John Starks of Puyallup, Wa., used a lap twenty-nine restart to take the lead from Darren Linder to capture the thirty-five lap WMRA feature at Spanaway Speedway. Starks, driving the family owned, Starks Logging, Starks-Gaerte was in the middle of a five car battle throughout the feature but was able to out brake Linder entering the first turn on the restart. Ken Ferris, driving the Allied Custom Draperies Beast-Gaerte finished a car length back with Rick Kraft taking third by inches at the checkered over Linder.

Linder led the field to the green with Doug Kammerzel, making his first start is several years, on the outside of the front row. As the field entered the first turn, Linder took the advantage with Brad Curtis following him into second while exiting turn two. Kraft was able to get under Kammerzel entering the third turn with Starks rounding out the top five after the initial lap. For the next two laps Curtis tried to get under Linder entering the turns but had to lift as there was no room. On lap four, Starks and Rick Moss got under Kammerzel moving them into the top five. Meanwhile, Curtis decided that the only way to take the lead would be to use the high groove. This opened up the bottom for Kraft as the trio diced for the top spot. The high line decision appeared to be the right one as Curtis was able to pull along side of Linder down the back straight on lap six. The pair raced side by side for a lap and it appeared that Curtis had finally pulled off the pass as they raced into turn three on lap eight. Unfortunately for Curtis, the high line was also the slickest as he did a 180 degree spin exiting turn four as the tightly grouped field narrowly averted the spun Curtis machine. For the restart the running order was Linder, Kraft, Starks, Moss and Ferris. For the next few laps, Linder held the low line with the next four racing nose to tail and side-by-side. On lap thirteen, Ferris got around Moss exiting turn two as Starks and Kraft were racing side by side. On lap fifteen, Kraft used the high groove in turn three to pull even with Linder and take the lead entering turn one. However, right behind him, slight contact was made between Starks and Ferris with Moss contacting Ferris causing Moss to spin into the infield. Due to the yellow, Kraft’s pass was nullified. Linder led the field to the green with Kraft, Starks, Ferris and Kammerzel following. On lap eighteen, after two laps of side-by-side action to see who was braver entering the turns, Starks was able to arrest second from Kraft. On lap nineteen, Jeff Bird spun exiting turn two to bring out the yellow. Linder continued to use the low line and was able to hold a slight advantage over Starks while Ferris and Kraft were having their duel for third. On lap twenty-one, Ferris got around Kraft exiting turn two. The racing behind Linder was torrid with Starks, Ferris and Kraft racing under a blanket. On lap twenty-nine, J. Bird spun for a second time, due to a stuck throttle, bunching the field for the dash to the checkered. Linder led the field to the green but Starks out braked him entering turn one. They raced side by side down the back straight but Linder had to yield entering turn three as he was set up to run the bottom only. On lap thirty-three, Ferris was able to get alongside Linder and make the pass down the back straight. Starks held a five-car length advantage as the field came down for the white flag but Ferris never gave up. At the checkered, he was right on Starks tail. Exiting turn four on the last lap, Kraft was able to get around Linder to take third with Moss and Curtis right behind. This race had the crown on their feet, as it was one of the best in many years.

Rick Moss set fast time, ending Ferris’ string of six straight quick times by a mere .001 seconds. Nick Seidelman and Linder took the dashes with Linder taking the first heat over Carl Peter and Bobby Bird. Curtis led wire to wire in capturing the fast heat over Starks. The next race for WMRA is Saturday night, August 3 at StateLine Speedway in Post Falls, Idaho.

Results:

Qualifying: Rick Moss 13.531, Ken Ferris 13.532, Jeff Bird 13.620, John Starks 13.667, Rick Kraft 13.693, Brad Curtis 13.762, Doug Kammerzel 13.926, Darren Linder 14.038, Bobby Bird 14.169, Tony Seidelman 14.315, Nick Seidelman 14.430, Cam McLean 14.452, Duane Westby 14.478, Carl Peter 14.617.

B Dash: N. Seidelman, Linder, T. Seidelman, B. Bird.

A Dash: Moss, Bird, Ferris, Starks.

Heat #1: Linder, Peter, B. Bird, N. Seidelman, McLean, Westby.

Heat #2: Curtis, Starks, Kraft, Moss, Ferris, J. Bird, Kammerzel.

Main: Starks, Ferris, Kraft, Linder, Moss, Curtis, N. Seidelman, B. Bird, McLean, Kammerzel, J. Bird, Peter, Westby.

Point Standings: