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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| TWO STRAIGHT FOR POINT
LEADER WAKIM by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Pony Stocks and Dwarf Cars |
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Ventura, CA...May 21..After earlier winning his heat race, VRA unwinged
360 sprint car point leader Chris Wakim worked his way from sixth starting to
lead the final four laps to post a $1000 win in the 30 lap main event on
Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. It was Wakim's second straight win and built
his point lead to 525 points over 10th place finisher Blake Miller. Having
missed the previous race to drive his new Ford Focus Midget, Rob Kershaw
returned to VRA action and led the race for ten laps before settling for a $750
second. Kevin Kierce started on the pole, led 16 laps and finished a $500 third.
Kierce is third in points, 250 behind B Miller. IMCA Modified point leader
Donald Houghton won their 20 lap feature from the 4th row. It was his second win
in the four 2005 races. Bill Waltman made a successful season debut with a heat
win and a second place run in the feature. Randy McGraw ran third. Will Smith
was fifth behind Brad Prows and fell six points back of Houghton. Racing for the
first time since 2004, James Brown beat defending track champion Mike Frazier in
the 20 lap pony stock main event after finishing second behind Frazier in their
heat race. Frazier's 2nd place run pulled him to within 55 points of point
leader Andrew Greiman, who finished 4th behind Randy Miller. Running a full
Ventura schedule this season, Brian Saxton won his second 20 lap VRA Pro
Division Dwarf Car 20 lap feature to add to his point lead. Doug Martin made the
long tow down from Placerville and finished 2nd ahead of Marc Lippert and Brent
Stevens. Saxton is 140 points ahead of John Lynch. Driving his potent M&M
Chassis, Mike Sweeney made it two wins in three 2005 races at the track in the
Senior Division for the dwarf cars, finishing the 20 lapper in front of point
runnerup Ed Niedzwiecki and Jim Soltis. Sweeney is 120 points ahead of
Niedzwiecki. With a few of the Senior division racers joining in, the wingless sprint car action drew a 29 car field divided into four heat races. Luis Espinoza won heat 1 over rapidly improving IMCA Modified graduate Wes Richardson and senior racer Bruce Douglas. Wakim and Kierce were 1-2 in heat 2 ahead of Steve Chulahoff. B Miller outraced Kershaw and Shawn Kautz in heat 3 and Joe Henderson won heat 4 ahead of Greg Taylor and Tom Hendricks. With four cars transferring out of each heat, four more advanced from the B Main and Bill Camarillo got that win over Hobie Conway, Chris Tramel, Mark Chulahoff and Mark Weitzman. Clark Templeman III had broken in hot laps. Kierce and Richardson shared the front row for the 20 car, 30 lap A Main with Kershaw and Taylor in row 2 ahead of B Miller and Wakim. Kierce took a quick lead and paced 16 laps. Kershaw had won the USAC Ford Focus Midget feature in Bakersfield the night that he skipped the VRA sprint car action and he grabbed the top spot from Kierce on lap 17. Kershaw led until lap 27 when Wakim took over. Wakim won ahead of Kershaw, Kierce and impressive rookie Derek Buckley. It was only the third time in 9 races that Buckley has qualified for the A Main, but his second straight strong run as he came from the 8th row to finish 4th tonight. Espinoza stayed hot with a fifth ahead of Hendricks, Ron Wade, 17th starter Camarillo, Richardson and B Miller. Espinoza is fourth in points, 335 behind Kierce and 620 in front of Kershaw. Buckley climbed into 20th place in the standings. There were 14 IMCA Modifieds and female star Kathy Pierson won heat one from 4th starting as she chased down pole starter McGraw. Usual Perris racer Johnny Lathrop joined the action and ran third. Houghton was fourth in heat 1. Waltman won heat 2 from fifth as pole starter Rick Johnston settled for second ahead of Prows and W Smith. Randy Gens was a feature scratch and Houghton won from 8th as 9th starter Waltman chased him to the checkered flag. Pole starter McGraw ran third ahead of Prows, W Smith, Joe Weaver, Ed Cutler, Steve Smith and Joel Chavez. Those 9 cars finished as Pierson and Lathrop crashed on lap 11. Prows is third in points, 11 behind W Smith and 6 ahead of rookie Weaver. There were 12 pony stocks as top runner David Peterson skipped the action to race in Bakersfield. Frazier beat Brown and Jim Evans in heat 1 while R Miller won heat 2 over Tom Fish and Mark Woellert. Greiman ran fourth in heat 2. Brown captured the feature run from 6th as 4th starter Frazier ran second ahead of third starter R Miller and Greiman. Evans started outside front row and ran fifth ahead of Jack Hoyt and Jesse Farless. Fish, Woellert, Anthony Mestes and Paul Johnson were all one lap down at the lap 20 checkered while Ashley Utts fell out on lap 4. Greiman is 55 points up on Frazier, 115 ahead of R Miller and 185 ahead of Evans. The dwarf cars had a strong night with 17 Pros and 12 Seniors. Stevens beat Saxton and Martin in a tough first heat for the Pros. Marc Lippert and Chuck Lippert were 1-2 in heat 2 ahead of Chris Taylor. Saxton and Martin shared the fourth row for the 20 lap feature and finished 1-2 ahead of pole starter M Lippert and third starter Stevens. Taylor was fifth ahead of Lynch, Chad Kincaid and Thomas Velasquez, the final lead lap finisher. Defending champion Jeff Shelton missed the event and C Lippert's 14th dropped him 155 points back of Saxton, just 55 in front of fourth ranked Taylor. The 12 seniors were divided into two heat races and Soltis won the first ahead of Sweeney and Jon Prechtl. Niedzwiecki won heat 2 in front of Jerry Doolittle and Tom Davis. The top five finishers were all on the lead lap in the 20 lap feature as Sweeney won from fifth. Fourth starting Niedzwiecki was second ahead of pole starter Soltis while 12th starting Jim Stutzman ran fourth ahead of Davis. Both Prechtl and Dave Revard were one lap down at the finish. Prechtl is third in points, 30 ahead of Doolittle. Ventura Raceway is dark on Memorial Day weekend, but returns to action on June 4. Summary Senior Dwarf Car Heat 1-Jim Soltis, Mike Sweeney, Jon Prechtl, Jerre Hinton, Linda Taylor. Heat 2-Ed Niedzwiecki, Jerry Doolittle, Tom Davis, Dave Revard, Mike Bailey. Main-Sweeney, Neidzwiecki, Soltis, Jim Stutzman, Davis, Prechtl, Revard, Doolittle, Hinton, Bailey, Taylor. Pro Dwarf Car Heat 1-Brent Stevens, Brian Saxton, Doug Martin, John Lynch, Diane Marshall. Heat 2-Marc Lippert, Chuck Lippert, Chris Taylor, Chad Kincaid, Nate Robinson. Main-Saxton, Martin, M Lippert, Stevens, Taylor, Lynch, Kincaid, Thomas Velasquez, Marshall, Robinson , James Johnson, Cindy Addison, Paul Hinton, C Lippert, Dean Couch, Jeff Fillingame, Dawn Stutzman. Pony Stock Heat 1-Mike Frazier, James Brown, Jim Evans, Jack Hoyt, Jesse Farless. Heat 2-Randy Miller, Tom Fish, Mark Woellert, Andrew Greiman, Paul Johnson. Main-Brown, Frazier, Miller, Greiman, Evans, Hoyt, Farless, Fish, Woellert, Anthony Mestes, P Johnson, Ashley Utts. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Kathy Pierson, Randy McGraw, Johnny Lathrop, Donald Houghton, Steve Smith. Heat 2-Bill Waltman, Rick Johnston, Brad Prows, Will Smith, Joe Weaver. Main-Houghton, Waltman, McGraw, Prows, W Smith, Weaver, Ed Cutler, S Smith, Joel Chavez, Pierson, Lathrop, Jack Parker, Johnston. VRA Wingless 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Luis Espinoza, Wes Richardson, Bruce
Douglas, Angel Figueroa, Ron Bach. Heat 2-Chris Wakim, Kevin Kierce, Steve
Chulahoff, Ron Wade, Chris Tramel. Heat 3-Blake Miller, Rob Kershaw, Shawn
Kautz, John Nock, Victor Davis. Heat 4-Joe Henderson, Greg Taylor, Tom
Hendricks, Derek Buckley, Ron Tjarda. B Main-Bill Camarillo, Hobie Conway,
Tramel, Mark Chulahoff, Mark Weitzman, Tjarda, Kevin Mahoney, Tom Schneider,
Dennis Rodriguez, Bach. A Main-Wakim, Kershaw, Kierce, Buckley, Espinoza,
Hendricks, Wade, Camarillo, Richardson, B Miller, Douglas, Figueroa, Henderson,
Steve Chulahoff, Conway, M Chulahoff, Kautz, Taylor, Nock, Tramel. |
