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| STEVE CONRAD GETS FIRST WIN IN A YEAR by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 360 Sprints, Pony Stocks and Dwarf Cars |
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Ventura, CA...Sept 17....A year after his last win, third starting Steve Conrad drove around pole starter Bill Camarillo midway through Saturday night's 30 lap VRA wingless 360 sprint car feature at Ventura Raceway and drove to a $1000 win. Conrad is fifth in points. Fourth starter Ronnie Case also managed to get around Camarillo to gain the $750 runnerup and Camarillo settled for the $500 third place money. Runaway point leader Blake Miller started 7th and finished fourth ahead of improving IMCA Modified graduate Wes Richardson. Senior sprint point leader Wiley Miller got his third feature as only 13 cars started their feature. W Miller started outside front row. Bob Alderman came from seventh to finish second ahead of pole starter Tim Moon. The point championship duel in the pony stocks stayed tight as second ranked Andrew Greiman won their 20 lapper from sixth and point leader and defending champion Mike Frazier ran second from seventh starting. Frazier is 75 points in front of Greiman. Pole starter Jon Everhart won his heat race and ran third in the feature. Adding to his large point lead, Brian Saxton won the VRA pro dwarf car feature for the 8th time in 11 point races. Point runnerup Chuck Lippert ran second, but trails Saxton by 375 points. Chris Taylor closed in on third in points with his third place finish. The Senior dwarf car championship fight is the tightest of all as Ed Niedzwiecki used his fourth feature win to close to within five points of point leader and defending champion Mike Sweeney. Five time winner Sweeney ran second ahead of third ranked Jerry Doolittle. With 25 cars in the pits, the VRA sprint cars used a three heat format that advanced five cars from each of three heat races and six more from the B Main. The front row starters dueled for the win in heat 1 with outside front row starter Luis Espinoza getting the win over Richardson. B Miller came from sixth to get third and ninth starter Kevin Kierce was fourth. Top runner Greg Taylor broke and his night was over. Conrad had a perfect night as he won heat 2 from third with last starting Camarillo second ahead of sixth starter Chris Wakim. Third row starter Case won heat 3 ahead of 2nd starting Larry Lloyd and fourth starter Oren Prosser Jr. Advancing from the B Main were Shawn Kautz, Rob Kershaw, John Nock, Joe Henderson, Derek Buckley and Tom Schneider. The track allowed for on track introductions of the entire 21 car A Main grid and Camarillo shared the front row with Espinoza. Conrad and Case were in row 2 ahead of Richardson and Lloyd as B Miller and Wakim sat in row 4. Third year racer Camarillo charged into the lead at the green flag ahead of Conrad and Espinoza. Richardson got around Case for fourth. Case retook fourth and B Miller followed him into fifth. Kautz clipped Henderson's wheel and began a violent series of barrel rolls into turn 1. A Hollywood stunt man, Kautz leaped out of his car unhurt. Buckley was also towed off. Camarillo led Conrad, Espinoza, Case, B Miller and Richardson on the restart. Bobbles by Espinoza and Wakim cost them spots and Conrad gets the lead from Camarillo. Contact between Camarillo and B Miller gave Case the opening that he needed to race into second. Conrad has the race under control but Case and Camarillo wage a duel for second that is decided by inches. Case ran second ahead of Camarillo, B Miller, Richardson, Wakim, Prosser, Kierce, Rob Kershaw and Dennis Rodriguez. Thirteen cars finished on the lead lap with five more one lap down. B Miller holds a 2085 point lead on Kierce and Wakim is another 1070 back in third. Espinoza stands fourth ahead of Conrad. The 13 Senior sprint cars were divided into two heat races and Steve Stasa turned a front row start into a win in heat 1 as W Miller came from sixth to get second ahead of pole starter John Richards. Danny Miller won heat 2 from fourth ahead of 2nd starter Moon and Dave Marini. Last week's feature winner Bruce Douglas started on the pole and ran fourth. Moon and W Miller shared the front row for their 20 lapper with Stasa and D Miller in row 2. W Miller took a quick lead over Moon, but contact between Jeff Culver and Ross Millar forces a restart. Moon briefly leads before both W Miller and D Miller pass him. W Miller continues to lead and contact between D Miller and Millar finds them both spinning without a caution. D Miller recovers in fourth. Seventh starting Alderman advanced to second, but he could only chase W Miller to the checkered flag. Moon ran third and D Miller was fourth ahead of tenth starting Ron Bach. Stasa, Douglas, Richards and Marini also finished lead lap with the other four starters all one lap down. W Miller is 1070 ahead of Bach with Moon another 605 back in third. Alderman stands fourth, 470 behind Moon. The pony stocks returned to action with 13 cars and a two heat format. Everhart won heat 1 from the pole and fourth starter Frazier was second. IMCA Modified track rookie of the year Joe Weaver returned to the pony stocks and ran fifth. Paul Johnson won heat 2 from the pole and Greiman came from third to get second ahead of Jack Hoyt. The top 8 finishers were on the lead lap in the 20 lapper as Greiman and Frazier both battled forward to finish 1-2. Pole starter Everhart ran third ahead of Jim Evans, Tom Fish, Johnson, Weaver, Hoyt and Mark Woellert. Evans is third in points, but 310 behind Greiman. There were 11 Pro Dwarf Cars and 10 Senior Dwarf Cars. Lippert won the first pro heat from fourth with pole starter Chad Kincaid second ahead of fellow front row starter Diana Marshall. Saxton wasted no time coming from 4th to capture heat 2 ahead of front row starter Thomas Velasquez and John Lynch. Saxton came from 7th to gain his 8th feature win ahead of sixth starting Lippert. C Taylor ran third ahead of Velasquez, the final lead lap finisher. Marshall was one lap down in fifth and both Jeff Fillingame and Delaney Bakke were two laps down. Lynch was out on lap 1 and saw his point margin over 4th ranked C Taylor cut to 60 points. Kincaid started on the pole but was sidelined on lap 5. Sweeney won the first senior heat from fourth as pole starter Dave Revard ran second. Niedzwiecki captured heat 2 from third and pole starter Linda Taylor was second. The Niedzwiecki-Sweeney battle resumed in the feature and their quick pace left just four finishers on the lead lap. Niedzwiecki won with Sweeney second ahead of fourth starting Doolittle and 2nd starter L Taylor. Revard, Jon Prechtl, Tom Sera and Jerre Hinton were all one lap down. The same five divisions race on Sept 24. Summary Senior Dwarf Car Heat 1-Mike Sweeney, Dave Revard, Jerry Doolittle, Jerre Hinton, Mike Bailey. Heat 2-Ed Niedzwiecki, Linda Taylor, Tom Sera, Jon Prechtl, Wes Harris. Main-Niedzwiecki, Sweeney, Doolittle, L Taylor, Revard, Prechtl, Sera, Hinton, Harris, Bailey. Pro Dwarf Car Heat 1-Chuck Lippert, Chad Kincaid, Diana Marshall, Chris Taylor, Jeff Fillingame. Heat 2-Brian Saxton, Thomas Velasquez, John Lynch, Delaney Bakke, Cindy Addison. Main-Saxton, Lippert, C Taylor, Velasquez, Marshall, Fillingame, Bakke, Michael Allawos, Addison, Kincaid, Lynch. Pony Stock Heat 1-Jon Everhart, Mike Frazier, Tom Fish, Jim Evans, Joe Weaver. Heat 2-Paul Johnson, Andrew Greiman, Jack Hoyt, Mark Woellert, Ken Teeter. Main-Greiman, Frazier, Everhart, Evans, Fish, Johnson, Weaver, Hoyt, Woellert, Teeter, Joe Romance, Jesse Farless, Kenny Dougan. Senior Sprint Car Heat 1-Steve Stasa, Wiley Miller, John Richards, Bob Alderman, Jeff Culver. Heat 2-Danny Miller, Tim Moon, Dave Marini, Bruce Douglas, Ron Bach. Main-W Miller, Alderman, Moon, D Miller, Bach, Stasa, Douglas, Richards, Marini, Culver, Ross Millar, Mark Chuhaloff, Grady Winkler. Wingless 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Luis Espinoza, Wes Richardson, Blake Miller, Kevin Kierce, Shawn Kautz. Heat 2-Steve Conrad, Bill Camarillo, Chris Wakim, Steve Chuhaloff, Jim Thompson. Heat 3-Ronnie Case, Larry Lloyd, Oren Prosser Jr, Dennis Rodriguez, Rob Kershaw. B Main-Kautz, Kershaw, John Nock, Joe Henderson, Derek Buckley, Tom Schneider, Mark Weitzman, Tom Hendricks, Ron Wade, Brandon Thompson. Main-Conrad, Case, Camarillo, B Miller, Richardson, Wakim, Prosser, Kierce, Kershaw, Rodriguez, Hendricks, Espinoza, Lloyd, Weitzman, S Chuhaloff, Nock, Schneider, Wade, Kautz, Henderson, Buckley. |
