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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| BOTH SPRINT FEATURES GO
CAUTION FREE IN VENTURA by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and Dwarf Cars |
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Ventura, CA...June 4..In an all green 30 lap feature for the VRA unwinged
360 sprint cars, point leader Chris Wakim battled from 4th starting to get his
third win of 2005. It was his second straight $1000 win and increased his point
lead to 580 points over Blake Miller. B Miller battled from 11th to finish a
$750 second and Luis Espinoza continued his impressive recent efforts with a
$500 third after starting 7th. The senior sprint car 20 lap feature was also run
caution free and 71 year old Ron Butler got his first win after passing front
row starters Ron Bach and Danny Miller on lap 15. Butler won his heat race and
started the feature in the third spot. He is ranked tenth in points. Bach cut
Wiley Miller's point lead to 545 points with his finish. W Miller started 7th
and finished sixth. In just his third start with his new car out of the Larry
Hood stable, Randy McGraw won the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature after earlier
capturing his heat race. McGraw won from third and runnerup Jack Parker came
from fifth. In his season debut, Damon Redman battled from 10th to finish third
and fourth place Mark Fullerton was also running his first race of 2005. Brian
Saxton passed Chuck Lippert in the final corner to win the 20 lap VRA Pro dwarf
car main. Saxton has won three of the first four races of 2005 and holds a
healthy point lead over C Lippert. Mark Lippert ran third. Second ranked Senior
Dwarf Car racer Ed Niedzwiecki won their 20 lap feature from 7th starting and
closed a little ground on point leader Mike Sweeney, who struggled to sixth.
James Soltis ran second over Jon Prechtl. Niedzwiecki is 85 points back after
his first win as Sweeney won two of the first three events. Twenty seven VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars were divided into four qualifying heat races with the top four finishers in each advancing into the 30 lap A main. Espinoza won heat 1 over Joe Henderson and Wakim ran second to Shawn Kautz in heat 2. Steve Conrad won heat 3 ahead of Greg Taylor. Jeremy Ellertson captured heat 4 ahead of Jordan Hermansader. Four cars also advanced from the B Main with Ron Wade winning ahead of Mark Weitzman, Dennis Rodriguez and Angel Figueroa. Henderson and Hermansader shared the front row for the 30 lap A Main ahead of Taylor and Wakim. Taylor fell out before finishing a lap, Conrad was out on lap 2 and Oren Prosser Jr pitted ten laps into the action. The other 17 cars all finished the caution free 30 lapper with 8 on the lead lap. Wakim battled to the win ahead of a great passing effort by 11th starting B Miller. Espinoza ran third ahead of Kevin Kierce, Hermansader, impressive rookie Derek Buckley, Henderson and Tom Hendricks. Rodriguez was a lap down in 9th ahead of Kautz. Kierce is now third in points, 355 behind B Miller and 270 ahead of Espinoza. The top four have a wide advantage over fifth ranked Rob Kershaw, who was racing in Central California on this night. The senior sprints also run unwinged 360 machines and their 15 entries were divided into a pair of heat races. Butler won the first ahead of Bach and Bob Alderman. Bruce Douglas won heat 2 over D Miller and Bill Leonard. Bach and D Miller had the front row for their 20 lap main event ahead of Butler and Douglas. Bach and D Miller set the pace until Butler made his winning move on lap 15. Bach settled for second ahead of D Miller, Douglas, Alderman, W Miller, Tim Moon and Jeff Culver. All 15 starters finished and 11 were on the lead lap. Steve Stasa ran 9th ahead of John Richards and John Woodward. Alderman's improved efforts have climbed into third in points, but he trails Bach by 1280 points. He is 360 ahead of Moon and D Miller stands fifth. The season debuts for Redman and Fullerton gave the IMCA Modifieds a 13 car field. McGraw won heat 1 from third over point leader Donald Houghton and Parker. Brad Prows also won from third in heat 2 over Bill Waltman and Will Smith. None of the point leaders finished in the top five in the 20 lap feature. McGraw again won from third and Parker ran second ahead of fifth row starter Redman. Fullerton came from 9th to finish fourth ahead of Waltman. W Smith ran sixth and cut Houghton's point lead down to five points as Houghton finished 7th ahead of Steve Smith, the final lead lap car. Prows was 11th and he fell 21 points behind the point leader. Prows is four points ahead of rookie Joe Weaver and 5 in front of S Smith. There were 12 Pro Dwarfs, but both Chris Taylor and Jeff Fillingame were feature scratches. M Lippert beat Dean Couch in heat 1 and C Lippert came from 4th to win heat 2 over Saxton. Saxton made it three wins in four races by passing C Lippert in the final corner to win the 20 lapper. M Lippert ran third. Saxton had lined up 8th, C Lippert 6th and M Lippert 5th. Chad Kincaid and John Lynch also finished lead lap ahead of Thomas Velasquez and Diana Marshall. Saxton holds a 160 point lead on C Lippert with Lynch another 30 points back in third. All ten Senior Dwarfs started their 20 lapper but both Mike Bailey and Jerry Doolittle were out after just one round. Jim Stutzman won heat 1 over Doolittle while Sweeney outraced Prechtl in heat 2. Niedzwiecki was fourth in his heat, but won the 20 lap main from 7th starting. Soltis and Prechtl were the only other finishers on the lead lap as Stutzman, George Sack Jr and Sweeney finished one lap down. Prechtl is third in points, 65 behind Niedzwiecki. The VRA sprint cars return on June 11 with the USAC Midgets and the dwarf cars. On June 18th, the VRA sprint cars join forces with the Bandit sprint cars in Hanford for the first race in a special series that will combine the classes. Summary Senior Dwarf Cars Heat 1-Jim Stutzman, Jerry Doolittle, George Sack Jr, Ed Niedzwiecki, Steve Addison. Heat 2-Mike Sweeney, Jon Prechtl, Mike Bailey, James Soltis, Linda Taylor. Main-Niedzwiecki, Soltis, Prechtl, Stutzman, Sack, Sweeney, Taylor, S Addison, Bailey, Doolittle. Pro Dwarf Cars Heat 1-Marc Lippert, Dean Couch, Cindy Addison, John Lynch, Chris Taylor. Heat 2-Chuck Lippert, Brian Saxton, Thomas Velasquez, Chad Kincaid, Diana Marshall. Main-Saxton, C Lippert, M Lippert, Kincaid, Lynch, Velasquez, Marshall, James Johnson, Couch, C Addison. IMCA Modifieds Heat 1-Randy McGraw, Donald Houghton, Jack Parker, Mark Fullerton, Steve Smith. Heat 2-Brad Prows, Bill Waltman, Will Smith, Damon Redman, Joe Weaver. Main-McGraw, Parker, Redman, Fullerton, Waltman, W Smith, Houghton, S Smith, Weaver, Ed Cutler, Prows, Joe Chavez, Randy Gens. Senior Sprint Cars Heat 1-Ron Butler, Ron Bach, Bob Alderman, Wiley Miller, Tim Moon. Heat 2-Bruce Douglas, Danny Miller, Bill Leonard, Grady Winkler, Bob Hedlund. Main-Butler, Bach, D Miller, Douglas, Alderman, W Miller Moon, Jeff Culver, Steve Stasa, John Richards, John Woodward, Winkler, Hedlund, Leonard, Dave Marini. Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars Heat 1-Luis Espinoza, Joe Henderson, Blake Miller, Kevin Kierce, Ron Wade. Heat 2-Shawn Kautz, Chris Wakim, Mike Knopf, John Nock, Guy Woodward. Heat 3-Steve Conrad, Greg Taylor, Oren Prosser Jr, Tom Hendricks, Dennis Rodriguez. Heat 4-Jeremy Ellertson, Jordan Hermansader, Derek Buckley, Wes Richardson, Mark Weitzman. B Main-Wade, Weitzman, Rodriguez, Angel Figueroa, Todd Hunsaker, Hobie Conway, Guy Woodward, Tom Schneider, John Hale, Brandon Thomson. A Main-Wakim, B Miller, Espinoza, Kierce, Hermansader, Buckley, Henderson, Hendricks, Rodriguez, Kautz, Wade, Richardson, Knopf, Ellertson, Weitzman, Nock, Figueroa, Prosser, Conrad, Taylor. |
