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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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| HOWARD ADDS TO POINT LEAD
WITH 6TH 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 -September 30, 2000--Leading wire to wire
from his pole position start and increasing his season point lead to
200 points, Gary Howard won the 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car
feature at Ventura Raceway Saturday night for the 6th time this
season. He won $1,000 and Ronnie Case battled from 6th starting for
the $750 second as Bill Welch pocketed $500 for coming from 11th
starting to finish third. It was the final race night for the IMCA
Modifieds as their portion of Ventura's year 2000 schedule ended with
the Sept 30 point wrapup date nationally for all IMCA sanctioned
classes. Rookie Daman Redman won his third main event in their 20
lapper with Bill Waltman second. Mike Furlong ran sixth, but that was
enough to secure the track championship as he finished 13 points in
front of Rich Wolfe, who was third at the checkered flag. The
divisions' winningest driver, Marty Desbrow won the 20 lap I-4
Modified main event, but still stands 105 points back of George
Kreider IV in the track title duel as Kreider ran third. Mike Frazier
from Santa Paula won his third Pony Stock 20 lap A Main ahead of
Darren Gunnell and Jack Fullerton.
The VRA sprint car count was 26 cars and the four heat winners were Chris Wakim, Jimmy Crawford, Howard and Steven Conrad. Conrad was driving the car usually wheeled by rookie Richard Renken, who has been suspended for four races for fighting. The top four finishers in each heat advanced into the 30 lap A Main and they were joined by another four transfers from the B Main. Richard McCormick won that B Main with John Woodward second ahead of Sparky Edmonston and Kenny Brown. As the heat winner who passed the least cars in his heat win, Howard started on the pole of the 20 car grid for the 30 lap A Main. He was never headed although Wakim was running right on his rear nerf when a throttle stuck on the Conrad car, putting him hard into the fence. Howard was able to stretch his margin over those final 11 laps as Wakim fell back to a 7th place finish with Case climbing to a 2nd ahead of Welch, Tony Dighera, Rob Kershaw, Jim Thomson and Wakim. The sprint cars have one remaining October date and three in November. Howard's point lead is 200 points over Wakim, who is another 200 ahead of Jeff Heaton. Both Heaton and 4th ranked Greg Taylor were amongv the six drivers who failed to finish the 30 lapper. Despite his 20th place finish, Taylor stands just 15 points back of Heaton. The 18 IMCA Modifieds were split into three heats with Waltman, Furlong and Redman posting wins. In the 20 lap main, 1999 Victorville champion Jimmy Barttelt led the majority of the race before he slowed in the closing laps with a broken axle. Redman won with Waltman second over Wolfe, Barttelt and the best finish in his three starts for paved track legend Oren Prosser. Prosser is driving for Tim Huddleston in this renewal of his driving career. Furlong ran sixth ahead of California State point leader Bill Saltzman, Donald Houghton, last week's winner Steve Greenland and Hobie Conway. John Aitken was 15th and dropped to 3rd in points, 10 behind Wolfe. Steve Smith ran 10th in the finale and ranked 4th ahead of the tied duo of Saltzman and Houghton, the defending track champion. Black racer Marty McLaughlin and Steve Chuhaloff had the I-4 Modified heat wins with 12 cars in action. Joshua Nice was a feature scratch. Desbrow won the main event ahead of McLaughlin, George Kreider IV, Chuhaloff, Mark Joe, Tommy Fowler and Joe Henderson. While Kreider holds a 105 point lead over Desbrow and Desbrow is 140 ahead of Chuhaloff, there is a strong fight for 3rd. Joe is just 10 points back of Chuhaloff and 30 ahead of Henderson, who is just 10 ahead of Fowler. The pony stocks continue to amaze with their car counts as a 31 car field raced. Heat winners were Rick Rodarte, Bryan Rungaitis, Darren Gunnell and Daniel Shrubb. The top four in each heat advance to their 20 lapper and they are joined by four more transfers from the B Main. Cliff Ashlock won that B Main ahead of Paul Jankovskis, Julie Masters and Jeff Graham. The battle for the track championship continues to be unique with none of the top point runners finishing in the top six of the A Main. Frazier posted his third win with Gunnell second ahead of Jack Fullerton, Julie Masters, Frank Woodward and Jankovskis. Season point leader Mark Gallimore was 12th and holds a 30 point lead over Rungaitis, who is just 5 points ahead of Ray Martinez. Wes Richardson is just 65 points out of the point lead. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Rick Rodarte, Chris Tramel, Bruce Blackman Jr, Jon Everhart, Cliff Ashlock. Heat 2-Bryan Rungaitis, Jack Fullerton, Mike Frazier, Frank Woodward, Paul Jankovskis. Heat 3-Darren Gunnell, Dave Revard, Scott Bulpitt, Bryan Weaver, Wes Richardson. Heat 4-Daniel Shrubb, Ray Martinez, Mark Gallimore, Tom Burroughs, Julie Masters. B Main-Ashlock, Jankovskis, Masters, Jeff Graham, Michael Joe, Steve Logan, Eric Chambers, Richardson, Dave Little, Jimmy Clegg. A Main-Frazier, Gunnell, Fullerton, Masters, Woodward, Jankovskis, Martinez, Tramel, Rungaitis, Shrubb, Bulpitt, Gallimore, Rodarte, Burroughs, Weaver, Richardson, Blackman, Graham, Revard, Ashlock. I-4 Modified Heat 1-Marty McLaughlin, Marty Desbrow, Mark Joe, Dino Delao, Tommy Fowler. Heat 2-Steve Chuhaloff, Chris Tramel, David Knight, George Kreider IV, Dan Coburn. Main-Desbrow, McLaughlin, Kreider, Chuhaloff, Joe, Fowler, Joe Henderson, Coburn, Knight, Tramel, Delao. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Bill Waltman, Ed Shelton, Steve Greenland, Daman Redman, Steve Smith. Heat 2-Mike Furlong, Bill Saltzman, Hobie Conway, Oren Prosser, Gary Curtis. Heat 3-Jimmy Barttelt, Donald Houghton, Stephen Mitchell, John Aitken, Chris Tonoli. Main-Redman, Waltman, Rich Wolfe, Barttelt, Prosser, Furlong, Saltzman, Houghton, Greenland, Conway, Smith, Todd Barnes, Shelton, Buddy Barnes, Aitken, Mitchell, Tonoli, Curtis. Unwinged 360 Sprint Heat 1-Chris Wakim, Rob Kershaw, Tony Dighera, Jeremy Ellertson, Richard McCormick. Heat 2-Jimmy Crawford, Greg Taylor, Jeff Heaton, Jim Gresham, John Woodward. Heat 3-Gary Howard, Ronnie Case, Bill Welch, Jim Thomson, Kenny White. Heat 4-Steven Conrad, Jim Porter, Dale Harwood, Russell DeBlauw, Sparky Edmonston. B Main-McCormick, Woodward, Edmonston, Kenny Brown, Luis Espinoza, Bill Camarillo, Sam Vale, Kenny White. A Main-Howard, Case, Welch, Dighera, Kershaw, Thomson, Wakim, McCormick, Porter, Woodward, Gresham, Brown, DeBlauw, Edmonston, Heaton, Harwood, Conward, Crawford, Ellertson, Taylor. |
