Desbrow Posts Mini Stock Win at Ventura

Marty Desbrow of Ventura looked as if he were driving in rush-hour traffic on the Ventura Freeway instead of the Ventura Raceway on Friday night.

The defending Mini Stock oval-track champion weaved through the traffic of a spread-out 16-car field throughout the 20-lap event with deft steering to win the Mini Stock main event.

Desbrow weaved past last week’s main-event winner, Pat Garrety of Oxnard, on Lap 5 and was never headed as he skillfully maneuvered through slower traffic the remainder of the race. Steve Rowe of Oxnard was second and Joe Silva of Port Hueneme third.

Oxnard’s Leonard Rowe outclassed the field to win the inaugural 15-lap Modified Mini Stock main event by a half-lap over Robert Malone of Port Hueneme and Jim Jewett of Oxnard.

Despite having only five Modified Mini Stocks competing in their first week of action, Mini Stock Racing Assn. President Bob Coply of Bakersfield said that the MSRA division will be one of the more popular classes to race by midseason at Ventura.

“The MSRA cars have been racing mainly on the asphalt tracks like Saugus, Madera and Mesa Marin in Bakersfield,” Coply said. “This opens a new venue for this type of car on dirt and most of our drivers are in the Southern California area. With the calls I have received about Ventura, I think there will be well over a dozen cars involved and a lot of interest.”

Robrt McMahon of Port Hueneme and Leonard Rowe each won a Modified Mini Stock heat race.

Defending Mini Stock figure-eight champion Richard Webster of Camarillo got past Silva in the final turn on the checkered-flag lap when Silva had to slow at the intersection for traffic, allowing Webster to record his first win of the season.

Mini Stock eight-lap heat-race winners were Garrety, Jewett, and Steve Rowe.

Desbrow claimed an easy victory in the four-lap Mini Stock trophy-dash race.