A record twenty-five cars came to Magic Valley Speedway in Twin Falls, Idaho Saturday. The hot temperatures made for slick track conditions as several drivers found out while running hot laps prior to qualifying. Several drivers spun or got loose coming out of either turn two or four with #66 Troy Workman taking a off road trip down into the infield during the last of the hot laps.
Qualifying saw more than half the field under the 15-second mark. Many cars still had problem with traction including #98 Frank Andreason who had a close call with the barrier. Making his first appearance with the Intermountain Late Models and posting the number qualifying time was #19 Eddy McKean with a time of 14.44 seconds followed by Russell Butler with a 14.455.
With twenty-five cars present instead of the usual 2 heat races for the night officials determined that 3 heat races would have to be run. The first heat race found #29 Don Beamis spinning out of turn three on the start. The restart saw #96 Gary Dastrup leave the track, while #84 Zan Sharp would jump out in front and stay there to take the checkered flag for the win.
The second heat race found #66 Troy Workman out front on the first lap, but by the next lap #63 Marty Zehr would pass for the lead and stay there for the win. Heat race number three would see #77 Gary Porter would take the lead on the start and lead the first lap, but that was all as #41 Jeff Hillock passed Porter on the back stretch to take the lead and stay out front to win the third and final heat race of the night.
The 50 lap main event saw 24 cars start out of the 25 present with the number qualifier unable to make the start due to unknown reasons. The start of the race gave no indication of the demolition derby to come. Lap 2 had #96 Gary Dastrup spinning out out turn 3 bring out the first of a long night of cautions. The second caution quickly came on lap 3 when #27 Rick Webster and #98 Frank Andreason got together in turn #1 taking both of them down into the infield. Nick Lynch #8 making his first appearance with the series found himself with a car that would not run during the caution and had to be pushed off the track.
Bring out the 3rd caution of the night was #22 Jerry D. Cox on lap 4 when he lost it coming out of turn four sliding his way into the infield right towards the photographer who was in the middle of the infield. The restart would find #77 Gary Porter out in front with #49 Jeff Flynn in second. Lap 8 saw the fourth caution when #99 Jared Elwell, #95 Art Smith, #22 Jerry D. Cox and #27 Rick Webster got into each other coming out of turn three causing Cox and Smith to spin out. #98 Frank Andreason left the track during the caution. The restart saw #95 Art Smith pull down into the infield with mechanical problems.
Caution number 5 came on lap twelve when front runners #49 Jeff Flynn And #77 Gary Porter got into each other out of turn 4 sending them both down into the infield barely missing Art Smith who had pulled off the previous lap. #29 Don Beamis and #34 Chris Schrade spun while checking up for traffic. The restart saw #16 Bret Houskeeper in lead followed closely by #84 Zan Sharp. Jared Elwell #99 brought out the 6th caution on Lap 16 when he hit the wall on the front stretch.
The longest green flag run of the night came with the restart and the yellow would not fly again until lap 25 when #36 Greg Hillock blew a tire coming out of turn 4 and hit the wall almost head on bringing out the 7th caution of the night. Caution #8 came out on Lap 29 when #01 Dennis Wurtz got into #41 Jeff Hillock coming out of turn 4 and actually drive up on the side of Hillocks car and over the left front. Lap 34 saw the front-runners #16 Bret Houskeeper and #84 Zan Sharp got together on the front stretch causing both to spin out bring out caution number 9. Rick Webster brought out caution number 10 on lap 35 when he brushed the wall coming out of turn four and at the same time #25 Russell Butler was running up and over the right front of #50 Fred Walker trying to avoid Webster and the barrier tires he sent onto the track.
While checking up for the tires on the track #63, #17, #88 and #49 all suffered some front end damage with #88 Clint Kidd and #63 Marty Zehr getting the worst of it. Lap 38 saw the 11th caution when #26 Don Beamis and #11 Brad Young got together on the front stretch causing #16 Bret Houskeeper to get into the side of Beamis while in the massive check up #96 Gary Dastrup had the back end of his car removed by #25 Russell Butler. Caution 12 showed itself when #41 Jeff Hillock spun #41 Jeff Flynn out between turns 1 and 2. Troy Workman #66, Don Beamis #29 and Chris Schrade #34 got together checking up for the spin with Beamis losing most of his front end.
The 13th caution came out on lap 42 when #77 Gary Porter and #84 Zan Sharp got together on in turn one. The 14th and final caution came on lap 44 when #77 got into #66 Troy Workman in turn four.
Joe Hood #37 was able to hang on and get his first of the season win by getting in front on lap 34 and avoiding all the mishaps on the track that only left 9 cars running at the finish. The win move Joe into 2nd place in the point standings to trail the leader #41 Jeff Hillock by 38 points.
