Twenty-One cars showed at Rocky Mountain Raceways for the fifth race of the Intermountain Late Model Series. Jeff Hillock #41 was fast qualifier with a time of 15.20 seconds on the 3/8 mile, with Zan Sharp #84 a close second with a time of 15.35. Fourteen of the cars qualified under the 16 second mark.
The first heat race of the night saw #77 Gar Porter jump out front on the start only to have it nullified when #22 Jerry D. Cox, #98 Frank Andreason and #37 Joe Hood tried to make it three wide going into turn 4 causing #37 to spin and immediately bringing out the yellow. The field line up for the restart with Cox, Hood and Andreason sent to the back. Once again the #77 car of Gary Porter jumped out in front with Zan Sharp following behind.
Lap 3 saw #36 Greg Hillock get on it hard coming out of turn 2 causing him to snap a drive shaft yoke run into Hood and go on a wild ride all the way around through turn 4 and managing to keep it off the wall the whole time. Lap 6 saw #11 Brad young get loose coming out of turn 4 and fall to the back of the field. Going into turn one on lap 7 saw Porter blow a right front tire and go up hard into #63 Marty Zehr who had just taken the lead from Porter, this brought out the 2nd caution of the heat race. With Porter off the track for a tire change and Zehr haven fallen to the back of the field, Sharp took over the lead which he held from the restart until the checkered for the win.
The 2nd heat race had #73 Joel Miller jump out to a quick lead, while number #16 Bret Houskeeper spun out going into turn 3, no caution was thrown but this allowed Miller to be quickly reeled in by #88 Clint Kidd, #29 Don Beamis and # 41 Jeff Hillock for some exciting 2 by 2 racing until #99 Jared Elwell spun coming out of turn 4 in front of the leaders causing the 1st yellow of the heat race to be thrown. Fred Walker #50 got into the back of Hillock who was checking up for the spun car of Elwell. On the restart it was Kidd took the lead, but lost it to Hillock on lap 6 when he lost power and had to leave the track. Hillock held his lead to take the win.
The time shortened main event was not lacking for race excitement. The inverted start had #22 Jerry D. Cox starting on the pole, from the drop of the green flag Cox lead until #36 Greg Hillock spun going into turn 1 bringing out the yellow on lap 6. During the caution Hillock #36 was black flagged as he could not keep his car running and was causing a extended yellow. The restart had #22 Jerry D. Cox get loose and into #50 Fred Walker on the back straight. Cox continued sliding sideways through turn 3 causing #16 Bret Houskeeper to spin down into the infield in turn 4, while #27 Rick Webster was taking a spin at the other end of the track between turns 1 and 2.
The restart on lap 7 had #77 Gary Porter take the lead. Clint Kidd #88 took the lead from porter on lap 8. The next lap saw #11 Brad Young spin out between turns 1 and 2, no caution was thrown. #36 Greg Hillock left the track on lap with oil pump problems and #22 Cox also left the track for unknown reasons. By Lap 15 #88 Kidd was beginning to run away from the field and starting to lap the field. Lap 17 saw the yellow again when #50 Fred Walker spun coming out of turn 1 going into the infield down in turn 2. The green was dropped and once again #88 Kidd ran away from the field. By lap 33 Kidd had lapped the 12th place car and had a 1/2 track lead on second place #41 Jeff Hillock. With heavy lap traffic in front of #88 Kidd, #41 Hillock began closing the gap. Lap 42 brought #41 Hillock the help he needed to catch #88 Kidd, when #98 Frank Andreason spun coming out of turn 3 bringing out the caution flag. With a track curfew looming the drivers where informed they would be doing a green, white, checkered flag finish.
With the one to go signal the field was bunched up with #88 Kidd in front followed by #41 Jeff Hillock, #09 Rick Ellison, #37 Joe Hood and #16 Bret Houskeeper. The green flag was dropped and the top five moved out on the rest of the field. Coming out of turn 2 #41 Hillock pulled from out behind #88 Kidd and started to make his move. Hillock was able to get under Kidd going into turn 3. Coming out of turn 4 Hillock really got on the gas, getting loose he bumped and rubbed with Kidd down the front straight as the white flag was waved. Going into turn 1 Hillock started to edge out in front. Out of turn 2 Hillock put the #41 in front and was able to stay there and take the checkered flag to complete his clean sweep of #1 qualifier, heat race winner and of course the main event, giving him his 2nd series win of the season.
