Ventura, CA -September 8, 2001--The Ventura Raceway
schedule has seen their featured VRA unwinged 360 sprint cars race
just a couple times in the last six weeks, but Chris Wakim has scored
both of those $1,000 wins. The latest came Saturday night as he
defeated point runnerup Richard McCormick and point leader Gary Howard
in the 30 lapper. McCormick won $750 and Howard $500 with Howard
hanging onto a 2000 point lead. Wakim's success has climbed him into
fifth in points. The Senior division of the unwinged 360 sprints saw
point leader Jim Porter winning for the 3rd time in the 8 races. That
stretched his point advantage to 900 points over Bob Moody, who ran
7th this week. Greg Raap's last place run in the 20 lap street stock
feature really tightened the point race as Paul Moore won for the
third time in 2001. Bradley Prows ran second and moved back into the
point lead with a 5 point advantage over Raap, 30 point lead over two
time defending champion Craig Germanetti and a 70 point lead over
Wayne Heurung. George Kreider IV's second win of the season in the VRA
Modifieds increased his point lead to 200 points over Joe Henderson,
who was 11th this week.
The VRA sprint cars had another large 29 car turnout. The top four
finishers advance from each of the four heat races. Usual SCRA racer
Cory Kruseman joined the action and won heat 1 over Wakim and Josh
Ford. McCormick won heat 2 over Tony Dighera and Bill Welch. Greg
Taylor beat Jimmy Crawford and Jeff Heaton in heat 3. Point leader
Howard won the fourth heat over John Wright and Luis Espinoza. The
final four spots come from the B Main where Mark Weitzman won over
Kenny Brown, Brett Butler and Casey Shuman. The top five in track
points finished in the top five spots in the 30 lap A Main with Wakim
winning his second straight ahead of McCormick, Howard, Taylor and
Crawford. McCormick is second in points, 2000 behind Howard and 995
ahead of Crawford, who holds just a five point advantage on Taylor.
Rounding out the top ten finishers were Espinoza, Rob Kershaw, Russell
DeBlauw, Kruseman and Welch.
Porter enjoyed a clean sweep in the Senior Sprint Car action as he
won his heat race and the feature. Late Model legend Oren Prosser Sr
enjoyed his best night of the season with a third in his heat behind
division aces Porter and Moody. Prosser Sr then raced to a sixth in
the 15 car feature. The division had 18 entrants and Preiss Movius won
heat 2 over Sparky Edmonston and dwarf car ace Ron Bach. Brian King
won the third heat over Jim Blenkarn and Mike Cook. Bach ran a strong
second behind Porter in the feature race with King third over
Edmonston, Dayle Henry, Prosser Sr, Moody and Dale Harwood. Harwood is
third in points, 325 behind Moody and 290 ahead of Henry. Blenkarn,
John Jewett and John Richards were all feature scratches.
The street stock class had 15 entries and Erick Karlsen won heat 1
over Tracey Pallais and Paul Moore. Double division racer Chris Tramel
won heat 2 over John Hard and Ernie Malone. Moore won the feature race
ahead of Prows, Stephen Suchowirsky, Germanetti, Heurung, Malone,
Frank Woodward and Rick Johnston. Raap's 15th place finish cost him
the point lead. The 12 VRA Modifieds were divided into a pair of heat
races with Henderson winning the first over Daniel Shrubb and Marty
McLaughlin. Tramel added a heat win in this class over Rick Rodarte
and point leader Krieder. Kreider was chased to his feature win by
rookie Mark Gallimore, McLaughlin, Tramel, David Lidren, Rodarte and
Shrubb. Henderson ran 11th and is just 15 points ahead of street stock
graduate Rodarte in their duel for second in points.
Summary
VRA Modified Heat 1-Joe Henderson, Daniel Shrubb, Marty McLaughlin,
David Lidren, Mike Schwellinger. Heat 2-Chris Tramel, Rick Rodarte,
George Kreider IV, Mark Gallimore, Garret Pegler. Main-Kreider,
Gallimore, McLaughlin, Tramel, Lidren, Rodarte, Shrubb, Shane
Rungaitis, Ray Martinez, Pegler, Henderson, Schwellinger.
Street Stock Heat 1-Erick Karlsen, Tracey Pallais, Paul Moore, Greg
Raap, Criag Germanetti. Heat 2-Chris Tramel, John Hard, Ernie Malone,
Wayne Heurung, Bradley Prows. Main-Moore, Prows, Stephen Suchowirsky,
Germanetti, Heurung, Malone, Frank Woodward, Rick Johnston, Pallais,
Tramel, Brenton Spies, Karlsen, Brcue Blackman Jr, Hard, Raap.
Senior Sprint Car Heat 1-Jim Porter, Bob Moody, Oren Prosser Sr,
Dale Harwood, Dayle Henry. Heat 2-Preiss Movius, Sparky Edmonston, Ron
Bach, Ron Butler, Tim Moon. Heat 3-Brian King, Jim Blenkarn, Mike
Cook, John Jewett, Sam Vail. Main-Porter, Bach, King, Edmonston,
Henry, Prosser, Moody, Harwood, Butler, Cook, Vail, Moon, Movius, Art
Justus, Jack Erickson.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Heat 1-Cory Kruseman, Chris Wakim, Josh Ford,
Russell DeBlauw, Mark Weitzman. Heat 2-Richard McCormick, Tony Dighera,
Bill Welch, Gene Godepski, Kenny Brown. Heat 3-Greg Taylor, Jimmy
Crawford, Jeff Heaton, Rob Kershaw, Steve Chuhaloff. Heat 4-Gary
Howard, John Wright, Luis Espinoza, Sean Buckley, Brett Butler. B
Main-Weitzman, Brown, Butler, Casey Shuman, Chuhaloff, Mark Himichson,
Larry Lloyd, John Knudsen, Oren Prosser Jr, Jim Gresham. A Main-Wakim,
McCormick, Howard, Taylor, Crawford, Espinoza, Kershaw, DeBlauw,
Kruseman, Welch, Heaton, Butler, Godepski, Wright, Brown, Dighera,
Buckley, Weitzman, Shuman, Ford.
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