Consistency Distinguished Title Winners : Auto racing: Division champions at Ventura Raceway strung together solid performances.

The road to a division championship at Ventura Raceway this season was not paved with gold or with numerous victories. The path to a title at the quarter-mile oceanside dirt track can be summed up in one word: consistency.

A string of solid performances helped Marty Desbrow of Ventura, Paul Moore of Oak View and Richard Webster of Camarillo to repeat as titlists. Steady driving also paved the way to first-time championships for Zeke DeRose of Sun Valley and Ray Marroquin of Santa Maria.

Desbrow, 36, won by the largest margin, posting a record-setting third consecutive oval track title in the Mini Stock division. Joe Silva of Port Hueneme turned in his best oval track season, finishing second to Desbrow, 1,440 points to 1,125.

“I really wanted to win for a third year in a row,” said Desbrow, who has raced for four years at Ventura. “I didn’t have a lot of wins, but we were consistent.”

Moore, 33, became the first driver to win two consecutive titles in the Street Stock oval track division. He is the winningest driver in Ventura Raceway history. With his 1987 Mini Stock championships in both the oval and figure-eight divisions, Moore finds his name four times in the Ventura record book and is the only driver to win in both divisions.

“It was a steady season for us as a team,” Moore said. “We didn’t win a lot, but we finished in the top three most of the year.”

Webster started the final Mini Stock figure-eight race trailing defending champion Silva by 10 points, but a second-place finish behind Kevin Parker of Ventura propelled him to the title. Silva’s fourth-place finish made the season points race one of the tightest in the track’s history: Webster finished with 870 points, Silva 860 and Parker 850. Webster also recorded a Mini Stock figure-eight championship in 1990 and a Mini Stock oval title in 1989.

DeRose had to borrow a car for the final Street Stock figure-eight race after his broke down in earlier competition. DeRose drove the loaner to a third-place finish, which gave him his first Ventura title. He defeated defending champion Jim Firsich of Port Hueneme, 700-640.

Marroquin won the inaugural IMCA Modified championship at Ventura, heading a strong contingent of Santa Maria and San Diego area drivers. Local favorite Steve Rowe of Fillmore finished 16 points behind Marroquin, 524-508.

“The new IMCA division showed a lot of promise,” promoter Jim Naylor said. “A lot of the drivers that have been so consistent in the Street and Mini Stock divisions are going to move up to IMCA next year, and that will give some of the up-and-coming guys in those divisions a better chance to improve.”