KALISPELL, Mont — (May 15, 2011)-Defending Kalispell Toyota Late Model Series champion Bodie Morton started the new season off exactly the same way he ended 2010-with a main event victory. With a strong car all night long Morton’s Carlson Law Office Chevrolet bested Brian Levant and Ryan Wells at the stripe in Saturday’s Kokanee 100 to kick-off the 2011 season at Montana Raceway Park.
Cameron Hayley and Agni Howell rounded out the top-5 for the late model division running order.
Spokane’s David Garber got things started off with a 13.109-sec. qualifying lap, a mere .015-seconds over Levant.
Morton and Mark Owens led the field to the green flag and battled for the lead over the races first 32 circuits before the night’s first yellow flag came out. On the restart Morton dropped back just a bit as Owens and Garber challenged for the lead.
By the race’s midway point Hayley had begun to make his march to the front to show the strength in his Chevrolet. Another strong run to the front came from Wells who had restarted at the tail end of the field at lap 52 and worked his way to fifth by lap 75. With the laps winding down Wells, Garber and Owens began to close the gap to Morton
Owens and Garber made contact entering turn No. 3 forcing both to retire for the evening with damage.
Levant gave one last challenge to Morton but was unable to get around the Kalispell native for the victory.
“(Levant) raced me clean through that last run and he could have got me there in the end in the lapped traffic if he wanted to push the issue,” Morton said. “We held in there tough and turned it on late when we needed to. Our team comes into each season looking to win at least one race a year and now we’re just going to have to see if we can make it two for 2011 when we come out here (on May 28, the next Kalispell Toyota Late Model event).”
Levant was pleased with the performance of his Cowtown Motorsports Cadillac, he noted.
“Our car was really good all night long and we raced (Morton) clean there in the end to be sure there was no contact or a lap car got in the middle of what we were doing. We had a great time racing (at Montana Raceway Park) and are looking forward to getting back here to see if we can get the win.”
Josh Davis picked up his first win of the year in the Pabst Blue Ribbon Hobby Stock division as he held off a hard-charging Brandon Martel. Davis also had a top-3 run in his heat race and finished third in the night’s trophy dash to cap a solid all-around effort.
For Scott Lee it was business as usual as the defending Wanna Race Thunder Roadster champion was the winner in the year’s first main event for the division with Tyler Corpron and Scott Moore rounding out the top-3. Lee made it a clean sweep of the night as he was the heat race and trophy dash winner to go along with his top qualifying effort.
Montana Raceway Park returns to action on Saturday, May 21 as Penco Power Products presents the CHS Legends Series, the Lucas Oil Super Stocks, Wanna Race Bandoleros, Flathead Beacon Hornets and the Wanna Race Thunder Roadsters. Tickets are on sale through the track’s website at www.montanaracewaypark.com For more information call (406) 257-RACE (7223) or find the track on Facebook.
| Wanna Race Thunder Roadsters |
|---|
| Trophy Dash 1) Scott Lee 2) Dave Daughtry 3) Tyler Corpron 4) Scott Moore 5) Jaelen Pace Heat Race Lee Corpron Moore Daughtry Pace Main Event Lee Corpron Moore Pace Daughtry |
| Pabst Blue Ribbon Hobby Stocks |
| Trophy Dash Ed Linn Mike Rowe Josh Davis Mike Burke Heat Race Linn Cory Reum Davis Burke Rowe Jim Kruze Chuck Swope Brandon Martel Dustin Martel Main Event Davis B. Martel Linn Burke Rowe Kruze Swope Reum D. Martel |
| Kalispell Toyota Late Model Series |
| A-Trophy Dash Bodie Morton Ryan Wells David Garber Wrango West B-Trophy Dash Giles Thornton Todd Havens Brandon Sickler Don Staggs A-Heat Race West Cameron Hayley Cory Wolfe Morton Mark Owens Brian Levant Garber Wells Troy Schweigert Agni Howell B-Heat Race Thornton Billy Salmonson Bill Royce Sickler Jeff Little Braeden Havens Staggs T. Havens Kirk Hennefer Clint Habart Main Event Morton Levant Wells Hayley Howell Sickler Schweigert Royce Little Staggs Thornton T. Havens West Garber Owens B. Havens Hennefer Habart Salmonson Wolfe |
