By Ed Williams

Defending Champion Ken Ferris drove his Murray Ferris/MAC Towing Beast/Gaerte to the winner's circle in the season opening 35 lap WMRA feature Saturday night at Spanaway Speedway. Ferris assumed the lead on the ¼ mile oval when race leader Rick Kraft pitted under a lap 11 yellow with mechanical problems. Once in front, Ferris controlled the event and led second place finisher John Starks in his Starks Logging/Blue Dot Race Cars Blue Dot/Gaerte by almost a full straightaway at the checker with Brad Curtis bringing his Composite Laminate/Aldercrest Auto Rebuild Beast/Gaerte another 5 car lengths back in third. The event was postponed by an unseasonable rain/hail storm that washed out time trials. Events were lined up by 2002 Season Points on a cold Northwest night.

Kraft grabbed the lead from his outside front row starting position and appeared to have the race firmly under control over the first 10 laps while Ferris battled pole sitter Rob Lindsey for the runner up spot and Starks was moving through traffic from his 7th starting spot. The first yellow came out on lap 10 when Jeff Bird lost power. Bird was able to restart. One lap after the restart Tony Seidelman brought his car to a halt outside the entrance to turn one bringing out another yellow. Leader Kraft pitted with injection problems.

Ferris controlled the balance of the event as it ran green and clean until the finish. Second running Starks was unable to mount a serious challenge. Lindsey, suffering handling problems, held off Curtis's challenges until lap 31 and lost fourth place to rookie Brian Olson on the white flag lap.

Starks took heat 1 over Curtis and Ferris. The event ended one lap early when Lindsey hit some standing water and slid completely up the track. Ferris ran over his wheel and came within inches of going over. After the feature event Ferris commented "It's amazing how you can work and measure to get just the right front axle setup, then crash and bend it two inches and it doesn't make any difference." Heat one also featured J Bird losing power and driving into the grass outside turn one (he restarted) and a "synchronized spin" by Matt Stone and Bob Eldridge on a restart. A combination of first race nerves and a slightly damp track contributed substantially to all the activity.

Bobby Bird won heat 2 over Seidelman and Olson in a much calmer event.

The Dash, which included the top two finishers in each of the two heats, went to Starks over Curtis.

Summary: Heat 1 (8 laps): John Starks, Brad Curtis, Ken Ferris, Rob Lindsey, Jeff Bird, Bob Eldridge, Matt Stone

Heat 2 (8): Bobby Bird, Tony Seidelman, Brian Olson, Rick Kraft, Dave Hone

Dash (4): Starks, Curtis, Seidelman, B Bird

Main (35): Ferris, Starks, Curtis, Olson, Lindsey, Stone, J Bird, Eldridge, B Bird, Kraft, Hoene, Seidelman

DNS Main: Darren Linder, Skeet Flake, Doug Kammerzell, Scott Morgan, Cam McLean