surfnsprint

Ventura Raceway continues to knock them out of the park. Promoter Jim Naylor and his outstanding crew have a knack for putting on a solid night of racing and then throwing in a blockbuster ending so you have something to rave about on the way home. Sixteen year old racing brat Jonathan Henry edged two of Ventura’s hardest core on the final laps of a ripping thirty lap main event. In another testament to the value of the Cory Kruseman Sprint Car Driving School and pit crew, this hardworking student shredded his exams and torched the diploma….

Jonathan Henry and Jim Naylor Cracking Up On the Front Straightaway
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Senior Sprint heat races had Danny Miller and Ron Bach both back in the comfortable groove. VRA Sprint heat one put the spotlight back on Clark Templeman. I’m not sure why I like this guy so much. He’s taken some hard hits and he keeps coming back. That says a lot. Heat two fronts Jake Hodges, don’t know anything about him, need to check it out. A heated fourth place battle between Jesse Mack (who almost won Bakersfield last week) and Brandon Thomson came up empty handed for both of them. Brandon took a vicious wipeout in turn one and ended up on his back. Jesse scheduled a spot in the B Main and left the track peacefully (right side up). Kevin Kierce dominated heat three as he has dominated the season; with hard, clean and decisive driving. Heat four featured the tuned in and confident Greg Taylor. That’s a Norm Grimes power plant under the hood and sounding nuclear! Despite taking a smoke break, Luis Espinoza held off eager Jonathan Henry.……..

Clark Templeman III Keeps Coming Back and Rocking His Ventura Fans
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They ran the kids classes and it was a blast as usual. Hard race to give a play-by-play report (although Jammy handles it with skill). I find it hard to sort the action but man we have fun. Mighty Joe and I were cracking up! Tommy Velasquez grabbed the Piston Class and Riley Helland clinched the Supercharger’s Class. Ramon Rivas took the Junior Midgets victory. Ramon is also leading the point’s race.

VRA Junior Midget Drivers Ramon Rivas and Erich Loesch Battle for Inches
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VRA Semi Main showed everybody the best side of struggling Angel Figueroa. Took the pole and drove a brilliant race. On one of yellows I see his young son Austin run down to the fence and give him a big thumbs up as he passes by. Cool. Ron Wade, Brent Camarillo and Larry Lloyd also drove their way into the main event. I’m shocked Jesse Mack misses the main. Brilliant driver, tough crowd….

Caption: I Call Him Wiley “Way Out” Miller
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Senior Sprints hit the track for their main and it starts with Tim Moon. He runs a hard race stifling Wiley Miller for a couple of laps but the former champ gets the pass. A yellow (Culver and Leonard) puts him back and Moon continues to stuff him. Moon runs wide on the straight-aways but keeps a tight grip on the bottom. Good strategy but Wiley won’t be denied. He passes again and gets way out on the gas! Moon continues to fade as Oren Prosser Sr. pours it on. Suddenly it jumps out of gear or something and Oren slowly drifts down the front straightaway. He had the only chance of catching Wiley. Wiley’s half a track out front. Bob Alderman, Bruce Douglas and Danny Miller fight over the leftovers….

Give These Kids Credit, They Deserve It: Tommy Velasquez wins Piston Mini Dwarf
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Life is Good When You’re Riley Helland Mini Dwarf Supercharger Winner
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Senior Dwarf Main was all about speedy Ed Niedzwiecki. Can I just call him Ed the Ned? Interesting watching this guy drive, he always seeking and searching the best line. But mainly Ed is just plain fast. Just ask Tom Bellinger or Bill Van Pragg or Gary Conditt. They all spent the evening chasing him. Bellinger and Van Pragg got touchy feely at the end and John Lynch swooped in for second.

Rob Anderson and Jim Scribellito Are Making Everyone Dwarf Fans!
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Watching Scribellito, Anderson and the gang tear it up every week works for me. This time it was standard Scribellito out front with Anderson and Greg Goodwin hunting him down. Brent Stevens was also there and Lars Wolf showed up. Brent advanced to second and was right on top of Scribellito. They mixed a bit and Scribellito rode the wall. Worse yet for him, Rob Anderson took advantage of the wobble and passed them both for win. Classic racing.

Brandon Thomson Cleans The Wall and Rakes The Yard
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Twenty engines on the backstretch sends a heavy vibration through the infield, up the bleachers and rides my bones. Phillip throws the green flag and we’re off. Right away McCormick drifts in three and gathers up Kershaw, Espinoza and Hodges. Tough start. We restart doublewide and Taylor and Conrad lead the charge. Kierce moves up from the third row and they are all high. Upstart Henry is on the bottom and holding fourth. Suddenly Brent Camarillo gets airborne in turn one and lands very hard. We are red (closed) and the ace track team safely extracts the youngster. On the restart everybody hits the cushion again. Conrad bobbles and drops back to seventh. Henry advances to third. We are seeing heavy traffic but Taylor has a pretty good lead. Rookie Schutte gets goosey in two and we are yellow. They reel everybody back in and we have fourteen to go. For the second race in a row Espy determines his car is dysfunctional and leaves the track (flat left rear). This race is being controlled by Greg Taylor and contested by Kevin Kierce and Jonathan Henry. We are green and we are in heavy traffic. Taylor gets in a few sweeping turns but the traffic is slowing him. Conrad is on back on the move and battling with Rodriquez. Everybody is high but traffic hits critical mass and with five laps to go Taylor has to drive the bottom. Shades of Bakersfield, Kierce follows and Henry manages to swing wide. “Watch Henry!” Cliff commands me. I watched that whippersnapper drive that traffic like he was in a midget, first passing Kierce and then passing Taylor for the win. Down in the announcer’s booth, Naylor was having a heart attack on the microphone! This promoter loves his drivers and really gets a kick when they hit their potential. We went down and took some pictures of Henry. “What’s Cory feeding you?” I yelled. Somebody in his crew yelled back “gunpowder and raw chicken!”

Jonathan Henry With a Bunch of People That Have Got His Back
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