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| CONRAD SNAPS TEMPLEMAN
STREAK WITH FIRST WIN by Gary Jacob |
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VRA Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, I-4 Modifieds and Pony Stocks |
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Ventura, CA -April 15, 2000--Gaining the top spot
when race leaders Tom Stansberry and Randy Moody tangled and flipped
with just six laps to run, Steven Conrad from Agua Dulce won his first
30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature of 2000 Saturday night at
Ventura Raceway. The $1,000 win snapped the two race winning streak of
Clark Templeman III, who finished 2nd and pocketed $750. Templeman
maintained his early season point lead, but is scheduled to miss the
next race on April 29 as he is getting married that day. The
winningest IMCA Modified driver at the track in recent years with 17
victories, Steve Greenland from Reseda has struggled in the 2000
season, but he won the 30 lap feature ahead of former champion John
Aitken and new point leader Rich Wolfe, who battled to a 3rd after
winning the B Main. Defending track champion Donald Houghton gave up
the point lead when he failed to transfer out of the B Main. Ventura's
own David Knight has also struggled in 2000, but he was a wire to wire
winner in the I-4 Modified main event ahead of Mark Joe. The pony
stocks again had the night's largest field with 32 cars in action and
Brad Long of Los Angeles won the A Main from the pole in his first
feature start of 2000.
The sprint car turnout of 26 cars was the year's lowest and they were split into four heats with the top 4 in each advancing into the 30 lap A Main. Templeman won the first heat ahead of Jeff Heaton and Bill Welch won heat 2 with Greg Taylor second. After problems with his own car last week, Moody moved into the Rick Davis car tonight and he won heat 3 ahead of Bob Graham. Stansberry won heat 4 in front of Gary Howard. Jimmy Crawford had problems in his heat, but won the B Main ahead of John Wright. Third place Rob Kershaw also transferred when Dale Harwood was parked for the night for unsportsmanlike conduct after a 3rd place heat finish. The 30 lap A Main including three race stopping red flags. Moody charged to an early lead, but he bobbled and opening night winner Stansberry drove by for the top spot. Kershaw bounced off the wall and spun for the first red flag. Jeff Heaton flipped on the front stretch for the second red. As Moody was challenging Stansberry for the top spot, they tangled and both flipped without injury. This gave the lead to Conrad ahead of impressive youngster Greg Taylor and Templeman. A last lap bobble by Taylor allowed Templeman to finish 2nd. Taylor settled for third ahead of the hard charge of Crawford, who came from 16th starting to finish 4th. Taylor's third was worth $500. Chris Wakim was fifth ahead of Howard, Ronnie Case, Welch and Wright. Templeman's point lead is 55 ahead of Wakim, who is just 10 ahead of Howard. Conrad and Taylor are tied for fourth, 80 behind the point leader. The IMCA Modified action drew a 20 car field and they were split into three heats, but with the inverted point average lineups dictated by IMCA. Kathy Pierson won the first heat over opening night feature winner Mike Furlong. Bill Waltman won heat 2 ahead of Steve Smith. Greenland won the 3rd heat ahead of impressive rookie Bill Saltzman, who has a rich open wheel history. With 12 cars transfering to the A Main from the heat action, the remaining cars ran a B Main for the final 4 slots. Two time feature winner Wolfe won the B Main ahead of Damon Redmon, Jamie Taylor and rookie James Stowe. Houghton had carried a one point lead over Wolfe into the night. Five yellow flags did nothing to slow Greenland as he raced to the A Main win over Aitken, Wolfe, Saltzman, Ed Shelton, Waltman and Pierson. Wolfe emerged from the night with an 8 point lead over Furlong as Saltzman and Chris Tonoli are tied for 3rd, 17 behind the point leader. The I-4 Modifieds had a 13 car turnout and heat winners were point leader Marty Desbrow and point runnerup Todd Keeter. Chuck Stein was a feature scratch and Knight only managed a sixth in his heat. Knight led all 20 laps to win the main event with Desbrow an early race spin victim. Desbrow could only manage an 11th place finish and saw his point lead cut to just five points over Keeter, who was also in the back with an 8th. Joe ran second in the feature ahead of George Kreider IV, Joe Henderson, Steve Chuhaloff and Tommy Fowler. Henderson closed to within 20 points of the point leader. The large fields have made the pony stock action highly competitive. The cars were split into four heats with just the top four finishers in each heat advancing into their 20 lap A Main. Long won the first heat ahead of John Burroughs. Bryan Rungaitis took heat 2 with Mike Frazier second. Julie Masters won heat 3 with Jon Everhart second and Scott Bulpitt was the fourth heat winner with Frank Woodward second. A big 14 car B Main decided the final four feature slots with point leader Bryan Weaver forced to run the B after a fifth in his heat. Weaver won the B Main over Rick Rodarte and Darren Gunnell. Long started on the pole for the 20 lap main and was never headed. In an impressive run, Gunnell came from the 10th row to finish second ahead of Rungaitis, Chris Tramel and Woodward. Weaver came from 17th starting to finish sixth and increase his point lead to 40 points ahead of Cliff Ashlock. Ashlock ran 8th behind Everhart in the 20 lapper. Gary Yeates settled for 12th in the main and stands third in points, 70 behind point leader Weaver. The track will return to action on April 29 after taking Easter Weekend off. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Brad Long, John Burroughs, Chris Tramel, Wes Richardson, Bryan Weaver. Heat 2-Bryan Rungaitis, Mike Frazier, Dave Revard, Bruce Blackman, Rick Rodarte. Heat 3-Julie Masters, Jon Everhart, Cliff Ashlock, Ray Martinez, Jack Fullerton. Heat 4-Scott Bulpitt, Frank Woodward, Gary Yeates, Josh Ford, Darren Gunnell. B Main-Weaver, Rodarte, Gunnell, Mark Gillimore, Tom Burroughs, Paul Jankovskis, Keith Renne, Wade Zimmerman, Steve Logan, Carolyn Hines. A Main-Long, Gunnell, Rungaitis, Tramel, Woodward, Weaver, Everhart, Ashlock, Martinez, Masters, Frazier, Yeates, Bulpitt, Rodarte, Revard, Ford, Gillimore, Blackman, J Burroughs, Richardson. I-4 Modified Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Steve Chuhaloff, Mark Joe, Chuck Stein, John Nice. Heat 2-Todd Keeter, George Kreider IV, Tommy Fowler, James Brown, Marty McLaughlin. Main-David Knight, Joe, Kreider, Joe Henderson, Chuhaloff, Fowler, McLaughlin, Keeter, Nice, Bill Camarillo, Desbrow, Brown. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Kathy Pierson, Mike Furlong, Stephen Mitchell, Hobie Conway, Randy Gens. Heat 2-Bill Waltman, Steve Smith, Ed Shelton, Shane Schaben, Rich Wolfe. Heat 3-Steve Greenland, Bill Saltzman, John Aitken, Chris Tonoli, Donald Houghton. B Main-Wolfe, Damon Redmon, Jamie Taylor, James Stowe, Gens, Dan Coburn, Houghton. A Main-Greenland, Aitken, Wolfe, Saltzman, Shelton, Waltman, Pierson, Furlong, Smith, Schaben, Conway, Stowe, Tonoli, Mitchell, Redmon, Taylor. VRA Sprint Car Heat 1-Clark Templeman III, Jeff Heaton, Denny McVey, Ronnie Case, Rob Kershaw. Heat 2-Bill Welch, Greg Taylor, Will Perkins, Chris Wakim, John Wright. Heat 3-Randy Moody, Bob Graham, Dale Harwood, Brett Butler, Jim Porter. Heat 4-Tom Stansberry, Gary Howard, Steven Conrad, Jim Gresham, Jeremy Ellertson. B Main-Crawford, Wright, Kershaw, Luis Espinosa, Russell DeBlauw, Porter, Ellertson, Mike Davis. A Main-Conrad, Templeman, Taylor, Crawford, Wakim, Howard, Case, Welch, Wright, Gresham, Butler, McVey, Stansberry, Moody, Perkins, Heaton, Kershaw, Graham. |
