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See You At The Races!!! |
| SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD TAYLOR
GETS FIRST 2000 WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and I-4 Modifieds |
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Ventura, CA -May 27, 2000--Having put a new motor in
his car a couple nights earlier, 17 year old Greg Taylor gained his
first VRA unwinged 360 sprint car feature win of the 2000 season
Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Taylor will turn 18 in early June
and his $1,000 win closed him to within 30 points of second ranked
Chris Wakim. Wakim dropped out in the 30 lapper and Gary Howard
stretched his point lead to 90 points with his second place finish
behind Taylor. Howard won $750 and Randy Moody was a $500 third. It
has been a tough start to the season for defending IMCA Modified track
champion Donald Houghton from Lancaster, but he wheeled to a $300 win
in their 20 lapper Saturday night to climb with 26 points of new point
leader Mike Furlong. Furlong finished fifth and took the point lead
from Rich Wolfe, who was last in a 17 car field. Tom Stephens won for
the third time in the five street stock races run to date in 2000, but
still ranks fourth in points as John Uccellini protected his small
point lead with a fourth behind rookie Steve Bulpitt and defending
track champion Craig Germanetti. After winning his heat from the pole,
Marty McLaughlin won the I-4 modified main event to give the class
five different winners in its first five events. Joe Henderson ran
fourth and saw his point lead cut to 25 points by runnerup Marty
Desbrow.
The 30 car turnout has become the norm for the VRA sprint car action and heat wins were posted by Steven Conrad, Howard, Taylor and Clark Templeman III. The top four from each heat advanced into the 30 lap main where they were joined by four transfers from the B Main. Rookie Richard Reinken won the B Main over John Wright and Bill Welch. Top runner Ronnie Case was a dropout in the B Main and failed to make the A Main. Since their heat wins came from the pole, Taylor and Howard shared the front row for the 30 lapper as the four heat winners are inverted. Taylor won the 30 lapper ahead of Howard with Randy Moody coming from 6th starting to finish third. Conrad was fourth ahead of Jeff Heaton, Will Perkins, Tom Stansberry, Tony Dighera, Santa Maria Speedway regular Mike Knopf and Jimmy Crawford. Top runners Wakim and Clark Templeman III were 18th and 19th as Howard stretched his point lead to 90 points over Wakim, who is just 30 ahead of Taylor. Heaton and Crawford are only seperated by 10 points in their duel for fourth. The 17 car IMCA Modified field included long time Central Valley star Steve Smothermon from Porterville and Bakersfield rookie Gary Dutton. Heat winners were Steve Greenland, Houghton and Jamie Taylor. With his tough early season luck, Houghton lined up 3rd for the 20 lapper and won with outside front row starter Steve Smith second ahead of fifth starter Bill Saltzman. Smith won $240 and Saltzman $175. Furlong finished fifth behind Kathy Pierson and gained the point lead by 9 points over 17th place finisher Wolfe. Former champion John Aitken ran 10th behind Smothermon, Jamie Taylor, James Stowe and Ed Shelton and is 18 points out of the point lead. Houghton is 6th behind Saltzman and Ed Shelton, but just 26 points out of the point lead. The street stocks had a 13 car turnout and heat winners were Mike Riccardi and Stephens. Stephen Suchowirsky was a feature scratch to leave a 12 car grid for their 20 lapper. Stephens won from 3rd starting for his 3rd win in five starts with a third also on his record. Rookie Bulpitt started on the pole and ran second. Craig Germanetti continued his climb back into track title contention with a third after starting fifth and Uccellini protected his narrow point lead with a fourth ahead of Greg Raap. Tracey Pallais, Riccardi and Wayne Heurung rounded out the top 8. Uccellinis point lead is 15 over Germanetti and 25 ahead of Heurung with Stephens now 160 points back. The I-4 Modified field was 13 cars with Henderson and McLaughlin winning heat races. McLaughlin started on the pole and won their 20 lap main ahead of 7th starter Desbrow, Steve Chuhaloff and point leader Henderson, who started 8th. George Kreider IV was fifth ahead of David Knight, Mark Joe, Bill Camarillo and pony stock graduate Chris Tramel. Hendersons point lead is 25 over Desbrow and 60 ahead of Chuhaloff. Summary I-4 Modified Heat 1-Joe Henderson, Mark Joe, Steve Chuhaloff, Tommy Fowler, Chris Tramel. Heat 2-Marty McLaughlin, Marty Desbrow, George Kreider IV, David Knight, Dan Colburn. Main-McLaughlin, Desbrow, Chuhaloff, Henderson, Kreider, Knight, Joe, Bill Camarillo, Tramel, Colburn, Todd Keeter, Joshua Nice, Fowler. Street Stock Heat 1-Mike Riccardi, John Uccellini, Steve Bulpitt, Dave Phipps, Michael Lee. Heat 2-Tom Stephens, Craig Germanetti, Wayne Heurung, Greg Raap, John Romero. Main-Stephens, Bulpitt, Germanetti, Uccellini, Raap, Tracey Pallais, Riccardi, Heurung, Bradley Prows, Phipps, Romero, Lee. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Steve Greenland, Bill Saltzman, Gary Dutton, Steve Smith, Rich Wolfe. Heat 2-Donald Houghton, Ed Shelton, John Aitken, Daman Redmon, Stephen Mitchell. Heat 3-Jamie Taylor, Kathy Pierson, Steve Smothermon, James Stowe, Mike Furlong. Main-Houghton, Smith, Saltzman, Pierson, Furlong, Smothermon, Taylor, Stowe, Shelton, Aitken, Hobie Conway, Mitchell, Dutton, Redmon, Al Adam, Greenland, Wolfe. Unwinged 360 Sprint Heat 1-Steven Conrad, Jeff Heaton, Jimmy Crawford, Mike Knopf, John Woodward. Heat 2-Gary Howard, Randy Moody, Tony Dighera, Bob Moody, Jessie Denome. Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Chris Wakim, Jim Gresham, Tom Stansberry, John Wright. Heat 4-Clark Templeman III, Will Perkins, Brett Butler, Dale Harwood, Richard Reinken. Semi-Reinken, Wright, Bill Welch, Denome, Jim Porter, Kenny Brown, Luis Espinoza, Sparky Edmonston, Dayle Henry, Mike Davis. A Main-Taylor, Howard, R Moody, Conrad, Heaton, Perkins, Stansberry, Dighera, Knopf, Crawford, Butler, Welch, Wright, B Moody, Harwood, Denome, Gresham, Wakim, Templeman, Reinken. |
