| WMRA News |
| Two Straight
For Starks Washington Midget Racing Association Wenatchee, Washington, July 21, 2001, by John Hunter John Starks of Puyallup, Washington., driving the Starks Bros Logging, Wholesale Truck Parts, Beast-Gaerte, used a lap nineteen pass of Darren Linder in route to his second WMRA feature win of the season. Ken Ferris driving his Allied Custom Draperies, MAC Towing, Beast-Gaerte finished a close second with Mel Kemper driving the Ralph Taylor Beast-Buick V-6 third, in the teams best ever finish. Jeff Bird and Linder paced the field for the start but the yellow waved before the first lap was complete as two separate incidents in turn three and left five cars spun on the track. The initial spin occurred when contact was made at the rear of the field between Duane Westby and Pete Bittrolf. At the same time, Rory Price and Rick Kraft were making contact in the middle of turn three with Kraft getting sideways and collecting both Ferris and Starks. All cars were able to restart with Ferris showing the worst damage, a bent rear bumper. For the restart, Bird used the low line to his advantage and took a car length lead over Linder with Price and Kemper running side by side. As the pack exited turn two on lap three, Bird pushed up and allowed Linder to take the top spot, and a lap later, Price and Starks took second and third from Bird with Kemper a close fifth. The running order remained the same until lap fourteen when Starks was able to get the jump on Price exiting turn two and made the move stick entering turn three. A lap later, Price got sideways entering turn three and slid through the grass but saved it and kept going. For his efforts he fell to ninth position. As Price was sliding through the infield, several drivers slowed expecting trouble allowing Ferris to move into fourth position. Starks then began to stalk Linder who was just a few car lengths ahead and on lap nineteen out braked Linder as the duo was entering turn three. The running order at this time was Starks, Linder, Ferris, Bird and Kemper. The yellow waved on lap twenty-one when Tommy Erdmann slowed on the front straight with mechanical problems. On the restart, Bird’s engine was slow getting up to power, which allowed Kraft, Brad Curtis and Nick Seidelman to gain positions. The driver on the move was Seidelman, in the family VW. Seidelman was using a higher line than those ahead and was moving up until the caution waved once again, as Linder lost it exiting turn two on lap thirty. For the final restart, brought down slow by Starks, Seidelman was the victim of a balky motor and lost three positions before getting going. Starks was on a rail the final laps as Ferris could stay with the former champion, but couldn’t find an opening to take advantage of. Kemper was a close third with Curtis and Bird less than a car length back at the checkered. Brad Curtis set fast time for the first time this season with a lap of 12.335 on the quarter mile oval. The surprise of the night was the third quick time of Seidelman in the family Autocraft, just twelve hundredths of a second off of fast time. Dashes were won by Bittrolf and Ferris, both from the pole. In heat action, Bittrolf outlasted a charging Westby while Price crossed the line ahead of Ferris. Results: Fast Qualifier: Brad Curtis 12.335 B Dash: Pete Bittrolf, Glen Guiles, Duane Westby, Jeff Bird. A Dash: Ken Ferris, Brad Curtis, John Starks, Nick Seidelman Heat #1: Bittrolf, Westby, Darren Linder, Guiles, Tommy Erdmann, Tony Villelli, Dave Hoene, Jeff Bird. Heat #2: Rory Price, Ferris, Curtis, Starks, Seidelman, Rick Kraft, Mel Kemper. Main: Starks, Ferris, Kemper, Curtis, Bird, Kraft, Seidelman, Linder, Westby, Guiles, Bittrolf, Villelli, Hoene, Price, Erdmann. Points Standings: Rick Kraft 572
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