MOTOR RACING / BRIAN MURPHY : Midget Cars No Small Delight

They’re back.

The fastest vehicles to grace the one-quarter-mile dirt oval at Ventura Raceway--the cars of the popular USAC Western States Midget Series--will race tonight at 7.

When the midget series visited Ventura in May, enthusiastic fans nearly filled the 2,700-seat stadium.

They showed up because they like speed. These vehicles are open-wheeled and much faster than the traditional Street Stock and Mini Stock cars raced on a regular basis at Ventura. Robby Flock of City of Industry holds the one-lap oval record of 12.371 seconds.

In addition to the full midgets racing tonight, the slightly smaller three-quarter midgets will race too.

“They’re the best,” said Cory Kruseman, 19, of Ventura, comparing the three-quarter midgets to the Mini Stocks he races at Ventura on Friday nights. “It’s the speed, the open wheels. You’re on the edge, just living on a prayer.”

It would be wise to keep an eye on Kruseman tonight. He leads the three-quarter midget points standings with 264; one of Kruseman’s best friends, Jay Drake of Valencia, is in second place. Kruseman’s feat is impressive for a teen-ager, but he downplays heady talk.

“It’s luck,” he said of his lead. “I have to thank a lot of people for where I am, especially my crew chief, Harlan Willis. He’s the main man.”

In the full-midget points standings, Sleepy Tripp of Costa Mesa leads with 502 points and Flock is second with 365.

Big time: The 1990 American Motorcyclist Assn. Camel Supercross Series races to a conclusion tonight at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The 18th round of 250cc feature racing--the 20-lap Coors Extra Gold Super Challenge--will close out the season.

Defending champion Jeff Stanton of Sherwood, Mich., who has surged to first place in points (314) with a win last week in San Jose, will attempt to hold off Jean-Michel Bayle of Redondo Beach (300) and Jeff Matiasevich (294) of La Habra Heights, the other two racers with a chance to win the title.

Mike Kriedowski of Canyon Country enters the Coliseum with 265 points, just ahead of fifth-place rider Larry Ward of Society Hill, S.C. (262).

Last week in San Jose, Kriedowski, the reigning AMA 125cc National Motocross Champion, finished third behind Stanton and Bayle in the 250cc feature event at Spartan Stadium.

Another local, 1984 champion Johnny O’Mara of Simi Valley, took seventh at San Jose and is 11th in the points standings. Erik Kahoe of Saugus is 18th with 56 points.

Let’s play two: When Bill Sedgwick climbed out of his Spears Manufacturing Chevy Lumina last Saturday night at Saugus Speedway, he looked as glad as anyone that the 200-lap Winston West race had come to a close.

Sedgwick, the Van Nuys-based driver who regained the points lead by winning the event, had to ward off Redding’s fast-charging Bill Schmitt, the 1989 Winston West Series champion and wily veteran of the tour. A crash involving Bakersfield rookies Mike Chase and Gary Collins in Lap 156 had left Schmitt as the only driver behind Sedgwick for the last 40-plus laps.

“I was a little nervous,” the 35-year-old Sedgwick admitted with a smile after the race.

But Schmitt, 54, who has won the series title three times (1977, 1979, and 1989), showed no sign of nerves in charging after Sedgwick. In fact, he was ready for more.

“Well, second place isn’t first place,” Schmitt said. “I say we add 150, 200 laps to this thing and give us old guys a chance.”

The post-race interviewer, impressed with Schmitt’s stamina, raised an eyebrow.

“I’m ready,” Schmitt affirmed with a grin. “Let’s do it again.”

C’est la vie: Craig Rayburn of Simi Valley, known affectionately as the “Ironman” at Saugus for his double duty in Sportsman and Street Stock division racing, looked in great shape last Saturday night in a Sportsman race, bumping fenders with leader Jerry Gay of Lakeside after 12 laps.

Fans of the Ironman no doubt grew excited as No. 60 turned into Turn 2 of Lap 13 . . . then discovered that he had no brakes.

“What happened was the brake rotor exploded,” Rayburn said. “It just exploded. I had no brakes going into the corner.”

As a result, Rayburn spun out, sustained damage to the front end of his car in a collision with another car and was forced to leave the race. But any man who races as often as Rayburn--usually two cars on a Saturday night at the speedway--knows that such mishaps come with the territory.

“It’s just one of those unlucky things,” he said.

Even with last Saturday’s misfortune, Rayburn is seventh in the Sportsman points standings with 114. And in the Street Stock, the Ironman is fourth with 70 points, just 16 behind leader Steve Nickolai.