From Cliff Morgan
Ventura, CA — Don Gansen took advantage of a good front row starting spot to lead all 30 laps of the VRA Sprint Car race Saturday night May 7, and take his first main event win of 2011. Gansen drove a great race holding off pole sitter Brian Camarillo, third place finisher and current point leader Steve Conrad and a hard charging Greg Taylor who had to come from last place after an early race incident to finish fourth. Rounding out the top five finishers was Brent Camarillo who came from 9th to finish fifth. The fact that Gansen led from start to finish did not diminish the fact that the race saw some of he best competition all season. Throughout the field of cars racing was outstanding with drivers passing each other with great moves on every lap. There were 24 cars signed into the pits Saturday so three heats were run with wins going to Greg Taylor in heat one, John Nock in heat two and Josh Ford in heat three. the 12 lap semi main transferred eight cars to the feature with the win going to Clark Templeman III. Going into next weeks event, Steve Conrad holds a 10 point lead over Greg Taylor and a 155 point lead over Don Gansen in the season point race.
In VRA Senior Sprint Car action, point leader Rob Kershaw led a green white checkered race from start to finish. finishing second through fifth were Richard McCormick, Clif Warren, Ed Schwarz and Jesse Denome. The win keeps Kershaw 210 points ahead of nearest challenger Bruce Douglass in the point race after 5 races. Two heat races were run with wins going to Ed Schwarz in heat one and Rob Kershaw in heat two.
Aaron Rodarte took the win and the season point lead in winning the 20 lap IMCA Modified main event over a field of ten cars. He passed race leader Dennis Eckert on lap 18 and went on to score the win over Eckert, John Romero, Jack Parker and Dave Phipps. Brad Prows who entered the night’s event on top of the point race fell out early with mechanical problems and falls to a 2 point deficit in the season point race to Rodarte. Heat race wins, Saturday night went to Rob Green and Austin Rodarte.
VRA Dwarf Cars races in two divisions Saturday night. In Senior action, the main event win went to Rick Lapka over point leader George Calvo, Mike Neal, Keith Vondersaar and Keith Koslov. Their heat race was won by Vondersaar. In Pro action Eric Alton took the 20 lap win with point leader Ray Estrada, Tom Stephens, Chuck Lippert and Lars Wolfe following in second through fifth. They ran two heat races with wins going to Curt Cook an Alton.
Arizona visiting driver Bryan Miller took the win in our newest class, VRA Mod Lites. This new division saw six cars take the green flag in their 20 lap main event. Following Miller across the line were Andy Eatwell, Chris Olson, series point leader Jim Chapp, Dallas Caldwell and Michael Sweeney Jr. Their heat race went to Andy Eatwell.
In our VRA Kids Classes, wins went to Nick Velasquez, followed by Destyn Garcia and Ryan Butcher in Mini Dwarf Car Superchargers, Jake Aguilar followed by J D Brown, Dylan Garcia, ,in Mini Dwarf Pistons and 2010 series champ Brennan Rogers in Junior Midgets. following Rogers across the line were Devin McCree, Riley Helland, Tommy Velasquez and Miles Hedrick. In Junior Midget heat race action, wins went to Velasquez and McCree.
Racing returns to Ventura Raceway next weekend May 14, with a full program of exciting racing action featuring VRA Sprint Cars, VRA Midgets, Ford Focus Midgets, Junior Focus Midgets, VRA sport Compacts and Go Karts. Again that night, all fans 18 and under will be admitted free with proper id.
VRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS:
Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California
May 7, 2011
ENTRIES: ( Car / Driver Name / Points)
3M Jake McVey 5; 7 Greg Taylor 215; 14K Jake Swanson 20; 16 Tom Harper 150; 17 Jimmy Crawford 180; 18T Clark Templeman III 135; 22 Brian Camarillo 235; 24 Guy Woodward 115; 43B Mike Broome 10; 51 Brent Camarillo 195; 55s Kyle Smith 100; 56 Steve Conrad 210; 57 Steve Hix 95; 62 Adam Frith-Smith 95; 65 Austin DeBlauw 115; 67K Taylor Price 5; 69 Marcus Niemela 165; 71K Don Gansen 255; 72 Ronnie Gardner 155;
73 Josh Ford 185; 76 Derek Buckley 125; 83 John Nock 180; 91R Brody Roa 160; 98 Jeremy Ellertson 110.
HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps)
1. Greg Taylor, 2. Marcus Niemela, 3. Ronnie Gardner, 4. Steve Conrad, 5. Clark Templeman III, 6. Kyle Smith, 7. Austin DeBlauw, 8. Taylor Price.
HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps)
1. John Nock, 2. Don Gansen, 3. Tom Harper, 4. Jimmy Crawford, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Derek Buckley, 7. Mike Broome, 8. Adam Frith-Smith.
HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps)
1. Josh Ford, 2. Brian Camarillo, 3. Brent Camarillo, 4. Brody Roa, 5. Guy Woodward, 6. Steve Hix, 7. Jeremy Ellertson, 8. Jake McVey.
SEMI-MAIN: (12 laps)
1. Clark Templeman III, 2. Guy Woodward, 3. Derek Buckley, 4. Adam Frith-Smith, 5. Kyle Smith, 6. Steve Hix, 7. Austin Deblauw, 8. Jeremy Ellertson, 9. Jake Swanson, 10. Mike Broome, 11. Taylor Price, 12. Jake McVey.
FEATURE: (30 laps – With Starting Positions)
1. Don Gansen (2nd), 2. Brian Camarillo (1st), 3. Steve Conrad (10th), 4. Greg Taylor (5th), 5. Brent Camarillo (9th), 6. Jimmy Crawford (11th), 7. Josh Ford (4th), 8. John Nock (6th), 9. Brody Roa (12th), 10. Marcus Niemela (3rd), 11. Ronnie Gardner (8th), 12. Tom Harper (7th), 13. Clark Templeman III (13th), 14. Derek Buckley (15th), 15. Austin DeBlauw (19th), 16. Jeremy Ellertson (20th), 17. Guy Woodward (14th), 18. Adam Frith-Smith (16th), 19. Kyle Smith (17th), 20. Steve Hix (18th).
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Don Gansen.
HARD CHARGER: Steve Conrad (10th to 3rd)
VRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Steve Conrad 1435; 2. Greg Taylor 1425; 3. Don Gansen 1280; 4. Josh Ford 1255; 5. Brent Camarillo 1105; 6. Derek Buckley 1100; 7. Brian Camarillo 1060; 8. Brandon Thomson 995; 9. Cory Kruseman 910; 10. John Nock 835; 11. Kyle Smith 805; –. Marcus Niemela 805; 13. Clark Templeman III 800; 14. Brody Roa 795; 15. Dakota Kershaw 730; 16. Austin DeBlauw 680; 17. Jimmy Crawford 660; 18. Justin Kierce 635; 19. Guy Woodward 615; 20. Tom Harper 540.
NEXT VRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
May 14th – Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California