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| CONRAD EDGES OUT POINT
LEADER TAYLOR FOR VENTURA DOLLARS by Gary Jacob |
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Wingless 360 Sprint Cars and IMCA Modifieds |
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Ventura, CA.May 6..After battling his way from seventh to the lead, Steve
Conrad stuck with his bottom line in the closing laps and was able to score a
near photo finish win over rim riding Greg Taylor in Saturday night's 30 lap VRA
wingless 360 sprint car feature at Ventura Raceway. Conrad got $1000 for the
win, Taylor protected his point lead with a $750 second and pole starter Kevin
Kierce was a $500 third. Forty one cars raced in this division. The senior
sprint car winner also came from 7th with heat race third place finisher Bob
Alderman getting the 15 lap win. He is also the point leader and point runnerup
Ron Bach ran second ahead of Wiley Miller. Bach started third and W Miller
sixth. With three Imperial Raceway teams making the long tow from the San Diego
area, the IMCA Modifieds had a 19 car turnout. Busy as the parts and fuel dealer
at the track, Jack Parker is finding time to chase points in his IMCA Modified
this season and he became the third 7th starter to get a feature win on the
night as he won for the second time in three races. He was chased in the 20
lapper by point runnerup Donald Houghton and Imperial regular Don Pannel, who
wheels a former Sherm Barnett mount. Imperial titlest Eric Evans ran sixth after
coming from 11th. The huge turnout of VRA wingless 360 sprints put a major premium on just getting into the 30 lapper. The four heat races advanced four cars each. Troy Rutherford won heat 1 from third ahead of 7th starting usual 410 entry Mike Kirby. Wes Richardson ran strong for third ahead of Nate Ziegler. Outside front row starter Taylor won heat 2 over pole starter Kierce as Rob Kershaw came from sixth to get third ahead of 8th starter Oren Prosser Jr. Luis Espinoza won heat 1 from the pole ahead of outside front row starter Conrad and 7th starting Fresno based visitor Davey Pombo Jr. Jimmy Crawford got the last transfer from 8th. 2005 champion Blake Miller is also busy with the 410s in 2005, but returned to his former home track with a win in heat 4 from the pole. Outside front row starter Josh Ford was second ahead of fifth starting Chris Wakim and 7th starter Bill Camarillo. A pair of B Mains transferred just 3 cars each into the 30 lapper. Former dwarf car star Angel Figueroa won the first B Main from an outside front row start ahead of 4th starting Joe Henderson and third starter Rusty Carlile. Sixteen year old female racer Heidi Tresler ran fourth and got to start the 30 lapper when Carlile didn't make the call. San Jose's Michael Trimble won heat 2 from the pole over fellow front row starter Tom Harper and fifth starting Tom Hendricks. Newcomer Jesse Mack, over from the modified midget ranks, charged from 10th to 4th but his night was over and female racer Hobie Conway ran fifth. In the 30 lap feature for the VRA mounts, Kierce and Kirby shared the front row ahead of B Miller, Espinoza, Taylor, Rutherford, Conrad and Ford. Low groove runner Kierce led early, but the high line eventually got Kirby and B Miller to the front. After a yellow, Kierce again climbs out front and Conrad is making up ground on the bottom. Conrad takes second from Kirby and then grabs the lead from Kierce. At the midway mark, B Miller is third over Espinoza, Kirby and Taylor. Taylor is only the lead car committed to the high line and he eventually climbs into second. Conrad sticks with his bottom line and takes the checkered flag a tire in front of Taylor. Kierce ran third ahead of Espinoza, B Miller, Wakim, Pombo, Kershaw, Trimble and Rutherford. The top 17 are all on the lead lap and Kirby ends up settling for 13th spot. Taylor holds a 280 point lead on Conrad with Crawford another 410 points back in third. Espinoza is ranked fourth ahead of Rutherford. Twenty one senior sprints were divided into three heat races. Opening night winner Rick Hendrix captured heat 1 from third with pole starter Bach second ahead of Steve Stasa. Defending champion W Miller comes from fifth to win heat 2 over Mark Chuhaloff and Chuck Tyler. Tim Moon turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 3 over pole starter Danny Miller and fifth starting Alderman. The feature lineup has D Miller and Chuhaloff in the front row ahead of Bach, Moon, W Miller and Hendrix. D Miller races into the lead over Chuhaloff and Moon hooks a rut, falling to sixth. Alderman quickly advances to third over Bach and W Miller. D Miller spins and gathers up Hendrix on lap 10. Top runner Bruce Douglas is already sidelined. Alderman races to the win over Bach, W Miller, Stasa, 14th starting John Richards, 17th starter Chris McArthur, Tyler and Ross Millar. The top 13 finished on the lead lap. Alderman now holds a 95 point lead on Bach and is 330 ahead of Stasa. Coming from third, Randy McGraw gets the first IMCA Modified heat win over fifth starting Evans and the 2006 season debut for Steve Greenland, the leading all time feature winner for the class at the track. Rick Rodarte won heat 2 from the outside front row ahead of 4th starting David Addamo from Santa Maria and sixth starter Pannel. Houghton is staying busy by racing both a modified and a sprint car in 2006. He won heat 3 from third with 4th starter Parker second ahead of sixth starting Josh Thompson, a travel partner of Evans and Pannel. The 20 lap feature starts with a six car tangle in turn 1. McGraw led much of the race ahead of Parker and Houghton but ended up parked in the infield. Parker got his second win ahead of Houghton, 8th starter Pannel, 9th starting Greenland, 15th starter Brad Prows and Evans. Division rookie David Peterson was 7th ahead of Brett Lynsky, Steve Bulpitt and Randy Miller. The top 9 were on the lead lap. Parker's point lead is 9 over Houghton and 15 over Addamo. Addamo and Bill Waltman were both out just past midway. Lynsky is just 2 points back of Addamo and one ahead of Prows. Waltman is just one behind Prows. Summary IMCA Modified Heat 1-Randy McGraw, Eric Evans, Steve Greenland, Bill Waltman, David Peterson. Heat 2-Rick Rodarte, David Addamo, Don Pannel, Rick Johnston, James Stowe. Heat 3-Donald Houghton, Jack Parker, Josh Thompson, Joe Weaver, Brad Prows. Main-Parker, Houghton, Pannel, Greenland, Prows, Evans, Peterson, Brett Lynsky, Steve Bulpitt, Randy Miller, Kenny Rayner, McGraw, Weaver, Addamo, Waltman, Rodarte, Johnston, Stowe, Thompson. Senior Sprint Car Heat 1-Rick Hendrix, Ron Bach, Steve Stasa, John Woodward, Richard Terry. Heat 2-Wiley Miller, Mark Chuhaloff, Chuck Tyler, Bill Badger, John Richards. Heat 3-Tim Moon, Danny Miller, Bob Alderman, Tony Everhart, Ross Millar. Main-Alderman, Bach, W Miller, Stasa, Richards, Chris McArthur, Tyler, Millar, Grady Winkler, Chuhaloff, Dave Marini, Bill Leonard, Moon, D Miller, Hendrix, Bruce Douglas, Terry, Everhart, Badger, Woodward. Wingless 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Troy Rutherford, Mike Kirby, Wes Richardson, Nate Ziegler, Jeff Fiscus. Heat 2-Greg Taylor, Kevin Kierce, Rob Kershaw, Oren Prosser Jr, Michael Trimble. Heat 3-Luis Espinoza, Steve Conrad, Davey Pombo Jr, Jimmy Crawford, Angel Figueroa. Heat 4-Blake Miller, Josh Ford, Chris Wakim, Bill Camarillo, Ty Schlender. 1st B Main-Figueroa, Joe Henderson, Rusty Carlile, Heidi Tresler, Dennis Rodriguez, Brandon Thomson, Donald Houghton, Brian Camarillo, Ron Wade, Schlender. 2nd B Main-Trimble, Tom Harper, Tom Hendricks, Jesse Mack, Hobie Conway, John Nock, Ron Tjaarda, Derek Buckley, Tom Schneider, Steve DeMott. A Main-Conrad, Taylor, Kierce, Espinoza, B Miller, Wakim, Pombo, Kershaw, Trimble, Rutherford, Ford, Harper, Kirby, Crawford, Figueroa, Henderson, Richardson, Bill Camarillo, Hendricks, Prosser, Tresler, Ziegler. |
