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VRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS:
Ventura Raceway - Ventura, California
September 17, 2011

ENTRIES: ( Car / Driver Name / Points)
2 Wally Pankratz 130; 13 Greg Taylor 260; 14K Jay Waugh 155; 24 Guy Woodward 185; 26 Rob Kershaw 170; 27 Cody Kershaw 145; 27x Nic Faas 145; 28 Dakota Kershaw 225; 31 Bruce Douglass 165; 47K Taylor Price 115; 51 Brent Camarillo 240; 55s Kyle Smith 190; 56 Steve Conrad 145; 65 Austin DeBlauw 125; 66 Chris Meredith 155; 69 Brian Camarillo 160; 71K Tom Hendricks 190.

HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps)
1. Dakota Kershaw, 2. Steve Conrad, 3. Rob Kershaw, 4. Tom Hendricks, 5. Austin DeBlauw, 6. Taylor Price.

HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps)
1. Brent Camarillo, 2. Brian Camarillo, 3. Guy Woodward, 4. Cody Kershaw, 5. Bruce Douglass, 6. Kyle Smith.

HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps)
1. Greg Taylor, 2. Wally Pankratz, 3. Nic Faas, 4. Chris Meredith, 5. Jay Waugh.

FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions)
1. Greg Taylor (4th), 2. Brent Camarillo (2nd), 3. Dakota Kershaw (3rd), 4. Kyle Smith (17th), 5. Tom Hendricks (11th), 6. Guy Woodward (8th), 7. Bruce Douglass (14th), 8. Rob Kershaw (7th), 9. Jay Waugh (15th), 10. Chris Meredith (12th), 11. Brian Camarillo (5th), 12. Cody Kershaw (10th), 13. Nic Faas (9th), 14. Steve Conrad (1st), 15. Austin DeBlauw (13th), 16. Taylor Price (16th), 17. Wally Pankratz (6th).
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Brent Camarillo, Laps 10-30 Greg Taylor.

HARD CHARGER: Kyle Smith (17th to 4th)

VRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Greg Taylor 3615; 2. Josh Ford 3110; 3. Steve Conrad 3095; 4. Brian Camarillo 2855; 5. Brent Camarillo 2685; 6. Derek Buckley 2365; 7. Don Gansen 2290; 8. Kyle Smith 2170; 9. Jimmy Crawford 1995; -. Markus Niemela 1995; 11. Cory Kruseman 1805; 12. Austin DeBlauw 1790; 13. Dakota Kershaw 1775; 14. Guy Woodward 1440;
15. Tom Harper 1385; 16. Tom Hendricks 1340; 17. Cody Kershaw 1275; 18. Troy Rutherford 1235; 19. Brandon Thomson 1175; 20. Steve Hix 1075.

VRA SPRINT CAR SCHEDULE:
September 24 - Ventura Raceway - Ventura, CA
October 1 - Ventura Raceway - Ventura, CA
October 15 - Ventura Raceway - Ventura, CA
October 29* - Ventura Raceway - Ventura, CA
November 12 - Ventura Raceway - Ventura, CA
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*All Coast Construction 360 Challenge.

9/17 VENTURA RACEWAY REPORT
by Cliff Morgan

Greg Taylor made it two in a row Saturday night in a shootout with Brent Camarillo in the 30 lap VRA Sprint Car main event. Taylor and Camarillo battled lap after lap with Camarillo nipping at the tail tank of Taylor after Taylor got by him on lap10. Taylor's win keeps him 205 points ahead of an absent Josh ford and 220 points ahead of Steve Conrad after 17 races in the 2011 season. Following Taylor and Camarillo across the line were Dakota Kershaw, Kyle Smith and Tom Hendrick. A smaller than usual car count caused three heats to be run with wins going to Dakota Kershaw, Brent Camarillo and Greg Taylor. No semi main was run Saturday night.

In VRA/USAC Midget competition, the third Battle at the Beach race went to Johnathon Henry over a field of 18 top midget drivers. He passed early race leader Markus Niemela on lap 10 and led the rest of the way to take the $2,000 winners purse. The race had one red flag incident when Robby Josett, Cory Kruseman, Brian Camarillo and Jimmy Voitel got together at the start finish line and blocked the track. Following Henry and Niemela across the line were Brent Camarillo, Josh Lakatos and David Prickett. Henry's win puts him with past Battle winners Cory Kruseman and Josh Lakatos in the running to be crowned King of the Beach at the final race on November 19. Heat race wins Saturday went to Brent Camarillo, Robby Josett and Kyle Smith.

IMCA racing saw a first time winner take the 20 lap feature. Rob Green took the win over a field of ten modifieds. Green led all 20 laps of the feature to take the win over Steve Bulpitt, Jack Parker, Brad Prows and Austin Rodarte. Point leader Aaron Rodarte finished 10 and takes a 12 point lead into the IMCA season finale next week over challenger Brad Prows. There were two heat races run with wins going to Tom Topping and visiting Hanford diver Eric Hamilton.

In USAC/VRA Ford Focus competition, the regular Ford focus 20 lap main event went to Andrew Mulhearn over Wally Pankratz, Tyler Dolacki, Casey Martinez and Nick Carlson. Their heat race winners were Wally Pankratz and Casey Martinez. In Junior Ford Focus racing the five car 15 lap main event went to Cole Custer followed by Katlyn Leer, Parker Colson, Austin Blair and Christine Breckenridge. Their heat race was won by Parker Colston.

VRA Go Karts were the final class running Saturday night. Their 20 lap main event went to George Ito followed by Johnny Conely, David Pankratz, Ken Ito and Cody Nigh. Their heat race wins went to Ashley Hazleton and Justin Raper.

Ventura Raceway returns to action next Saturday night September 24, with a full program featuring VRA Sprint Cars, Senior Sprint Cars IMCA Modifieds, VRA Dwarf Cars and our kid's classes.

Hmmm, funny how they say Robby Josett, Cory Kruseman, Brian Camarillo, and Jimmy Voitel got together. Go watch the video on loudpedal. Proves that Ventura is all about favorites. Cory clearly takes out Josett on purpose causing a big pile up. Then they hold the red flag out until Cory is done fixing his car.

Well he passed Cory and you just can't do that!

Which race car do you drive?

Everything you know is wrong.

Well I took your advice and watched the video and it looks like the usual from Josett to me. He hits Cory as he passes him and then Cory passes him back and then Josett passes Cory and just moves up into Cory. I guess he expects Cory to just drive it into the wall because Josett cant control his own car. Good job Cory I wouldnt take it either.

A lot of class shown by the former National Champ.

As is usually the case.

Everything you know is wrong.

Ya think ?

I was at the race and those 2 were going at it all race. I've heard from different people in both midgets and sprints that Ventura is Cory's house and they all want to play nice. Ok, I call Bull****. It shouldn't matter where you race or who you are racing, just race. Don't think that because Cory is behind, beside or in front of you that you can't pass him. Geez. Josett was giving as good as he was getting and so was Cory. Derp is right. At least it seemed like the officials @ Ventura held up the red so Cory got his car fixed. However, I don't think that Cory restarted or if he did, he dropped out within a couple of laps. There was fuel spilled onto the track so I'm sure that had to add time to the red.

Bottom line is this... If we FANS don't start supporting the type of racing we love so much, there's not going to be tracks and racing to bitch about. I don't think Ventura had more than 250-300 people in the stands. The pits were more crowded. I'm just sayin...

RIP Chet and Mark.  You might be gone but never will 
be forgotten.

I can't recall the last time Josett took someone out on purpose...

Didnt manage to get fully past before he slid up. I can name a dozen sprint car slide jobs which ended up with the same result.

What a load of old cobblers you guys talk. If Cory had lifted and hit the brakes you would all be saying he has lost his nerve and shouldnt have taken that move from Robby. A real racer never lifts, etc etc...

Looked like a lot of fuel on the racetrack. Maybe cleaning that up was more important than worrying about who got their cars fixed for the track crew.

I think what some folks are taking exception to is not so much the initial contact, but the fact that Cory made no attempt to back out even after turning Josett towards the wall. Mind you, I was watching from the turn one stands last season when the controversy started to percolate between these two drivers- so I know the history.

I also know the wily veterans don't forget to pay the up and coming kids back, when the kids do them wrong. I think in this case, it was time for the account to be paid in full- problem is, alot of other good equipment got wrecked because of it- and that part of it is bad racing etiquette.

I haven't been in the pits at Ventura all that often since June, just because our class hasn't been scheduled much since then, and we took one race off in July. The attitude at the track from the start of the year, until June- and then June until now is striking.

I was sad to see 8 divisions of cars in the pits, and only 79 cars total, let alone only 14 pro sprints. I think this was the first time I can remember that the highest car count class at Ventura was the pro dwarfs. Jim gave everyone a really good track Saturday night, and with the weather being a bit helpful- was able to keep the water truck and grader parked for the evening. I wish we all rewarded him with great racing- and while there was some really good racing- there was too much vicious racing- and that part of it is too bad.

I think the most striking portion of the whole evening- besides the low car counts, and the very sparse crowd- was the feeling of apathy in the pit area. Ventura Raceway and its pit area was a place I wanted to be each and every week 10-15 years ago. The atmosphere was great, and most everyone pulled together to help make our sport great. It was the place to be on Saturday night.

Now it seems, that most everyone is out for #1 and people are quick to pay others back on the race track (in all divisions, not just the sprints and midgets). While the well funded teams are able to afford this type of racing, the low buck teams (which Ventura was built around) are either out of money from getting torn up by the economy and on the race track, or are leaving their cars at home so that they don't get torn up by the wars being waged on the race track.

I hope that people can find something to rally around, and get excited about racing again. People like Damon Redman and his family, need our and everyone in the racing communities, help after his horrific accident. People like Mike Grosswendt, who have given their heart and soul- and a good portion of their own paycheck, to help make the sport we love better for everyone- deserve our support.

I hope that everyone that reads this will make every effort to go to the All Coast race on October 29th. I hope all the drivers who have taken a hiatus from racing of late, make the effort to go to this race and thank Mike for all he does. And when you are at this race, make sure to donate whatever you can afford to Damon's recovery fund.

We are racers- we need to stick together- we need to force this apathy to go away....