MERIDIAN, Idaho — For Dave Minegar of Boise, ID, the last two seasons have been forgettable. Saturday night at Meridian Speedway will go down as a memorable race for the former two-time series champion as he returned to action in the CarbonX Rocky Mountain Challenge Series making his first start of the season and scored an emotional victory in front of family and friends.
"Former Two-Time Champion Scores First Victory in Nearly Three Years"
The triumph was Minegar's seventh career victory (tied for first all-time) in his 60th career series start. The win also put him atop the Meridian Speedway stat sheet becoming the only two-time series winner at the historic 1/4-mile paved oval in ten events.
Minegar qualified his A-1 Heating and Air Conditioning Chevrolet fifth quick putting him 9th on the grid to start the 100-lap NAPA Auto Parts Treasure Valley "100". Over the opening laps he took it easy and blew some of the rust off since he had not been in the race car for more than nine months.
By lap 25 he had made it into the top five and by lap 35 he made the pass for the lead and never looked back. Finishing second was Thane Alderman from Las Vegas, NV who has suffered through his worst year in his 25-year racing career. Alderman briefly led the race early on but fell back to fifth in the middle portion of the race before making a late charge back to the front.
Rounding out the top five finishers were Rick Fowble of Twin Falls, ID who had his best career series finish, Dan Rhodes of Olympia , WA, and rookie driver Tyler Bailey of Meridian.
Jeff Hillock of Cedar Hills, UT was the point leader by 31-points. But a hard crash during qualifying meant his crew had to work non-stop right up until the start of the race to get his car back together. Hillock finished ninth and ahead of championship rival and defending series champion Steve Jones.
But Jones managed to shave two-points off the margin despite his finish and only trails Hillock by 29-points heading into the next race at Rocky Mountain Raceways in SLC, UT July 9. Zan Sharp maintains the third position in the standings 24-points behind Jones while Bruce Quale moved up one position to fourth after a sixth place finish Saturday night. Lynn Hardy drops to fifth place after his night ended early due to an accident.
Devin LaHorgue drives from Redding, CA to compete with the RMCS and he had his best run going in three starts as he had moved up to second place dogging Minegar over the final 25 circuits. Jubilation turned to frustration for the youngster as the rear-end in his Chevrolet gave out on the final lap dropping him to an 11th place finish.
The RMCS utilizes a racing format not found in ANY other regional touring series around the country. The RMCS inverts the full starting field putting the fast qualifiers at the back to start the race. 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 it purse based on total point accumulation for the event and provides several special performance awards at each race. Century Boatland in Twin Falls is a major sponsor to the series providing significant support to the series all season.
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 website at www.rmcsracing.com .
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