By Lance Jennings
VENTURA, CA – APRIL 20, 2011… The traditional 360 Sprint Cars of the Ventura Racing Association will headline an action packed card this Saturday, April 23rd. Also featured at Jim Naylor’s Ventura Raceway will be the VRA Midgets, IMCA Modifieds, Focus Midgets, Junior Focus Midgets, and Go Karts. The front gates will open at 3:00pm with racing at “The Best Little Dirt Track In America” to begin at 5:30pm.
To date, it has been a dream season for Ojai’s Troy Rutherford. Driving the #11 Trench Shoring / L&H Consulting machine, the defending champion and current point leader has won four races in five starts. Rutherford holds a 120 point advantage heading into Saturday’s action and has three heat race victories, one semi-main win, one hard charger award, and has led forty-eight main event laps in 2011. Troy will be one of the favorites on Saturday.
Ventura’s Greg Taylor is second in the point chase. Last Saturday night, the pilot of the #7 Taylor Trucking & Crane Service / Four Paws Pet Grooming entry scored an eighth place finish. To date, the former track champion has three heat race victories, four top-10 finishes, and has led forty-nine main event laps. Taylor will have his sights set on a Saturday night victory.
Steve Conrad of Quartz Hill is third in the championship points. Driving the #56 Roy Miller Freight Lines / SC Grafix entry, Conrad led the first twelve laps of the feature before settling into second. The March 12th feature winner has one heat race victory, one hard charger award, and four top-10 finishes on the season. The USAC TQ Midget graduate is close to scoring another Ventura win.
Camarillo’s Josh Ford sits fourth in the point standings. The pilot of the #73 King Racing Products / A&A Precision Machining car came home fifth last Saturday night and won his first heat race of the year. Last year’s All Coast 360 Challenge Champion has one hard charger award and four top-10 finishes in the 2011 campaign. This Saturday night, Ford will be looking to break through to victory circle.
Sitting fifth in the point chase is Rialto’s Don Gansen. Driving the #71K Sander Engineering / Lucas Oil machine, Gansen scored seventeenth in the 30-lap feature. The California Lightning Sprint graduate has one heat race victory and two top-10 finishes on the year. Gansen will be looking to rebound with a strong performance this Saturday night.
Among the other top contenders expected to be in action are Norwalk’s Brandon Thomson, Ventura’s Cory Kruseman, Derek Buckley of Ojai, Camarillo’s Brian and Brent Camarillo, Marcus Niemela of Santa Barbara, Justin Kierce of Reseda, Newbury Park’s Jimmy Crawford, and many more.
Ventura Raceway is located on the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 West Harbor Blvd. in Ventura, California. Adult tickets are $14, Senior, Military, and Student tickets (ID Required) are $11, while Children’s tickets (12 and under) are FREE. For more event information, please visit www.venturaraceway.com or call (805) 985-5433.
To catch all of the action of the VRA Sprint Car Series and Ventura Raceway, Mike Truex’s Loudpedal Productions has DVD videos available for purchase. For more information, call (805) 407-7229 or visit www.loudpedalvideo.com. In addition, Ventura Raceway offers a live feed of every event at www.venturaraceway.com/live.html. The live feed is scheduled to begin at 5:00pm PST.
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VRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Troy Rutherford 1135; 2. Greg Taylor 1015; 3. Steve Conrad 960; 4. Josh Ford 895; 5. Don Gansen 825; 6. Brent Camarillo 765; -. Brandon Thomson 765; 8. Cory Kruseman 725; 9. Derek Buckley 705; 10. Brian Camarillo 660; 11. Marcus Niemela 610; 12. Justin Kierce 605; 13. Dakota Kershaw 585; 14. Kyle Smith 545; 15. John Nock 485; 16. Clark Templeman III 480; 17. Guy Woodward 470; 18. Jimmy Crawford 460; 19. Johnathon Henry 445; 20. Tom Hendricks 415.
NEXT VRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
April 23rd- Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California