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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| BLAKE MILLER CLOSES TITLE
SEASON WITH CLEAN SWEEP by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 360 Sprint Cars, Senior Sprints, Pony Stocks and Dwarf Cars |
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Ventura, CA...Oct 22...After earlier capturing his heat race from the
pole, VRA 360 wingless sprint car champion Blake Miller had the pole for their
30 lap feature. He trailed rookie of the year Wes Richardson in the early laps,
but went on to score his third $1000 win of 2005 as Ventura Raceway closed their
VRA point season on Saturday night. Richardson crashed while in second and Steve
Conrad came from ninth to finish in the $750 runnerup slot. Bill Camarillo
charged from 16th to get the $500 third and third ranked Chris Wakim ran fourth
ahead of sixth ranked Greg Taylor. Conrad fell just short in his bid to overtake
Luis Espinoza for fifth in track points. Taking an early lead from the outside
front row, Steve Stasa got his second 20 lap Senior Sprint Car win and ended up
ninth in track points. Bob Alderman came from 10th to finish second and he fell
just 35 points short in his bid to overtake Ron Bach for second in points.
Fourth ranked Tim Moon ran third and Danny Miller, father of B Miller, was
fourth in the 20 lapper. Wiley Miller, uncle of B Miller, won another Senior
Sprint championship despite falling out and finishing 16th in the finale. Andrew
Greiman pulled off a clean sweep in the pony stocks to give him five feature
wins in 2005, but he still fell 45 points short in his duel with Mike Frazier
for the track title. Four feature winner Frazier was second in the 20 lapper
after starting ninth. Greiman won from sixth. Fourth ranked Jack Hoyt ran third
ahead of fifth ranked Tom Fish and third ranked Jim Evans. A season high 20 pony
stocks was on hand. Chris Taylor's first ever win in the 20 lap Pro Dwarf Car
main event from fifth starting allowed him to finish third in points. Second
ranked Chuck Lippert finished second ahead of CDCRA regular Ryan Blade and Dean
Couch. Champion Brian Saxton settled for 8th in the finale after starting in the
7th row. Visitor Bill VanPraag got his first Ventura Senior Dwarf Car 20 lap
feature win of 2005 in his 7th visit. Mike Sweeney ran second and repeated as
track champion as his season long rival Ed Niedzwiecki had a very tough night.
Niedzwiecki came into the night 5 points ahead of Sweeney, but was out after
only two laps in his heat and a first lap incident ended his feature run.
Niedzwiecki had won his heat in 9 of the previous 12 point races. Another CDCRA
racer Tom Bellinger was third in the 20 lapper and third ranked Jerry Doolittle
ran fourth. A 25 car field appeared for the VRA sprint car action. Dennis Rodriguez won heat 1 from the outside front row ahead of Espinoza and Conrad. Richardson also turned an outside front row start into a heat win in heat 2 and Nick Carlson was second ahead of Todd Hunsaker. Oren Prosser Jr broke leading this heat to end the night for both him and senior racer Oren Prosser Sr as they share the car. B Miller won heat 3 from the pole ahead of Wakim and Guy Woodward. Kevin Kierce came from 4th to win heat 4 ahead of pole starter Tom Hendricks and Taylor. Angel Figueroa broke late and was a scratch from the B Main. The B Main had 7 starters chasing four transfer spots, but Brian Camarillo was out on lap 1 after getting hit by Bill Jones. Tom Schneider and Mark Weitzman run 1-2 from the front row as John Nock was third over David Fox. A four car inversion for the 30 lapper put B Miller and Richardson on the front row ahead of Rodriguez and Kierce with Wakim and Espinoza sharing row 3. A first lap crash between Hendricks and Fox ended the night for both. Richardson raced to an early lead over B Miller, Kierce, Espinoza and Wakim. B Miller chased down Richardson and raced into the lead. Richardson got too high coming off turn 2 and was into the fence to end his night on lap 13. B Miller was now leading Espinoza, Kierce and Wakim. Kierce caught a wheel and flipped in turn 1 on lap 28 and Espinoza's race was also over. For the restart, leader B Miller had three lapped cars to cushion him from second place Wakim as Conrad and Taylor ran third and fourth. On the green, Wakim, Joe Henderson and Nick Carlson get tangled up and the race is over for Henderson and Carlson. B Miller stays out front to win ahead of Conrad, Bill Camarillo, Wakim, Taylor, Hunsaker, Rodriguez, Weitzman and Nock. The first six finishers were on the lead lap and 10th place David Sinsley was the final car with 29 laps. B Miller ended up with a 2790 point lead on Kierce with Wakim another 1525 back in third. Espinoza got fourth by 340 points over Conrad and Taylor ended up sixth ahead of Richardson. The Senior Sprint Cars had an improved turnout of 21 cars for their season finale. Jim Porter won heat 1 from second ahead of Steve Chuhaloff and Bob Hedlund. Moon captured heat 2 from the pole over fellow front row starter Stasa and Oren Prosser Sr. W Miller came from fourth to get heat 3 ahead of front row starter John Woodward and Bach. The problems with the Prosser car forced Prosser Sr to scratch from an outside front row start. Stasa moved up to join pole starter Hedlund in the front row with John Woodward and Moon in row 2. Hedlund raced into the lead but a spin by J Woodward forced a restart. On this try, Stasa grabbed the lead over Hedlund, W Miller and Moon. W Miller had started sixth and he raced around both Hedlund and Stasa to take the lead. A tangle with lapped traffic took W Miller out on lap 13. Stasa regains the lead over Hedlund. Porter is racing in third ahead of Alderman. Hedlund gets into the infield and falls from contention. Porter spins from contention and Stasa drives to the 20 lap win over Alderman, Moon, D Miller, Bruce Douglas, John Richards, Dave Marini, Porter, Hedlund and Mark Chuhaloff. 11th place Bill Leonard is the final lead lap car. W Miller won the title by 1270 points over Bach, who only ran six laps in the feature. Alderman was only 35 points back of Bach and 230 ahead of Moon. Douglas ended up fifth in points. The 20 pony stocks were divided into two heat races. Fish beat Brad Long and Joel Chavez in heat 1. Greiman won heat 2 from fourth as Paul Johnson ran second ahead of Hoyt. Santa Maria Speedway regular Justin Crockett visited, but only lasted three laps in the heat action. Chavez and Long had the front row for the 20 lap feature, but each only lasted 7 laps. Greiman came from sixth to win and 9th starter Frazier won the championship with a second ahead of Hoyt and Fish. Evans came from 11th to get fifth ahead of newcomer Sage Marie and Mark Woellert, the final lead lap car. Johnson, Anthony Mestes, Terry Nunley and Crockett were all one lap down. Fourth ranked Hoyt was only 75 points back of third ranked Evans. The 15 Pro Dwarf Cars were split into a pair of heat races. Lippert won heat 1 from fifth and fourth starter C Taylor ran second ahead of Diana Marshall. Champion Saxton was out on the first lap of heat 2 and Blade won from the pole over Couch and Velasquez. Both Jeff Fillingame and Robert Hansen scratched from the main to leave 13 starters with Blade and Couch in the front row ahead of Marshall and Velasquez. C Taylor came from fifth to win with 7th starter Lippert in second. Saxton finished one lap down in 8th as Blade ran third ahead of Couch, Velasquez, 12th starter Michael Allawos and Marshall, the final lead lap car. Saxton, Cole Milton and Delaney Bakke were all one lap down. While Saxton won the title by 415 points over Lippert, C Taylor was only 155 back of Lippert and 100 ahead of John Lynch. Velasquez ended up fifth in points. The senior dwarf cars had 16 entries, but both Mike Bailey and Jim Soltis were feature scratches. Dave Revard won heat 1 from the outside front row ahead of VanPraag and Sweeney. Sweeney's finish moved him back ahead of Niedzwiecki for the point lead as Niedzwiecki was out after just two laps in his heat. Glen Monk won that second heat from the pole over Linda Taylor and Doolittle. Monk and Revard held down the front row for the 20 lap feature and Niedzwiecki's title hopes were over as he was sidelined before a lap was scored. VanPraag won from fourth ahead of 7th starting Sweeney, 8th starter Bellinger, Doolittle, Monk, Tom Sera and Revard. Also finishing lead lap was Jon Prechtl. Sweeney had a final margin of 125 points over Niedzwiecki. Doolittle was ranked third over Prechtl and Soltis. The Ventura season will end with a visit by the USAC/CRA wingless 410 sprint cars including their annual Wags Dash on Oct 29. Summary Senior Dwarf Car Heat 1-Dave Revard, Bill VanPraag, Mike Sweeney, Tom Bellinger, Jon Prechtl. Heat 2-Glen Monk, Linda Taylor, Jerry Doolittle, George Sack Jr, Paul Sanders. Main-VanPraag, Sweeney, Bellinger, Doolittle, Monk, Tom Sera, Revard, Prechtl, Jerre Hinton, L Taylor, Wes Harris, Sack, Sanders, Ed Niedzwiecki. Pro Dwarf Car Heat 1-Chuck Lippert, Chris Taylor, Diana Marshall, James Johnson, Delaney Bakke. Heat 2-Ryan Blade, Dean Couch, Thomas Velasquez, John Lynch, Jeff Fillingame. Main-C Taylor, Lippert, Blade, Couch, Velasquez, Michael Allawos, Marshall, Saxton, Cole Minton, Bakke, Cindy Addison, John Lynch, J Johnson. Pony Stock Heat 1-Tom Fish, Brad Long, Joel Chavez, Jesse Farless, Mike Frazier. Heat 2-Andrew Greiman, Paul Johnson, Jack Hoyt, Wade Bognuda, Lulu Strub. Main-Greiman, Frazier, Hoyt, Fish, Jim Evans, Sage Marie, Mark Woellert, P Johnson, Anthony Mestes, Terry Nunley, Justin Crockett, Dave Dougherty, Ryan Changus, Robert Phillips, Farless, Bognuda, Strub, Long, Chavez, Ken Teeter. Senior Sprint Heat 1-Jim Porter, Steve Chuhaloff, Bob Hedlund, Ray Knight, Mark Chuhaloff. Heat 2-Tim Moon, Steve Stasa, Oren Prosser Sr, Bob Alderman, Danny Miller. Heat 3-Wiley Miller, John Woodward, Ron Bach, Bruce Douglas, Dave Marini. Main-Stasa, Alderman, Moon, D Miller, Douglas, John Richards, Marini, Porter, Hedlund, M Chuhaloff, Bill Leonard, Knight, Grady Winkler, Ross Millar, J Woodward, W Miller, Martin Bowers, Bach, George Tuttle, S Chuhaloff. Wingless 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Dennis Rodriguez, Luis Espinoza, Steve Conrad, Joe Henderson, Tom Schneider. Heat 2-Wes Richardson, Nick Carlson, Todd Hunsaker, Hobie Conway, Mark Weitzman. Heat 3-Blake Miller, Chris Wakim, Guy Woodward, Bill Camarillo, John Nock. Heat 4-Kevin Kierce, Tom Hendricks, Greg Taylor, David Sinsley, Angel Figueroa. B Main-Schneider, Weitzman, Nock, David Fox, Mike Larson, Bill Jones, Brian Camarillo, A Main-B Miller, Conrad, Bill Camarillo, Wakim, Taylor, Hunsaker, Rodriquez, Weitzman, Nock, Sinsley, Conway, Espinoza, Kierce, Henderson, Carlson, G Woodward, Richardson, Schneider, Hendricks, Fox. |
