LATHAM SCORES FAN FAVORITE RMCS VICTORY AT HOME

Source: RMCS Public Relations/DS
Date: 06/11/2007

BOISE, Idaho -- Bobby Latham III of Twin Falls, Idaho parlayed a mid-pack qualifying effort into a fan favorite ESI Rocky Mountain Challenge Series victory Saturday night at Magic Valley Speedway. Latham passed Eddy McKean on lap 72 and went onto claim his first victory of the season and second of his RMCS career. Tom Hill finished second with quick qualifier John Newhouse, Craig Bell, and Bruce Quale rounding out the top five finishers in the Pepsi sponsored 125-lap event.

John Newhouse of Twin Falls earned his first career Sharp Powder Coating fast time award and the $100 bonus with a quick lap of 14.599 seconds/82.115 mph around the one-third mile paved oval. David Minegar, Tom Hill, Bryan Warf, and Chris Ratterree rounded out the top five qualifiers. Post qualifying, the top 18 cars were inverted placing Newhouse 18th on the starting grid and Brad Ostler on the pole to start the race.

Nick Parker grabbed the early lead at the start and led the first 11 laps before giving way to Nick Gibson who drove underneath Parker and lap 12. Gibson in his full season with the ESI Rocky Mountain Challenge Series continues to gain valuable experience every week and showed that his experience is paying off. Gibson held the point through lap 25 when MVS veteran and former Southwest Tour champ Eddy McKean was able to drive by Gibson as the duo exited turn two.

McKean held the point until Ratterree spun exiting turn two on lap 31 bring out the first caution. McKean held the point on the restart with two-time RMCS champion Zan Sharp in tow up from his eighth starting position. Gibson fell back to third with Jim Eaton, and Latham rounding out the top five. As soon as the green flag waved the caution came out again for the car of James Collins who suffered a mechanical failure causing his car to stall in turn one.

The third caution came out on lap 47 when point’s leader David Minegar stalled exiting turn two. Minegar suffered ignition troubles that would drop him from the point’s lead and a 19th place finish after completing only 80 laps. McKean continued to hold the point on the restart with Sharp still in tow. Latham moved by McKean on lap 72. John Newhouse moved by Hill for third with Hill dropping to fourth and Craig Bell rounding out the top five.

Latham extended his lead by over two seconds by lap 95. McKean and Hill put on a great battle for second resulting in close racing and a little contact. The duo raced side-by-side for several laps and as the pair exited turn three both cars drifted wide leaving McKean sideways and bringing out the caution. McKean dropped to the rear of the field and was able to move his way back to an 11th place finish.

While the field fought for positions behind, Latham extended lead on the track and crossed the finish line 2.3 seconds ahead of Hill who scored his third consecutive top five finish of the season. Fast qualifier John Newhouse finished third picking up the most points for the night moving him up to the 8th position in the point standings. Craig Bell finished fourth with hometown favorite Bruce Quale crossing the line in the fifth position. Ratterree, Warf, Eaton, Tyler Monroe, and Thane Alderman rounded out the top ten finishers in race three of the season.

“We have had a great car at each event this season but had trouble late,” Latham said. “Tonight was perfect for us. The car really worked well on long runs and to win here at home is real special for us. I am really proud of this whole and this win will really help us out in the points.”

Latham has goal of winning races and a championship in every series he competes in and this victory brings him one step closer. “We have struggled late in the first two races but still managed top ten finishes. We need to continue to work on our qualifying set as a good qualifying effort and a strong race finish means points and points are key in this series.”

Finishing second to record his season best finish was Tom Hill. “I had such a good car tonight,” Hill said. “Normally you want to have the car work down low but my car worked well on the outside. We are having such a great time this season and racing here at Magic Valley is a lot of fun. We look forward to coming back her later this month and we are hoping for the same kind of success.”

Finishing third with perhaps his best career performance was John Newhouse. Even though Newhouse has won on the series before, his performance Saturday night is what wins championships. “We are just thrilled to have the kind of finish we had tonight,” Newhouse said. “We have struggled qualifying every since we came to this series. I never use to like inverts but in this series inverts make for great racing and we learn a lot as drivers. Since the RMCS awards passing points based on positions gained it really pays off to qualify well. This is a big night for us and gives us a lot of confidence going forward.”

With Minegar having problems Bryan Warf takes over the point lead after his eighth finish. Tom Hill moved up to the second spot just eight points back. James Eaton drops to third with David Minegar falling to fourth and Bobby Latham moving up to fifth. Bruce Quale also climbed to sixth in the standings after his second top five finish of the season followed Chris Ratterree, John Newhouse, Nick Parker and Tyler Monroe rounding out the top ten.

Latham, McKean, Gibson, and Parker all earned ESI Lap Leader Bonus money for leading laps during the race with Matt Faulkner claiming the CarbonX Rookie-of-the-Race $100 bonus for being the top performing rookie but Kellen Frey still leads the CarbonX rookie point standings after three races. Newhouse claimed the $100 Sharp Powder Coating Fast Time Award, and the $400 ESI Hotshoe Challenge will roll over to the next event making the bonus $800 for the driver who sets fast time and can go on and win the race. Eighteen of 20 starters were running at the conclusion of the race with 13 drivers on the lead lap

The next event for the ESI Rocky Mountain Challenge Series is Saturday, June 30 back at Magic Valley Speedway with the running of the ESI “100”. For all the latest news and information regarding the ESI RMCS please log onto www.rmcsracing.com.

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