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Ventura, CA., Oct. 17 – VRA sprint cars and three divisions of USAC Midgets—Western Series, CA Ford Focus Dirt and Junior Ford Focus—shared the spotlight Saturday at the banked, fifth-mile clay Ventura Raceway. VRA Sport Compacts and VRA Go-Karts also jammed the crowded pits and helped promoter Jim Naylor attract about 2,000 fans to “the best little dirt track in America”. Rain Tuesday and Wednesday made the track unusually rough and ruts plagued both the north and south turns. The busy racing schedule prevented Naylor from reworking the track between races as he usually does. The track had almost constant racing action from 5:30 to 10:35 pm. Racing started with the temperature at 74 following an 81 afternoon high; it was still 67 degrees when racing concluded.
Feature winners were:
> Matt Mitchell, from Yorba Linda, in a scheduled 30-lap VRA 360 cu. in. sprint car main that concluded after 20 laps because of time constraints and rough track conditions. Twenty-three of the 40 sprint cars present started the feature.
> Garrett Hansen, from Manhattan Beach, took the 30-lap USAC Western Midget feature that was shortened to 25 laps. Twenty-one of 28 midgets present started.
> Cody Swanson, from Norco, dominated a 20-lap USAC Ford Focus Dirt Series main that ran all 20 laps in a rapid four minutes. The 20-year old led all ten starters on hand to the checkers in a caution-free race.
> Dennis Simunovich, of Hollister, won a 20-lap USAC Junior Ford Focus Midget main in which all ten starters finished a seven minute race that had one caution for a first lap incident. Eleven of 12 cars in the pits started.
> Two sport compact divisions staged a combined 16-car (8 Front wheel drive and 8 rear-wheel drive) 20-lap race that lasted 13 minutes. Fifth starter Mike Frazier became the third race leader on lap 16 and won the front wheel drive class. Tenth starter Brent Underwood finished second overall and captured both the rear wheel drive class race and the season championship over third overall finisher Cody Greiman, who finished on his back bumper.
> The new VRA Go-Kart division ran 20 quick laps on the infield oval track and Ventura's Ken Ito, son of former USAC Midget veteran George Ito, won the 16 kart main. He led all the way in a field that contained his dad George and midget/sprint car veterans Jimmy May and Cody Kershaw. The race was round eight of nine.
VRA SPRINTS: In a 23-car field, Matt Mitchell started from pole position in the final race of the evening and led all 20 laps. It was his second consecutive VRA sprint feature victory in the same car. He also won a 2009 USAC Midget main at Ventura on April 11. He waged a close duel with fellow front row starter Greg Taylor during the final 16 laps. Mitchell's Steve Watt-owned No. 69 Maxim edged Taylor's No. 7 Maxim by five yards. Brent Camarillo started seventh and finished third in the No. 10c older TCR car. Steve Conrad started and finished fourth in his Ellis-built No. 56. Chris Ennis, from Bakersfield, came from tenth to earn fifth. Troy Rutherford (from 11th), Cody Kershaw (from 12th), Rick Hendrix (from 9th), Danny Sheridan (from 17th), and Blake Miller (from 19th) completed the top ten. Sixteen drivers finished with 12 drivers on the lead lap. The VRA sprint feature had three yellow flags, including the final caution on lap 4 when second place Danny Faria, Jr. caught the first turn rut and stalled. Announcer Naylor called the track “treacherous and a handful and the worst we've had in a long time” because of two days of mid-week rain.
USAC MIDGETS: The 21-car Western Midget feature had Dennis Howell on the pole and sprint car veteran/2009 USAC Midget point leader Hansen outside in the first row. Hansen got the jump at the 9:44 pm start and led all the way in Andy Bondio's No. 47 Bondio/Barnes. It was his fifth Western Midget feature victory this year in the 24th race. He has not competed in every event because he missed some events when his USAC-CRA 410 cu. in. sprint car duties called. Hansen increased his point lead to 97 points with four scheduled races remaining. The midget main had five cautions for stalls or single-car crashes. Fifth place Rick Hendrix caught the first turn rut wrong on lap 8 and flipped one and a half times, landing overturned and uninjured in mid-turn two. On lap 12, third-running Blake Miller (No. 7R Mark Priestley) caught the same turn one rut and barrel-rolled several times before landing upright and uninjured. The final 13 laps clicked off without incident as drivers used inside and outside routes around the ruts and frequently exchanged positions. Shannon McQueen, a Bakersfield CPA, started eighth in her Spike/Fontana and passed third starter Brad Loyet, from Missouri, for second place on lap 9. Blake Miller took third from Loyet a lap later before his flip ended his race. Loyet and 18th starter Jerome Rodela, a two-time series champion, dropped McQueen to fourth on the lap 12 green entering turn one. She retained P. 4 to the lap 25 checkers. Matt Mitchell, from ninth in his No. 37 Mitchell Spike/Esslinger, finished fifth. Phoenix-based R. J. Johnson (from 17th), two-time 2009 feature winner Alex Schutte (from 7th), hometown favorite Cory Kruseman (from 6th), Cody Kershaw (from 13th) and Jake Swanson (from 10th) rounded out the top ten. Fourteen of 16 finishers completed all 25 circuits, with two drivers lapped during the closing laps.
FORD FOCUS DIRT SERIES: In round 14 of 15, Cody Swanson, a Team Wong Legend Car driver at Irwindale two years ago, won his third California FF Dirt Series feature this season in his No. 71. He started second in a ten-car field and led all 20 laps, winning by 30-yards. He moved to second position in 2009 points with only the November 21 race at Ventura remaining. Jake Swanson, from eighth, took second on lap 11 with an outside pass of pole starter Kevin Michnowicz. Andrew Mulhearn, Gordon Edwards, point leader Brody Roa, Arizonan Nick Rossi, Zack Stout, Michnowicz, Jim “Jet” Davison, and Connor Kassik completed the field and all ran 20 laps in the four-plus minute event.
JUNIOR FF MIDGETS: Dennis Simunovich came from the front two rows in the 11-car field in his No. 5 midget and won his sixth Junior FF Midget main of 2009. He led all 20 laps and edged the No. 94 of Riverside driver Casey Martinez, pole starter/three-time feature winner Ethan Quinn, and Nick Drake, from Charlotte, N.C, in the No. 55 Bowman mount from Tucson. Drake is the son of long-time TQ midget/midget/sprint car driver Jay Drake. The top four ran in close proximity for the last half of the race. Martinez, a one-time 2009 winner, took second from Quinn on lap 11 on the inside through the third an fourth turns. Alex Jacobsen, point leader Kyle Edwards, Daniel Voyles, Jarid Blondel, Chasen Gaunt (son of sprint car veteran Rickey Gaunt), and Daniel Williams completed the top ten. Andrew Murray was a non-finisher. The race was the 23rd of 25 scheduled on five dirt and two paved tracks in California this year.
HEATS: In preliminary races, Go-Karts and Sport Compacts ran three heat races. Jacobsen and K. Edwards won the 7-lap Junior FF Midget heats. Roa and Rossi took the FF Midget 8-lap heat victories. Loyet, Hansen, Howell and Hendrix won the four seven-car 8-lap Western Midget heats and all started first or second. With 40 sprinters present, track officials ran five eight-car heats that transferred the top three finishers to the main event. Bruce Douglass, Conrad, Mitchell, Taylor and Jimmy Crawford won the sprint car heats and all started in the first two rows.
SEMIS: Ten drivers started the USAC Midget 12-lap semi main with the first four finishers advancing to the feature. Pole starter R. J. Johnson led all the way. Rodela, Brian Camarillo and Mike Gehringer followed. Randi Pankratz, driving dad Wally's No. 8, started second and was second to lap 8 when Rodela passed her. She traded fourth place twice in the final three laps and lost it to Gehringer low in turn two as they tangled briefly. She used a provisional to start 21st in the main. The midget semi had two flips. Brent Camarillo hit a turn four rut and rolled once onto the side of his car. Tanner Swanson, younger brother of Kody Swanson, from Kingsburg, flipped in turn four while cars were pushing off. He also flipped at the start of the third heat after Howell's car pushed up into his outside front row No. 19K, which caught the wall and rolled once.
Two VRA Sprint 10-lap semi-mains started 13 and 12 cars and transferred the first four finishers in each semi to the feature. Clark Templeman III started second and led the final nine laps in the first semi. VRA 2008 champion and 2009 point leader Kevin Kierce led the first lap from the pole, but he pulled to the top of turn two and stopped on lap 2 with a broken pitman arm. He will have to wait until the final VRA race on October 24 to clinch his second consecutive title over second place Troy Rutherford. In the second semi, USAC-CRA veteran Danny Sheridan led all the way from second starting position and won by 40-yards over pole-sitter Greg Alexander. This race also had a flip. On the second lap fourth place Guy Woodward, 21, caught the fourth turn rut and barrel-rolled quickly about four times. The car landed overturned at the cushion; he emerged uninjured.
Five track sponsors had a Go-Kart race, won by Chris Raschke, of ARP Racing Products. His firm will present the USAC Midget J. W. Mitchell Fall Classic on Saturday, November 21 with $5,000 going to the winner of a 40-lap National and Western Series main event. The all-USAC Midget night also will feature Junior Ford Focus Midgets and the Ford Focus Midgets National Dirt Championship title race.
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