By Lance Jennings
VENTURA, CA – NOVEMBER 1, 2011… Starting from the outside of the front row, “The Kruser” Cory Kruseman led all 30-laps to claim last Saturday night’s finale of the All Coast Construction Challenge at Ventura Raceway. The $5000-to-win main event marked Kruseman’s second victory of the 2011 campaign with the VRA Sprint Car Series. Brian Camarillo took second, followed by Danny Faria Jr., Richard VanderWeerd, and Troy Rutherford, who started seventeenth. Newly crowned VRA Champion Greg Taylor won the All Coast Construction 360 Challenge mini-series title and earned $5000 for his efforts.
Piloting the #14K Lucas Oil / Sander Engineering special, “The Kruser” Cory Kruseman of Ventura was not to be denied on this night. The veteran driver finished second in his heat race and is ranked twelfth in the point chase. To date, Kruseman has five heat race victories, six top-10 finishes, and sixty-eight feature laps led to his credit.
Camarillo’s Brian Camarillo raced to second from the sixth starting spot. Driving the #22 Agromin Soil / Waste Management entry, Brian won the night’s first heat race and is second in the championship points. In 2011, Camarillo has two feature wins, ten heat race victories, one semi-main win, twelve top-10 finishes, and fifty-one feature laps led.
“Hollywood” Danny Faria Jr. of Tipton made a rare Ventura appearance and claimed third in the 30-lap feature. Piloting the #17V Louie De Groot & Sons Dairy / Barcellos Farms machine, the visiting Central Valley driver placed second in his heat race.
Another visiting driver from the Central Valley was Richard VanderWeerd of Visalia. Piloting Tommy Horne’s #13 special, VanderWeerd claimed fourth in the All Coast Challenge finale after starting seventh. Earlier in the program, Richard placed second in his heat race and has four top-10 finishes, one heat race victory, and one semi-main win on the year.
Ojai’s Troy Rutherford earned the night’s “Hard Charger / Best Passing Job” honors with a fifth place run after starting seventeenth. Driving his #11 Amsoil / Trench Shoring machine, last year’s series champion was sixth in his heat race and won the 12-lap semi-main. Rutherford is eighteenth in the standings with six feature wins, five heat race victories, three hard charger awards, ten top-10 finishes, and eighty-five feature laps led.
Jace VanderWeerd of Visalia won the night’s second heat race behind the wheel of the #88 VanderWeerd Construction / Battery Worx special. The visiting driver scored twelfth in the 30-lap feature and has three top-10 finishes and eight feature laps led on the season.
2011 VRA Sprint Car Champion Greg Taylor of Ventura won his series leading eleventh heat race, by taking the program’s fourth 10-lap event. Piloting the #7 Clark Engineering Construction / Westco International Consulting Inc. entry, Taylor’s tenth place in the feature earned the title for the 3-race All Coast Construction 360 Challenge. To date, Taylor has four feature wins, two hard charger awards, sixteen top-10 finishes, and 111 feature laps led.
A special thanks to “Big Mike” Grosswendt and All Coast Construction for their support of Ventura Raceway and the racers of the Ventura Racing Association. This year’s 360 Challenge mini-series was a huge success and forty-nine different drivers took the green flag in the popular events.
Ventura Raceway scheduled four other companion classes on the night. Danny Ebberts led all 30-laps to score the VRA Midget feature and Nick Carlson claimed the Ford Focus Midget main. Brodie Kostecki won in Junior Ford Focus Midget action, while Johnny Conley won in the VRA Go Kart class.
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 will begin at 5:00pm PST.
This Saturday night, November 5th, Ventura Raceway will host flat track motorcycles. The VRA Sprint Cars will return to action the following Saturday, November 12th, with Senior Sprints, Dwarf Cars, Mod Lites, Mod Lite Juniors, Sport Compacts, Junior Midgets, and Mini Dwarfs. For more event information, please visit www.venturaraceway.com or call (805) 985-5433.
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VRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS:
Ventura Raceway – Ventura, California
October 29, 2011 – “All Coast Construction 360 Challenge”
ENTRIES: ( Car / Driver Name / Points)
U47 Ed Schwarz 110; 2 Wally Pankratz 120; 3M Jake McVey 15; 7 Greg Taylor 170; 10 Johnathon Henry 190; 11 Troy Rutherford 180; 13 Richard VanderWeerd 210; 14K Cory Kruseman 255; 17 Jimmy Crawford 105; 17V Danny Faria Jr 220; 19 Brandon Thomson 135; 22 Brian Camarillo 240; 24 Guy Woodward 15; 31 Bruce Douglass 135; 31v Victor Davis 135; 43 Justin Kierce 165; 51 Brent Camarillo 180; 55s Kyle Smith 150; 57 Steve Hix 120; 62 Adam Frith-Smith 20; 67K Taylor Price 15; 71K Tom Hendricks 115; 81 Steve Conrad 175; 88 Jace VanderWeerd 160.
HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps)
1. Brian Camarillo, 2. Johnathon Henry, 3. Justin Kierce, 4. Brandon Thomson, 5. Ed Schwarz, 6. Guy Woodward.
HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps)
1. Jace VanderWeerd, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Victor Davis, 4. Kyle Smith, 5. Adam Frith-Smith, 6. Troy Rutherford.
HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps)
1. Brent Camarillo, 2. Danny Faria Jr. 3, Steve Conrad, 4. Wally Pankratz, 5. Steve Hix, 6. Taylor Price.
HEAT RACE 4: (10 laps)
1. Greg Taylor, 2. Richard VanderWeerd, 3. Tom Hendricks, 4. Jimmy Crawford, 5. Bruce Douglass, 6. Jake McVey.
SEMI-MAIN: (12 laps)
1. Troy Rutherford, 2. Ed Schwarz, 3. Bruce Douglass, 4. Steve Hix, 5. Jake McVey, 6. Taylor Price, 7. Adam Frith-Smith, 8. Guy Woodward (DNS).
FEATURE: (30 laps – With Starting Positions)
1. Cory Kruseman (2nd), 2. Brian Camarillo (6th), 3. Danny Faria Jr. (1st), 4. Richard VanderWeerd (7th), 5. Troy Rutherford (17th), 6. Johnathon Henry (8th), 7. Steve Conrad (7th), 8. Brent Camarillo (5th), 9. Justin Kierce (11th), 10. Greg Taylor (4th), 11. Kyle Smith (14th), 12. Jace VanderWeerd (3rd), 13. Bruce Douglass (19th), 14. Brandon Thomson (13th), 15. Victor Davis (12th), 16. Steve Hix (20th), 17. Wally Pankratz (15th), 18. Ed Schwarz (18th), 19. Tom Hendricks (10th), 20. Jimmy Crawford (16th).
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Cory Kruseman.
HARD CHARGER: Troy Rutherford (17th to 5th)
VRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Greg Taylor 4280; 2. Brian Camarillo 3715; 3. Brent Camarillo 3445; 4. Steve Conrad 3420; 5. Josh Ford 3110; 6. Kyle Smith 2875; 7. Markus Niemela 2640; 8. Jimmy Crawford 2435; 9. Derek Buckley 2365; 10. Austin DeBlauw 2295; 11. Don Gansen 2290; 12. Cory Kruseman 2060; 13. Guy Woodward 1955; 14. Dakota Kershaw 1940; 15. Tom Hendricks 1830; 16. Cody Kershaw 1510; 17. Steve Hix 1450; 18. Troy Rutherford 1415; 19. Tom Harper 1385; 20. Brandon Thomson 1310.
ALL COAST CONSTRUCTION 360 CHALLENGE POINT STANDINGS:
1. Greg Taylor 645; 2. Johnathon Henry 625; 3. Cory Kruseman 570; 4. Steve Conrad 520; 5. Brent Camarillo 515; 6. Brian Camarillo 475; 7. Justin Kierce 445; 8. Richard VanderWeerd 435; 9. Kyle Smith 430; 10. Derek Buckley 410; 11. Jimmy Crawford 405; 12. Josh Ford 370; 13. Troy Rutherford 355; 14. Jace VanderWeerd 325; 15. Brandon Thomson 255; 16. Brody Roa 240; –. Steve Hix 240; 18. Tom Hendricks 230; 19. Danny Faria Jr. 220; 20. Mike Spencer 200.
VRA SPRINT CAR SCHEDULE:
November 12 – Ventura Raceway – Ventura, CA