TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- If you like wrecks, then the Magic Valley Speedway was definitely the place to be last Saturday night.
Sixteen cars began the first main event race in the Pepsi Premier division in good shape but only a handful ended the race without some kind of damage with Rob Vest winning the abbreviated event.
After winning the qualifying race, 2005 Premier division champion Rob Vest started on the pole position and maintained the lead through the first sixteen laps before Eddy McKean was able to catch up to him. A caution at lap 17 for Mike Greco, who lost an axle during the race, put Vest and McKean right along side each other for the restart and three more cautions within the next 23 laps would keep putting Vest and McKean side-by-side to battle for the lead until McKean had to leave the track with a flat tire after running over some debris.
It was after the sixth restart that Bruce Quale, who was driving a McKean Motorsports car, was racing along side Bobby Latham for second when he got jammed into the front stretch wall beginning in turn four and finally coming to a rest in turn one - only after causing major damage to his car which was towed off the track and would not return for the remainder of the night.
" I got tangled up with (Quale) - and I just one little doughnut on the side of my car and I guess they thought I was involved - I guess they said I was involved," said Latham of the wreck at lap forty. Latham did, however, manage a sixth place finish in the shortened race.
After another restart with just nine laps left in what was originally scheduled as a 50-lap race, David Patrick spun in turn four and sat on the track as the hard charging field came towards him.
As everyone tried to avoid Patrick, chaos consumed the field but Vest, driving a modified car, somehow managed to get across the finish line first and the race was called due to time constraints.
"Man, I’m glad that one is over," Vest reported from the winner’s circle. "There were a lot of torn up cars tonight but that’s what you get for having fenders," he said referring to the late-model cars which received the majority of the damage in the race.
The second main event race was won by Bobby Latham after thirteen cars managed to take the green flag for the start of the race.
It was on lap four when Rick Van Vooren, driving the No. 6 modified car, caused the biggest scare of the night. Van Vooren virtually flew of the turn three embankment and rolled four times before coming to a rest wheels-up in the dirt.
Van Vooren was not injured but he was definitely through for the night.
"It started getting loose and I looked down and there was someone down below so I thought I could steer it off between three and four and it whipped on me," Van Vooren said. "I was suspended upside down and I was mad but I swear by the safety equipment on these things."
Once the race got underway again Eddy McKean, driving the No. 19 car, took over the lead and was able to maintain his position until Latham was able to get around McKean at lap 32.
Although a couple more cautions put Latham and McKean right back together for the restarts with less than ten laps left in the race, Latham was able to out-power McKean to take the checkered flag by what was several car lengths at the end of the race at lap 50.
"We were leading the race and then the yellow comes out and puts us back nose to tail," Latham said. "But I just tried to remain cool and drive the wheels off of it - get a good restart and get to work. My car was awesome tonight."
McKean suffered mechanical problems in the second event in a car they had just barely finished putting together for the Saturday night race.
"In the second race we lost the rear end," McKean said. "It just started going away and going away."
After two weeks off, the NAPA Pony Stocks delivered a field of fourteen cars for the 30-lap main event race with Josh Pitz earning the trip to the winner’s circle for the night. Pitz ran a strong race as he began from ninth position but worked his way up to the lead by lap seven. Lap traffic at lap twenty and a hard-charging Jason Whited gave Pitz plenty of cause for concern in the final five laps but Pitz maintained his composure to capture his first win of the season.
Jim Howard became the fifth different winner of the season in the Magic Valley Pipe Thunder Stock division race. Howard took off from the pole position for the main event and quickly gained a big lead leaving the rest of the field tied up in traffic. Craig Nuthak and Jim Shirley were able to break free from the crowd about mid-race, but Howard never let up and crossed the start-finish line several car lengths ahead of Nuthak and Shirley who were battling for second. Nuthak narrowly held off Shirley who had made his way up from the rear of the field in the 25-lap race to take the runner-up finish.
The Legends main event race began with the 11x car of Eldon Cahill in the lead, but Lee Hackney of Boise took charge at lap three after Cahill lost power on the first lap. Hackney then had to contend with Dennis Sonius, who put constant pressure on Hackney for the next 13 laps, but didn’t have quite enough to get around the No. 9 car and it was Hackney who was first to the checkered flag.
RESULTS:
Pepsi Premier - (first main event) 1. Ron Vest; 2. Mike Buddenhagen; 3. Steve Jones; 4. Rick Van Vooren; 5. Bobby Latham; 6. TJ Woodhall; 7. Bruce Quale; 8. Harold Wartluft; 9. Norm Hatke; 10. Sam Harris, Jr.
Pepsi Premier – (second main) 1. Bobby Latham; 2. Eddy McKean; 3. TJ Woodhall; 4. Rob Vest; 5. Mike Buddenhagen; 6. Norm Hatke; 7. Harold Wartluft; 8. Sam Harris Jr.; 9. David Patrick; 10. Sam Harris, Sr.
NAPA Pony Stocks – 1. Josh Pitz, 2. Brent Fehringer; 3. Lou Andersen, 4. John Urie;
5. Randy Grubbs; 6. Oliver Phipps; 7. Shawn Nice; 9. Jason Whited; 10. Kristi Fehringer.
Magic Valley Pipe Thunder Stocks – 1. Jim Howard; 2. Craig Nuthak; 3. Jim Shirley; 4. Desi Ahrens. 5. Brian Lopez; 6. Michelle Rouse; 7. John Hoogendoorn; 8. Vinny Evans; 9. Steve Eden; 10. Kamie Nuthak.
Legends – 1. Lee Hackney; 2. Dennis Sonius; 3. Joey Sonius; 4. Dan Eckert; 5. Ed Sonius; 6. Eldon Cahill.
