RAMIE STONE WINS SIXTH, VAN HOUTEN WINS EIGHTH

Source: DON MARTIN
Date: 07/16/2002

MERCED, California IMCA Modified Point leader Ramie Stone continued to impress Saturday night at Merced Speedway by winning his sixth 25 lap IMCA Modified main event. Meanwhile, point leader Keith Van Hounten battled handling problems earlier in the night but was his usual smooth self in scoring his eighth straight Central Valley Sportsman main event victory.

The IMCA Modifieds ran two six lap qualifying heat races with wins going to rookies Bobby Williamson and Mike Shepherd. Jack Stanford held off young Williamson to win the four lap Trophy Dash. For the second straight week, the 13 car IMCA Modoified main event ran caution free and R. Stone charged to the lead and held it to the checkered flag. Defending track champion Bob Williamson moved into second in the standings by finishing second in the main event ahead of Stanford, Phil Pedlar and Shepherd. After a hard crash a week earlier severely damaged the front end of his Larkins Modified, six time winner Troy Stone returned and took the checkered flag in tenth.

While point leader Van Houten was struggling in the Central Valley Sportsman preliminaries, second ranked Kevin Freitas was winning his six lap heat race and the four lap Trophy Dash. Rob Schropp won the other heat race and set out to snap Van Houten's modern day record setting eighth feature win. Schropp set the early pace while Van Houten worked his way up from the fourth row. A crash that eliminated Luis Miranda and Ed Marion brought out a lap eight caution flag, and Van Houten was now second. Schropp continued to lead Van Houten on the restart, but Van Houten finally made his winning pass on lap 11. Once in front, Van Houten sped home to the victory with Schropp collecting a second plce finish in front of Billy Mattos, Freitas and Tim Leidich.

H 1-Bobby Williamson, Tim Etchison Jr., Bob Williamson, Jim DiGiovanni, Troy Stone.

H 2-Mike Shepherd, Jack Stanford, Phil Pedlar, Ramie Stone, Bill Hiney.

DASH-Stanford, Bobby Williamson, Etchison, Shepherd.

MAIN EVENT-R. Stone, Bob Williamson, Stanford, Pedlar, Shepherd, DiGiovanni, Bill Saltzman, Bobby Williamson, Rich Firato, Johnnie Baptista, T. Stone, Etchison, Hiney.

H 1-Rob Schropp, Ed Marion, Tim Leicich, Keith Van Houten.

H 2-Kevin Freitas, Billy Mattos, Luis Miranda, Jason Belton.

DASH-Freitas, Marion, Schropp, Nattos.

MAIN EVENT-Van Houten, Schropp, Mattos, Freitas, Leidich, Belton, Miranda, Marion.

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