MINEGAR REAPS REWARDS IN RMCS ACTION

BOISE, Idaho David Minegar of Boise won his second race of the 2007 ESI Rocky Mountain Challenge Series season with a dominating performance at Rocky Mountain Raceways located outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Minegar scored his 12th career Sharp Powder Coating Fast Time Award, won his heat race, and held off a determined John Newhouse to win the 75-lap feature event starting from the 20th position. The perfect performance also netted Minegar the over point lead in the standings with three races to go this season.

Minegar started the evening out by claiming his 12th career Sharp Powder Coating Fast Time Award with a quick lap of 15.215 seconds/ 88.728 mph around the fast 3/8-paved mile oval. Las Vegas, Nevada’s Thane Alderman put up his best qualifying effort of the season with the second best qualifying time. Nick Parker, Bobby Latham III, and Joe Miller rounded out the top five qualifiers. The RMCS inverts the top twenty qualifiers for each race putting the fast guys at the back ensuring they have their work cut out for them and the fans get to see great racing action throughout the race.

After qualifying, Minegar had 1200 reasons to win as the ESI Hotshoe Bonus was up to $1200 for the driver who qualified quick and is able to go on to win the race. While Minegar eyed that prize, there were several drivers determined to spoil his fun.

Quint Whitman of Boise started on the front row alongside CarbonX Rookie competitor Matt Faulkner. Whitman would lead the first three laps before Wade Frey moved to the top spot on lap 4. Frey led through lap 7 before yielding to Craig Bell on lap 8. Bell would dominate the early portion of the race and look to have the field covered with a lead of as much as a straightaway on the field. Bell drives a team car to Minegar Racing in which he has collected three straight top five finishes this season.

Current point leader Tom Hill of Eagle, Idaho moved by Frey on lap 22 for the second position with Jim Wulfenstein in tow. Wulfenstein would run in the top ten the entire race in only his second start of the season. Nick Parker and John Newhouse also moved into contention by lap 25 with designs on the top spot. As the race approached the lap 30 mark, Bell continued his stranglehold on the top spot with Hill glued to his bumper. Parker had moved by Wulfenstein for third dropping the former two-time Bullring track champion to fourth. Newhouse rounded out the top five.

Fast qualifier Minegar started to flex his muscle in his Body Building.Com Chevrolet and by lap 33 his moved into the top five. As the field hit lap 38 Minegar moved by both Newhouse and Hill into the third position and started to close the gap on the top two. While Minegar was trying to run down his teammate, two-time RMCS champion Zan Sharp showed championship form having his best race of the season. Sharp moved into sixth place on lap 38 and held steady until lap 59 when he started to make a move into the top five.

As the race reached the 50 lap mark, Bell continued to pace the field with Parker closing. Minegar was maintaining the third spot with Newhouse and Hill rounding out the top five. The second five were lead by Sharp and five-time series winner Bryan Warf, with Thane Alderman, Bobby Latham III, and Jim Wulfenstein rounding out the top ten.

Minegar moved into second place on lap 54 and attempted to run down his teammate. That task became much easier as Bell’s Chevrolet started to develop smoke and ultimately had to pit on lap 60 as his transmission let go. Even though the track oiled up, no caution flag was thrown leaving the race leaders to contend with a slick race track and several lapped cars.

Minegar was now at the point with Parker making a move on the outside. Parker continued to use the high line to get around Minegar but every attempted was thwarted as Minegar was able power off the corner slamming the door on Parker. Parker started to fade on lap 66 and Newhouse drove underneath on lap 67 setting his sights on Minegar.

Newhouse has scored the most points in the last two races that netted him one win and vaulted him back into the top five in the championship standings. Newhouse was determined to spoil Minegar’s chance at the ESI Hotshoe money. ESI contributes $400 per race and if the bonus is not collected it rolls over to the next race. In the event the bonus is not paid out after the third race then the $1200 would be spilt among the drivers earning the first, fifth and eighth most points during that stretch. Newhouse was determined.

Over the closing five laps Newhouse dove low and got alongside Minegar but was not able to take the position. Minegar crossed the start finish line .298 seconds ahead of Newhouse to score his second win of the season. Sharp nipped Parker for third on the last lap with Hill rounding out the top five finishers in round five of the championship series. Alderman finished sixth to record his fourth top ten finish of the season. Warf, Latham, Wulfenstein, and local star Lynn Hardy rounded out the top ten.

The win vaulted Minegar back into the point lead after scoring the maximum points a driver can accumulate during an RMCS event (239). “It was just a great effort by the team,” Minegar said. “With only 75 laps we had to be smart and head to the front right from the start. Normally in a 125 lap race you can let things sort out a bit but we had a lot of motivation to win. We had to race hard every lap and it just worked out. I am glad the race was only 75 laps as John (Newhouse) had a fast racecar and I don’t know if I could have held him off any longer.”

The win also netted Minegar the ESI Hotshoe Bonus of $1200 for winning after setting fast time. “I am thrilled to win the ESI Hotshoe money,” Minegar stated. “We have won the bonus the last two trips here (RMR) and this place is becoming my “home track”. I love racing here. The competition in this series is as good as it has ever been and I know the fans saw a great show tonight.” Minegar took home a paycheck over $2000 for his performance.

Finishing second is not where drivers want to end up but when you can finish second and move closer to the point lead then it may not seem so bad. John Newhouse of Twin Falls, Idaho was philosophical about his runner up finish. “I really wanted to win but it was not to be,” Newhouse stated. “We had a great car and had I think the fastest car at the end. Dave (Minegar) is a great driver and he gave me room but he was able to get off the corner a bit better then me. We had another good point’s night and we are closer to top spot (61 points back) then we are coming into the race.”

Newhouse’ move to the front was not easy. “I had to race hard every lap and I should have followed Dave when he made his move through lapped traffic,” Newhouse continued. “I think that was the difference in the outcome. I have to give kudos’ to Dave for a great race.”

Finishing third and scoring his best finish of the season was two-time series champion Zan Sharp of Wellsville, Utah. “We have had a good car at each race but we have been hampered by dumb luck,” Sharp said. “I am happy to finally get the finish this team deserves. The team works hard and this result was important to us.”

With five top five finishes this season, Tom Hill is having his best season in his racing career. Hill dropped out of the point lead despite the strong finish. “We are running up front and finishing in the top five so we have a lot to be proud of,” Hill said. “It is a lot of fun to race up front. We just had some suspension issues in qualifying and it came to light in the heat. The team worked on the car and it was a lot better for the race, but with a poor qualifying effort it was not the best point’s night for us.”

Racing ought to be about having fun and having fun is what Thane Alderman is having racing in the RMCS this season. “This series is a blast to race in,” Alderman said. “When you race you are suppose to pass cars and the RMCS ensures you do that with the 20-car invert. I love it. I finally got the car to work and we qualified second quick meaning that I was in the back. This is what racing ought to be and I am having more fun racing then I have had in many years. The cars in this series are top quality and the other drivers are some of the very best that I have ever raced against. I can’t wait for the next event.”

There were three lead changes among four drivers with Craig Bell leading the most laps (52). Also sharing time at the front were Quint Whitman (3), Wade Frey (4), and David Minegar (16). Each driver that leads a lap will earn an additional ESI Lap Leader Bonus of $5 per green flag lap led. Eighteen of 24 starters were running at the conclusion of the race with twelve cars on the lead lap. Brad Ostler of Pleasant Grove, UT was the top finishing Carbonx Rookie-of-the-Year competitor with a 15th place finish. Ostler also collected the CarbonX $100 bonus. Matt Faulkner assumed the rookie point lead with Kellen Frey and Brad Ostler tied for second. The race was only slowed three times for caution flags.

David Minegar (907) moved back to the top of the point standings and holds a 46-point advantage over Tom Hill (861). Bobby Latham III and John Newhouse (846) are tied for third with Bryan Warf (835) rounding out the top five in the standings after five races. Chris Ratterree moved up to sixth place with James Eaton, Nick Parker, Thane Alderman, and Zan Sharp all moving up in the standings to round out the top ten.

The next event for the ESI Rocky Mountain Challenge Series is Saturday, August 4 at Magic Valley Speedway in Twin Falls, Idaho. The race will be a special 200-lap segment race patterned after the Milk Bowl that is run at Thunder Road in Vermont. The Platt Electric “200” will be the first 200-lap race in RMCS history. For all the latest news and information regarding the ESI Rocky Mountain Challenge Series log onto www.rmcsracing.com.

Note: David Minegar drives a Port City Anderson Elite Chassis powered by a 406 cubic inch Brodix Spec Head motor built by Dillon Autocraft of Nampa, Idaho that produces 525 HP. A Chevrolet Five Star Racing Body skins the chassis and sponsors include Body Building.Com, EndoRush, BSN, Labrada Nutrition, A-1 Heating and Air Conditioning, Lennox, Dillon Auto Craft, and Western Speed & Fuel. Larry Bowers is the crew chief and Pat Minegar owns the car.