TWIN FALLS, Idaho — It came down to another battle between Kris McKean and TJ Woodhall, but McKean held steady to win the Mr. Gas Late Models race Saturday night at Magic Valley Speedway.
"I just have to come back and win the next couple of races to stay ahead of him – I just have to"— TJ Woodhall
With six cars in the starting grid cautions shuffled up the field before the first lap was up on the scoreboard. Bobby Latham took the lion’s share of the bad luck after contact with Woodhall sent him to the pits for the rest of the event with a broken brake line.
Once the race got rolling McKean led the pack lap after lap. Nevertheless Woodhall, with Jeff Pohlman directly behind kept applying the pressure to McKean to the finish line.
“We had a faster car but just could not get around him,” Woodhall said. “And with Jeff (Pohlman) running my butt I didn’t want to lose that position either.”
Woodhall would finish as the runner-up yet another time. Although Pohlman has the championship locked, McKean continues to rattle Woodhall’s cage for second in the standings.
“We’re six points ahead of him right now,” Woodhall realized. “I just have to come back and win the next couple of races to stay ahead of him – I just have to.”
Having to repair the oil pan on the No. 7 car after the heat race, McKean wasn’t sure what he would have for the main.
“He (Woodhall) definitely had the faster car but we just got out front first.” McKean said. “I’m sure he knew I was kind of blocking him but he just wasn’t going to pop me out of the way. TJ is one of those guys that you can trust if you run him clean he is going to run you clean.”
McKean could only conjure up a second place finish in the Budweiser Super Stocks main event race with the victory going to Steve Edens. Edens, who suffered a disastrous wreck earlier in the season, began the race from the front row but had to hold off McKean from lap six to the finish at lap 30. It was Eden’s first win of the year in the division.
Todd Audet ran away with the Brennan’s Pony Stocks main event win crossing the line 6.842 seconds over runner-up Devon Colson. For the Project Filter Street Stocks, Paul Browne survived a mid-race restart to continue his dominance of the main event.
In other Whelen-All American racing action Ty Garibay was victorious with the TVGoldandSilver Thunderdogs and KC Gillogly stretched out her lead in the point standing by capturing the win in the Quale’s Jr. Stingers main event race. Jessica Pohlman quickly mastered the turns of the Quale’s Electronics Hornets main to win her first race in her first start of the season.
Tim McCutchan took the honors for the Pepsi Winged Sprints and Douglas ‘Tank’ Brownfield was the winner of the Budweiser Boat Race of Destruction.
| Mr. Gas Late Models |
|---|
| 1. Kris McKean, 2. TJ Woodhall, 3. Jeff Pohlman, 4. Bruce Quale, 5. Morgan Rasmussen |
| Budweiser Super Stocks |
| 1. Steve Edens, 2. Kris McKean, 3.Willie Dalton, 4. Ernie Hall, 5. Casey Pehrson |
| Brennan’s Carpet Pony Stocks |
| 1. Todd Audet, 2. Devon Colson, 3. Jerry Slocum, 4. Robbie Hyde, 5. Mike Audet |
| Project Filter Street Stocks |
| 1. Paul Browne, 2. Brandon Thomas, 3. Craig Nuthak, 4. Chase Carraway, 5. John Newell |
| Quale’s Electronics Hornets |
| 1. Jessica Pohlman, 2. Toef Leija, 3. Renee Lopez, 4. Robbie Hyde, 5. Maegan Pato |
| Quale’s Jr. Stingers |
| 1. KC Gillogly, 2. Alyssa Pearson, 3. Russel Dalton, 4. Justice Coates, 5. Jason Quale |
| Pepsi Winged Sprints |
| 1. Tim McCutchan, 2. Don Kithcart, 3. Dayne Amryx |
