglas, D Miller, Harper. Wingless 360 Sprint Cars Heat 1-Tom Stansberry, Luis Espinoza, Guy Woodward, Victor Davis, Brandon Thomson. Heat 2-Chris Wakim, Bill Camarillo, Tom Hendricks, Steve Conrad, Mark Weitzman. Heat 3-Blake Miller, Greg Taylor, Rob Kershaw, Derek Buckley, Bill Welch. Heat 4-Wes Richardson, Kevin Kierce, Larry Lloyd, Shawn Kautz, John Nock. B Main-Clark Templeman III, B Thomson, Nock, Weitzman, Hobie Conway, Angel Figueroa, Jim Thomson. A Main-Wakim, Stansberry, Espinoza, Taylor, B Miller, Conrad, Templeman, Kierce, Kershaw, Hendricks, Lloyd, Kautz, Richardson, Nock, Buckley, Weitzman, Woodward, Camarillo, Davis, B Thomson. |
