Rick Kraft captured his first WMRA feature of the season in impressive style on the quarter-mile Spanaway Speedway oval.  Driving his Normet-USA, Carco Industries, Callahan-Fontana, Kraft took the lead on lap six from Tony Seidelman, in route to a three second victory over Ken Ferris in the Ferris/Hoene, Allied Custom Draperies Beast-Gaerte.  Brad Curtis finished third in the Joan Curtis, Sage Induction Beast-Gaerte, another car length back.

The front row of T. Seidelman and Pete Bittrolf lead the field to the green.  As the green waved, Glen Guiles made contact with the rear of Kraft’s car, momentarily sending the front end of Guiles car air born, but he was able to save the car and continue.  Bittrolf took the advantage down the back straight on the opening lap as the remainder of the field remained in two wide racing.  The running order after the first lap was Bittrolf, Seidelman, Curtis, Kraft and Ferris.  Over the next four laps, Seidelman tried the high groove in an effort to take the lead while the next six positions were constantly changing as the field remained in a two wide formation.  Finally on lap five, Seidelman was able to get around Bittrolf entering turn one.  Kraft wasted no time, as he was able to get past Bittrolf entering turn three on the same lap for the second position.  After five laps the running order was Seidelman, Kraft, Bittrolf, Curtis and Ferris.  On the following circuit, Kraft was able to get under Seidelman exiting turn four to take the lead.  Meanwhile, the race behind Kraft was heating up.  On lap seven, Ferris was able to take fourth from Curtis as Bittrolf was working on Seidelman for second.  On lap eight, Bittrolf reassumed second from Seidelman but was repassed the following lap.  The side by side action for second kept the field tightly packed and on lap nine, contact was made in the middle of the pack with Rick Moss spinning in turn three.  During the incident, a brake bleeder broke, ending the former champions night.  The running order for the restart was Kraft, Seidelman, Bittrolf, Ferris and Curtis.  As the green waved, Seidelman’s car refused to pick up the pace, allowing Bittrolf to reassume second.  For the next few laps, Kraft pulled away from the field as Ferris and Curtis raced side by side in an effort to find a way around Bittrolf.  Finally on lap twelve, Ferris saw an opening exiting turn two and took second from Bittrolf.  Curtis followed the current point leader into third with Bittrolf and Darren Linder rounding out the top five.  Linder was able to take fourth from Bittrolf on lap fourteen.  By now, Kraft had built a three second lead putting the spectators attention to the race for second between Ferris and Curtis.  For the final eleven laps, Kraft was able to keep his advantage over Ferris, as Curtis was unable to find an opening, thereby finishing a close third.  Linder crossed the line about five car lengths behind Curtis with Bittrolf finishing fifth, his best of the season with WMRA.

Ferris set quick time for the fifth consecutive race, at 13.501.  T. Seidelman capture the first dash over Bittrolf while Kraft led wire-to-wire taking the A Dash over Ferris.  In the first heat, contact was made entering the third turn on the opening lap sending T. Seidelman and Duane Westby off the track.  Both cars received slight damage but were able to be repaired in time for the feature.  The same couldn’t be said for Chuck Rude who broke a rear axel later in the heat.  Fortunately, the car only made slight contact with the front straight wall, but his night was over.  Linder won the fast heat over Moss.  During the heat, contact was made between Curtis and Moss with Curtis ending up backwards at the start-finish line.  Nick Seidelman broke a valve during his heat and Jeff Bird lost a cam during hot laps.  The WMRA takes a short break with the next race being on July 13 at South Sound Speedway

Summary:

Qualifying:  Ken Ferris 13.501, Rick Moss 13.513, Rick Kraft 13.613, Nick Seidelman 13.618, Darren Linder 13.657, Brad Curtis 13.734, Glen Guiles 14.114, Pete Bittrolf 14.122, Tony Seidelman 14.274, Chuck Rude 14.389, Duane Westby 14.501, Can McLean 15.637, Jeff Bird NT.

B Dash:  T. Seidelman, Bittrolf, Guiles, Rude.

A Dash:  Kraft, Ferris, Moss, N. Seidelman.

 Heat:  Guiles, Bittrolf, McLean, Rude, Westby, and T. Seidelman.

 Heat 2:  Linder, Moss, Kraft, Ferris, Curtis, and N. Seidelman.

 Main:  Kraft, Ferris, Curtis, Linder, Bittrolf, T. Seidelman, Guiles, McLean, Westby, and Moss.