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| POINT LEADER HOWARD WINS
SIXTH IN VENTURA by Gary Jacob |
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Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pony Stocks |
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Ventura, CA -July 7, 2001--VRA Unwinged 360 sprint
car point leader Gary Howard enjoyed another big night at Ventura
Raceway Saturday night as he won his heat and then captured the 30 lap
main event from third starting. His sixth win of the 2001 season paid
$1,000 and built his point lead to 1550 points with only 1050 points
available each night. Richard McCormick finished a $750 second and
moved into second in points. Tony Dighera continued his strong recent
efforts with a $500 third. Having started his season late, Scott Olsen
was making just his third appearance of the 2001 season, but he won
the 20 lap IMCA Modified main event from his outside front row start
for a $300 victory. Donald Houghton ran second over John Aitken with
first time Arizona visitor Mark Sember coming from 12th starting to
finish fourth. Greg Raap used his second win in the 20 lap street
stock main event to close within 60 points of point leader Bradley
Prows, who finished 3rd. Craig Germanetti was second. Shane Rungaitis
has built a huge point lead in the pony stock class as he won the main
event Saturday night and continues to avoid the disqualification route
that is hitting many including three on this night.
There were 32 sprint cars on hand this week and they were divided into four heat races. Jim Gresham won the first heat over Casey Shuman, second year racer Russell DeBlauw won heat 2 over Jimmy Crawford, Clark Templeman III beat McCormick in heat 3 and Howard won heat 4 over John Wright. Starting the night second in points, Greg Taylor drew the pole for his heat race only to miss the race when his car refused to fire. That forced him to tag the B Main where he ran second behind Jim Thomson to transfer into the 30 lap A Main. In the B Main, Taylor started 14th while Thomson lined up outside row 1. Howard and Templeman touched early in the 30 lapper and Templeman did a series of flips and rolls against the front stretch fence. He was unhurt. Brett Butler flipped several times on the back stretch on lap 23. The lead duel between Howard, McCormick, Dighera and Wright was outstanding with a wild scramble over the closing laps for the top 3 slots. Howard won over McCormick, Dighera, Wright, Crawford, Jeff Heaton, Shuman, Josh Ford and Bob Moody. Taylor lined up 18th in the 30 lapper and climbed to fourth when his right rear tire went flat. The red flag for the Butler flipped allowed Taylor to change the tire without losing his spot. Two laps later, Taylor hooked a rut in turn 2 and spun. Dighera came from 13th to finish third while McCormick had started outside front row. Wright started on the pole. McCormick ended the night 80 points ahead of Taylor in their battle for second in points. Crawford is fourth in points with Dighera now 5th. Besides being Howard's sixth win, it was also his 11th top five of the season. The 20 IMCA Modifieds were split into three heat races. Randy McGraw won the first heat over Sember, who came from last starting. Bill Hiney collected his first heat race win in heat 2 with Bill Waltman second. Houghton won heat 3 with Olsen second. Olsen collected his first feature win from an outside front row start. Houghton ran second ahead of John Aitken with Sember again putting on a passing show as he came from 12th to finish 4th. Ed Shelton was fifth ahead of McGraw, who cut Mike Furlong's point lead to just 2 points. Furlong was 14th in the main event. Bill Waltman ran 7th over William Kruft and Bill Saltzman. Aitken is now third in points, 21 out of the point lead and just one point ahead of Houghton. The 17 street stocks were split into a pair of heat races with Raap winning the first over John Romero and Ernie Malone. Germanetti won heat 2 with Wayne Heurung second over Will Smith. Raap then posted his second win of the 2001 season with Germanetti second ahead of point leader Prows, Smith, Heurung, Chris Tramel, Dennis Boyle and Malone. Prows point lead is 60 over Raap and Raap is another 60 ahead of Heurung. Germanetti is 4th, 160 points out of the point lead with 220 points available each night. The disqualifications of Bryan Weaver, Mike Frazier and Scott Bulpitt in the post race tech shuffled all the pony stock results around. Ending up with heat race wins were Jake Ford, Tom Fish, Andy Frank and Bryan Rungaitis. S Rungaitis ended up with a second in his heat and he won the main event over Andy Frank, Jack Fullerton, Jody Davis, Julie Masters, Jeff Graham, Jon Everhart and Steve Klingberg, who gained the B Main win. B Rungaitis holds a 255 point lead over Davis, who is 70 ahead of Graham. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Jake Ford, Jeff Graham, Jack Fullerton, Phillip Stevenson, Mike Logan. Heat 2-Tom Fish, Jody Davis, Jon Everhart, Steve Klingberg, Chris Tramel. Heat 3-Andy Frank, Julie Masters, John Dugue, Joel Chavez, Cliff Ashlock. Heat 4-Bryan Rungaitis, Shane Rungaitis, David Peterson, Adam McPhail, Dave Revard. B Main-Klingberg, Revard, Bruce Blackman Jr, Tramel, Chavez, Eric Chambers, Dugue, Laurie Richardson, Wade Zimmerman. A Main-S Rungaitis, Frank, Fullerton, Davis, Masters, Graham, Everhart, Klingberg, McPhail, Ford, B Rungaitis, Peterson, Revard, Blackman, Fish, Stevenson, Tramel. Street Stock Heat 1-Greg Raap, John Romero, Ernie Malone, Chris Tramel, Dennis Boyle. Heat 2-Craig Germanetti, Wayne Heurung, Will Smith, Tracey Pallais, Paul Moore. Main-Raap, Germanetti, Bradley Prows, Smith, Heurung, Tramel, Boyle, Malone, Pallais, Richard Johnston, Romero, John Hard, Joe Porche, Erick Karlsen, Stephen Suchowirsky, Moore, Steve Bulpitt. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Randy McGraw, Mark Sember, Ed Shelton, Chris Tonoli, Kathy Pierson. Heat 2-Bill Hiney, Bill Waltman, Daman Redman, Steve Greenland, Mike Furlong. Heat 3-Donald Houghton, Scott Olsen, John Aitken, William Kruft, Wes Richardson. Main-Olsen, Houghton, Aitken, Sember, Shelton, McGraw, Waltman, Kruft, Bill Saltzman, Pierson, Tonoli, Greenland, Hiney, Furlong, Mark Fullerton, Al Adam, Brett Lynsky, Steve Smith, Redman, Richardson. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Jim Gresham, Casey Shuman, Jimmy May, Luis Espinoza, Bill Welch. Heat 2-Russell DeBlauw, Jimmy Crawford, Chris Wakim, Tony Dighera, Jim Thomson. Heat 3-Clark Templeman III, Richard McCormick, Jeff Heaton, Bob Moody, John Knudsen. Heat 4-Gary Howard, John Wright, Brett Butler, Josh Ford, Steve Chuhaloff. B Main-Thomson, Greg Taylor, Welch, Mark Weitzman, Chuhaloff, Errol Sack, Oren Prosser Jr, John Geyer, Rob Hasty, Ryan Devitt. A Main-Howard, McCormick, Dighera, Wright, Crawford, Heaton, Shuman, Ford, Moody, Weitzman, Taylor, Thomson, May, Wakim, Gresham, Butler, Espinoza, Welch, DeBlauw, Templeman. |
