|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| GREG TAYLOR WINS FIRST IN
THREE MONTHS by Gary Jacob |
|
|
|
Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars, VRA Modifieds, Street Stocks and Pony Stocks |
|
Ventura, CA -October 27, 2001--Taking the lead from
talented rookie Josh Ford on a lap 14 restart, Greg Taylor raced to
his fifth 30 lap VRA unwinged 360 sprint car 30 lap feature win of the
2001 season Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. It was his first win in
three months and left him just 580 points back of Richard McCormick in
their duel for second in track points. Point leader Gary Howard will
have to wait one more week to wrap up the season title as he flipped
in his heat race and failed to make the 30 lap feature. It marked the
first time that Howard has failed to qualify for the A Main since his
USAC midget days in 1997. Taylor's win paid $1,000 and Ford continued
his strong recent runs with a $750 second ahead of Chris Wakim, who
pocketed $500. Part time racer Marty Desbrow made it six wins in 2001
in the VRA Modifieds as he beat second ranked Rick Rodarte and Mark
Gallimore to the checkered flag. Both Rodarte and Gallimore are
rookies in this class. Rookie Steve Bulpitt won his second 20 lap
street stock feature and stands sixth in points. Bradley Prows kept
his track title hopes alive by placing second ahead of point leader
Craig Germanetti. Germanetti ended the night with a 30 point lead over
Greg Raap, who finished 8th. The pony stock 20 lapper was decided in
the post race tech area when both winner Mike Frazier and runnerup
Darren Gunnell were disqualified. This gave the win to Tom Fish. He is
17th in points and this was his first win. Chris Tramel ran second and
Jody Davis used his 3rd place run to pass the absent Bryan Rungaitis
and take over the track point lead.
The unwinged 360 sprint cars had a huge 35 car turnout and they were divided into the normal four qualifying heats with only the top four finishers in each heat advancing into the 30 lap A Main. The feature finish of Taylor, Ford and Wakim was previewed in the first heat as the three drivers finished in that order. McCormick won heat 2 ahead of John Wright and Jimmy Crawford. Steven Conrad won the third heat over Jessie Denome and Ronnie Case. Howard flipped in the third heat race. Rookie Gene Godepski, a graduate of the USAC TQ Midgets, won the fourth heat over Rob Kershaw and dwarf car racer Ron Bach. With the big turnout, the track elected to run two smaller B Mains each tranferring two cars rather than fill the track with 19 cars in one big race. Clark Templeman III won the first B Main over Mike Knopf as senior sprint car ace Jim Porter ran third. Mark Weitzman won the second B Main over Kenny Brown and Russell DeBlauw. Howard took the lead from Ford on a lap 14 restart and won the 30 lap A Main with Ford second ahead of Wakim, Conrad, McCormick, Wright, Luis Espinoza and Ronnnie Case. The race was slowed by two red flags. Bill Welch flipped for the first and Templeman, Brown, Weitzman and Godepski crashed for a second. Howard still holds a huge 2385 point lead over McCormick with three point races remaining and just 1050 points available each night. Taylor ranks third over Jimmy Crawford, Wakim and Wright. Even with just a 9 car turnout, the VRA Modifieds were divided into a two heat format. Desbrow won the first heat over third ranked Joe Henderson. Rodarte won heat 2 over Marty McLaughlin. Desbrow won the 20 lap feature over Rodarte, Gallimore, McLaughlin and point leader George Kreider IV. Kreider's point lead is 195 over Rodarte and Henderson is another 110 points back. McLaughlin ranks fourth. The street stocks have been told that the track is considering dropping the division in 2002. They had 14 cars in action this night. Harvey Jones won the first heat over Stephen Suchowirsky and Paul Moore. Raap took heat 2 with Tracey Pallais second over Prows. Bulpitt fell into the 20 lap feature win when pacesetters Raap and Moore tangled late in the race. Prows finished second over Germanetti and John Hard. Tom Stephens raced for the first time in 2001 and ran ffith with Moore 7th ahead of Raap. Germanetti holds a 30 point lead over Raap and is just 80 ahead of Prows. Moore is fourth in points. The pony stocks had 28 cars in action. Heat winners were Scott Bulpitt, Jeff Graham, Steve Klingberg and Bruce Blackman Jr. Usual IMCA Modified racer Kathy Pierson ended up with the B Main win over Adam McPhail and Jon Everhart. With the disqualifications of apparent winner Frazier and runnerup Gunnell, Fish ended up with the 20 lap win over Tramel, new point leader Davis, Tom Burroughs, Klingberg, Bulpitt and Julie Masters. Davis holds a 135 point margin over the absent Rungaitis with two point races left. T Burroughs is 225 points behind the point leader. Summary Pony Stock Heat 1-Scott Bulpitt, Joel Chavez, Julie Masters, Travor Rauch, Brian Burroughs. Heat 2-Jeff Graham, Tom Fish, Jack Fullerton, Dave Revard, Kathy Pierson. Heat 3-Steve Klingberg, Tom Burroughs, Andy Frank, Cliff Ashlock, Tim Frazier. Heat 4-Bruce Blackman Jr, Chris Tramel, Jody Davis, Bobby Arenz, Eric Chambers. B Main-Pierson, Adam McPhail, Jon Everhart, Phillip Stevenson, Arenz, Jeff Long, T Frazier, Chambers, Aaron Main, B Burroughs. A Main-Fish, Tramel, Davis, T Burroughs, Klingberg, Bulpitt, Masters, Blackman Jr, Chavez, Pierson, Frank, Rauch, Fullerton, McPhail, Revard, Graham, Ashlock, Everhart. Street Stock Heat 1-Harvey Jones, Stephen Suchowirsky, Paul Moore, Rick Johnston, Craig Germanetti. Heat 2-Greg Raap, Tracey Pallais, Bradley Prows, Mark Heurung, Steve Bulpitt. Main-Bulpitt, Prows, Germanetti, John Hard, Tom Stephens, Jones, Moore, Raap, Suchowirsky, Heurung, Erick Karlsen, Johnston, Pallais, Frank Woodward. VRA Modified Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Joe Henderson, George Kreider IV, Mike Schwellinger. Heat 2-Rick Rodarte, Marty McLaughlin, David Lidren, Ray Martinez. Main-Desbrow, Rodarte, Mark Gallimore, McLaughlin, Kreider, Lidren, Schwellinger, Martinez, Henderson. Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Greg Taylor, Josh Ford, Chris Wakim, Luis Espinoza, Mike Knopf. Heat 2-Richard McCormick, John Wright, Jimmy Crawford, Jeff Heaton, Mark Weitzman. Heat 3-Steven Conrad, Jessie Denome, Ronnie Case, Bill Welch, Jim Porter. Heat 4-Gene Godepski, Rob Kershaw, Ron Bach, Oren Prosser Jr, Larry Lloyd. 1st B Main-Clark Templeman III, Knopf, Porter, Richard Terry, Trevor Brilman, John Woodward, Scott Tener, Ryan Devitt, Tony Dighera, Gary Howard. 2nd B Main-Weitzman, Kenny Brown, Russell DeBlauw, Lloyd, Steve Chuhaloff, Jason Yount, Errol Sack, Shawn Kautz, Brett Butler. A Main-Taylor, Ford, Wakim, Conrad, McCormick, Wright, Espinoza, Case, Knopf, Bach, Kershaw, Denome, Brown, Heaton, Crawford, Weitzman, Prosser, Godepski, Welch. |
