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AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT RACE RESULTS: May 10, 2014 – Ventura, California – Ventura Raceway – “All Coast Challenge / Fred Thomson Tribute Race”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-12.089; 2. Nic Faas, 73, Ford-12.247; 3. Cody Swanson, 36, Springstead-12.269; 4. Markus Niemela, 73X, Ford-12.293; 5. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-12.365; 6. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-12.380; 7. Ryan Bernal, 73F, Ford-12.436; 8. Johnathon Henry, 17, Henry-12.440; 9. Cory Kruseman, 7, Priestley-12.476; 10. Damion Gardner, 4, Alexander-12.491; 11. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-12.500; 12. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-12.560; 13. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-12.654; 14. J.J. Ercse, 14, Springstead-12.786; 15. Matt Michell, 37, Mitchell-12.803; 16. Corey Ballard, 34, Ballard-12.845; 17. Logan Williams, 5, Jory-12.855; 18. Don Gansen, 7G, Gansen-12.883; 19. Brian Camarillo, 51, Smith-12.905; 20. Kyle Smith, 55, Smith-12.937; 21. Austin DeBlauw, 65, DeBlauw-12.970; 22. Rick Hendrix, 15, Hendrix-13.047; 23. Cody Majors, 54, Majors-13.062; 24. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-13.065; 25. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-13.067; 26. Brandon Thomson, 19F, Thomson-13.104; 27. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-13.243; 28. Wally Pankratz, 2X, Swann-13.478; 29. Ron Bach, 49, Bach-13.614; 30. Hobie Conway, 2K, Kruseman-NT; 31. Greg Alexander, 72, Tyler-NT; 32. Charlie Butcher, 96, Butcher-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. J.Swanson, 3. L.Williams, 4. Gaunt, 5. Roa, 6. Bender, 7. DeBlauw, 8. Bach. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Hendrix, 3. Faas, 4. D.Gansen, 5. Ercse, 6. Thomson, 7. C.Williams, 8. Conway. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Camarillo, 2. J.Vander Weerd, 3. Mitchell, 4. Bernal, 5. Majors, 6. C.Gansen, 7. C.Swanson. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.Vander Weerd, 2. A.Williams, 3. Smith, 4. Pankratz, 5. Ballard, 6. Niemela, 7. Henry. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. C.Williams, 2. Henry, 3. Niemela, 4. Roa, 5. DeBlauw, 6. C.Gansen, 7. Thomson, 8. Ballard, 9. Ercse, 10. Majors, 11. Bender, 12. Conway. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Nic Faas, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Cory Kruseman, 6. Rickie Gaunt, 7. Johnathon Henry, 8. Brody Roa, 9. Jace Vander Weerd, 10. Brian Camarillo, 11. Kyle Smith, 12. Richard Vander Weerd, 13. Chris Gansen, 14. Don Gansen, 15. Austin Williams, 16. Rick Hendrix, 17. Austin DeBlauw, 18. Markus Niemela, 19. Wally Pankratz, 20. Cody Williams, 21. Matt Mitchell, 22. Logan Williams. NT
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**C.Swanson flipped during the third heat. Niemela flipped during fourth heat. Pankratz flipped during the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Gardner

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS:1-Gardner-354, 2-Faas-315, 3-Mike Spencer-228, 4-Mitchell-216, 5-J.Swanson-208, 6-Kruseman-206, 7-Roa-192, 8-R.Vander Weerd-157. 9-C.Williams-157, 10-Gary Taylor-143.

NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT RACE: May 24 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway – “Salute To Indy”

I want to point out a few win/win/win observations about this race.

First, this was a tremendous car count for taking the 410 show on the road, 32 cars in the pits. Shown some modest savings and appreciation, teams came out to race.

Second, the grandstands were full. Even with the premium price of $25 a ticket, the fans showed up for a premium 410 show. The promoter made money and now will want that show to come back.

Third, with only two classes (Dwarf Cars and Sprints) we were done at 9:15. Fans (including my wife) were thrilled to be done at that reasonable hour. I believe we are headed in the right direction.

A lot of interesting people came out of the woodwork at Ventura. I like to think some hatchets were buried. We need to take this momentum and build on it. See ya at Salute to Indy. Should be packed.

I stongly encourage all parties interested in the Betterment of Open Wheel Racing to consider the words surfnsprint wrote above

I think Big Mike, Jim & USAC/CRA etc. have given us a template to build off of & if we all start working in this direction , it will be a net ++++ for our sport !

The above Comments are satire & for entertainment
purposes only

Not to be Pessimistic... but Ventura had qualifying and Dwarf Car heat races done before the PAS usually even wheel packs. Starting at 5pm sharp made a massive difference. There were three red flags at a racetrack with three push trucks, I didn't notice the restarts taking that long. 

Jim even fully cut the track and had at least an hour in Track Prep and Candy toss etc.

Would starting earlier really wreck up the track that bad at Perris? I know that a full reworking of the track is pretty much out, but would it be needed?

Running heats for CLS / Seniors / Young Guns before the National anthem? Does that screw up the track too? 

Car count was heavily filled with 360's, 10 VRA regulars and Ryan Bernal was in a 360 as well. Total of 11 360's comprising the field out of 32.  If the field had 32 410's then I would of considered that a good car count. Overall it was a great show and hopefully USAC CRA will return to Ventura in 2015. Thanks to All Coast Construction's Mike Grosswendt generous contributions to sprintcar racing in Southern California. Lets see what the car count is at Santa Maria on July 5th. Hoping for the best. SCS

This race had some things that really helped make it a success, which won't apply at a typical Perris points race:

1. All Coast Construction's very generous support.  This really helped car count by providing financial assistance in two ways...increased purse and reduced pit pass expense.  It also made it possible for Naylor to run only 2 classes for that event, which helped keep the show within curfew.

2. Novelty.  This race was a one-off show.  That alone sells tickets.  Also, it had been years since 410's had visited the joint.  The fans had a lot of time to build their anticipation for the return of the big boys.

3. Close racing.  The track being as small as it is produces tight, action-packed racing all night.  This also creates potential for wrecks.  Wrecks sell tickets.

4. Reduced costs.  Aside from the help from All Coast, the teams know laps around Ventura are much shorter, with less throttle.  This helps mimimize engine wear, tire wear, and fuel consumption.  Unless you wreck, it's cheaper to run Ventura.

5. Power equalizer.  Short tracks don't require as much horsepower.  Guys like Ryan Bernal proved that a 360 could be competitive with the 410s On this tiny 1/5 mile circle.  The car owners know this.  About a quarter of the teams were 360 cars.  That helps car count.

6. Ocean air.  The cool, humid weather at the beach helps tremendously when trying to keep moisture in the track.  That is what allowed Ventura the possibility of starting the show earlier.  Had the wind not been so strong early, I'm sure the hour of re-work time wouldn't have been necessary.

I was very glad I made the trip north to see this race.  It lived up to the hype and surpassed my expectations.  However, let's not fool ourselves and think any of the above would apply elsewhere on the schedule.  

Doug Bushey

Passionate Fan / Announcer / Media & Public Relations 
Agent 

1. We need to give Mike Grosswendt and Jim Naylor a 10 minute standing ovation for taking a big gamble on this! I am thrilled that it went so well!

 2. The stands were full, at $25.00 a head, at Ventura? Why not? The fans have made a statement here. Give them a good, professional show, and they will pay fair value for it. The problem has not been the price of the tickets, it has been the perceived value of the product.

 3. 32 cars but “a lot of them were 360’s”. Great! The fans don’t care what size motors they have. Just give them good racing. The new spec right rear has made the 360’s competitive with the 410’s, especially on smaller tracks. Let’s stop calling them 360’s and 410’s and just call them sprint cars. Let’s be thankful that for whatever reason, we are getting 30 plus cars so we can have 4 heats and a semi and put the 20 fastest cars on the track for the main instead of the 16 or 18 that showed up.

 4. Yes, Mike and Jim made an important first step down the road to fixing sprint car racing, but USAC? What did they do? I haven’t heard a word from them about fixing anything. They are trying to make 30 or so cars from 2 states look like 100 cars by running 5 or 6 different touring series. I don’t see any fix in that shell game, but when this works, they will claim it was their idea.

 5. Track repair? Turn on MAVTV. Over the last couple weeks they have been replaying races from Kokamo, Cocopah, and other tracks. These tracks were heavily compacted and were smooth all night with a lot of cars on them. Now look at the Chili Bowl. Lots of water (good) but they had to stop the show every 5 or 6 races to run their cultivator to fix the track. The first race after that, the cars would push all that soft dirt up to the top turning the top lane into a rough, muddy, plowed field. The next 4 or 5 races would then be run on the hard pack surface underneath that didn’t get cultivated and any one who got pushed to the outside ended up upside down. Damage to the track comes from not enough depth for the water and uneven compaction. Do compaction with a “sheepsfoot” roller or a full water truck. Wheel packing with race cars is a waste of time.

 6. Ocean air. Yes! Reminds me of the “Rare Air” at Lions Dragstrip back in the 60’S.

 shorttrackautoracing.com