|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| DEFENDING CHAMPION HOWARD
POSTS FIRST 2001 WIN by Gary Jacob |
|
|
|
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, Street Stocks and Pony Stocks |
|
Ventura, CA -March 31, 2001--Leading all 30 laps from
his front row starting spot, defending track champion Gary Howard
posted his first win of the 2001 season in the VRA unwinged 360 sprint
cars Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Howard collected $1,000 for
the win and opening night winner Greg Taylor was a $750 second. Jimmy
Crawford won $500 for third and Clark Templeman III made his season
debut with a solid 4th place run. The track debuted a new Senior
Sprint Car class for drivers 45 years old and older and Bob Moody was
the first feature winner ahead of John Jewett and legendary late model
racer Oren Prosser Sr. Jim Porter dominated this race, but crashed on
a late race restart. Just a week after he crashed with Wayne Heurung
while they battled for the lead, Paul Moore took the lead on lap 14
when Heurung brushed the fence and won the 20 lap street stock main
event with Heurung second ahead of opening night winner Greg Raap.
Even with some of the regular unwinged 360 sprint car racers moving over into the senior class for the night, the turnout was still 28 cars. Heat winners were Taylor, Ronnie Case, Rob Kershaw and Steven Conrad with the top four finishers in each heat advancing into the 30 lap A Main. They are joined by the top four finishers in the B Main and last week's feature winner Richard McCormick raced to victory in the B over Luis Espinoza, Jeff Wilson and Mike Davis. This week's inversion came up an 8 and that put Howard outside front row. He dominated the race, but there was a fierce second place duel between sixth starter Taylor and Chris Wakim. Wakim was climbing forward in the field when he made contact with another car on a yellow flag, stalled and had to be restarted in the rear. Howard won ahead of Taylor, Crawford, Templeman, Conrad and McCormick, who came from 17th starting to protect his point lead. Crawford started 9th, Templeman 13th and Conrad 7th. McCormick's point lead is just 35 points over Tony Dighera, who finished 7th ahead of Wakim and Espinoza. Conrad is third in points, but Taylor, Crawford and winner Howard all closed on him this weekend. The 14 Senior Sprints were split into a pair of heat races with dwarf car veteran Ron Bach winning the first over Dale Harwood. Porter beat Mike Cook in the second heat and was dominating the main event when he failed to come up to speed on a late race restart and crashed. Moody missed the heat action and came from the rear to win the feature over Jewett and Prosser Sr. Ron Butler was fourth ahead of Sam Vale and John Richards. Richards is a 69 year old rookie. The street stocks drew a 21 car field and raced in three heat races. Moore won the first heat over Bradley Prows. Will Smith beat Tracey Pallais in heat 2 and defending track champion Craig Germanetti won heat 3 over Steven Suchowirsky. Moore gained the lead in the 20 lap feature when Heurung clipped the wall while leading on lap 14. Heurung ran second and Raap protected his early point lead with a third ahead of Prows, Michael Lee, Suchowirsky, Steve Bulpitt and Germanetti. Raap's point lead is 45 over Bulpitt with Moore just five more points back. Suchowirsky is just five behind Moore. The field included Santa Maria Speedway late model racer Doug Thornton, but he struggled with a last place heat finish and 19th in the main event. Summary Street Stock Heat 1-Paul Moore, Bradley Prows, Steve Bulpitt, Ernie Malone, Greg Raap. Heat 2-Will Smith, Tracey Pallais, Michael Lee, Erick Karlsen, John Hard. Heat 3-Craig Germanetti, Stephen Suchowirsky, Wayne Heurung, Joe Porche, Dennis Boyle. Main-Moore, Heurung, Raap, Prows, Lee, Suchowirsky, Bulpitt, Germanetti, Richard Johnston, Pallais, Boyle, Malone, Harvey Jones, Smith, Karlsen, Hard, Porche, John Romero, Doug Thornton, Frank Woodward. Senior Sprint Heat 1-Ron Bach, Dale Harwood, Sparky Edmonston, Sam Vale, John Jewett. Heat 2-Jim Porter, Mike Cook, Oren Prosser Sr, Dayle Henry, Preiss Movius. Main-Bob Moody, Jewett, Prosser, Ron Butler, Vale, John Richards, Porter, Henry, Cook, Edmonston, Harwood, Bach, Jack Erickson. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Greg Taylor, Jim Thomson, Jimmy Crawford, John Wright, Luis Espinoza. Heat 2-Ronnie Case, Gary Howard, Chris Wakim, Clark Templeman III, Kenny Brown. Heat 3-Rob Kershaw, Tony Dighera, Bill Welch, Gene Godepski, Jeff Heaton. Heat 4-Steve Conrad, Jim Gresham, Russell DeBlauw, Jessie Denome, Errol Sack. B Main-Richard McCormick, Espinoza, Wilson, Davis, Sack, Brown, Oren Prosser Jr, Josh Ford, Sean Buckley, John Woodward. A Main-Howard, Taylor, Crawford, Templeman, Conrad, McCormick, Dighera, Wakim, Espinoza, Kershaw, Wright, Welch, Denome, Davis, Godepski, DeBlauw, Gresham, Case, Wilson, Thomson. |
