Southwest Formula Mazda Series Rounds 3/4

2003 Southwest Formula Mazda Series
by Sandy Magrath

The 2003 Southwest Formula Mazda Series ran Rounds 3 & 4 at Texas Motor Speedway on May 3-4 at the SCCA Parts Plus Grand Prix of Texas. Everyone came prepared with rain tires due to the bleak weather forecast (not to mention the fact that Greg “Rain Magnet” Labadie was attending). Fortunately, it rained everywhere in the DFW area but Texas Motor Speedway. There were 19 Formula Mazda’s participating on Saturday and 18 on Sunday with only 5 being Non-Series participants. On Saturday, Dave Defnet had the Series pole with Ben McCrackin in 2^nd and Darryl Wills in 3^rd. Nur B. Ali, starting in 5^th, was battling with Wills for the lead after Lap 1. Defnet fell back to 3^rd. Shortly thereafter, Defnet spun and failed to get his car restarted. Wills and Ali swapped positions several times until Lap 7 when Ali encountered some trouble and fell back to 6^th position. Ben McCrackin was hot on Saturday qualifying and finishing the race in 2^nd place. R. David Jones had a great race starting in 6^th and finishing in 3^rd with Bill Daniel giving him a challenge along the way. Ross Smith, a 16 year old karter, debuted his Formula Mazda career on Saturday. Smith started in 9^th and worked his way up to a 4^th place finish. Darryl Wills, tied for the points lead going into the weekend, won the race.

On Sunday’s SCCA National, Nur B. Ali qualified on the Series pole with Darryl Wills close behind by only 1/100’s of a second. Tim Magrath qualified 3^rd with Ben McCrackin in 4^th. This race was packed full of drama. Wills, suffering from a gearbox problem, was out of the race after one lap. Ali, hit the wall in Lap 1 and ended up at the rear of the pack. Ben McCrackin held 2^nd position for about 15 laps. Then he got tangled up with an FC and didn’t finish the race. In the meantime, Ali was fighting his way up from the back. Ali passed 8 Series FM’s over the course of 16 laps to finish the race in 2^nd place. Ali was so excited about his achievement and so ready to head back to the Budweiser party in his paddock, that he plumb forgot to go to impound and ended up DQ’d by SCCA. Dr. Greg Byrne raced a perfect race. At the completion of Lap 3, Byrne was in 3^rd place and held his position the entire race. With Ali’s disqualification, Byrne ended up in 2^nd. Tim Magrath finished in 1^st.

Round 3 (Texas Motor Speedway SCCA Regional 5/3/03)

Qualifiying	Race
1. David Defnet (1:25:47)	1. Darryl Wills (1:25:20)
2. Ben McCrackin (1:25:48)	2. Ben McCrackin (1:25:41)
3. Darryl Wills (1:25:59)	3. R. David Jones (1:27:31)
4. Greg Byrne (1:25:94)	4. Ross Smith (1:26:71)
5. Nur B. Ali (1:25:99)	5. Nur B. Ali (1:25:90)
6. R. David Jones (1:26:11)	6. William Daniel (1:26:37)
7. Walter Gragert (1:26:51)	7. Doug Saylors (1:28:51)
8. William Daniel (1:26:71)	8. Greg Byrne (1:26:59)
9. Ross Smith (1:26:83)	9. Keith Verges (1:28:85)
10. Keith Verges (1:27:35)	10. Greg Labadie (1:29:01)
11. Doug Saylors (1:27:44)	11. Michael Tari (1:29:04)
12. Michael Tari (1:28:71)	12. David Defnet (1:30:03)
13. Greg Labadie (1:28:74)	13. Walter Gragert (no time)
14. Frank Tomlinson (no time)	14. Frank Tomlinson (no time)

Round 4 (Texas Motor Speedway SCCA National 5/4/03 )

Qualifiying	Race
1. Nur B. Ali (1:25:23)	1. Tim Magrath (1:25:29)
2. Darryl Wills (1:25:24)	2. Greg Byrne (1:27:39)
3. Tim Magrath (1:26:00)	3. William Daniel (1:27:16)
4. Ben McCrackin (1:26:05)	4. David Defnet (1:26:88)
5. David Defnet (1:26:31)	5. Frank Tomlinson (1:28:49)
6. Greg Byrne (1:26:46)	6. Walter Gragert (1:27:07)
7. William Daniel (1:26:50)	7. Greg Labadie (1:30:20)
8. R. David Jones (1:26:77)	8. Keith Verges (1:27:82)
9. Keith Verges (1:26:81)	9. Ben McCrackin (1:26:35)
10. Walter Gragert (1:27:19)	10. Doug Saylors (1:29:88)
11. Frank Tomlinson (1:28:38)	11. R. David Jones (1:27:74)
12. Greg Labadie (1:28:67)	12. Darryl Wills (no time)
13. Doug Saylors (1:28:84)	13. Nur B. Ali (1:26:29)

Total FM Car Count 18

2003 Southwest Formula Mazda Series Point Standings
(Revised 5/14/03)

1. Darryl Wills	58	9. Dave Defnet ®	37
2. Keith Verges ®	54	10. Nur B. Ali	33
3. Greg Byrne	44	11. Greg Labadie ®	31
3. William Daniel ®	44	11. Doug Saylors	31
3. Ben McCrackin ®	44	13. Tim Magrath	29
6. Frank Tomlinson	39	14. Michael Tari ®	27
7. Walter Gragert ®	38	15. Ross Smith ®	20
7. R. David Jones	38	16. Charlie Brown ®	18

Note: Drivers are scored on their best 11 out of 13 races. Drivers that attend all races will drop 2 of their worse finishes. Points shown above reflect the dropped finishes.
® = Rookie (m) = Master