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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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VENTURA 2005 SEASON PREMIER by Norm Bogan |
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A visit to Seaside Park found a colorful array of racing machines on hand for the season opener. Brand new cars joined the fray, while various veteran battlers straightened the sheet metal and splashed on new paint jobs. Optimism reigned supreme, as so many competitors knew this would be their year to shine. 2005’s initial event staged four open wheel classes on a track that stayed tacky during the night and provided an outstanding racing surface. Thirty-three VRA Sprints, twenty-one Senior
Sprints, thirteen IMCA Modifieds and eleven VRA Modifieds were in
the pits for the evening’s action.
Tom Worley and Ric Brunson captured the VRA Mod heats, as
Kenny Reeves and Will Smith garnered the IMCA Mod prelims.
Senior Sprint heats found Ron Butler, Tony Lima and Wiley
Miller collecting the honors with the four VRA Sprint spoils going
to Luis Espinosa, Dennis Rodriguez, Clark Templeman III and Victor
Davis. Most significant
shunt during the heats was Sammy Iaconis making a sharp right turn
between turns 3 and 4, climbing the wall and flipping over.
It was a hard hit that tore the front end from the car and
ended Sammy’s night in the first heat. Both Sprint classes ran a “B” Main,
transferring the top four to the back of the feature.
The four Senior Sprint transfers were Moon, D. Miller, Stasa
and Harper, while the VRA Sprints advanced Kershaw, Wakim, Kierce
and Blake Miller. Now the table was set for the night’s
features. Leading off
were the VRA Modifieds, where Tom Morley claimed the victory,
closely pursued by sixteen-year-old rookie Austin Rodarte, son of
the defending champ in this class.
Rick Bronson grabbed third with Marty McLaughlin in fourth
and Jammy Earnest finished fifth.
The IMCA Modifieds saw Kathy Pierson lead from start to
finish, followed by Josh Houghton. Now it was sprint car time beginning with the
Senior Sprints. 2003
champ, Ron Bach got the season started with a win.
Following were Bob Alderman, Wiley Miller, Oren Prosser Sr.
and Mark Chuhaloff. The
Senior Sprints had 2003 Senior Champion, Ron Bach starting his
season with a victory. Following
were Bob Alderman, Wiley Miller, Oren Prosser Sr. and Mark Chuhaloff. The evening finale was the VRA Sprints, where the performance by one of the new young lions was impressive. Blake Miller had problems with his mount early in the evening and just barely copped the last transfer from the Semi, which lined him up in twentieth and last starting position for the feature. Exhibiting great patience and smooth driving,
Miller methodically picked off his competition on the way to the
point. Assuming the
lead, he continued to run tight against the inside berm maintaining
his smoothness to hold off a charging Chris Wakim, who advanced from
seventeenth and was running the top trying to carry his momentum
ahead of Miller and steal the victory. The eighteen-year-old Miller showed his moxie as he remained
stable and was able to thwart Wakim’s drive to the front and also
a late challenge by Rob Kershaw.
At the checkers, it was Miller, Kershaw, Wakim, Kevin Kierce
and Bill Welch. A nice crowd was available to view this season kickoff and was treated to some outstanding racing throughout the evening. Seaside Park looks forward to a number of exciting shows for the 2005 season and the anticipation of seeing more young drivers move into the forefront of each class. |
