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Moss
Snares South Sound Rick Moss showed a lot of patience as he captured his seventy-third WMRA feature of his illustrious career on the banked third mile South Sound Speedway oval. Moss, piloting the Kenworthy Motorsports Beast/Gaerte, took the lead on lap twenty-five from Rory Price, in his TCR/Esslinger and pulled away to a fifteen-car length victory in the thirty-lap feature. Darren Linder aboard the family owned TCR/Fontana was a close third. By virtue of his ninth quick time, Price was able to pace the field with Nick Seidelman alongside. The start was even but Price was able to utilize the low line through the second turn and took the lead ahead of N. Seidelman. N. Seidelman was able to tuck in behind Price as the field entered turn three on the opening lap with Linder, Rick Kraft and John Starks rounding out the top five. Kraft was able to take third from Linder using the high groove in turn one on lap two as the field remained tightly bunched. For the next few circuits, the only position change was for fifth as Starks, Brad Curtis and Moss were changing positions in each corner. On lap five, Cam McLean exited with a flat right rear. On lap six, Kraft was able to get under N. Seidelman for second as the pair exited turn two with Linder also getting under N. Seidelman entering turn three. The running order after six laps was Price, Kraft, Linder, N. Seidelman, and Starks. As the field entered turn three on lap seven. Starks got into the turn a little hot and got sideways. It appeared that he might save it but spun around in the infield exiting turn four. Starks was able to keep the car running by doing a three-sixty in the infield, which showered the track with rocks and grass. The yellow was waved to clean up the track as Starks went to the pits for a damage assessment. Under the extended caution to clean the track, Starks was able to make repairs and restart at the tail of the field. For the restart the running order was Price, Kraft, Linder, N. Seidelman and Moss. As the green waved, N. Seidelman’s car seemed to load up allowing Moss, Curtis and Jeff Bird the opportunity to gain a position. Price and Kraft slowly pulled away from the field with Price quicker down the straight and Kraft getting through the turns better. On lap eighteen, Moss used the low line exiting turn two to take third from Linder and started his quest of the leaders, about five car lengths ahead. Meanwhile, Starks had moved up to sixth after the restart. On lap twenty, Moss got under Kraft for second as the pair exited turn four. The running order was Price, Moss, Kraft, Linder and Curtis. The top five were now almost nose to tail with the race for sixth a side-by-side battle between Starks, Ken Ferris and Bird. The latter three were having an exceptionally exciting race with positions changing constantly. On lap twenty-two, Tony Seidelman exited with engine problems. Price’s difficulty in not being able to roll through the turns allowed a small opening for Moss on lap twenty-five as the pair exited turn four. As the duo entered turn one with Moss on the inside, slight contact was made, with Moss taking the lead down the back straight. On lap twenty-eight, Linder was able to get his nose under Kraft exiting turn four as they headed for the white flag. As the field exited turn two on the last lap, slight contact was made between Linder and Kraft, with Kraft slowing slightly causing a chain reaction with Curtis tapping Kraft and in turn getting tapped by Starks. It was an unfortunate position for Curtis who spun off the track on the back straight. The winner on the exchange was Ferris who moved from seventh to fifth. At the checkered, Moss held a comfortable advantage over Price with Linder, Kraft and Ferris rounding out the top five. The win put Moss within one victory of tying the all time feature winner, Ken Petersen. Ken Ferris set fast time for the sixth straight night, this time setting a new track record. This domination of qualifying hasn’t been seen for many years. Dashes went to Bobby Bird over Pete Bittrolf and Starks over Moss. In the first heat, J. Bird and McLean got together exiting turn four on lap two with a steering problem developing in turn one for J. Bird. The two cars spun in turn one with Bobby Bird also involved. The damage to J. Birds ride was too severe to run the main so he stepped into the car normally piloted by B. Bird. The fast heat was won by Kraft who led wire to wire over Curtis. McLean was given the ride in the Kenny Sherwood car after hot laps when he lost the motor in the Churchill #2. Pete Bittrolf was unable to start the main due to overheating. The next WMRA race will be held next Saturday night, July 20, at Spanaway Speedway. Summary: Qualifying: Ken Ferris 13.84 (new track record), Rick Moss 13.90, Brad Curtis 13.96, John Starks 14.02, Rick Kraft 14.18, Darren Linder14.24, Jeff Bird 14.32, Nick Seidelman 14.33, Rory Price 14.44, Pete Bittrolf 14.57, Bobby Bird 14.84, Tony Seidelman 15.03, Cam McLean 15.84 B Dash: B. Bird, Bittrolf, Price, N. Seidelman A Dash: Starks, Moss, Curtis, Ferris Heat #1: Price, T. Seidelman, N. Seidelman, Bittrolf, McLean, J. Bird, B. Bird Heat# 2: Kraft, Curtis, Moss, Starks, Ferris, Linder Main: Moss, Price, Linder, Kraft, Ferris, Starks, J. Bird, N. Seidelman, Curtis, T. Seidelman, McLean.
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