TWIN FALLS, Idaho --– Steve Jones did it again, bringing the gold No. 3 Pepsi Premier Series car to victory lane for the second time in two weeks at Magic Valley Speedway.
The back-to-back wins mirror Jones’ 2006 season, when he also won the first two events of the year.
"It’s always a good thing when I win races," Jones said. "The competition is coming really fast though and it’s getting tougher and tougher to pass anybody. The 99 car (TJ Woodhall) and the 70 car (Mike Greco) - they’re coming fast. TJ went to the back twice and still got second - so, I’m scared if he doesn’t get spun out."
Rick Van Vooren took the early lead of the feature series main event race from the pole position and held on for seven laps until Stevie Fisher was able to make the outside pass on the No. 6-car. Fisher quickly began to pull away from the rest of the field while Van Vooren stubbornly held on to second, keeping a herd of cars behind him. At lap 20, David Patrick was the one who finally made it around Van Vooren, but then found himself having to contend with Jones, who came along with him for the ride.
As Patrick and Jones fought for second, with Jones the eventual winner of the battle, Fisher saw his 15-car length advantage erased when the first caution of the main event came out as Mike Buddenhagen and TJ Woodhall collided in turn four.
Buddenhagen and Woodhall were sent to the back of the field while Jones and Fisher lined up side-by-side in front for the restart. Jones was able to pull away from Fisher and by lap-34 Jones had developed his own15-car length lead over Fisher and the rest of the field - but what goes around comes around - and several more cautions placed the Fisher and Jones cars next to each other for restarts with Jones taking the high line each time.
Jones was eventually able to retake his big lead over the field, while Fisher got loose and ended up with a seventh-place finish for the night. TJ Woodhall finished in the runner-up position for the second time in as many weeks and knows what he has to do to land himself in the winner’s circle.
"Beat Steve, that’s what it’s going to take," Woodhall said. "I just need to get to the front sooner.
We’re still making some changes to the car, but I’m pretty happy with it so far. I just need to finish one spot ahead of where I finished tonight."
Rookie Rick Fowble had a great run finishing third and Mike Greco continues to hang in there with a fourth place finish Saturday night. David Patrick had one of his best events ever in his sights until a collision with Rick Van Vooren in the back stretch meant a trip to the pits for repairs, just barely making it out on the track for the green flag restart at lap 35.
The Rocky Mountain Challenge Series race included eight cautions in the 75-lap main before Bryan Warf took the checkered flag in the opening event of the season. Warf battled James Eaton for the lead at lap 35 and by lap 37 Warf held the cards for the remainder of the race. Bruce Quale, who qualified with a fast time of 14.629, made his way through the pack into third place with less than 15-laps remaining in the race - and a caution at lap-67 gave Quale a chance to improve his position as the leaders had gained a lot of ground over the rest of the field.
However, Warf got a great jump on the restart - and the five laps remaining in the race were not enough for Quale to work on the two cars in front of him.
"I was hoping for more laps for a change," Quale said. "Usually I’m hoping for the race to be over, but tonight I was sure hoping I could go a few more. We might have got past Jimmy (Eaton) but Bryan was pretty fast."
The Magic Valley Pipe Thunder Stocks were out in force for their debut race of the season, putting 21-cars on the track for the main event. Jason Todd took the early lead in the race and looked to have a strong car when Calvin Jackson hit the turn-four wall at lap seven, bringing out the caution flag and delaying the race while the safety crew gathered up the tires that were once in front of the wall but were now strewn across the track after Jackson smacked into them.
At the restart Todd had Jim Howard and Jim Shirley in hot pursuit behind him, and at lap 14 Howard strong-armed his way around Todd in the backstretch, sending him to the infield. However, Todd quickly got back on track and managed a fourth place finish in the race.
The fight for first became a Jim-and-Jim show for the final laps, with Howard edging out Shirley at the finish line as he captured the first main event win of the season.
The Quale’s Electronics Hornets broke in the new one-fifth mile tri-oval and put on a great show for the fans. Alisha Gross was the main event winner.
Results:
Pepsi Premier: 1. Steve Jones; 2. TJ Woodhall; 3. Rick Fowble; 4. Mike Greco; Mike Buddenhagen; 6. Rob Vest; 7. Stevie Fisher; 8. Allen Williams; 9. Dan Pehrson; 10. Dale Rogers.
Magic Valley Pipe Thunder Stocks: 1. Jim Howard; 2. Jim Shirley; 3. Craig Nuthak; 4. Jason Todd; 5. Steve Edens: 6. Brian Lopez; 7. Spencer Meyer; 8. Shiela Harms; 9. Shawn Wills; 10. Desi Ahrens.
Quale’s Electronics Hornets: 1. Alisha Gross; 2. John Reeder; 3. Jeff Peck; 4. Bob Gilligan; 5. Erci Kiel; 6. Renee Lopez; 7. Chet Thorsen; 8. Cory Rutledge, 9. Mitchell Pherson; 10. Tom Ford.
Rocky Mountain Challenge Series: 1. Bryan Warf; 2. James Eaton; 3. Bruce Quale; 4. Tyler Monroe; 5. Tom Hill; 6. Dave Minegar; 7. Chris Ratterree; 8. Nick Parker; 9. Kellen Frey; 10. Chris Schrade.
