Ventura, CA -November 10, 2001--Having earlier won
his heat race, Greg Taylor raced to a $1,000 win in the 30 lap VRA
unwinged 360 sprint car feature Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. His
sixth win of the 2001 season climbed him into second in track points
with just one race remaining on the 2001 schedule. Josh Ford continued
his string of strong recent efforts with a $750 second ahead of John
Wright, who won $500. The Senior Sprint Cars ran their final 2001
event and New Zealand transplant Greg Keegan from Clovis collected his
second straight $300 win. He finished top five in all five of his
Ventura visits and ended up 12th in the final points despite his
limited starts. Brian King ran second and fourth ranked Ron Bach was
third in the finale. Harvey Jones won the street stock feature from
the pole for his first $100 win as fellow front row starter Erick
Karlsen ran second. Craig Germanetti was fourth and will carry a 75
point lead over Bradley Prows into the Nov 17th as he seeks a third
straight track title. Rookie Rick Rodarte picked off his third $100
win in the season finale for the VRA Modifieds. He ended up second in
points as George Krieder IV closed his championship season with a
second place run. Krieder ended up 180 points ahead of Rodarte, who
was the second winningest driver in the class behind Marty Desbrow's 6
wins. The night's racing was completed just minutes before heavy rains
hit the coastal facility.
Nearly 40 cars were on hand in the VRA unwinged sprint cars. Taylor
won the first heat ahead of Kenny Brown. Mike Knopf won heat 2 with
rookie Steve Chuhaloff second. Clark Templeman III took heat 3 with
Wright second ahead of usual SCRA racer Troy Cline. Ford won the
fourth heat with track champion Gary Howard second ahead of last
week's feature winner Jimmy Crawford. The top four finishers in each
heat advanced to the 30 lap A Main. They were joined by two transfers
each from a pair of B Mains. Chris Wakim beat Rob Kershaw and Dwayne
Marcum in the first B Main. Third ranked Richard McCormick won the
second B Main ahead of rookie Gene Godepski as the two USAC
quarter-midget graduates dueled. Mike Davis was third ahead of Dallen
McKenney. McKenney drives the Keegan car in the regular unwinged
action when Keegan makes the tow to Ventura. Taylor raced to a win in
the 30 lap A Main ahead of Ford, Wright, Tony Dighera, Chris Wakim,
Crawford, Steve Conrad and Luis Espinoza. Howard was last in the 20
car rundown. Taylor's win combined with McCormick's 13th left Taylor
just five points ahead of McCormick. Crawford is 4th in points, 245
behind Taylor and Wakim is 720 points back of Taylor in fifth.
The Senior Sprints had 20 cars racing this week. Eddie Wirth joined
the action with a win in the first heat ahead of Bob Moody. Keegan won
heat 2 with Mike Cook second. Jack Erickson won the third heat with
Ron Butler second. Keegan, King and Bach were trailed in the feature
rundown by John Richards, Tim Moon, Rick Lewis, Sam Vail, Butler and
track champion Jim Porter. Porter finished 1235 points ahead of Moody.
Dale Harwood was third in points, 225 behind Moody and just 85 ahead
of Bach. Dayle Henry was 11th in the finale and ran fifth in points.
The street stocks had 11 cars racing and heat wins went to Tom
Stephens and Jones. Front row starters Jones and Karlsen were 1-2 in
the feature race with Prows third ahead of Germanetti, Steve Bulpitt,
John Hard, Frank Woodward and Joe Porche. Raap was last in the 11 car
rundown and fell 90 points back of point leader Germanetti. With a 9
car turnout, the VRA modifieds ran a single heat race with Desbrow
winning that event over Rodarte, Marty McLaughlin and David Lidren.
Street stock graduate Rodarte posted his third feature win ahead of
Krieder, McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Daniel Shrubb, Ray Martinez and
Desbrow. Henderson finished third in points ahead of McLaughlin and
rookie Mark Gallimore, who was last in the finale.
Summary
VRA Modified Heat 1-Marty Desbrow, Rick Rodarte, Marty McLaughlin,
David Lidren, Mark Gallimore. Main-Rodarte, George Krieder IV,
McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Daniel Shrubb, Ray Martinez, Desbrow,
Lidren, Gallimore.
Street Stock Heat 1-Tom Stephens, Craig Germanetti, Erick Karlsen,
Bradley Prows, Stephen Suchowirsky. Heat 2-Harvey Jones, Greg Raap,
John Hard, Steve Bulpitt, Joe Porche. Main-Jones, Karlsen, Prows,
Germanetti, Bulpitt, Hard, Frank Woodward, Porche, Suchowirsky,
Stephens, Raap.
Senior Sprint Heat 1-Eddie Wirth, Bob Moody, Brian King, Dale
Harwood, Oren Prosser Sr. Heat 2-Greg Keegan, Mike Cook, Ron Bach,
John Woodward, Sam Vail. Heat 3-Jack Erickson, Ron Butler, Dayle
Henry, Jim Porter, Richard Terry. Main-Keegan, King, Bach, John
Richards, Tim Moon, Rick Lewis, Vail, Butler, Porter, John Yount,
Henry, Moody, Harwood, Wirth, Erickson, Cook, Prosser, Curtis
Richards, Terry, Woodward.
Unwinged 360 Sprint Car Heat 1-Greg Taylor, Kenny Brown, Luis
Espinoza, Bill Welch, Rob Kershaw. Heat 2-Mike Knopf, Steve Chuhaloff,
Steven Conrad, Tony Dighera, Gene Godepski. Heat 3-Clark Templeman
III, John Wright, Troy Cline, Ronnie Case, Chris Tramel. Heat 4-Josh
Ford, Gary Howard, Jimmy Crawford, Russell DeBlauw, Richard McCormick.
1st B Main-Chris Wakim, Kershaw, Dwayne Marcum, Tramel, Sean Buckley,
Oren Prosser Jr, Trevor Brilman, A J Reyer. 2nd B Main-McCormick,
Godepski, Mike Davis, Dallen McKenney, Jason Yount, Kevin Briggs, Jeff
Wilson, Ron Wade, David Sinsley, John Geyer. A Main-Taylor, Ford,
Wright, Dighera, Wakim, Crawford, Conrad, Espinoza, DeBlauw, Kershaw,
Godepski, Cline, McCormick, Welch, Chuhaloff, Case, Knopf, Templeman,
Brown, Howard.
|