Hometown Racer Jeff Russell claimed the Diamond Cup Grand Prize on June 4 by being consistent. The Boise resident finished third on Friday night and second on Saturday night to garner 120 points over the weekend. Points were awarded for time trials, heat races, and feature events according to the SRL rule book. The big winner on Friday was Troy Regier who garnered every point possible by taking fast time, one of the heats and the feature. His luck turned sour on Saturday however as he made wall contact in the feature after taking fast time and getting a second place in his heat. Saturday night’s winner, Mike McCann had some major handling problems during Friday’s races. However, the former owner of his car helped Mike and his crew set up the Shefchick chassis for Saturday and Mike made the best of a front row starting spot. It was McCann’s first SRL win and the victory was loudly cheered by the near capacity crowd.
The first heat was paced by Jim Hamilton followed by Pat Whittet, Mike Ford, Rick Veenstra, Mike Baisch, Troy Regier, and Jim Hamilton, Jr. Whittet led the first five laps while Regier and Veenstra passed car after car on the outside as they made their way to the front. Regier snagged the lead on lap six while Veenstra moved to second on lap 8 and Baisch moved to third a lap later. At the lap ten checkers, Regier led over Veenstra, Baisch, Whittet, and Hamilton.
The second heat started with Rick Cameron and Harry Stone on the front row. Cody Veenstra, Jeff Russell, Ken Hamilton and A.J. Russell rounded out the field. Stone led from the green with Jeff Russell on his tail by the end of lap one. A.J. moved to third by lap two. Both Russells got around Stone on lap 7 and Ken Hamilton got by the Coloradan on the last lap. Finishing order was Jeff Russell over A.J. Russell, Ken Hamilton, Harry Stone and Rick Cameron.
The third heat competitors were Pat Bliss, Mike McCann, Jim Tartaglia, Bob Bigiogni, Jim Birges, and Steve Freeman. McCann grabbed the lead from the outside and led flag to flag. Bliss finished second followed by Bigiogni, Tartaglia and Birges.
After fast Qualifier Troy Regier drew a six for the feature invert, Mike Baisch and Ken Hamilton wound up on the front row. They were chased by A.J. Russell, Jim Birges, Rick Veenstra, and Troy Regier. The middle of the pack consisted of Jim Tartaglia, Jeff Russell, Pat Whittet, Mike Ford, Pat Bliss, Mike McCann and Rick Cameron. The field was completed by Harry Stone, Jim Hamilton, Jr., Jim Hamilton, Steve Freeman, and Bob Bigiogni. Hamilton led from the outset with Birges on his heels followed by Baisch, A. Russell and Regier.
By lap three, Regier and J. Russell had passed A.J. Birges suddenly slowed on lap eleven and stalled out in turn two to bring out the yellow. Birges rejoined the field at the rear after excess tape was removed from the car to cure an overheating problem. The yellow flew again on lap 14 for a front wing that had come adrift in turn two. Bigiogni went to the pits under the yellow and then returned to the rear of the field. Whittet then spun on the restart. On the next restart, Regier moved to second and began to reel in Hamilton. This started a long green flag run that ended on lap thirty five just after Regier took the lead on lap 34. The yellow was for a wall banger by Veenstra in turn three. Regier led the rest of the way and won over Ken Hamilton, Jeff Russell, A.J. Russell, and Birges who had come storming back through the field passing car after car on the outside. Jim Hamilton was awarded the check for the Casciaro Homes Hard Charger of the race for advancing the most positions.
The first ten lap heat was headed by Pat Whittet followed by Mike Baisch, Pat Bliss, Ken Hamilton, Troy Regier, and Steve Freeman. Baisch and Hamilton jumped to the front on the first lap. Regier took third on lap two and then second on lap five. However, that was the extent of the passing. Finishing order was Baisch over Regier, Hamilton, Whittet, and Bliss.
Heat two featured Rick Cameron, Mike Ford, Jeff Russell, A.J. Russell, Kirk Wartman, and Jim Hamilton, Jr. Ford led from flag to flag while Cameron slowly drifted back into the field. Ford won over A.J., Jeff, Cameron, and Wartman.
The third ten lap sprint included Jim Hamilton, Harry Stone, Mike McCann, Jim Tartaglia, and Jim Birges. The outside row immediately jumped to the front and that was the race, Stone won over Tartaglia, Birges, McCann, and Hamilton.
The top ten qualifiers were inverted for the start of the fifty lap feature. This placed Mike Baisch and Mike McCann on the front row. The rest of the invert consisted of Jeff Russell, Pat Bliss, Jim Tartaglia, A.J. Russell, Ken Hamilton, Jim Birges, Kirk Wartman, and Troy Regier. Mike Ford, Harry Stone, Pat Whittet, Rick Cameron, Jim Hamilton, Steve Freeman, and Jim Hamilton, Jr. rounded out the field. During warm ups for the feature, Ken Hamilton headed to the pits with a flat left rear tire and Pat Whittet retired with a power plant problem. Hamilton rejoined the field at the rear prior to the green.
When the flag appeared, McCann shot like a rocket from his outside front row starting position. Baisch fell into second and the rest of the starters fell into line. Birges and Wartman began to advance through the field and Bliss slowly dropped positions. By lap ten the order was McCann, Baisch, J. Russell, A.J. Russell, Bliss, Birges, Wartman, Ford, Tartaglia, and Regier. Hamilton had moved back up to eleventh. There was a yellow on lap eleven. On the restart, Bliss dropped back to ninth and Regier moved up to sixth ahead of Ford. On lap sixteen Birges began to fade losing several positions and then heading to the pits on lap 22 with a power steering leak. By half way, the order was McCann over Russell, Russell, Regier and Wartman. The yellow flew on lap twenty nine when Regier spun through the infield in turn one. The restart barely got going when Regier made wall contact and collected Jim Hamilton in the melee. The field was red flagged to clean up the mess in turn one. Regier went to the pits on the hook while Hamilton restarted at the rear.
With Regier out, Birges rejoined the field 7 laps down and maintained a pace with leaders. For the remaining 21 laps, Jeff Russell constantly hounded McCann. Jeff would reel Mike in and then Mike would nail a lapped car and pull out a small lead while Jeff worked the traffic. McCann was very good at putting lapped cars between himself and Russell as the chase ensued. By the time the checkers rolled around, McCann had nabbed his first SRL win and was wildly cheered by the fans. Jeff Russell received an equal welcome in second place as did Kirk Wartman in third. A.J. Russell was listed in fourth and Mike Ford was credited with fifth.
However, the finish did not stand. The fourth place car was disqualified for not reporting immediately to the scales for post race tech. This moved Ford to fourth place and Mike Baisch to fifth. Jeff Russell was declared the Overall Diamond Cup Winner with 120 points accumulated over the two day show. Mike Ford earned the Casciaro Homes Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions in the main event.
This race went into the books as a Classic Diamond Cup. There were some inspired drives, a surprise Saturday winner, some favorites eliminated, a lot of passing through the field, and a bit of controversy. Meridian is known as a tough place to pass, but it always amazes me how Regier, Birges, Wartman, and Ford always manage to move forward. However, they often get caught up in traffic when they pass on the outside and someone then moves up. There was a good crowd for the Friday Prelims and a great crowd for the Saturday Night finale. If you don’t think Supermodifieds are a good show on a quarter mile track, you only need to head to Meridian Idaho the first weekend of June to be proved wrong. From the Great Central Valley of California, I am looking forward to the next Supermodified Racing League Events in July.
