| WMRA News |
MESERAULL ACCEPTS GOOD FORTUNE TO WIN MERIDIAN MIDGET SERIES RACEBy Floyd Busby MERIDIAN, ID., JULY 22: Thomas Meseraull accepted the victory in the second round of the Pacific Northwest Midget Championship Series, held at the Meridian Speedway, after early leader Kenny Ferris faltered and projected fourth-running Meseraull and Brian Olson into the top two spots. This marked the second race in the four race series co-sanctioned by the Washington Midget Racing Association and the Bay Cities Racing Association, with assistance from the Idaho Midget Racing Association in the two night program at the speedway. Meseraull's good fortunes developed when leader Ferris experienced a broken fuel line on the 31st lap of the 40-lap main event. The sudden slowing of the Baer Chevy Beast triggered mayhem behind him. First, second-running rookie sensation Even Margeson, with no room to ma nu ever, ran up over the right rear of Ferris and hit the wall at the end of the backstretch. Third-running Rick Moss spun his Howard Beal Pink Ford Beast to avoid the collision. Fourth and fifth Meseraull and Brian Olson reacted quickly to avoid the scattering cars as did most of the closly-bunched pack. Bobby Dalton and Skeeter Flake spun into the infield to avoid other cars. As the focus was on Margeson's crash, Ferris slowly rounded the track without power and stopped beyond the starting line, nearly unnoticed. He got out of his car and realized that the slip fitting of the fuel line had failed. He reattached the line and was pushed off to return to the race at the back, as did all of the involved cars except for Margeson's severely damaged Gaerte Chevy/Beast. The race had begun with Ferris out-challenging pole-sitter Flake with Margeson, Matt Stone and Moss following. Olson brought up sixth over Brea Lopez and Meseraull who had started tenth.On the second lap Moss moved into fourth as Meseraull jumped into sixth as Stone faded back. The top positions remained the same on the one-groove paved oval until the tenth circuit when Flake got a bit high and relinquished second to Margeson, then dropped back to ninth over the next two laps. During the nose-to-tail running Meseraull looked to be the most aggressive, putting pressure on Olson's Richard Flake Ford/Beast. The positions remained unchanged until the 26th lap when Pete Davis brought out the caution flag for a spin in turn-two. Upon the restart it was Michael Hubert III who brought out another yellow flag as he spun into the wall in turn-four with a little help, and restarted in the rear with 20 of the original 21 starters still on-track. Three laps later Garratt Boyden looped high in turn-four. During the restarts Meseraull had noticed that Olson was loading up and having difficulty accelerating at the green restart flags. At the restart following Boyden's spin, Meseraull chanced the outside as they accelerated out of the fourth turn. He managed to pull up along side Olson and the two entered the fist turn side-by-side with Meseraull having the momentum to pull ahead as they exited onto the backstretch. "I never would have gone to the outside if he (Olson) wasn't loading up coming off the turn at the green flag", Meseraull would state later. "Trying to run on the outside....the freight train would move by you, but I had to give it a try when Olson was having his problems". Taking that chance paid off much larger than Meseraull realized at that time, as two laps later the race-altering situation with leader Ferris developed and it was Meseraull in the lead instead of Olson. At the final green flag Meseraull led Olson with Lopez in third over John Sarale, rookie Dallas Melby, Rob Lindsey /chuck Gurney Jr. and Stuart Birkinbine. At this point it became apparent why Meseraull had the top qualifying time in the Bill Ferrari Esslinger/Beast as he immediately began opening a large gap between himself and Olson. Olson also began opening the void between himself and Lopez. Over the remaining laps Sarale, in his Gaerte Chevy/Beast, worked hard on Lopez's Dan Press Pink Ford/Beast to capture third, but to no avail. At the checkered flag 18 cars were still running, all on the lead lap except for one, and Meseraull had taken his second consecutive Pacific Northwest Midget Championship Series feature. Meseraull began the second round of the series with the quick time of 13.342 over the 31 qualifiers. The "B" Dash was won by Steve Spoor and the "A" Dash by Sarale. Heat wins went to Nick Seidelman, Ken Muth, Michael Hubert III and Evan Margeson. The 15-lap semi moved Eric Mostin, Bobby Dalton, Chuck Gurney Jr. and Pete Davis into the rear of the feature. Joe Lindsey and Steve Spoor were designated the two provisional starters, although Spoor did not start. SUMMARY: B-DASH: Spoor, Gurney, Dalton, Ransom. SEMI: Mostin, Dalton, Gurney, Davis, Spoor, Muth, N. Seidelman, Torrez, Wood, J.Lindsey, Prickett, Norton, Gatrell. NT. MAIN: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Brian Olson, 3. Brea Lopez, 4.
John Sarale, 5. Dallan Melby, 6. Rob Lindsey, 7. Chuck Gurney Jr., 8. Stuart
Birkinbine, 9. Eric Mostin, 10. Tony Siedelman, 11. Pete Davis, 12. Michael
Hubert III, 13. Rick Moss, 14. Garratt Boyden, 15. Skeeter Flake, 16. Kenny
Ferris, 17. Bobby Dalton, 18. Joe Lindsey, 19. Evan Margeson, 20. Matt
Stone, 21. Joe Ransom. |