by Cliff Morgan
Troy Rutherford took another step forward in his battle to claim his first VRA 360 Sprint Car Championship Saturday night September 18, making a powerful statement by winning from the front row in a green-white-checker 30 lap main event. Rutherford led all 30 laps and dominated the field of 20 top VRA drivers to take his fifth win of the season and increase his point lead to 490 points over Greg Taylor who finished second Saturday night. Brian Camarillo and Josh Ford ran very strong races as well to finish third and fourth. Fifth place went to Brandon Thomson. Last week’s winner Don Gansen had a difficult night finishing last in his heat. He had to come back by winning the semi main event just to make the main. He ran a good race in the feature to finish 11th from his 17th place starting spot. Also transferring from the semi main to the main were Kyle Smith, Marcus Niemela and Bruce Douglass. There were 27 Sprints signed into the pits Saturday night. Four heat races were run. The LRB Manufacturing Heat Race Number One went to Brian Camarillo. The Steve Watt Enterprises Heat Race Number Two went to Troy Rutherford. The Kaeding Performance Heat Race Number Three went to Brandon Thomson and the final Fast Undercar Heat Race number Four went to Greg Taylor. Taylor was driving the number 31v car usually driven by Victor Davis due to damage his usual number 7 rides suffered in the race on September 11. With four races left in the VRA 360 Sprint car season, Troy Rutherford is in a strong position to claim the championship. There are a total of 260 points available each night so his 490 point lead over Greg Taylor puts him in good position if he can continue to have top ten finishes for the rest of the season. In 18 races held so far he has scored 17 top tens and 16 top fives.
IMCA Modified finished their 2010 season at Ventura Raceway with a field of 17 cars signed into the pits. The 20 lap feature saw Jay Bowman jump out front from his pole position starting position and lead the first 13 laps. On lap 14 2010 Ventura County Fair IMCA winner Danny Lauer took the lead and went on to win his fifth win of the season. Lauer was followed across the line by Austin Rodarte, who clinched the 2010 Ventura Raceway IMCA Championship, Aaron Rodarte, Jay Bowman and Brad Prows. Rodarte’s Championship goes with the one he took in 2009 to make him a two time Ventura IMCA Champion. Brother Aaron finished second in the point race followed by Brad Prows, Rob Green and Jack Parker. Heat race wins on Saturday night went to Bowman and Ryan Lauer.
VRA Pro Dwarf Cars were racing Saturday night as well. Two heat races were run with wins going to Angel Figueroa and Curt Cook. The man event started with 12 cars taking the green flag. Due to many incidents in the first few laps, the field was down to six cars by lap 6. The race was then shortened to 12 laps and the win went to Kevin Alverson followed by curt Cook, point leader Angel Figueroa, Thomas Velasquez and Michael Lewis.
Trevor Fitzgibbon once again took the win in the VRA Sport Compact Class. He took his 9th win in the eleven races held so far in 2010. He holds a 355-point lead over second place point contender Cody Greiman who had engine troubles in two different cars Saturday. The 20 lap win by Fitzgibbon came as he passed early race leader Brent Underwood on lap three and led the rest of the way. Underwood finished second followed by Michaela Stanton, Brad Long and Cody Greiman. Two heat races were run with the wins going to Long and Fitzgibbon.
Our final group racing Saturday night was our VRA Go Karts. There were three heat races run with wins going to Jeff DelGuadio, George Ito and Austin DeBlauw. There was one semi main that went to Ken Ito. The 20 lap feature was a fast and furious one with the win going to Troy Rutherford, who led all 20 laps, followed by David Pankratz, George Ito, Josh Ford and Kyle Park. Rutherford’s win in the Karts made hid a double winner for the night with his win in Sprints as well. After 10 races in the series Robert DelGuadio holds a 55 point lead over David Pankratz and a 95 point lead over Kyle Park.
This coming Saturday night Ventura Raceway will host the USAC/CRA 410 Sprint Car Series. This racing series returns after a year’s absence bringing the cars and stars that race At Perris Auto Speedway and across California. Also that night the 19th Annual WAGSDASH will be competed. The final group racing that night will be our own VRA Senior Sprints. Be sure to make plane to be there to witness this wild and wooly event.