GRAHAM, Washington -- This holiday weekend marks the mid-season point for teams participating in the 2008 ARCA West Circle K Late Model Challenge Series. After an earlier visit to Montana in May, many teams are again preparing for this special Fourth-of-July weekend event at Montana Raceway Park’s pristine ¼-mile, high-banked oval. This will be the series’ fourth annual visit to MRP, and the event has the largest purse offered to date. Dubbed the ‘Firecracker USA – Tundra 125’, teams will be competing for over $15,000.00 in cash & bonus awards. The $2,000.00 winner’s check is presented by Kootenai Transfer & Storage of Libby MT.
On Saturday, a full field of late model super stock teams are expected to compete for the twenty-four main event positions available. This race will draw teams that run regularly in the Washington-based AW LMCS program, many Montana area teams, and several drivers from Canada. The AW LMCS and MRP have similar rule packages that allow a wide variety of Late Model style cars, while maintaining parity of competition, i.e.: straight rail & perimeter chassis, cast iron heads & ‘spec’ aluminum heads, and ABC or standard/offset bodies. Many teams are also expected to take advantage of this race in preparation for the popular Montana 200 event that will be held two weeks later July 17-19th.
This Kalispell event will be number five of nine scheduled races for the AW LMCS this season, and mid-season bonus points will be awarded toward their 2008 championship. Current top 5 in points are: Jared Vorse, Wes Rhodes, Brent Harris, Todd Walters, and Erick Hargraves. Vorse also leads the Port City Racecars ‘Rookie Challenge’ by a small margin over Chris Walters and Dan Rhodes. As a combined points event for the local late models, MRP’s top-five Mark Owens, Micah Sampson, Troy Schweigert, Bodie Morton, and Cory Wolfe will also be busy protecting their current championship points. Prior event winners: 2005 B.J Tidrick, 2006 Alex Lessor, and 2007 Gary Lewis.
Raceday schedule: Practice begins at 2:00pm, qualifying at 6:00pm, with racing to start at 7:00pm. Large crowds are expected, arrive early for best seating.
