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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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KRUSEMAN TAKES SHORT DRIVE TONIGHT by Norm Bogan |
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After last week’s cross-country marathon, it
was just a short drive down the boulevard for Cory Kruseman this
weekend. Cory has been
home all week and taking care of business for his driving school. As the cars staged in the pit area for the
evening’s entertainment, the car count tally came out with 40 VRA
Pro Sprints, 13 Pony Stocks, 13 Senior VRA Dwarf Cars, 16 VRA Pro
Dwarfs and 8 VRA Modifieds. This
would be a full evening of racing for the fans.
Week after week, Ventura Raceway is hometown, grassroots
racing that presents good racing throughout the ranks and with car
counts that would make many promoters jealous. VRA Modifieds led off the program with heat #1,
which was captured by Dave Lidren.
Next up were Pony Stocks with two heats featuring wins by
reigning Champ, Mike Frazier and Andrew Greiman.
The Dwarf Cars then had two heats for each group, with the
Senior heats copped by Bill Van Praag and Mike Sweeney and the Pro
heat bragging rights went to Brent Stevens and Sean Crawford. Now it was time for the featured class of VRA
Pro Sprints and four heats. This
would be a challenge to a number of these drivers, who have become
accustomed to a tacky track throughout the evening.
Tonight, there was a brisk breeze, which quickly sucked the
moisture from the racing surface and created dust blowing into the
stands. The four heats saw several drivers struggle with the slick
track conditions and those able to adjust quickly were able to claim
victories. Heat race
winner were Defending Champ, Tom Stansberry, Luis Espinoza, Chris
Wakim and Cory Kruseman. Again as the features began, the track was
getting slick and competitors started getting out of shape, either
spinning or collecting a passing racecar.
The Modifieds had some pretty good dicing going on in the
first three positions. Dave
Lindren appeared to be on his way to his second win of the evening,
when he became part of a three-car mix-up.
Tom Morley was the feature winner followed by Ventura
veteran, Marty McLaughlin, who now has to compete against his son,
Lance, while Lindren got back for third. The VRA Pro Sprints then conducted two “B”
Mains with the top three cars moving on to the “A” Main,
completing a twenty-two-car field.
The “Kiddie Corps” was dominant as youngsters John Nock
and Brandon Thomson garnered wins in each of the “B” Mains.
Hobie Conway, who has served for years with the infield
safety crew and is a licensed EMT, was AWOL from the infield as she
qualified for the feature with a third place finish in her Semi. Now the Dwarf Car features got underway with
the Seniors, as last week’s feature winner, Bill Van Praag
collected the front straight wall and did an endo.
He got out of the car shaken, but uninjured.
The Pro Main saw some moves up front and then, Jim
Scribellito lurking back about third, made his charge to the front
and victory. It was an
interesting development as “Scrib”, who races out of the San
Diego area, was headed to central California for an event and was
notified somewhere near Gorman the show was rained out, so the big
rig made a U-Turn and headed for Seaside Park.
Good decision!! After some quick track work to cut through the
slick cap and just spritz the surface, it was time for the VRA Pro
Sprint “A” Main. Rob
Kershaw and Greg Taylor paced the field from the front row with Mike
Kirby nipping at their heels. Kirby
found an advantage and jumped between the front row and took off,
looking quite strong. Soon, Mike had put several lapped cars between himself and
his two closest pursuers, Taylor and Kruseman.
When the yellow flew, the field closed up and the lapped cars
were moved to the rear of the field, taking away any advantage that
Kirby had built up. On
the restart, Kirby appeared to get the jump and take the position of
the rabbit, but just as suddenly, Mike cruised up to the wall in
turn four. Reports said
he blew the engine. This
now made a two car show between Greg and Cory.
After a few laps, Kruseman was driving the track, just like
he instructs his school attendees, eventually, sliding past Taylor
and taking the point. Stansberry
had taken a strong stand and maintained third.
Kevin Kierce, Chris Wakim, Luis Espinoza and Blake Miller had
all figured out the track and were coming forward at the finish. The result was the same for Cory, whether he had to fly across the country or just take a casual run down the street. He collected wins both ways. He did know he was in a dogfight tonight as he and Taylor ran pretty much “hammer and tong” throughout the feature. At any rate, the fans were treated to a racing smorgasbord, with the different classes and still were able to head for home before Ten P.M. |
