WMRA News

September 3, 2005 – Ephrata, Washington By Loren Doolittle Assistant Reporter – Dolan Lannan Rick Moss secures an unprecedented tenth WMRA Championship with Ephrata win. Late afternoon hot laps produced the usual flurry of car adjustments. For this observer the two hardest hit were once again Bob Eldridge, and the rookie Brea Lopez. For Eldridge, it was determined a faulty fuel pump was the cause of his troubles at Roseburg. You guessed it, the new pump sent, was as faulty as the one it was intended to replace, and Bob Eldridge was unable to run. Exasperation two weekends in a row. All in the WMRA community extend their heartfelt thanks for Eldridge’s determination and effort to support the club. We know better times are ahead for you. For Brea, the week began with a cracked block in the engine plant that took her to a second place finish at Roseburg. Dan Press knowing the importance of making the Ephrata race due to the tight rookie of the year race, went the extra few hundred hours, and after multiple phone calls, found himself at Portland International Airport on Thursday afternoon, waiting arrival of a new Ed Pink power plant. On Saturday as the Lopez racing team pitted, only one questioned remained. Would it fire? At 3:00 pm Brea was on track with push truck ready. The answer came swiftly as less than half the front stretch later the Ed Pink purred to life. Power plant needs solved, what was never to be solved for Brea this day was set-up. Even the kitchen sink had no answer, as the Lopez crew made change after change, and simply couldn’t find the needed set-up to be fast. For Kenny Ferris, Ephrata is a nemesis of a track, and at one point, there must have been every available shock and spring out there scattered about the car. Kenny Ferris would chase the allusive set-up himself. Post race Ferris simply looked at the crowd of racers gathered for pizza at evenings end, and simply said – “I don’t know what it is, but I simply never run well here.” Eighteen cars were in the pits, Walker and Petter back from California, and Brad Curtis making his first outing of the season after disintegrating his engine nine months ago at Turkey night. Car count was solid for the second to last race of the season. Seventeen cars timed in. Results of qualifying were. 1 - 50 Rick Moss 13:493 2 - 12 Brad Curtis 13:521 3 - 10 Matt Stone 13:671 4 - 8 Spence Gatrell 13:720 5 - 25 Brea Lopez 13:880 6 - 28 Ken Ferris 13:900 7 - 92 Todd Lolkus 13:912 8 - 58 Ben Petter 13:914 9 - 9 Dallas Melby 13:928 10 - 11 Evan Margeson 13:975 11 - 93 Kenny Wood 13:999 12 - 44 Tony Seidelman 14:004 13 - 34 Scott Walker 14:030 14 - 23 Rob Lindsey 14:035 15 - 24 Dave Hoene 14:412 16 - 14 Ken Muth 14:780 17 - 69 Alan Norton 15:198 Dolan Lannan may have had the understatement of the evening, when after qualifying he commented to me, “it appeared to me to be quite difficult for many of the cars to get any grip”. The lack of grip was evident for many even before they were on the green. The second car out, Kenny Wood spun directly after being pushed off for his qualifying lap. Put another way, he never made it to the start finish line looping it within moments of firing his engine to life. Rick Moss turned in fast time for the evening, while doing a rendition of that old song, slip sliding away. Scott Walker's car did not sound healthy on either qualifying lap. Brad Curtis, second fastest of the evening, tested how deep he could enter turn one after flashing past the finish line for his second timed lap. Ah, can you say, way too fast, locking up the wheels, he slid right off turn one into the sagebrush coming to rest some sixty feet or more from where the pavement ends and the dirt begins. Not to be outdone Todd Lolkus who followed Curtis for his timed laps spun coming out of turn two on his second lap, did two complete loops crossing the start-finish line and came to rest in the infield in a cloud of dust and chewed up clods of grass. Lolkus acknowledged the whoops of the crowd with an arm held high thumbs up salute. He later said, “I just hung my head out the side and, kept my foot in it, and didn’t lift until I saw the finish line spin by.” “The officials told me if I have a good race this evening that my rookie ribbons could be taken off.” Todd, hate to break this to you, but the officials watch qualifying also. The local Ephrata community provided a very pleasant surprise of support for the racers, as five hundred dollars was presented to the WMRA for two “Dash for Cash” dashes. It was decided to increase the "A" and "B" trophy dashes from the normal four to a field of six cars and run the dash six laps instead of the traditional four. The fans loved it. The line up for the "B" dash was: Dave Hoene in the 24 on pole – outside the 23 of Rob Lindsey, second row inside, the 34 car of Scott Walker, outside the 44 car of Tony Seidelman, third row inside the 93 of Kenny Wood and outside the 11 of Evan Margeson. Rob Lindsey executed a flawless start and took an immediate lead, followed by the 44 car of Tony Seidelman, while garnering third position was Evan Margeson. Rob Lindsey forgot where the brake was and stretched his lead to 14 car lengths over the field. Tony Seideman slowed and stopped inside of turn one with a dropped valve ending his racing for the night, and perhaps the 2005 season, and bringing out the caution. The 24 car of Dave Hoene pulled off the track. This was followed by a green/white flag and the finish was first, Rb Lindsey, second, Evan Margeson, third Scott Walker and fourth, Kenny Wood. The "A" dash lineup was: inside first row pole, the 28 of Kenny Ferris, outside the 25 of Brea Lopez, inside second row the 8 of Spence Gatrell, outside the 10 car of Matt Stone, inside third row the 12 car of Brad Curtis, outside fast qualifier Rick Moss in the 50 car. At the drop of the green Ken Ferris took the lead with Spence Gatrell dropping into second with Brad Curtis taking third place. The first three cars remained in these positions until the checkered flag. Rick Moss passed both Brea Lopez and Matt Stone for a fourth place finish. First was Kenny Ferris, second was Spence Gatrell and third was Brad Curtis. The first heat race lined up as follows: Pole was the 69 car of Alan Norton, outside the 14 of Ken Muth, second row inside the 23 of Rob Lindsey, outside the 34 of Scott Walker, inside third row the 93 of Kenny Woods, outside the 9 of Dallas Melby, inside row four the 11 car of Evan Margeson for a seven car field. Green flag waved and Alan Norton held position in lane two, giving Rob Lindsey a lane on the inside, which he took and out accelerated Norton into turn one. Ken Muth, now three wide and making a strong run on the outside of Norton had to take the high line through turn one. Kenny Wood made a bold move accelerating past Norton and diving down under the high riding Ken Muth. Exiting turn two it was Lindsey in front, Woods in Second, and Muth in third. On the second lap number the 34 of Scott Walker retired to the pits. By Lap four Lindsey had pulled out to an approximate 15 car length lead over Kenny Wood, who was holding off Evan Margeson in the 11 by about 6 car lengths and Dallas Melby, each who had gotten by Muth for position. The white flag lap Dallas Melby exiting turn four added some fan pleasing excitement as he swung under Margeson for a last lap effort to pass. The drag race was on and at the wire it was too close for the fans to call. First was the 23 of Rob Lindsey, Second the 93 of Kenny wood, and third went to Evan Margeson in the 11 just holding off the 9 of Dallas Melby for fourth at the wire. Ken Muth in the 14 was fifth with Alan Norton in the 69 Sixth. Scott Walker in the 34 was seventh. Heat two lined up with Pole going to Ben Petter in the 58, outside row one Kenny Ferris in the 58. Row two inside was the 25 of Brea Lopez, outside the 8 of Spence Gatrell. Third row inside was the 10 of Matt Stone, outside the 12 of Brad Curtis. Inside fourth row was Rick Moss in the 50 with the 92 of Todd Lolkus outside driving his second race in a midget, for an eight car field. At the drop of the green Petter outpaced Ferris for the lead coming out of turn two, with Spence Gatrell following. Brea Lopez appeared to have contact with the back of the eight car, momentarily checking up, which opened the door for Matt Stone to slide under, closely followed by Rick Moss. Lap three Gatrell went under Ferris in turn three while Rick Moss advanced a position going around Matt Stone. Lap four Brea Lopez dropped a spot to Dan Curtis while Kenny Ferris lost his spot to Matt Stone on lap five. Petter opened up a 20 car length lead as Rick Moss went into second place on lap six. Moss simply had too much ground to make up in the two remaining laps and the order of finish at the checker was: Ben Petter in the 58 first. Rick Moss in the 50 second, Spence Gatrell in the 8 third. Fourth was Matt Sone in the 10, fifth Kenny Ferris in the 28. Sixth was Brad Curtis in the 12, with Brea Lopez in the 25 seventh and Todd Lolkus eighth in the 92. The WMRA midgets opened the main with a three wide salute to the fans. Sharing in the salute were the Golden Wheels Vintage Racing Club, who took position in the middle row, much to the delight and approval of the fans. The vintage cars dropped out and the field formed for the main as follows:: 34 Scott Walker on pole, outside 93 Kenny Wood, second row inside 11 Evan Margeson, outside 9 Dallas Melby, third row inside 58 Ben Petter with 28 Ken Ferris on the outside. The fourth row inside 25 Brea Lopez, outside 8 Spence Gatrell, row five inside10 Matt Stone, outside 12 Brad Curtis. Sixth row inside was fast qualifier 50 Rick Moss, outside 23 Rob Lindsey, row seven inside 14 Ken Muth, outside 69 Alan Norton. The fifteenth spot was Todd Lolkus in the 92 car. Out of turn four and the green flag it was Walker, Margeson, Ferris and Lopez, however both Ferris and Lopez spun between turns one and two bringing out the first yellow flag. At the restart, with both Ferris and Lopez moved to the rear it was Walker again taking the lead into turn one, followed by Margeson, Petter, Melby and Stone. Lap 4 Spence Gatrell spun for the second yellow flag of the event. The line up for the restart was, 34 Walker, 11 Margeson, 58 Petter, 9 Melby, 10 Stone, 50 Moss, 12 Curtis, 93 Wood, 23 Lindsey, 28 Ferris, 25 Lopez, 14 Muth, 92 Lolkus and 69 Alan Norton with the 8 car of Spence Gatrell following. Walker moved to a six car length lead as Moss had moved forward through traffic into second place on lap 5. Lap six the 92 car of Todd Lolkus had his oil filter fall off, spun in the center of turns three and four lit up his car with a flash fire of oil on his exhaust header. This brought out the third yellow of the evening that resulted in a lengthy application of oil dry necessary to clean up the oil deposited onto the speedway. Alan Norton in the 69 car came to a stop in the back stretch during the caution and retired from the race with a throttle linkage failure. The running order for the next green flag restart was 34 Walker, 50 Moss, 58 Petter, 11 Margeson, 9 Melby, 10 Stone, 12 Curtis, 93 Wood, 23 Lindsey, 28 Ferris, 25 Lopez, 8 Gatrell, and 14 Muth. Just before the green flag flew, the 92 car, new oil filter attached and a new batch of oil in the oil tank re-entered from the pits and dropped in at the rear of the field. It was not Todd’s night, as after a few laps Todd Lolkus again blew his oil filter off the engine and spun in the very same location as before, again spilling oil onto the track. This caution flew just as Rick Moss had passed Walker for the lead, however, had to return to the second position for the restart, going back to position of last completed lap. Once more oil dry was applied, making visibility difficult as the midgets now ran caution laps through the oil dry to dissipate the powder. Difficult visibility, how about zero visibility, as one driver put it, “you drove into the oil dry fog bank with the car in front of you disappearing completely from view, and you didn’t see the car in front of you again until you exited turn four and were half way down the home stretch. At this point, the track was literally white with oil dry. The cars, now caked in oil dry dust, now made the next restart. Several laps later Moss was able to get on the inside of Walker down the backstretch and passed him going into turn three, however, this was negated by the 14 car which stalled on the track bringing out the sixth and final yellow flag of the night. For the second time, Rick Moss moved back to the second spot for yet another restart. Moss was having a deja vu race. As the field reformed and accelerated to the green Spence Gatrell in the eight, trying to pass another car on the outside ran out of room and hit the front stretch wall nose first, and hard, ripping the right front asunder and twisting the side pod skyward. The damage to the car was extensive and may have ended the 2005 season for him, one race short of competing in all races this year. Thankfully, he was uninjured. The line up for the next green flag was, 34 Walker, 50, Moss, 58 Petter, 11 Margeson, 9 Melby, 10 Stone, 12 Curtis, 23 Lindsey, 93 Wood, 28 Ferris, 25 Lopez. On the restart Kenny Wood was immediately passed by both Ferris and Lopez, and a half lap later Rick Moss passed Walker for a third and final time going into turn three for the lead. Shortly after Moss got by Walker, Petter in the 58 went under Walker going into turn one taking over the second spot with walker now third. Behind Walker, were Margeson, Melby, Stone, Curtis, Lindsey, Ferris, and Lopez as kenny Wood pulled the 93 car into the pits, out of fuel. Petter gave chase and was gaining some ground on the flying Rick Moss, however, ran out of time when the checker flag flew, at lap 25 instead of the anticipated lap 35. Cautions once again shortening the main due to time needs. In the closing stages, a lap and half, Matt Stone was able to get under Dallas Melby and exiting turn four he passed the 11 car of Margeson to pick up two spots at the checker. The official finish of the race was: 1. 50 Rick Moss, 2. 58 Ben Petter, 3. 34 Scott Walker, 4. 10 Matt Stone, 5. 11 Evan Margeson, 6. 9 Dallas Melby, 7. 23 Rob Lindsey, 8. 12 Brad Curtis, 9. 28 Ken Ferris, 10. 25 Brea Lopez, 11. 93 Kenny Wood, 12. 8 Spence Gatrell, 13. 14 Ken Muth, 14. Todd Lolkus, 15. 69 Alan Norton. Race fourteen completed of a fifteen race season saw Rick Moss clinch his tenth Washington Midget Racing Association Championship with the nights win. A record that is unlikely to ever be equaled. The 50 car, a 2002 Beast Chassis, Ed Pink Ford engine, is owned by Harold Beal out of Portland, Oregon, with Tom Margeson out of Puyallup, Washington the crew chief. Congratulations Rick, Harold and Tom!