|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| CASE, RAAP AND TRAMEL WIN
VENTURA FINALES by Gary Jacob |
|
|
|
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, Street Stocks and Pony Stocks |
|
Ventura, CA -November 18, 2000--Winning for the
second time in the last three races, Ronnie Case edged Greg Taylor in
the time shortened 23 lap feature for the VRA Unwinged 360 sprint cars
Saturday night as Ventura Raceway closed it's 2000 season. Case
collected $1,000, Taylor $750 with Case's teammate Jimmy Crawford a
$500 third. Track champion Gary Howard failed to finish the finale and
Taylor's 2nd place run allowed him to move into second in the final
point standings. Taylor finished just 30 points ahead of Chris Wakim
in the point fight. The long sprint car main left just 6 minutes
before curfew for the street stock feature and they managed to get 10
laps completed with Greg Raap winning for the 2nd straight time and
4th overall in 2000. Raap came from 8th starting to the lead in just 4
laps and track champion Craig Germanetti was second after starting
7th. Double division racer Chris Tramel got underneath James Brown on
lap 14 and won the 20 lapper for the pony stocks. Brown spun for the
final yellow flag and B main transfer Tom Burroughs finished 2nd. That
division's track championship duel went down to the final event. Point
leader Bryan Rungaitis lost laps with a flat tire and Mark Gallimore
used his 8th place finish to win the championship by 45 points.
There were 37 unwinged 360 sprint cars in the pits and they were divided into four heat races. Outside front row starter Crawford won the first heat over Taylor. Case lined up 3rd and won heat 2 with Bill Welch second. John Wright also started 3rd in his heat 3 win over Jimmy May. Mike Knopf won heat 4 from fifth starting as John Jewett ran second. They transferred four cars out of each heat and ran the remaining cars in a pair of ten lap B Mains to determine the final four A Main starters. Kenny Brown won the first B Main in wire to wire fashion over 4th starter Scott Sloan, who nipped Clark Templeman III for the final slot. Jeff Heaton started 8th in the second B Main and battled his way to second in 6 laps. He passed Jeremy Ellertson on lap 9 and won the ten lapper with Ellertson also transferring as Luis Espinoza just missed. As usual, the four heat winners started in front of the scheduled 30 lap A Main with Crawford and Wright in the front row as Case and Knopf shared row 2. The race was restarted after the third Case team car driven by John Nickel spun and pitted with a flat tire. Crawford led the opening lap, but Case took over on lap 2. Wright was running third and Welch took fourth from Knopf on lap 2. Heaton spun for a lap 3 yellow and Welch passed Wright for third on lap 7. Taylor was coming fast from 7th starting as he passed Welch for third on lap 9 and took second from Crawford on lap 11. Jimmy May was also making tracks towards the front as he took third from Crawford on lap 12. Both Welch and track champion Howard passed Crawford on lap 14 for the 4-5 slots. After racing from lap 3 without a yellow flag, the pace of the race slowed down with four yellow flags and a red in rapid fire order. May spun for a lap 17 yellow, Knopf was sidelined with a flat right rear tire and the red flag fell for a huge flip by Welch, who was unhurt. Howard spun for the last caution and he retired. With time rapidly running out, the drivers were given the signal that the checkered flag would follow in five laps at lap 23. The incidents restored Crawford to third as Case led Taylor and Crawford to the checkered flag. Wakim ran fourth ahead of Wright, May, Rob Kershaw, John Woodward, Jessie Denome and K Brown. Howard won the championship by 470 points over Taylor, who was just 30 points ahead of Wakim. Heaton finished 4th in points with Crawford just nipping Case by 15 points in their fifth place duel. The 16 street stocks were split into a pair of heat races with veteran Paul Moore winning the first over Bradley Prows. Richard Johnston beat Germanetti in heat 2. With just 6 minutes to run their feature, the action was hectic. The first attempt to start the race saw the field three wide in the corner and outside front row starter John Romero ended up in the wall. Pony stock feature winner Tramel also fell out. Mike Riccardi led the first 3 laps with Michael Lee spinning out of 2nd on lap 2. Raap was fourth in one lap, 3rd on lap 2 and 2nd on lap 3. He passed Riccardi on lap 4 when Riccardi picked an outside route in lapped traffic. Germanetti took second from Riccardi on lap 7 and 5th starter Heurung gained third on lap 8. Raap won the well run 10 lap event ahead of Germanetti, Heurung, Riccardi, point runnerup John Uccellini, Prows, Dan Murphy and Frank Woodward. Germanetti finished 335 points ahead of Uccellini and Heurung finished 3rd ahead of Riccardi and the fast closing Raap. The pony stock car count dropped to 26 cars. Tom Fish won the first heat from the pole with Bryan Weaver second. Jeff Graham took heat 2 from the pole with point leader Rungaitis second. James Brown also took heat 3 from the pole with Mike Frazier second. Kathy Pierson returned to the pony stocks with a 3rd, but had to borrow another car to run the 20 lap A Main. Dave Revard won heat 4 from the pole with Ray Martinez second. Fifth starter Wes Richardson passed leader Paul Jankovskis on lap 5 and won the 10 lap B Main with Jankovskis second over Jody Davis. Chris Tramel started 8th in the 20 lap A Main and passed outside front row starter J Brown on the inside on lap 14 for his win. Jankovskis ran second until he lost the spot to C Tramel on lap 5. Rungaitis' title hopes faded with a flat tire on lap 6 as his team couldn't get it changed in time for the restart. Frazier took third from Jankovskis on lap 9, but pitted on lap 12. After making attempt after attempt, C Tramel made his winning pass on lap 14 and Cliff Ashlock came from 13th starting to take over third behind Burroughs when J Brown lost the spot with his lap 16 spin. C Tramel won ahead of Burroughs, Ashlock, Jankovskis, Frank Woodward, Weaver and Martinez. Gallimore finished 8th and won the championship by 45 points over last place finisher Rungaitis. Martinez was third in points ahead of Ashlock and Richardson. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Tom Fish, Bryan Weaver, Mark Gallimore, Chris Tramel, Paul Jankovskis. Heat 2-Jeff Graham, Bryan Rungaitis, Cliff Ashlock, Julie Masters, Garnet Pegler. Heat 3-James Brown, Mike Frazier, Kathy Pierson, Jack Fullerton, Wes Richardson. Heat 4-Dave Revard, Ray Martinez, Daniel Shrubb, Frank Woodward, Jody Davis. B Main-Richardson, Jankovskis, Davis, Tom Burroughs, Danny Tramel, Mike Yeates, Cale Harveston, Pegler. A Main-C Tramel, Burroughs, Ashlock, Jankovskis, Woodward, Weaver, Martinez, Gallimore, Graham, Richardson, Fullerton, Masters, Shrubb, Fish, Brown, Pierson, Davis, Frazier, Revard, Rungaitis. Street Stock Heat 1-Paul Moore, Bradley Prows, Ernie Malone, Chris Tramel, John Uccellini. Heat 2-Richard Johnston, Craig Germanetti, Michael Lee, Greg Raap, Dan Murphy. Main-Raap, Germanetti, Wayne Heurung, Mike Riccardi, Uccellini, Prows, Murphy, Frank Woodward, Moore, Malone, Erick Karlsen, Lee, Johnston, Joe Porche, John Romero, Tramel. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Jimmy Crawford, Greg Taylor, Rob Kershaw, John Woodward, Kenny Brown. Heat 2-Ronnie Case, Bill Welch, Jessie Denome, Bob Moody, Luis Espinoza. Heat 3-John Wright, Jimmy May, Gary Howard, Jim Gresham, Russell DeBlauw. Heat 4-Mike Knopf, John Jewett, Chris Wakim, John Nickel, Jeremy Ellertson. 1st B Main-Brown, Scott Sloan, Clark Templeman III, Ron Bach, Steve Chuhaloff, Steve Hess, Wade Griest, Mark Weitzman, Dayle Henry, DeBlauw. 2nd B Main-Jeff Heaton, Ellertson, Espinoza, Greg Keegan, David Addamo, Jeff Wilson, Jim Porter, Jim Tietz, Mike Davis. A Main-Case, Taylor, Crawford, Wakim, Wright, May, Kershaw, Woodward, Denome, Brown, Nickel, Knopf, Howard, Welch, Ellertson, Sloan, Heaton, Gresham, Jewett, Moody. |
