KALISPELL, Montana — Owen Riddle’s first attempt to make the Coors Light Montana 200 field paid huge dividends as the Naches, Wash., native claimed the top spot in qualifying and used a patient approach in the Fast-14 heat races to win the pole award for Saturday night’s 200-lap finale.
Shane Mitchell, defending champion Gary Lewis, Alex Lessor and Jason Fraser round out the top-5 starting positions in the field.
In transfer racing action, Jeff Jefferson and Jonathan Gomez provided quite a thrill for the capacity crowd at Montana Raceway Park as the pair won their respective transfer main events. Jefferson’s win in the C-Main put him in the challenging position of having to get through a tough B-main field for a top-5 finish just to lock into the 200 while Gomez had a starting spot in the front of the “B” that kept him close throughout the 40-lap sprint race.
Mike Longton, last year’s fast time winner of the Montana 200 started in the first position of the B-Main leading the field to the green flag. Gomez used the high side of the race track to move past Longton at lap 6 and held the point for the next 14 laps. Longton crept back to Gomez’s bumper and challenged for the lead through the races midway portion.
With the pair battling for the lead all eyes were up front with Jefferson sneaking onto the scene by lap 29. At lap 31 Jefferson had gone to the third position in the running order and held off a hard-charging Ryan Wells and local favorite Bodie Morton at the strip.
A total of 19 drivers are locked into the 200-lap finale with seven remaining positions among 34 cars.
Saturday night’s racing action gets underway at 6 p.m. with the Last Chance Qualifying race followed by opening ceremonies at 7 then the 40-lap Switchyard Shootout presented by Western Rail for all drivers that do not lock themselves into the 200.
The 21st Annual Coors Light Montana 200 powered by Kalispell Toyota takes the green flag at 9 p.m. MST. Tickets for the finale are available at www.montanaracewypark.com or at the box office. For more information call (406) 257-RACE (7223).
21st Annual Coors Light Montana 200 powered by Kalispell Toyota Day 1 results
Cold Smoke Fast Time Award Winner: Owen Riddle 13.047-sec.
Trophy Dash Winners:
Kirk Hennefer
Billy Salmonsen
Jonathan Gomez
Shane Mitchell
C-Main Winner: Jeff Jefferson
B-Main Top-5
Jonathan Gomez
Mike Longton
Jeff Jefferson
Ryan Wells
Bodie Morton
Starting Positions 1-19 of the 21st Annual Coors Light Montana 200 powered by Kalispell Toyota
1) Owen Riddle
2) Shane Mitchell
3) Gary Lewis
4) Alex Lessor
5) Jason Fraser
6) Mark Owens
7) Chris Eggelston
8) Eric Schmidt
9) Brian Levant
10) Chris Skelton
11) Brandon Riehl
12) Jason Jefferson
13) Blake Williams
14) Ronnie Hults
15) Jonathan Gomez
16) Mike Longton
17) Jeff Jefferson
18) Ryan Wells
19) Bodie Morton
