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| WAKIM CLOSES GROUND ON POINT
LEADER WITH SECOND WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, I-4 Modifieds and Pony Stocks |
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Ventura, CA -July 15, 2000--Closing a little ground
on season point leader Gary Howard, Chris Wakim raced to his second 30
lap VRA Unwinged 360 sprint car feature win of the 2000 season
Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Howard was forced to come through
the B Main that he won and then battled from a back row start to
finish fifth in the 30 lapper. Wakim won $1,000, Jimmy Crawford was a
$750 second and Brett Butler enjoyed his best finish of the season
with a $500 third. Howards point lead is now 135 points over Wakim as
third ranked Greg Taylor fell 245 points off the pace with his 16th
place run. Knowing that his hot lap engine failure at his last visit
would reward him with a pole position, Steve Smothermon from
Porterville returned to Ventura and raced to wins in both his heat
race and the 20 lap main event for the IMCA Modifieds. Ventura point
leader Mike Furlong was second in the 20 lapper and increased his
point lead to 16 points. Marty Desbrow had a perfect night in the I-4
Modifieds with wins in his heat and the 20 lap main to move into
fourth in points, just 150 points back of point leader George Kreider
IV, who was 6th. In their 10th week of racing, the pony stocks finally
had a repeat winner as part-time racer James Brown won with teammate
Brad Long in second. Point leader Ray Martinez ran 10th and there is a
virtual four way tie for the top spot in the point standings now.
The VRA sprint cars had a 28 car turnout and they ran the usual four heat format with the top four finishers in each heat advancing into the rich 30 lap A Main. After the top two finishers were penalized, Crawford won heat 1 ahead of Jeff Heaton and Tom Stansberry. Wakim won heat 2 with Taylor and Ronnie Case in the 2-3 slots. Tony Dighera won heat 3 ahead of Butler and Rob Kershaw. Rookie Richard Renken, who has a long and successful go-kart career, won heat 4 ahead of Dale Harwood and Bill Welch. Howard finished last in his heat, but won the B Main ahead of Mike Davis and John Woodward. Wakim started outside front row in the 18 car feature and won with Crawford second ahead of Butler, Welch, Howard, Case, John Wright, Kershaw, Heaton and Harwood. Howard battled forward from 17th starting for his top five finish. Crawfords 2nd place finish left him fifth in points, 465 behind Howard and 200 behind 4th ranked Heaton. The 20 car IMCA Modified field included Central Valley visitors Smothermon, Wayne Coffman, Gary Dutton and Troy Stone, who made the long tow from Winton. Smothermon won heat 1 with Ventura point runnerup Rich Wolfe second ahead of Coffman. California State point leader Bill Saltzman won the second heat ahead of Chris Tonoli and Ed Shelton. Jamie Taylor won heat 3 ahead of Steve Smith and female ace Hobie Conway. Smothermon annually battles for track championships at tracks like Bakersfield, Hanford or Porterville and took full advantage of his pole start for the 20 lap feature. He won with Furlong second ahead of Steve Smith, Saltzman, Kathy Pierson, John Aitken, Jim Barttelt, Bill Waltman and T Stone. Wolfe finished 16th and fell 16 points back of Furlong. Last weeks feature winner Stephen Mitchell caught fire on lap 8 for an early yellow flag. Wolfe is now just 3 points ahead of Aitken, who is two ahead of Smith and 5 ahead of Saltzman. Defending track champion Donald Houghton took a step backwards in his attempt to climb back into contention as he ran 17th and is 29 points out of the point lead. There were 13 I-4 Modifieds and David Rhodes beat early season point leader Joe Henderson in heat 1. Desbrow beat point leader George Kreider IV in heat 2. Desbrow lined up third for their 20 lap main and survived several yellow flags to win over front row starter Tommy Fowler. Marty McLaughlin ran third ahead of Mark Joe, Rich Engel and Kreider. Rookie Henderson continues to lose ground in the point race as his car caught fire and he finished 13th. Kreiders point lead is 90 over Henderson, 125 over 11th place finisher Steve Chuhaloff and 150 ahead of feature winner Desbrow. As usual, the pony stocks had the biggest field with 33 cars in action. Jack Fullerton beat Long in heat 1, Jon Everhart and Chris Tramel were 1-2 in heat 2, Brown won heat 3 ahead of Mark Fullerton and point leader Martinez took heat 4 with Tom Burroughs second. They advance 16 cars through the heat action and add four more from the B Main. Newcomer Alvin Matthews won the B Main over Gary Yeates, Dave Revard and Bryan Rungaitis. Brown and Long ran 1-2 in the 20 lapper with Wes Richardson third ahead of Dave Revard, Mark Gillimore, T Burroughs, Rungaitis, Matthews and Frank Woodward. Point leaders Martinez and Cliff Ashlock ran 10-11 and Martinez stands 15 points ahead of Ashlock and 25 ahead of the tied duo of Richardson and Gillimore. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Jack Fullerton, Brad Long, Dave Little, Cliff Ashlock, Jeff Graham. Heat 2-Jon Everhart, Chris Tramel, Wes Richardson, Frank Woodward, John Burroughs. Heat 3-James Brown, Mark Fullerton, Mark Gillimore, Daniel Shrubb, Gary Yeates. Heat 4-Ray Martinez, Tom Burroughs, Mike Frazier, Darren Gunnell, Dave Revard. B Main-Alvin Matthews, Yeates, Revard, Bryan Rungaitis, Scott Bulpitt, Bryan Weaver, Jimmy Clegg, Graham, Steve Logan, Garrett Pegler. A Main-Brown, Long, Richardson, Revard, Gillimore, Burroughs, Rungaitis, Matthews, Woodward, Martinez, Ashlock, Little, Shrubb, Yeates, M Fullerton, J Fullerton, Everhart, Tramel, Gunnell, Frazier. I-4 Modified Heat 1-David Rhodes, Joe Henderson, Marty McLaughlin, Tommy Fowler, David Knight. Heat 2-Marty Desbrow, George Kreider IV, Mark Joe, Steve Chuhaloff, Dan Coburn. Main-Desbrow, Fowler, McLaughlin, Joe, Rich Engel, Kreider, Knight, Brad Whittaker, Coburn, Chris Tramel, Chuhaloff, Bill Camarillo, Henderson. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Steve Smothermon, Rich Wolfe, Wayne Coffman, Daman Redmon, John Aitken. Heat 2-Bill Saltzman, Chris Tonoli, Ed Shelton, Donald Houghton, Mike Furlong. Heat 3-Jamie Taylor, Steve Smith, Hobie Conway, Jim Barttelt, Kathy Pierson. Main-Smothermon, Furlong, Smith, Saltzman, Pierson, Aitken, Barttelt, Bill Waltman, Troy Stone, Conway, Coffman, Taylor, Randy Gens, Tonoli, Gary Dutton, Wolfe, Houghton, Stephen Mitchell, Redmon, Shelton. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Jimmy Crawford, Jeff Heaton, Tom
Stansberry, Jeremy Ellertson, John Wright. Heat 2-Chris Wakim, Greg
Taylor, Ronnie Case, Clark Templeman III, Mike Davis. Heat 3-Tony
Dighera, Brett Butler, Rob Kershaw, Luis Espinosa, Jessie Denome. Heat
4-Richard Renken, Dale Harwood, Bill Welch, Denny McVey, John
Woodward. B Main-Gary Howard, Davis, Woodward, Russell DeBlauw, Sparky
Edmonston, Jim Porter, Dayle Henry, Denome, Jim Gresham, Kenny Brown.
A Main-Wakim, Crawford, Butler, Welch, Howard, Case, Wright, Kershaw,
Heaton, Harwood, Dighera, Ellertson, z |
