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See You At The Races!!! |
| HOWARD ADDS TO POINT LEAD
WITH $1,000 VENTURA SPRINT WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprints, I-4 Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pony Stocks |
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Ventura, CA -June 17, 2000--VRA unwinged 360 sprint
car point leader Gary Howard protected his position by charging to the
front early and collecting a $1,000 win in the 30 lap feature Saturday
night at Ventura Raceway. Fourth ranked Jeff Heaton drove to a $750
second and closed to within 60 points of second ranked Greg Taylor,
who bounced back from a tangle to finish 7th. George Kreider IV broke
rookie Joe Henderson's winning streak in the 20 lap I-4 Modified main
and moved into second in points, 100 behind Kreider. Defending track
champion Craig Germanetti won their 20 lap main event from sixth
starting and took over the point lead in the process as John Uccellini
finished last in the 15 car field. The pony stocks continue spread the
honors around with 18th ranked Tim Frazier winning the latest 20
lapper from 4th starting. Veteran Frank Woodward ran second and point
leader Cliff Ashlock saw his advantage cut to 50 points as he ran
15th.
The 21 car turnout for the unwinged 360 sprint cars was a season low and they raced a three heat format with 12 transfers from the heat action and 6 more from the B Main. Heaton, Howard and Taylor won the heat races. Heaton and Howard ran away from the field in their wins while Taylor had to fight off a stiff Randy Moody challenge in heat 3. Jimmy Crawford won the B Main in front of Dale Harwood and Rob Kershaw. For the 30 lapper, Tom Stansberry and Taylor shared the front row with Heaton and Howard in row 2. Stansberry got the jump on the green flag and both he and Taylor moved immediately into the top groove. Third starter Howard was making the extreme bottom groove work and it took him just a few laps to take second from Taylor. After Howard took second, his bottom groove effort easily pushed him in front of Stansberry. R Moody was also making tracks through the field and eventually emerged in second place. Howard and R Moody then moved their action to the top groove and continued to pull away. Heaton worked his way into third and Ronnie Case quietly moved into the top 5 by the first caution that came on lap 19. The racing turned ugly with Chris Wakim flipping after hitting the back wall for the lap 19 caution. On lap 21, R Moody bicycled in the high groove and bounced off the wall. He kept going, but repeated the feat on lap 22 and was done. Stansberry rolled in the bottom of turn 1 on the restart and collected Taylor. Will Perkins and Russ DeBlauw tangled for another yellow flag and the final caution came on lap 24 when Richard Reinken spun. Howard led Heaton and Case when consecutive green flag laps were seen again. He was not challenged as Heaton finished second ahead of Perkins, Case, Bill Welch, Crawford, Taylor and Reinken. Howard's point lead is now 150 over Taylor, who has moved 30 in front of Wakim. Fourth ranked Heaton is 210 behind point leader Howard. The I-4 Modifieds had a 12 car field. Marty Desbrow and Mark Joe won heat races. In the feature, Kreider took the lead on lap 16 and had to fight off the challenges of Henderson, who finished 2nd. Steve Chuhaloff, Joe and Marty McLaughlin rounded out the top 5. Henderson leads the points by 100 over Kreider, who is just five ahead of Desbrow. Chuhaloff is 4th in points. The street stocks had a 16 car field and Greg Raap won heat 1 ahead of Steve Bulpitt and Richard Johnston. The second heat found Stephen Suchowirsky the winner ahead of Uccellini. In the 20 lap main, both winner Germanetti and runnerup Wayne Heurung came from row 3 in a crashfilled event. Bulpitt was third ahead of Suchowirsky, Bradley Prows, Johnston and John Romero. It was Germanetti's 2nd win of the season and he stands 55 points ahead of Heurung with Uccellini falling to 3rd, 70 behind Germanetti. Tom Stephens also had a tough night with a 14th as Joe Porche was the only feature scratch. The pony stocks again threatened the 30 car mark with 29 in action. Heat winners were Scott Bulpitt, Frazier, female Julie Masters and Bryan Rungaitis. The 20 car feature took four transfers from the four heats and the B Main. Frazier collected his first A Main win with Woodward second ahead of Rungaitis, Jon Everhart, Wes Richardson, point runnerup Ray Martinez and Luis Espinosa, who has been racing in the sprint car class. Ashlock ran 15th and leads the points by 50 over Martinez, who is just 10 points ahead of Darren Gunnell, the 12th place runner. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Scott Bulpitt, Daniel Shrubb, Gary Yeates, Frank Woodward, Cliff Ashlock. Heat 2-Tim Frazier, Ray Martinez, Mark Gillimore, Jack Fullerton, Luis Espinoza. Heat 3-Julie Masters, Bryan Weaver, Tom Burroughs, Jon Everhart, Josh Ford. Heat 4-Bryan Rungaitis, Rick Rodarte, Chris Tramel, Wes Richardson, Darren Gunnell. B Main-Espinoza, Ford, Ashlock, Gunnell, Jeff Graham, Paul Jankovskis, Dave Revard, Eric Chambers, John Burroughs, Jimmy Clegg. A Main-Frazier, Woodward, Rungaitis, Everhart, Richardson, Martinez, Espinoza, Bulpitt, Gillimore, T Burroughs, Fullerton, Gunnell, Shrubb, Masters, Ford, Ashlock, Yeates, Rodarte, Weaver, Tramel. Street Stock Heat 1-Greg Raap, Steve Bulpitt, Richard Johnston, Craig Germanetti, John Romero. Heat 2-Stephen Suchowirsky, John Uccellini, Tracey Pallais, Michael Lee, Erick Karlsen. Main-Germanetti, Wayne Heurung, Bulpitt, Suchowirsky, Bradley Prows, Johnston, Romero, Karlsen, Mike Riccardi, Will Smith, Pallais, Raap, Lee, Tom Stephens, Uccellini. I-4 Modified Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Steve Chuhaloff, Tommy Fowler, Marty McLaughlin, Bill Camarillo. Heat 2-Mark Joe, Joe Henderson, George Kreider IV, Chris Tramel, Dan Coburn. Main-Kreider, Henderson, Chuhaloff, Joe, McLaughlin, David Knight, Coburn, Desbrow, Fowler, Tramel, Joshua Nice, Camarillo. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Jeff Heaton, Bill Welch, Chris Wakim, Ronnie Case, Jimmy Crawford. Heat 2-Gary Howard, Tom Stansberry, Clark Templeman III, Will Perkins, Rob Kershaw. Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Randy Moody, Bob Moody, Richard Reinken, Dale Harwood. B Main-Crawford, Harwood, Kershaw, Jeremy Ellerton, Mike Davis, Russ DeBlauw, John Woodward, Sparky Edmonston, Dayle Henry. A Main-Howard, Heaton, Perkins, Case, Welch, Crawford, Taylor, Reinken, Kershaw, Davis, B Moody, Ellerton, DeBlauw, Stansberry, R Moody, Wakim, Harwood, Templeman. |
