by Cliff Morgan
Greg Taylor made it two in a row Saturday night in a shootout with Brent Camarillo in the 30 lap VRA Sprint Car main event. Taylor and Camarillo battled lap after lap with Camarillo nipping at the tail tank of Taylor after Taylor got by him on lap10. Taylor’s win keeps him 205 points ahead of an absent Josh ford and 220 points ahead of Steve Conrad after 17 races in the 2011 season. Following Taylor and Camarillo across the line were Dakota Kershaw, Kyle Smith and Tom Hendrick. A smaller than usual car count caused three heats to be run with wins going to Dakota Kershaw, Brent Camarillo and Greg Taylor. No semi main was run Saturday night.
In VRA/USAC Midget competition, the third Battle at the Beach race went to Johnathon Henry over a field of 18 top midget drivers. He passed early race leader Markus Niemela on lap 10 and led the rest of the way to take the $2,000 winners purse. The race had one red flag incident when Robby Josett, Cory Kruseman, Brian Camarillo and Jimmy Voitel got together at the start finish line and blocked the track. Following Henry and Niemela across the line were Brent Camarillo, Josh Lakatos and David Prickett. Henry’s win puts him with past Battle winners Cory Kruseman and Josh Lakatos in the running to be crowned King of the Beach at the final race on November 19. Heat race wins Saturday went to Brent Camarillo, Robby Josett and Kyle Smith.
IMCA racing saw a first time winner take the 20 lap feature. Rob Green took the win over a field of ten modifieds. Green led all 20 laps of the feature to take the win over Steve Bulpitt, Jack Parker, Brad Prows and Austin Rodarte. Point leader Aaron Rodarte finished 10 and takes a 12 point lead into the IMCA season finale next week over challenger Brad Prows. There were two heat races run with wins going to Tom Topping and visiting Hanford diver Eric Hamilton.
In USAC/VRA Ford Focus competition, the regular Ford focus 20 lap main event went to Andrew Mulhearn over Wally Pankratz, Tyler Dolacki, Casey Martinez and Nick Carlson. Their heat race winners were Wally Pankratz and Casey Martinez. In Junior Ford Focus racing the five car 15 lap main event went to Cole Custer followed by Katlyn Leer, Parker Colson, Austin Blair and Christine Breckenridge. Their heat race was won by Parker Colston.
VRA Go Karts were the final class running Saturday night. Their 20 lap main event went to George Ito followed by Johnny Conely, David Pankratz, Ken Ito and Cody Nigh. Their heat race wins went to Ashley Hazleton and Justin Raper.
Ventura Raceway returns to action next Saturday night September 24, with a full program featuring VRA Sprint Cars, Senior Sprint Cars IMCA Modifieds, VRA Dwarf Cars and our kid’s classes.