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A sixteen car field took on half mile track at Kalamazoo on April 2nd for the third pre-season event of the Michigan Circle Track Sim-Racing Series. During the practice session it became  clear that the fixed chassis setup that all drivers were required to race with would place an emphasis on smart driving and tire management.  "This set up really pumps heat into the right front.", said League Administrator Richard Harlow during the driver's meeting. "If you are not thinking about the long run, your tires will be worn out within twenty laps."  Within the NR2003 Sim, although there is no cost for a set of tires, yellow flag laps are counted. A driver could elect to make a mid-race pit for fresh Hoosiers during a caution period if desired, however the obvious risk in doing so at a short track such as Kalamazoo is getting lapped by the field while in the pits. For a 100 lap race like this, maintaining track position is crucial.

DeWitt Michigan's Craig Curtis in the #74 posted a 13.723 second  / 98.375 MPH lap to secure the pole. The #22 of David Herrin from West Virginia took the outside front row.

After a few false starts, the green flag was in the air, immediately followed by the yellow. Before the first lap was complete the #21 of third place starter Kyle Callahan, driving from Midland Michigan tangled with Jonesville Michigan's Jason Snyder in the #56.  Callahan was also involved in the next caution which came out on lap 7 when he became the meat in a three-wide sandwich in turn #4 and the #31 machine driven by Randy Brown washed up the track while running on the bottom.   The yellow flag waved again on lap 13 when the #11 driven by Kris Edmonds got loose in the back of the field, coming to rest against the inside wall of turn 4, ending his evening. 

Lap 23 found Callahan and Harlow trading paint again when Callahan in the #21 got into the back of Harlow's #31 which brought out the 4th caution of the evening. The #91 of Tom TeMeer from Plainwell Michigan was collateral damage in the exchange, putting him a lap down. Tom TeMeer was able to get his lap back via the Lucky Dog rule on lap 39 when the #84 car of Doug TeMeer  slapped the wall coming out of turn 2 and dropped down on a hard charging Pete Gibson in the #39 as they entered turn 3. 

The night went from bad to worse for Callahan's #21 when he cut a tire after scraping the wall on lap 53. It was a tense moment when Callahan's car careened across the track directly in front of race leader Craig Curtis in the #74 who was at full speed. Curtis cleared Callahan's car by inches and retained the lead as the yellow flag waved.  Callahan limped the battered #21 into the pits, done for the night. Following the restart there were 31 laps of excellent green flag racing throughout the entire field.

The yellow waved for the final time on lap 95 when Pete Gibson in the #39 connected with David Herrin in the #22 battling Herrin for the second position.  Herrin had been nipping at Craig Curtis's heel s throughout the night, but Curtis had held him off for the entire race, giving Curtis in his Monster Energy / Lane Automotive sponsored ride the win.  Don Colbath, III in the OSRLeague.com #1 took the second place spot,  Kalamazoo's  Phil Loedeman in the zero car finished third, former Kinross Speedpark champion Mark Howland finished 4th in the #57 and Randy Brown in the #31 rounded out the top 5 positions.  As a result of the accident, #39 Pete Gibson finished 6th and Herrin finished a disappointing 12th.