Hot temperatures made for some hot racing at RMR Saturday. The second practice session saw #11 Brad Young catch fire after some plug wires came in contact with his header pipes. The temperatures made for a slick track as #63 Marty Zehr found out during practice as he did some heavy duty flat tracking through turns 3 and 4 to keep the car from hitting the wall.
The heat made for some fast qualifying times, with the field of 20 cars only being separated by 1.5 seconds. Russell Butler took the top position with a 15.51 on the 3/8 mile with Rick Ellison coming a very close second with 15.52.
The trophy dash for the top 6 qualifiers started with the cars lined up in their usual invert. Don Beamis used his number two starting position to jump out front and hold of the rest of the drivers for the entire six lap dash for the win.
The first heat race was delayed for a track cleanup due to a IMCA modified oiling down the track in the previous race. Once under way rookie Jerry D. Cox #22 used his pole position to take the lead until lap 4 when Beamis took the lead away after moving up from 7th. On lap eight the heat took its toll on car 43 driven by rookie Cal Barnes when he lost a radiator going into turn 4, which brought out the yellow. Clint Kidd #88 and Cox #22 got together on the front straightaway while checking up for the yellow. Kidd got the worst of it with a lot of body damage to the right side of the car. On the restart #25 Russell Butler got a good jump and moved from 7th up to 3rd before #98 Frank Andreason spun in turn 1 bring out the caution for a second time. The restart saw Beamis hold onto his lead, the yellow flew again on lap 13 of the 15 lap heat race when #22 Cox got into the side of both #16 Bret Houskeeper and #50 Fred Walker causing all three to spin out between turns 3 and 4. Cox was black flagged for rough driving. Beamis once again held onto his lead on the restart to take the win.
The second heat race saw a flawless start for the inverted field. The quicker cars immediately began moving up, number 77 Gary Porter got into the rear of #66 Troy Workman who lost his momentum and fell back from 3rd to 6th. The 3rd lap saw #41 Jeff Hillock take the lead after coming from fifth with #09 Rick Ellison right behind him. Lap 6 saw #11 Brad Young black flagged for smoke. Hillock and Ellison provided the fans with some fantastic side by side racing for the lead for 4 laps before # 2 Kevin Stauffer lost his engine and caught fire coming out of turn 3.
Stauffer's car was completely filled with smoke and a huge fireball was coming from the engine compartment. Some how he kept it out of the wall coming out of turn 4 where he spun it down into the infield (see photos). The race was immediatley red flagged while the safety crews put out the fire and assisted Stauffer out of his car. Kevin was okay, but he was unable to return for the main event. The restart saw Ellison take the lead from Hillock on lap 12. The last lap saw Ellison hang to win with #77 Gary Porter pass Hillock on the last turn to cross the finish line for second leaving Hillock with 3rd.
The main event got under way after the sun had gone down which allowed the temperatures to drop and give everyone some relief from the heat. Number 98 Frank Andreason took the lead with the drop of the green flag, with #22 Cox falling in line for second place. Lap 6 saw #63 Marty Zehr decide to do a little off road racing after spinning out on the back straightaway (see photo) and ended coming back onto the track between turns 3 and 4. Lap 9 of the 50 lap main event saw Houskeeper and Hillock get together between turns 1 and 2 causing Hillock to leave the track 2 laps later. Ellsion #09 spun out between turns 1 and 2hitting the wall and causing major damage to the front end. (see photo). Ellison continued to run until lap 21 when he spun again. Cal Barnes #43 was black flagged on lap 14 during the caution for Ellison. During the caution Hillock was able to come back on the track.
Lap 26 saw Zan Sharp cut a tire coming into turn 3 and was unable to avoid the wall. This brought out a caution. On the restart #88 Clint Kidd was able to jump out front while lap 32 saw Hillock and Zehr get together several times while racing for 7th place. The last caution of the race came out on lap 42 when #96 Gary Dastrup spun coming out of turn 1. The restart saw Kidd hang onto his lead for the final 7 laps to take his 2nd win of the season.
For more information on the Intermountain Late Model Series visit www.intermountainseries.com
