Thirty Year Racing Village
More of the same last night at Ventura Raceway. Jim Naylor’s atomic rolling medicine motorsports show pitched camp, ditched the brakes and blew out the stops. One hundred and thirty eight cars pitted in this classic southern California beach town and broke clay. Jim tells me his greatest satisfaction in thirty years of promoting Ventura Raceway is that he has created a racing village, people from all walks of life who gather every Saturday night and connect their lives in ways that last forever. Saturday night we saw some missing bros and long lost cousins and everybody got caught up…..
Kierce Dynasty - 3rd generation rolls onto the track
Photo: surfnsprint
Significant moments: Kevin Kierce and his son Justin in the same VRA Sprint Car heat and that was a cool sight. Kevin and Josh Ford mixed it up for an intense second place battle behind Dwayne Markum in that first heat. In the next heat, frosh Jonathan Henry blitzed the track just ahead returning vet Tony Dighera.
Lot’s of buzz about both of these drivers. Nice looking ride, Tony. Chris Wakim’s absence this season has left a hole as big as Oklahoma sky. He jumped back in the cockpit and slammed some incredible slide job tradeoffs with longtime friend Greg Taylor in heat three. That’s Ventura’s first (Taylor) and second (Wakim) most winning sprint car drivers knocking out the fans again. A revitalized Clark Templeman led Cory Kruseman across the line in the final heat. Brent Camarillo was also on the move. I missed the kid’s show but we got some of the winners on digital film and we’ll run them here. Big wins for Amanda Green, Ricky Lewis and Austin Figuroa.
Amanda Green – Ricky Lewis – Austin Figuroa
Photo: surfnsprint
Longtime IMCA Modified veteran Rick Rodarte was back in the winner’s circle after charging from the second row into the lead and holding it. New kid on the engine block Andrew Grieman gave him a chase but faded in the second half. Randy McGraw picked it up in the second half but Rick wasn’t letting go. John Uccellini took third. Nice to see Rodarte back up there talking with Jim.
Rentless track preparation – It’s all in the water
Photo: surfnsprint
The Senior Sprints jumped to it with Steve Stassa taking the pole and getting out front. Steve hard to beat when he gets his momentum up but Danny Miller was on a mission. Danny seems to be racing a full schedule this year and his talent is finally shining thorough. Near the end Steve had to check up for traffic and Danny threw down an incredible move through turn two for the lead. Brother Wily Miller took third with stalwart Bruce Douglas in fourth. Later in the winner’s circle, Danny had some heartfelt words about how great this Raceway is and how much he appreciates Jim Naylor. I couldn’t agree more.
Miller’s - 3 generations of fast
Photo: surfnsprint
Senior Pro Dwarf is about Ed Niedzwiecki and then everybody else. This buzzard just loves to race. He got out front early and tracked his smooth laps without much pressure. Jerry Doolittle took a hard earned second after a ferocious battle with Gary Conditt. That was Tom Bellinger in fourth.
The Scribinator
Photo: surfnsprint
Pro Dwarf Main was looking good for Rob Anderson until an early yellow reeled him back in. That was what Jim Scribeillito was looking for. After the restart he dropped down under Rob in turn three and ran to the bank. Jeff Shelton and Chuck Lippert are always up front and finished third and fourth.
A Ventura Raceway tradition - YMCA
Photo: surfnsprint
The VRA Main Event fired like a gun. Tony Dighera had the pole and took the lead with Chris Wakim, Cory Kruseman and Kevin Kierce on his tail. Wakim had second and was keeping pace with Dighera. At first it was Cory in third, but Kevin Kierce was leaning hard on the throttle thru turn two and checked up the schoolmaster and his student Jonathan Henry. Maybe more than anyone in Ventura, Kevin Kierce has the eye of the tiger. Let’s race. His style is simple, get up front as quickly as possible and be smart about it. Cory was pressuring Kevin, Kevin was threatening Chris, Chris was dogging Tony and Tony was having a good time until his car started smoking! Kierce keeps grinding the bottom and nicks Wakim and then Dighera. K2 fans are rocking the stands. Now Cory gets around Chris in a real patient way and it’s Kierce, Dighera and Kruseman. We get a spinner in two and we are yellow. We fire again and Cory now goes under Dighera in turn three and sets his sight on Kierce. Clark Templeman is pounding the door and further back you can hear Greg Taylor’s engine. Just a flat out thrill watching Cory Kruseman on the move. Kierce is our hard working points leader and a huge fan favorite. Cory is, well, Cory is Cory. He was born out in the pits and wrote the book on car setup. His car is setup here and he carefully extracts the lead from Kevin’s grasp and takes it home. At the end, the only question is if Clark Templeman is going to take that second place. Kevin Kierce hangs tough. Most passes goes to an amazing run by Steve Conrad who took it from eighteenth to seventh. This guy should be called “Stealth” Conrad. Eric Severson was also looking big. Nice seeing Troy Rutherford in the fight.
I don’t care if we ran a picture of him last week it was the best shot of the day
Photo: surfnsprint
More of the same. World class dirt track racing. High hopes, busted runs and muddy wins. Birthdays, anniversaries and first place victories spin by like planets in an unlikely universe. Come by later in the week and watch the lonely wind blow around an empty dirt cosmos. Come by any Saturday and see Jim Naylor’s amazing thirty year racing village.
Welcome back Chris
Photo: surfnsprint
