VENTURA RACEWAY : It Was a Night for Caution as Williams Wins Feature

For the second consecutive evening, yellow was the dominant color at Ventura Raceway.

That’s the color of the caution flag, which was displayed four times before one lap of the 30-lap Sprint Car Racing Assn. feature race was completed.

Add that figure to the seven caution periods in the California Dwarf Car Racing Assn. main event, and it made for a long night.

Current SCRA points leader Rip Williams of Yorba Linda picked up his fifth victory, passing last year’s California Racing Assn. sprint car champion Mike Kirby of Lomita coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap, less than 80 yards from the finish line.

Kirby, who originally was third in the starting lineup, ended up starting from the pole after an accident eliminated pole-sitter Jerry Meyer of Chino.

Ron Shuman of Tempe, who has four victories this year, finished third, and fast qualifier Ron DiDonato of Riverside was fourth.

After posting a fourth place finish in his seven-lap heat race, DiDonato earned his spot in the feature with a wire-to-wire victory in the first 10-lap semi-main.

Williams ran away from the field in the second semi-main, while Cucamonga’s Gary Howard and Temple City’s Bob Meli battled for second place.

Howard passed Meli on the inside of the fourth turn on the final lap for second, while Meli slid into the wall and flipped across the finish line for third.

There was a tense moment when Meli’s car caught fire as the safety crew righted it, but the blaze was quickly extinguished while Meli extracted himself from the wreckage.

The 20-lap Dwarf Car feature was reduced to 15 laps, due to a 20-minute time limit.

Tom Stansberry of Tehachapi picked up the victory when he passed 58-year-old San Pedro resident Ed Johns on the 14th lap after a restart following a final caution flag.

Johns, who is currently running second in the dwarf points race, started on the pole and led the first 13 laps.