- The family duel in the 7-Up Street Stocks took a twist Saturday night at Idaho Motor Speedway. Melissa Scott of Nampa, Idaho, survived several restarts and a challenge from her father, Marv Weaver, to win the Make 7-Up Yours 50.
Weaver entered the night with a slim lead in the season points. He collected the fast time and finished ahead of Scott in a preliminary heat to try to maintain his lead. But Scott won the trophy dash and the feature to keep pace.
Weaver and Scott started at the back of the 17-car field because they picked up the fastest times of the night in qualifying. By Lap 8 when Craig Beckstead of Nampa brought the first of five caution flags, Scott had moved from her 13th starting position to the lead.
Three cars started behind Scott and Weaver after arriving at the track late. One of those drivers, Meridian, Idaho, teenager Tyler Monroe gained 11 positions to finish in fifth place.
In the Automotive Collision Tech Super Stock 30, third-generation race car driver Tyler Nelson of Meridian widened his season points lead with his first career victory at Idaho Motor Speedway.
The bad luck of Boise driver Scott Durbin continued, pushing him further back in the standings. Durbin collected the fast qualifying time of the night in an attempt to inch closer to Nelson, but a cracked oil pan put the rest of his night in jeopardy. He was able to repair the pan and make the main event, though.
In a July 23 Super Stock race at IMS, Durbin picked up a painful Did Not Finish when he and Nelson crashed. Nelson was able to finish that race, and that handed him the advantage in the season championship chase.
In other action Saturday night, Ted Nicholes of Nyssa, Ore., got the jump on the Lap 5 restart and used that momentum to win the 20-lap Pirate Powdercoating Super Hornets feature. Nicholes was second on the restart to Emmett, Idaho’s Cody Parra, but he drove his Honda to the front within one lap.
Nicholes has been the points leader all year and has maintained that lead despite having to swap cars midway through the season. Kane Thomasson of Kuna, Idaho, seemed more excited than anyone for Parra’s finish. He parked his Chevy Chevette near the winners circle at the end of the race and sprinted to pat Parra on the back immediately after the race. Thomasson couldn’t have been all that happy earlier in the race, though.
He was in the lead coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 3 when the second-place car of Cameron Combes tagged Thomasson’s Chevette in the rear fender and sent the car careening up the track toward the pit lane. Thomasson was able to come back and finish the race. Tanner Bowen, a 14-year-old from Meridian, ran strong and finished fifth in the Super Hornets race.
R.J. Lewis got the better of Roy Cleaver in a duel that stretched throughout the entire RO-HO Muffler Thunder Stocks program. Lewis and Cleaver raced side-by-side for the final five laps of the 20-lap feature, swapping the lead once before Lewis pulled back in front to take the checkered flag. The 67-year-old Lewis, a resident of Nampa, Idaho, was the fast qualifier of the night and also beat Cleaver in the Thunder Stocks A heat. Saturday is a $5 economy night as the Coors Light Series makes another stop at Idaho Motor Speedway. General admission is only $5. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., with qualifying at 5 p.m. and racing at 7:05 p.m.
For more information about Idaho Motor Speedway, log on to the track’s Web site at www.chaparralspeedway.com or call (208) 939-RACE. Idaho Motor Speedway on Chaparral Road Fireman Appreciation Night Saturday’s results Main events Make 7-Up Yours Street Stock 50 -- 1. Melissa Scott, Nampa, Idaho, Chevrolet; 2. Marv Weaver, Nampa, Chevrolet; 3. Les Schild, Meridian, Idaho, Chevrolet Automotive Collision Tech Super Stock 50 -- 1. Tyler Monroe, Meridian, Chevrolet; 2. Scott Durbin, Boise, Idaho, Chevrolet; 3. Jerry Valdetero, Nampa, Chevrolet Pirate Powdercoating Super Hornets -- 1. Ted Nicholes, Nyssa, Ore., Honda; 2. Cody Parra, Emmett, Idaho; 3. Billy Shipp, Melba, Idaho, Geo RO-HO Muffler Thunder Stocks -- 1. R.J. Lewis, Nampa, Buick; 2. Roy Cleaver, Buick; 3. Denise Lacy, Melba, Oldsmobile Fast qualifying times
7-Up Street Stocks -- Weaver, 17.652 seconds Automotive Collision Tech Super Stocks -- Durbin, 17.053
Pirate Powdercoating Super Hornets -- Glendon Pehrson, Caldwell, Idaho, Volkswagen, 19.721 RO-HO Muffler Thunder Stocks -- Lewis, 20.375 Trophy dash winner
7-Up Street Stocks -- Scott Preliminary heats
7-Up Street Stocks A -- 1. Jaramie Fuss, Kuna, Idaho, Chevrolet; 2. Weaver; 3. Scott
7-Up Street Stocks B -- 1. Steve Bosselman, Nyssa, Ore., Chevrolet; 2. Doug Samms, Boise, Chevrolet; 3. Schild
Automotive Collision Tech Super Stocks A -- 1. Dewayne Dillon, Caldwell; 2. Nelson; 3. Durbin
Automotive Collision Tech Super Stocks B -- 1. James Telford, Middleton, Idaho; 2. Valdetero; 3. David Wurtz Jr.
Pirate Powdercoating Super Hornets A -- 1. Shipp; 2. Parra; 3. Nicholes
Pirate Powdercoating Super Hornets B -- 1. Jason Lampman; 2. Tanner Bowen, Meridian; 3. Kane Thomasson, Kuna, Chevrolet
Pirate Powdercoating Super Hornets C -- 1. Maria Torres, Nampa, Nissan; 2. Cameron Combes; 3. Jason Pehrson, Parma, Idaho, Nissan
RO-HO Muffler Thunder Stocks A -- 1. Lewis; 2. Cleaver; 3. Dean Haueter, Vale, Ore., Ford
RO-HO Muffler Thunder Stocks B -- 1. Lacy; 2. Darrell Stogsdill; 3. Doc Lambert, Nampa, Ford
