Curtis Tops Field at Spanaway
Washington Midget Racing Association
Spanaway
Speedway, Tacoma, WA, July 5, 2003, by Ed Williams
Brad Curtis celebrated his 29th birthday by driving one of the best races of his career winning his second WMRA feature of the year Saturday night at Spanaway Speedway. Curtis, in his family owned Composite Laminate Specialties/Aldercrest Auto Rebuild Beast/Gaerte, came from his outside fourth row starting position to take the lead midway through the 35-lap event and held off Friday night winner Rick Moss in the Zakula Beal Auctioneers Beast/Pink Ford for the win. Rookie Matt Stone brought his Bardahl/Ad-Fab-Ink Beast/Gaerte home in third place for his best finish of the year.
Bobby Bird took the initial lead from the pole with Brian Olson getting past Stone for the runner up spot by the end of lap two. With Bird out front, the second through ninth spots became a wheel-to-wheel nose-to-tail battle among Olson, Stone, Darren Linder, Curtis, Moss, Rick Kraft, Rob Lindsey and Ken Ferris. Curtis was challenging for third when the only yellow of the event waved on lap 9 as Linder was bumped from behind and spun in turn three. He restarted but pitted on lap 16 with overheating problems.
Bird controlled the restart with Olson, Stone, Curtis and Moss rounding out the top five. Curtis worked his way into third by the 12th circuit followed immediately by Moss. Two laps later Curtis moved into the runner up spot and began to reel the leader in. Moss took the third spot by the end of lap 15 with Stone working past Olson shortly after. By lap 16, Kraft had moved into fifth followed by Olson, Ferris, Lindsey, Pete Bittrolf and Duane Westby.
Curtis passed Bird for the lead after a two lap battle on the 17th circuit with Moss taking second one lap later and Stone moving past Bird on lap 19. Bird began to experience magneto problems and by lap 20 had faded to 7th. By lap 25 Curtis held a five-car length lead over Moss with Stone, Kraft, Olson and Ferris rounding out the top six.
As the final ten laps wound down, Moss was unable to make a substantial move as the leaders moved through lapped traffic and Curtis held his five-car length advantage at the checker. Kraft, Ferris, Olson, Lindsey and Bird followed the top three at the finish.
In preliminary action, Moss set fast time at 13.199; Bird took both the B Dash and first heat Bittrolf finished second in both events; Linder won the A Dash over Ferris and Olson took heat 2 over Stone.
Summary:
Qualifying: Rick Moss 13.199, Brad Curtis 13.311, Ken Ferris 13.311, Darren Linder 13.377, Rick Kraft 13.377, Brian Olson 13.444, Matt Stone 13.622, Rob Lindsey 13.755, Bobby Bird 13.811, Pete Bittrolf 13.877, Nick Seidelman 14.066, Scott Morgan 14.181, Duane Westby 14.311, Dave Hoene 14.350, Skeeter Flake 14.573.
B Dash (4 laps): Bobby Bird, Pete Bittrolf, Nick Seidelman, Dave Hoene
A Dash (4): Darren Linder, Ken Ferris, Moss, Brad Curtis
1st Heat (8): Bird, Bittrolf, Rob Lindsey, Hoene, Seidelman, Scott Morgan, Skeeter Flake, Duane Westby
2nd Heat (8): Brian Olson, Matt Stone, Curtis, Moss, Rick Kraft, Linder, Ken Ferris
Main (35): Curtis, Moss, Stone, Kraft, Ferris, Olson, Lindsey, Bird, Bittrolf, Westby, Linder, Seidelman; DNS: Flake, Morgan, Hoene.
Point Standings:
Ken Ferris 664, Rick Moss 628, Brad Curtis 625, Brian Olson 621, Matt Stone 473, Bobby Bird 464, Rick Kraft 452, Rob Lindsey 430, Nick Seidelman 299, Darren Linder 260.