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See You At The Races!!! |
| LATE RACE PASS NETS TAYLOR
$1,000 WIN by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, Modifieds and Pony Stocks |
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Ventura, CA -March 17, 2001--The hottest driver at
the track when the 2000 season ended, young Greg Taylor from Ojai,
used a lap 29 pass around Ronnie Case to win the 30 lap feature for
the Ventura Racing Association unwinged 360 sprint cars as Ventura
Raceway opened it's 2001 season Saturday night. Taylor was a three
time winner at Ventura in 2000 and has had some success with the SCRA
sprint cars also. He collected $1,000 for the win with Case a $750
second as Tony Dighera collected $500 for third. The opening action
came after all of the track's practice dates and first two race nights
had fallen victim to the heavy rains that the area experienced in late
February and early March. Former track champion Donald Houghton from
Lancaster was a $275 winner in the 20 lap IMCA Modified main event,
edging out Randy McGraw and defending track champion Mike Furlong.
Contact racing on the final lap saw Marty Desbrow pull off his last
lap pass of George Kreider IV in the Ventura Racing Association
Modified 20 lap feature. Bryan Rungaitis from Thousand Oaks celebrated
his 21st birthday in grand style by winning the 20 lap pony stock main
event. Early leader Bryan Weaver was second ahead of Frank Woodward.
There were 31 unwinged 360 sprint cars in the pits for the opening night action and they were divided into four qualifying heats with the top four finishers in each advancing into the 30 lap A Main. Jimmy Crawford outraced Taylor for the heat 1 win, Rob Kershaw ran in front of Chris Wakim in heat 2, Richard McCormick won heat 3 with Case second and Jeff Heaton claimed the fourth heat in front of Tony Dighera. When Jim Thomson was unable to start the 30 lapper despite a fourth place heat finish, that built the transfers out of the B Main to 5 cars and Steve Hess won that event ahead of Russell DeBlauw, Luis Espinoza, John Woodward and Sparky Edmonston. Woodward spun to force a restart in the 30 lapper. Taylor was masterful in his treatment of the lapped traffic late in the race and he made his winning pass around Case on lap 29. Dighera finished third ahead of McCormick and defending track champion Gary Howard from Anaheim. Wakim ran sixth ahead of Heaton, Steve Conrad, Crawford and Bob Moody. The 16 IMCA Modifieds were split into a pair of qualifying heat races. Chris Tonoli won heat 1 ahead of Houghton and Ed Shelton. McGraw was coming off a strong run at Bakersfield two weeks earlier and won heat 2 over Gary Curtis and Steve Greenland. Houghton won the 20 lap feature ahead of McGraw and Furlong. McGraw won $175 and Furlong $145. Tonoli was fourth in front of Curtis, John Aitken, Greenland and Daman Redman. William Kruft was a feature scratch. The VRA Modifieds were formerly known as the I-4 Modifieds and they had a ten car turnout for the opener. Kreider won heat 1 ahead of Marty McLaughlin and Desbrow captured heat 2 with Joe Henderson second. Desbrow passed defending track champion Kreider on the final lap to win the 20 lap main event. Mark Joe was third ahead of McLaughlin, Henderson and Garret Pegler. There were 27 pony stocks in action on opening night and they were divided into four heats, each transferring the top 4 finishers into the 20 lap A Main. Heat winners were Tom Burroughs, Dave Revard, Mike Frazier and Jody Davis. James Brown won the B Main in front of Chris Tramel and Eric Chambers. Rungaitis transferred out of his heat race with a second place finish and took the A Main lead from Bryan Weaver on lap 12. Weaver finished second behind Rungaitis with Woodward third ahead of Frazier, Jeff Graham, Jack Fullerton, Dave Little and Cliff Ashlock. Defending track champion Mark Gallimore was the first car sidelined in the feature and placed 20th. Both of the March rainouts have been rescheduled in formerly open weekends in the schedule as the busy race track has 33 race nights scheduled in 2001. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Tom Burroughs, Wade Zimmerman, Mark Gallimore, Jeff Graham, Steven Michael. Heat 2-Dave Revard, Jon Everhart, Jack Fullerton, Dave Little, Eric Chambers. Heat 3-Mike Frazier, Bryan Rungaitis, Frank Woodward, Bryan Weaver, James Brown. Heat 4-Jody Davis, Cliff Ashlock, Jacob Ford, Darren Gunnell, Joanna Reyes. B Main-Brown, Chris Tramel, Chambers, Adam McPhail, Michael, John Mikkelsen, Bruce Blackman Jr, Andy Frank, Reyes, Laurie Richardson. A Main-Rungaitis, Weaver, Woodward, Frazier, Graham, Fullerton, Little, Ashlock, Brown, Revard, Burroughs, Everhart, Ford, Davis, Tramel, Gunnell, Chambers, Zimmerman, McPhail, Gallimore. VRA Modified Heat 1-George Kreider IV, Marty McLaughlin, Tommy Fowler, Ray Martinez, RickRodarte. Heat 2-Marty Desbrow, Joe Henderson, Mark Joe, Garret Pegler, David Lidren. Main-Desbrow, Kreider, Joe, McLaughlin, Henderson, Pegler, Rodarte, Fowler, Martinez, Lidren. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Chris Tonoli, Donald Houghton, Ed Shelton, Bill Saltzman, Mike Furlong. Heat 2-Randy McGraw, Gary Curtis, Steve Greenland, Al Adam, Steve Smith. Main-Houghton, McGraw, Furlong, Tonoli, Curtis, John Aitken, Greenland, Daman Redman, Smith, Mark Fullerton, Ed Cutler, Saltzman, Adam, Brett Lynsky, Shelton. Unwinged 360 Sprint Heat 1-Jimmy Crawford, Greg Taylor, Bill Welch, Jeremy Ellertson, Sparky Edmonston. Heat 2-Rob Kershaw, Chris Wakim, Steven Conrad, Gary Howard, Sean Buckley. Heat 3-Richard McCormick, Ronnie Case, Jim Porter, Bob Moody, Ron Bach. Heat 4-Jeff Heaton, Tony Dighera, Kenny Brown, Jim Thomson, Steve Hess. B Main-Hess, Russell DeBlauw, Luis Espinoza, John Woodward, Edmonston, Jeff Wilson, Buckley, Steve Chuhaloff, Jim Gresham, Bach. A Main-Taylor, Case, Dighera, McCormick, Howard, Wakim, Heaton, Conrad, Crawford, Moody, Porter, Espinoza, DeBlauw, Hess, Ellertson, Woodward, Edmonston, Kershaw, Welch, Brown. |
