MERIDIAN, Idaho — Two veterans of regional racing series tangled in the NAPA Auto Parts Treasure Valley 100 Saturday night at ASA-sanctioned Meridian Speedway.
Jerome, Idaho’s Brett Thompson got the all clear to the checkered flag in the Carbon X Rocky Mountain Series stop when fellow NASCAR regional veteran John Dillon’s race-long pursuit ended with him spinning out in Turn 4 with four laps to go.
“I’m pretty excited about this,” Thompson said as he took the trophy. “Dillon is always racing clean.
“I think he had the better car, but you have to have a much better car to get around this place. Dillon raced me clean, and I appreciate that.”
In other main events from Saturday, Meridian, Idaho’s Joe Ransom won in the Pepsi Sprintcars, Jeffrey Meads of Nampa, Idaho took the checkered in the College of Western Idaho Professional Truck Driving School Street Stocks and Nampa’s David Tankersley captured his second consecutive feature in the Tates Rents Hornets.
Dillon, a former NASCAR regional series champion and rookie of the year, had dominated June 12’s RMCS stop at Magic Valley Speedway in Twin Falls in his first start of the series season.
He looked poised to make it two in a row in tour stop No. 5 on Saturday.
Over the final third of the race, one of the longest of the RMCS season, Dillon constantly nosed low onto the track and nestled into Thompson’s quarter-panel coming out of Turn 2. But with each lap, Thompson got enough momentum to maintain his lead.
With 10 laps left, Dillon changed his tactics and tried to swing around high past Thompson. Again, the former NASCAR Craftsman Trucks competitor had the juice to maintain the advantage.
Dillon remained on the high side of the track in his pursuit of Thompson until he tagged the backstretch wall with four laps left and wound up spinning violently in Turn 4 to end his quest.
Thompson work wasn’t done, though. Meridian’s John Nesmith inherited Dillon’s grit and hugged the rear bumper of the No. 61 lead car for the final two circuits.
Meads erased a bucketload of sour memories by steering a Dodge Street Stock car to his first main event win of the year in the 40-lap nightcap.
“I actually didn’t think we were going to get here the way things are going, especially in those heat races,” Meads said. “We’re just finally making some changes to run with Chevys. The changes were pretty minimal, just a camber change and we put some black on the car.”
One Chevy driver had huge hard luck. Mark Finley of Boise lost a rear tire 10 laps into the race. The tire went tumbling out off the frontstretch and bounded 15 feet in the air before smacking the hood of Finley’s stalled car in Turn 1.
Tankersley has been a quick study in the Hornets.
The Nampa, Idaho-based racer took the lessons learned in a grueling 100-lap examination 10 days earlier and won his second consecutive main event Saturday night.
Tankersley blew past fellow Nampan Ken Canington for the lead with five laps left in the 30-lap main event. Tankersley took advantage when Canington got bottled up in lapped traffic.
The No. 05 race car cruised to an easy win over the final five laps, and Tankersley credited his experience winning the June 16 100-lapper in bringing home the hardware Saturday.
"It definitely got me in the groove and got me used to the car," he said. "There's a lot of good drivers out there, especially Ken Canington. He gave me a run for my money."
In the Pepsi Sprintcars 30-lap main, Ransom shot to the lead eight laps in and roared to an easy win. He unveiled an open-wheeler sprayed in traditional Ransom Racing colors and wheeled it to a three-second victory over series leader Johnny Giesler, also of Meridian.
"We finally got this thing underneath us," Ransom said. "There's been one gremlin after another with this car.
"We put an old-school paint scheme on it, and I think it liked. And I liked it."
Local drivers made the most of home cooking in the 12-lap heat races that served as a warm-up for the Carbon X Rocky Mountain Challenge Series NAPA Auto Parts Treasure Valley 100, which was run late Saturday.
Kuna, Idaho's Jaramie Fuss built a big lead early and cruised to the first victory in the first preliminary. Fuss was able to hang on to his advantage after a yellow flag with two laps left triggered a restart. Tom Hill of Eagle, Idaho, went around in Turn 2 after getting nudged from behind by RMCS regular and NASCAR regional and national veteran Brett Thompson of Jerome, Idaho.
Nampa, Idaho's Dylan Caldwell got a little bit of a scare on his way to the checkered flag in the second heat race. Caldwell, like Fuss a regular in Meridian Speedway's NAPA Auto Parts Latemodel Sportsman class, rolled over some fluid in Turn 2 and got loose with two laps to go. Fortunately for him, the young Caldwell had built a four-second lead, so the bobble didn't hurt him.
Boise, Idaho's Dan Lowther finished second.
An RMCS regular finally won a heat race in the contest featuring the fastest six qualifiers, but another local racer -- two-time series champion Dave Minegar of Boise -- nearly stole the show with a late charge.
Spring Creek, Nev.'s Travis Monet led wire-to-wire to win the race, but Minegar picked up valuable championship points and shot up four spots over the dozen laps to finish second.
Minegar started at the back of the six-car field in the heat race after setting the series track record at 13.145 seconds. But he rocketed into the third spot by the midway point and then rode the high side of the track for an entire lap to overtake Twin Falls, Idaho's Bruce Quale for second place.
Meridian Speedway celebrates the nation's independence with two nights of racing Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, it's Boys and Girls Club of Meridian Night with the NAPA Sportsman Latemodels, another double feature for the ESI Express ASA Modifieds, the Project Filter Pro-4s, Mini Stocks and Jr. Stingers.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $7.50 for senior citizens and military personnel with ID, $6 for children ages 7-11, and children 6 and younger get in free.
On Sunday, the City of Meridian presents the second annual Fireworks Spectacular. The Fourth of July night also marks the return of the Intermountain Vintage Sprintcars with support from the Pepsi Sprintcars, Mtn. Dew Winged Sprints, CWI PTDS Street Stocks and Tates Rents Hornets.
Admission is $12 for adults, $9.50 for seniors and military, $8 for children ages 7-11 and free for children 6 and younger.
Both nights, the gates open at 4 p.m. with racing at 6:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.meridianspeedway.com or call the track at (208) 888-2813.
| NAPA Auto Parts Treasure Valley 100 for RMCS |
|---|
| 1. Brett Thompson, Jerome, Idaho; 2. John Nesmith, Meridian, Idaho; 3. Thane Alderman, Las Vegas, Nev.; 4. John Newhouse, Twin Falls, Idaho; 5. John Dillon, Eagle, Idaho |
| CWI PTDS Street Stocks (40 laps) |
| 1. Jeffrey Meads, Nampa, Idaho; 2. Chad Bess, Nampa; 3. Tim Elam, Boise, Idaho; 4. Melissa Scott, Nampa; 5. Pat Young, Kuna, Idaho |
| Pepsi Sprintcars (30 laps) |
| 1. Joe Ransom, Boise, Idaho; 2. Johnny Geisler, Meridian, Idaho; 3. Carl Marcum, Boise; 4. Kelly Newman, Boise; 5. Josh Allen, Meridian |
| Tates Rents Hornets (30 laps) |
| 1. David Tankersley, Nampa; 2. Ken Canington, Nampa; 3. Larry Hull, Boise; 4. Alex Duda; 5. Tony Martinez, Nampa |
