On a night when the IMCA Modifieds, Sport Compacts and Senior Sprint Cars were in a demolition derby mode, Greg Taylor and the Ventura Racing Association Sprint Car drivers put on a show on a slick and difficult track Saturday.

Taylor started on the pole, but Brian Camarillo took control early. Camarillo, Taylor and Chris Wakim battled 30 laps for supremacy.

Taylor drove off the high dirt and finally passed Camarillo en route to the win.

Wakim finished third, another strong showing for the Simi Valley driver who last visited Victory Lane on Sept. 2, 2006, in the Bandit-VRA Grand Slam Series. Camarillo won the June 21 feature.

This Saturday, the series heads to Santa Maria, where Taylor will be gunning for his 43rd career win. Taylor is the VRA track champion in Ventura and the defending champion in the Grand Slam Series. Peter Murphy has won the first two Bandit races at King Speedway in Hanford and Bakersfield Speedway.

Taylor's team was ready for Saturday's final home Sprint Car race before the Ventura County Fair races July 30-31. The highlight of the racing is the crowd-pleasing Demolition Derby with $1,000 to win each night, plus all the other divisions race before a standing-room-only crowd.

Taylor said he might have had a tight rear tire Saturday night, but it didn't bother him.

"The car came to us," he said.

His said his crew did the right things in its last-minute preparations.

"We couldn't be happier," said Taylor of Ventura, who has been racing in a sprint car since he was 16 and whose dad won the track IMCA Sprint Car championship in the mid-1990s.

Camarillo said he wasn't expecting Taylor to surge by the way he did and leave him in the dust.

"This was the best race you could ever see," said Jim Naylor, the Ventura Raceway promoter and announcer.

Wakim is showing signs of winning again. With all the up-and-down races he's had, Wakim said third place is like a win.

Rick Hendrix finished fourth and Troy Rutherford was fifth.

Hendrix has been racing longer than Naylor's 31 years of running Ventura Raceway.

"I love it, always have," said Hendrix.

Kevin Kierce is the points leader (3,185) after 17 races. Clark Templeman III ranks second (3,165) and Hendrix is third with 2,940.

Bruce Douglass captured his third Senior Sprint Car win by finishing ahead of Tim Moon. Bill Badger was third. Wiley Miller and Rob Kershaw rounded out the top five. Ron Bach, a former champion, leads in points with 1,705. Kershaw is second at 1,645 and Douglass is third at 1,640.

Randal Dougan was awarded the win in the Sport Compacts feature after Darren Gunnell was penalized for jumping on a restart. Joel Chavez Jr. was given second and Gunnell was third in the 15-lap race. Gunnell took the lead on the restart jump, but Chavez (1,845 points), Dougan (1,810) and Gunnell (1,770) are the top drivers.

Damon Redman was victorious in the IMCA modifieds. Redman started ninth and weaved his way through a number of yellow flags and crashes, avoiding disaster. Randy McGraw finished second and Richard Denman was third. Steve Smith and Joe Weaver rounded out the top five.

After 10 races, defending champion Jack Parker and Redman each have 365 points. Austin Rodarte is third with 335.

Tyler Edwards notched the 20-lap VRA Junior Focus feature victory. Joe Leiper was second, followed by Jake Swanson and Charlie Butcher.

Butcher is the points leader with 2,230 through 10 events. Edwards is second (2,120) followed by Jake Swamson (1,885).

Information: http://www.venturaraceway.com.