Third Time is the Charm for Justin Martz at the Bullring

It’s a long way from Montana to Las Vegas and last Saturday night on Justin Martz’s third visit to the Bullring he showed a cheering crowd why he came. Driving the #60 super late model of Quality Motorsports, Martz drew the sixth position for qualifying and quickly set the standard for the rest of the field by turning in the fast time of the evening and winning his first pole at the Bullring.

In keeping with Las Vegas tradition, the dice were rolled setting up a four car invert and placing Justin on the outside of the second row next to his Quality Motorsports teammate Mike Ray who had the second fastest qualifying time. At the green flag Justin was ready to race and quickly moved into the third position behind Thane Alderman and Spencer Clark who started first and second respectively. Before the dust had a chance to settle the car piloted by Dow Woerner hit the wall in turn three and burst into flames bringing out the red flag.

When the green flag came back out, Martz set his sights on Clark who was the 2003 Rookie of the Year, overtaking him about two-thirds of the way through the race. With about thirteen laps to go, leader Alderman who was the 2002 Super Late Model Champion and contender Martz started getting into heavy lapped car traffic. Martz bided his time waiting for an opening and with eight laps to go challenged Alderman for the lead with teammate Mike Ray in hot pursuit.

After taking the lead with six laps remaining Martz was unstoppable opening up a several car length lead on the rest of the pack. Mike Ray followed Martz past Alderman and across the finish line. Spencer Clark finished third.

“I had a car to win tonight,” said Martz. “I felt it last night in practice. Crew Chief Jimmy Parker did a fantastic job of putting this car together this past week. Then today out at the track, Rick Fite and Wayne Russell made sure this car was right for track conditions. After every caution it was taking about five laps for the car to really grip again, but once we got it going it was a rocket!”

Martz’s victory continues Quality Motorsports’ domination of the Super Late Model division at the Bullring with teammate Mike Ray, last week’s winner, leading the point standings. Showdown winner Mike Cofer had some bad luck this week at the track losing the engine of his #04 car during qualifying. Cofer stepped into the #62 car that is normally piloted by team owner Jerry Spilsbury but had mechanical problems early in the race forcing him into the pits. By the time he came back out, he had lost five laps and was out of contention.

After a week off, the Quality Motorsports team will be out on the track again on May 8, 2004.