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KIRBY WIRE-TO-WIRE IN WESTERN PRELIM |
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PHOENIX, AZ, OCTOBER 31, 2003 - Mike Kirby received a nice Halloween treat Friday night after leading all 20 laps during preliminary main event action for the 36th Annual NAPA Auto Parts / Budweiser Western World Championships at Manzanita Speedway. No stranger to victory lane in SCRA competition, Kirby appeared confident and reserved following his dominating performance and seemed more concerned with tomorrow's championship race rather than dwelling on what he had just accomplished. "We struggled the last time we were here with this car, but we went back and did our homework and the car was good tonight," Kirby said. "We've got a pretty good shot at winning Saturday, but there are 23 other guys that'll have a shot at it too. The normal SCRA guys will be tough and (Bud) Kaeding looked pretty convincing last night, so we'll see what starting position we draw." Driving the Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger, Kirby started on the outside of the front row next to SCRA Champion Richard Griffin. Griffin held a slight advantage coming down to accept the green flag. Forcing Griffin to hold his middle line, Kirby powered off the turn two cushion and took the lead along the backstraight. The complexion of the Non-Wing World Championship (NWWC) point standings rapidly changed on the opening lap after point leader J.J. Yeley slowed. Yeley, who earlier had set the Sander Engineering Fast Time, eventually retired to a 21st place finish allowing his Tony Stewart Motorsports teammate Cory Kruseman to close to within 15 points of him. Compounding Yeley's woes is the fact that he is slated to start on the front row for Saturday's C-Main Event. Tony Jones and Troy Cline were running fourth and fifth respectively, when Jones' car lost power without warning entering turn three on lap five leaving Cline nowhere to go. Forced to lock-up his brakes, Cline slid softly into the wall, as Jones slowed to a stop, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. Both drivers were able to make the restart and probably had a fairly good view of Boston Reid slamming into the turn three fence after climbing the tire of another car. Reid was not injured during the last mishap of the race. From there, it was all Kirby who handily drove to his second SCRA win of the season. Griffin gave chase, but his Arizona Race Mart #50 Jon Boy would be a full straightaway behind Kirby when the checked flag appeared. Tony Elliott started seventh and drove Jeff Walker's #11E Twister to a third place finish. Brian Venard enjoyed the best run of his sprint car career driving his father's (Buster) car to a fourth place finish. John Scott was fifth ahead of Josh Wise, Jones and Steve Ostling, all of whom transferred directly to Saturday's championship race. Josh Ford finished ninth and was the first driver to not earn a direct transfer. One night ago, Ford left Manzanita Speedway in an ambulance after a nasty crash in a 360 sprint car. Tonight, Ford left the track with enough points to clinch the 2003 SCRA / Jeff Bagley Memorial Rookie of the Year Award. SCRA RACE #35 - 36TH ANNUAL NAPA / BUDWEISER WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS |
