Hansen Emerges From 3-Way Battle to Win Ventura Main

After battling Cory Kruseman and Dave Odell for the lead, Scott Hansen of Simi Valley fought through congested traffic before racing to victory in the U.S. Auto Club’s three-quarter Midget 30-lap main event before 2,022 at Ventura Raceway on Saturday night.

Kruseman of Ventura, who won last week’s feature, and Hansen started on the third row and chased leader Odell of Bakersfield for the first 13 laps before both drivers passed Odell in Turn 2 of Lap 14. Hansen held a slight edge over Kruseman and the two jockeyed for the lead the rest of the way. Hansen became the fourth three-quarter Midget driver to win in as many races this year at Ventura. Kruseman was second, Mark Holz of Bremerton, Wash., was third and Odell finished fourth.

Steve Rowe of Fillmore won the 10-lap IMCA Modified main event. Bruce Dorn of Hollywood made an impressive run, coming from 11th place to win the Dwarf Car 15-lap main event.

Kruseman recovered from a bone-jarring flip in an earlier heat race and won the 12-lap three-quarter Midget semi-main event to qualify for the feature. Randy Moody of Ventura, a rookie driver, won the first three-quarter Midget heat race of his career.