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Ventura, CA., Aug. 2 - Bruce Hiroshima, 43,
made it three consecutive
NMRA-TQ Midget feature victories Wednesday night on the fifth-mile
clay Ventura
Raceway during the opening night of the 12-day Ventura County Fair.
The feature
had three leaders and covered 21-laps, with Hiroshima, the series
2004 rookie
of the year, the leader on the final two circuits. He had never won
a main
event until this season and his triumph moved him from fourth to
second in
current driver points.
The annual mid-week visit to the fair by NMRA
competitors produced a
season-high field of 15 cars for round six of 12 scheduled races
through October.
Approximately 4,000 fairgoers were admitted to the main grandstand
free with
their fair admission ticket to watch oval racing with TQ Midgets,
dwarf cars,
pony stock cars and a 17-car demolition derby as the final event.
West Evans finished second in his new 2006 Spike
chassis with Suzuki
power. Kenny Wiley was third, with 2002 NMRA champion Chuck West and
Ron Ahrendt
rounding out the top five. Michael Bliffen, leading rookie Scott
Dobson, Steve
Parke (back in the Dave Lambert No. 55), Richard Ortega, Jr and
Jenna Bliffen
completed the top ten in a 15-car field. Ortega, the 2005 NMRA
rookie of the
year, led the first four laps before Evans passed him and paced the
field from
lap five through lap 19.
Hiroshima led the final two circuits after not
having any main event
victories prior to this year. The NMRA-TQ Midget Series modern era
(2002 to
present) record for most consecutive feature victories is four by
Jimmy May from
July 12 to August 16,2003 at four different tracks-Perris, Ventura,
Victorville
and Bakersfield. Evans and Chris Hedge captured the pair of
eight-lap heat
races. The next NMRA-TQ race will be Saturday, August 12 at the
quarter-mile paved
Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardnio.
Summary:
Heat 1: West Evans, Richard Ortega, Jr, Chuck West, Ron Ahrendt,
Kenny Wiley,
Joe Bishop, Steve Parke, Jenna Bliffen.
Heat 2: Chris Hedge, Bruce Hiroshima, Scott Dobson, Michael Bliffen,
Richard
Marshall, Jeff Marshall, Cathy O'Brien.
Main: Hiroshima, Evans, Wiley, West, Ahrendt, M. Bliffen, Dobson,
Parke,
Ortega, J. Bliffen, Bishop, R. Marshall, J. Marshall, Hedge,
O'Brien.
POINT STANDINGS:
Drivers
Car Owners
1 Chuck West
374 1 # 38 West
Evans
389
2 Bruce Hiroshima 329
2 # 5 Bruce Hiroshima 344
3 Ron Ahrendt
324 3 # 87 Judi
Ahrendt 338
4 Chris Hedge
313 4 # 98 Hedge
& Hendrix 328
5 Kenny Wiley
312 5 # 21 Paul
Lopiccolo 324
6 Michael Bliffen 304
6 # 3 Michael Bliffen 319
7 Steve Parke
280 7 # 36
West Evans 282
8 West Evans
267 8 # 18 Guy
Barber 270
9 Scott Dobson (R) 255
9 # 8 Richard Ortega, Jr
214
10 Richard Ortega, Jr 199
10 # 9 Jeff Marshall
199
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