YAKIMA DRIVER CAPS BIG WEEKEND WITH MERIDIAN WIN

MERIDIAN, Idaho — If first impressions are everything, Jeff Jefferson might be looking for a house near ASA-sanctioned Meridian Speedway.

The Yakima, Wash., driver got his first look at the quarter-mile oval during Saturday night's NAPA Auto Parts Bottle Rocket 150, and he liked what he saw.

Jefferson picked his way through lapped traffic, leaving four-time NASCAR Northwest Tour champion Garrett Evans of East Wenatchee, Wash., in his wake to win the CarbonX Rocky Mountain Challenge Series Late Model feature in front of a second consecutive packed house at the reinvigorated speedway.

"This is my first-ever race here," Jefferson said after a night in which he also won his heat race. "What a place. I love it."

Jefferson swapped places with Evans one night after the RMCS raced the Pepsi 125 at Magic Valley Speedway in Twin Falls. Evans collected the top trophy Friday night. Jefferson was determined to get the No. 1 spot Saturday, starting his work day with the fastest qualifying lap.

In other features during Saturday's Fourth of July racing at Meridian, hometown young gun Johnny Giesler roared from the back of the field to win the 35-lap Non-Wing Sprint feature; Rob Vest ran away from the field to win a quick 50-lap ASA Modified finale; and Donovan Parker (Mini Stocks) and Nampa, Idaho's Art Heath (Hornets) also won.

In the RMCS' return to Meridian after a two-year absence, Jefferson was driving the ESI stock car, and thanked car owner Tom Hill of Eagle, Idaho, for putting him in the seat of the night's top car.

"The car was really good," Jefferson said. "I want to thank (Nampa racer) Chris Ratterree and Tom Hill for all the hard work."

The ASA Modified racers opted out of heat races in favor of a 50-lap feature, and the end result was a near-flawless main event. Vest, another out-of-town driver hailing from Twin Falls, Idaho, took full advantage of a crowded field, outpacing his competitors by five seconds. He had endured a rocky start to the night, struggling through practice and his qualifying run, a 14.953-second quarter-mile jaunt that was the 19th-slowest out of 22 entrants.

"It was great. It's fun to come up here," Vest said. "I love this little track."

Another visiting driver, Seth Murray, spun on Lap 12, and that was the only caution flag of the marathon.

Montie Potter finished second, while Star, Idaho's Tony Ackerland worked his way up through the field to nab third.

While the out-of-town shoes were grabbing the headlines in the biggest races, Giesler stood up for the home folks with an impressive Non-wing Sprint victory. He surged to the front when race leader Wyatt King, another young Meridian driver, tangled with the lapped car of Sharde' Bement of Kimberly, Idaho, and was relegated to the back.

"The car's really working," Giesler said while thanking his grandfather and other family members and sponsors after his victory. "We've made some changes, and it's working good."

Like Giesler, recent high school graduate King worked his through the field twice to pick up a top-five finish. In what track announcer Brent Arte characterized as "sliding through traffic, on the move", King drove clean but hard to take the lead in a 10-lap campaign that began after Emmett, Idaho's Brittany Poedy slammed into the Turn 3 wall to bring out the first caution on Lap 7.

But King's night out front ended when he led Giesler and Nampa's Rob Grice into lapped traffic on the front stretch on Lap 24. King and Bement made contact, bringing out the caution.

Giesler assumed the lead and pulled away from Grice to complete his own back-to-front odyssey.

In a race more typical of the Hornets division, the Mini Stocks feature was crammed with several spectacular crashes. Parker survived the war of attrition, holding off a headstrong Jason Sanders of Caldwell, Idaho, for the 30-lap victory. There were four yellows, including the final one on Lap 19 when Nampa's Kirk Sanders -- who was running third at the time -- T-boned Monte Mitchell, who had spun out and stalled sideways in the middle of Turns 1 and 2.

Heath got the winning started in the feature races by surviving a patently wild Hornet race. Heath was the quick-time driver of the night, too, and backed it up with a victory in his star-spangled No. 84 during the 25-lap main event.

Victorious drivers such as Heath weren't the only winners during the Fourth of July night of action. Summer Hall held the winning ticket for a Ford T Bucket roadster replica go-kart raffled off by Racing For Smiles of the Northwest.

The RMCS points leader heading into the night, Dave Minegar of Boise, Idaho, was sidelined for the night after a massive crash into the Turn 3 wall on the eighth lap of the first heat race. Minegar was running second to Eagle, Idaho's John Dillon when he drifted out of the groove and head-on into the water barrels at the entrance to the turn. Minegar, the son of the racing series owner, Mike Minegar, quickly jumped out of his BodyBuilding.com race car to the loud cheers from thousands of fans.

A former NASCAR Northwest Tour rookie of the year and season champion, Dillon walked away from the field to win the 12-lap heat race and pick up some series points.

Emmett's Dan Buckley cruised to victory in the second RMCS heat race, leading wire-to-wire.

Another local driver, Craig Doehling of Boise, informed everyone of his intentions to be competitive when he won the third RMCS heat race. Doehling, driving car No. 411 (he's usually No. 41), led from the get-go.

The final heat race of the night -- finishing off the opening 48 of RMCS' 150 laps -- Jefferson shot past two race cars on lap six and then led the second half of the race to win. He also logged the fastest qualifying lap at Meridian on Saturday, turning a 13.284-second quarter-mile.

The series returns to Meridian on Aug. 29 for its second-to-last race of the season.

Visit Meridian Speedway online at www.meridianspeedway.com or call (208) 888-2813 for track information.

As an American Speed Association-sanctioned track, Meridian Speedway is part of the ASA Member Track National Championship for the Modified division.

The goal of the ASA Short Track National Championship is to activate a measuring system that takes into account many variables, such as field size, inversion, wins and number of races in a season, and create a level playing field to determine who is the ‘best-of-the-best’ of the ASA Member Track Champions Nationwide.

The ASA Joe Gibbs Driven National Member Track Champion Award was designed to give the National Champion exposure with one of the top teams in racing — Joe Gibbs Racing. Joe Gibbs Driven Oil, a division of Joe Gibbs Racing, sells the actual oil products developed and used by Joe Gibbs Racing to racers at all levels. More information can be found at www.joegibbsdriven.com.

The ASA Member Track program is comprised of a network of short tracks around the United States, as well as a variety of regional and national touring series. For news and information from all the racetracks and tours involved in the American Speed Association, visit www.ASA-Racing.com.

The RMCS utilizes a racing format not found in ANY other regional touring series around the country. The top 20 qualifiers are inverted for every race putting fast time in the 20th starting position. This format ensures race fans see what they paid for, and that is passing. Each driver is awarded three points per position gained in the event. Points are also awarded for qualifying and heat race finishes. Through the history of the series, the winning driver has averaged a 15th place starting position. To ensure competition, the RMCS pays its purse based on total point accumulation for the event and provides several special performance awards for the event.

The CarbonX Rocky Mountain Challenge Series is a regional touring series that allows all competitors to race and gain experience on different types of racetracks. It is a high-quality professional racing series that offers maximum opportunity at an affordable price serving the intermountain West. The motto of the series is to “Race Hard and Have Fun!” For all the latest news and information regarding the CarbonX Rocky Mountain Challenge Series log on to our Web site at www.rmcsracing.com