Smith claims 2nd WCOPMA victory at 2011 season opener
Courtesy of WCOPMA
Boise, ID – Lee Smith from Salem, Oregon won the first event of the 2011 West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association season.
Eight cars showed for the season opening event and put on a great show for the Firebird Raceway fans in Boise, Idaho. When two rounds of qualifying were complete Rod Burbage was in the top spot with a 6.12 followed by long time Pro Mod racer John Scialpi with a 6.16. Marc Meadors was in the third spot with a 6.18 and Lee Smith rounded out the top half of the field with a 6.31. The 2010 WCOPMA Champion Bret Williamson was in the number 5 spot with a 6.33 then Dan Nickelson, Dan Myers and Jay Diedrich rounded out the bottom half of the field.
In the first round of eliminations Lee Smith got past the 2010 Champion, Bret Williamson, after an exciting peddle fest with a 6.82 to Williamson’s 7.81. The next pair was John Scialpi and Dan Myers and Scialpi made his best pass of the weekend to advance to the second round with a 6.14. Next up was Rod Burbage and Jay Diedrich. Diedrich was fighting issues all weekend and Burbage took the easy win with another 6.12. The final pair was Dan Nickelson and Marc Meadors. Nickelson looked to be on a strong pass easily but got loose around 300 feet and had to lift while Meadors improved on his qualifying time and went 6.13 for the round win.
The second round placed Burbage vs. Smith and Meadors vs. Scialpi. Burbage couldn’t make the call so Smith made a hard launch and clicked it early since he knew he had a damaged head gasket that needed to be replaced. The second pair was a great matchup with Scialpi and Meadors. Meadors did a bad job of red lighting with a .004 reaction time and Scialpi wasn’t too far behind with a .032, then both cars started to shake the tires since the track had gotten significantly better from first round. After a quick peddle job by both drivers Meadors ended up on the winning side with a 6.22 to Scialpi’s 6.32.
Smith and Meadors would face each other in the final round but Smith had a lot of work to do to his car. He knew he needed to pull the head and replace a head gasket but he also broke his third member on his second round single. With a small crew there was no way he could get it all fixed in time for the final but then people from Burbage’s and Diedrich’s crews came over and helped Lee get his 1958 Vette ready while Meadors and the Goodguys Racing crew said they would wait for them to get everything fixed, they didn’t want to take an easy win they were there to race.
Right when the final round was called to the lanes by the announcer both teams were ready to race. As the cars rolled into the beams it was Smith with the reaction time advantage and lead the whole way to take the win with his best pass of the weekend of a 6.29 to Meadors who lost traction at the transition and lifted.
Congratulations to Lee Smith and his family/crew!
The West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association’s next event is July 1-2 at Champion Raceway in Medford, Oregon.
