SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Craig Bell from Kuna, Idaho finally took home the winner’s trophy as he won the 75 lap NAPA Rocky Mountain Challenge Series victory in the first race contested at Rocky Mountain Raceways in the 2005 season. Bell leads the Series with the most top 10 finishes in its history but had not scored a victory before Saturday nighFOt. He had finished second in the first RMCS race of the season but bettered that with a great performance that saw him lead a race high 57 laps after taking the front spot on the 19th lap and then holding off Craig Doehling and Nick Parker over the course of the race. Bell, who was named the Ironman of 2004 by completing the most laps contested, showed that he is a power to be reckoned with this season by taking his first point lead also, leading Bryan Warf by just 21 points going into the third race of the Series season. Threatening clouds and early rain looked to put an early end to the evening but the skies cleared by the time the cars entered the pit area and the sun shined throughout the afternoon.
Chad Cannon led the 23-car field to the green flag and dueled with Rus Ward and James Eaton over the first few laps vying for the early lead. Cannon gained the edge and led as Bell was working his way forward from his 13th starting position. Bell had worked his way into the top 5 by lap 8 and was clearly on a march to the front. Bell slid underneath Cannon for the lead on lap 19 and was never headed again as he won his first Late Model Feature. Bell is the 9th victor out of 11 NAPA RMCS races contested in its history. Parker finished second, James Eaton third, Warf fourth, and Zan Sharp fifth in the second event of the season. The front five were followed to the line by Lynn Hardy, rookie John Newhouse, Cannon, Lee Hackney, and David Minegar in tenth. Eaton and Sharp were later moved to the end of the lead lap due to a verbal rule infraction in post race inspection.
Fourteen cars finished on the lead lap as the race had 7 caution flags for numerous spins. The only car damage of the evening was Kuna, Idaho’s Dennis Wurtz II as he hit the front stretch wall ending his evening on lap 9. There were still 16 cars running at the end of the feature. Warf was named Hard Charger for the event after gaining 15 positions from his starting position of 18th on the fully inverted starting grid.
John Dillon debuted his new Monte Carlo and took the Sharp Powder Coating Pole Award as he paced qualifying with a lap of 15.414, which is an average of 87.583 miles per hour. Warf qualified second at 15.484 followed by Hardy with a 14.486. The Retro Design early season rookie leader is still Newhouse followed by David Doan from Meridian, Idaho. Bell now has 358 points for the season followed by Warf with 337, Sharp with 279, Newhouse with 249 and Minegar with 247. Only 24 points separate 4th through 11th positions in the Series.
The NAPA Rocky Mountain Challenge Series will resume next on Saturday, May 7th at Meridian Speedway in Meridian, Idaho as the RMCS will run the third of their thirteen race 2005 schedule. See www.rockymountainchallengeseries.com for further information.
NAPA Rocky Mountain Challenge Series
Race 2
Rocky Mountain Raceways, West Valley City, Utah April 30, 2005
75-Laps on a 3/8-Mile Paved Oval. Purse $6,600
Finishing position, starting position, driver, car, laps completed, reason out, money won.
1. (13) Craig Bell, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $500;
2. (12) Nick Parker, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $375;
3. (18) Bryan Warf, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $800;
4. (17) Lynn Hardy, Pontiac, 75, Running, $400;
5. (6) John Newhouse, Pontiac, 75, Running, $325;
6. (1) Chad Cannon, Pontiac, 75, Running, $275;
7. (10) Lee Hackney, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $300;
8. (16) Dave Minegar, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $350;
9. (7) Craig Doehling, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $250;
10. (8) Wade Frey, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $225;
11. (9) Tom Hill, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $200;
12. (2) Rus Ward, Chevrolet, 75, Running, $200;
13. (3) James Eaton, Chevrolet, 75, Inspection, $200;
14. (15) Zan Sharp, Chevrolet, 75, Inspection, $200;
15. (21) David Doan, Chevrolet, 74, Running, $200;
16. (22) Rick Webster, Pontiac, 70, Running, $200;
17. (20) Trevor Boys, Chevrolet, 60, Mechanical, $200;
18. (23) Jim Cooksey, Pontiac, 53, Running, $200;
19. (11) James Wulfenstein, Chevrolet, 46, Mechanical, $200;
20. (19) John Dillon, Chevrolet, 37, Mechanical, $200;
21. (5) John Wood, Chevrolet, 32, Mechanical, $200;
22. (4) John Wong, Chevrolet, 13, Mechanical, $200;
23. (14) Dennis Wurtz Jr., Dodge, 9, Accident, $200;
