Mike Spencer, 5 time USAC/CRA Champion, wins for the first time for his new time Gansen Engineering Motorsports.

Chris Wakim, who raced with us for years, shows up out of the blue and wins the Senior Main.

Mike Leach wins the Focus Main.

Saturday night May 6, saw a great night of short track racing, as Ventura Raceway held a very special event with the Amsoil USAC/CRA 410 Sprint Cars headlining the show.  VRA Seniors Sprints and Focus Midgets were also there to complete a full night of exciting racing action.

The USAC Sprints were on hand with 25 cars signed into the pits.  Qualifying saw Logan Williams set quick time with a lap of 12.114 seconds around the 1/5 mile oval.   Brody Roa, Damion Gardner, Troy Rutherford and Max Adams rounded out the top five fast qualifiers.  There were three heat races run with wins going to Austin Williams in heat one, Jake Swanson in heat two and Damion Gardner in heat three.  With 25 cars present, a 12 lap Semi Main was run to fill the field for the main event.  Troy Rutherford took the win followed by Max Adams, Ronnie Gardner, Matt McCarthy, Kyle Smith, Danny Sheridan, Kenny Perkins, Kyle Edwards, Rick Hendrix and Guy Woodward.  These 10 cars transferred to the Main Event. The 30 lap feature was fast and furious.  A J Bender took the lead on lap one, only to spin in front of the field on lap two.  Cody Williams then led one lap before Mike Spencer took the lead for good on lap three. Throughout the race, he was challenged by Damion Gardner who tried to get by him on several occasions with no success.  Following Spencer to the line were Damion Gardner, Brody Roa, Max Adams, Logan Williams, Austin Williams, Troy Rutherford, Kyle Smith, Chase Johnson and Chris Gansen.

Past VRA driver Chris Wakim returned to action to take the win in the Senior Sprint 20 lap feature.  Wakim drove the number 81 to a strong win over a field of ten Senior drivers.  The field of 10 cars ran two heat races that went to Danny Parrish and 2016 Senior Champion, Chris Meredith.  Their 20 lap main event was a good race that saw Randi Pankratz lead lap one to 14 before Chris Wakim passed her on lap fifteen and then led to the finish.  Following Wakim across the line were Randi Pankratz, Wally Pankratz, Chris Meredith and Steve Brown.  Danny Parrish now leads the point race by fifteen points over Ed Schwarz after three races in 2017.

The final group racing Saturday night was the VRA Focus Midgets. A small field of four cars were on hand Saturday night.  Mike Leach took their 15 lap main event over Jet Davison, Mike Anderson and Jessica Valentine. Their one heat race went Jet Davison. In the season point race, Jet Davison is leading Jessica Valentine by 40 points.

Ventura Raceway continues its 2017 season next Saturday May 13th, with a full program featuring USAC Midgets, IMCA Modifieds, VRA Dwarf Cars and VRA Hobby Stocks.

AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 6, 2017 – Ventura, California – Ventura Raceway

WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Logan Williams, 5, Jory-12.114; 2. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-12.132; 3. Damion Gardner, 4, Alexander-12.166; 4. Troy Rutherford, 11, Rutherford-12.231; 5. Max Adams, 5M, Adams-12.292; 6. Mike Spencer, 4S, Gansen-12.312; 7. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-12.317; 8. Matt McCarthy, 28M, McCarthy-12.326; 9. Danny Sheridan, 73T, Ford-12.328; 10. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-12.351; 11. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-12.359; 12. Kyle Smith, 55, Smith-12.380; 13. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-12.446; 14. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-12.508; 15. Cody Majors, 54, Majors-12.533; 16. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-12.590; 17. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-12.645; 18. Jeremy Ellertson, 98, Ellertson-12.706; 19. Ronnie Gardner, 81X, Watt-12.722; 20. Kenny Perkins, 0K, Perkins-12.820; 21. Rick Hendrix, 15, Hendrix-12.831; 22. Guy Woodward, 24, Woodward-12.897; 23. Steve Hix, 57, Hix-13.105; 24. Brent Owens, 71, Martin-13.491; 25. Austen Figueroa, 49, Bach-15.143.

EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. A.Williams, 2. C.Williams, 3. Gansen, 4. Bender, 5. Rutherford, 6. R.Gardner, 7. L.Williams, 8. Woodward. NT

BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Swanson, 2. Johnson, 3. Adams, 4. Roa, 5. Edwards, 6. McCarthy, 7. Perkins, 8. Hix. NT

CIRCLE TRACK PERFORMANCE / KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. D.Gardner, 2. Majors, 3. Spencer, 4. Ellertson, 5. Hendrix, 6. Owens, 7. Sheridan, 8. Smith. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION INC. / PYROTECT RACING CELLS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Rutherford, 2. L.Williams, 3. R.Gardner, 4. McCarthy, 5. Smith, 6. Sheridan, 7. Perkins, 8. Edwards, 9. Hendrix, 10. Woodward, 11. Hix, 12. Owens. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Mike Spencer, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Brody Roa, 4. Max Adams, 5. Logan Williams, 6. Austin Williams, 7. Troy Rutherford, 8. Kyle Smith, 9. Chase Johnson, 10. Chris Gansen, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Ronnie Gardner, 13. Cody Majors, 14. Cody Williams, 15. A.J. Bender, 16. Kyle Edwards, 17. Rick Hendrix, 18. Jeremy Ellertson, 19. Danny Sheridan, 20. Matt McCarthy, 21. Kenny Perkins, 22. Guy Woodward. NT
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**McCarthy flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Bender, Lap 2 C.Williams, Laps 3-30 Spencer.
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS / ROD END SUPPLY HARD CHARGER: Austin Williams (16th to 6th)

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS:

NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: May 27 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway – “Salute to Indy”

Ventura Raceway Race Results for 05/06/2017

VRA Senior Sprints
Race #3     05/06/2017

Main Event Results: 1. Chris Wakim, Simi Valley, 20 Laps; 2. Randi Pankratz, Atascadero, 20 Laps; 3. Wally Pankratz, Orange, 20 Laps; 4. Chris Meredith, Thousand Oaks, 20 Laps; 5. Steve Brown, Ontario, Ca, 20 Laps; 6. Danny Parrish, Anchorage, Alaska, 20 Laps; 7. Ron Bach, Santa Paula, 20 Laps; 8. Ed Schwarz, Santa Fe Springs, 9 Laps; 9. Smokey Stover, Manhattan Beach, 0 Laps
Lap Leaders: Randi Pankratz (1-14), Chris Wakim (15-20)

Heat Race Winners:  SpinTech Mufflers Heat 1: Danny Parrish; Saldana Racing Products Heat 2: Chris Meredith

Top 10 in points:  1. Danny Parrish, 670; 2. Ed Schwarz, 655; 3. Wally Pankratz, 620; 4. Steve Brown, 610; 5. Chris Meredith, 570; 6. Greg Andrews, 385; 7. Russell Martin, 365; 8. Smokey Stover, 360; 9. Chris Wakim, 245; 10. Randi Pankratz, 235

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Focus Midgets
Race #3     05/06/2017

Main Event Results: 1. Mike Leach, Foothill Ranch, 20 Laps; 2. Jet Davison, Running Springs, 20 Laps; 3. Mike Anderson, Anza, 11 Laps; 4. Jessica Valentine, Cupo Beach, 11 Laps
Lap Leaders: Mike Leach (1-20)

Heat Race Winners:  Heat 1: Jet Davison

Top 10 in points:  1. Jet Davison, 670; 2. Jessica Valentine, 630; 3. Mike Leach, 485; 4. Brandon Biggs, 430; 5. Kyle Beilman, 415; 6. Randi Pankratz, 235; 7. Mike Anderson, 220; 8. Daniel Anderson, 185

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