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Saturday night, June 3, saw the largest car count of the season at Ventura Raceway as the USAC Western 360 Series, in conjunction with VRA 360 Sprint Cars, ran the first of four ARP Battle at the Beach Races of 2017. Also racing that night were the IMCA Modifieds, California Lightning Sprints and the USAC 600s racing in restricted and non-wing divisions.
The USAC/VRA SSRP Battle at the Beach drew twenty one 360 sprint cars to compete in this the first of four races in this series within a series to see who will be crowned King of the Beach as part of the November running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix. The winner of each of these four races wins a very special Battle at the Beach trophy. The night started off with Kenny Perkins setting a new track 360 qualifying record with a run of 12.095 seconds. He then went on to take the win in the first heat race. Jace Vanderwerd took heat race two and Cody Majors took heat race three. All twenty one cars were eligible to start the main event so no semi main was run. The 30 lap main event was an exciting race as past VRA Champion Kyle Smith jumped out to the lead on lap one and led until he was passed by Ryan Bernal on lap 22. Bernal then led to the finish. He was followed across the line by Kyle Smith, Max Adams, Jace Vanderweerd and Cody Majors. Bernal's win earned him first place purse money, the special ARP Battle at the Beach Trophy and the points lead in the four race series.
USAC 600's made their first appearance at Ventura Raceway, racing in two divisions, Restricted for young drivers and 600 Non-Wing for adult drivers. These cars proved to be fast and very competitive. In the restricted class, Katey Syra took both their heat race and feature. She led Garth Kasiner, Rex Morris, Jake Parmley and Taylor DeCarlo to the checkered flag. During the race, Syra turned a lap of 12.695 seconds which would have placed her 13th in the sprint car qualifying order. The 600 non wing cars had 27 cars in attendance. Twenty of them took the green flag for the 20 lap main event. The race very fast and exciting. It saw one really wild crash that saw Brody Fuson flip side by side down the front straight. It was a very violent looking incident that thankfully resulted in no driver injuries. After the red flag period ended, Tristan Guardino took the lead and led to the finish, over Brendar Warmerdan, Jack Kassick, Danny Carrol and Kevin Lewis.
The California Lightning Sprints made their first 2017 appearance and the racing was very good. They ran three heat races with wins going to Bruce Douglas in heat one, Wyatt Downing in heat two and Brent Sexton in heat three. The 25 lap main event saw A J Bender take the win over Aiden Lang, Jarratt Kramer, Brent Sexton and Eric Greco.
IMCA action saw a repeat winner as Dave Phipps led all twenty laps to take his second race in a row over Luis Espinoza, Donald Houghton, Chris Crompe and Troy Morris Jr. Luis Espinoza took their one heat race.
Next Saturday night will see the second race in the VRA Dwarf Car Silver Cup series within a series. Also racing that night will be VRA Senior Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Focus Midgets.
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