Twenty-five cars showed up the Memorial Day Snap-on 125 at Rocky Mountain Raceways, the longest race of the Intermountain Late Model Series season. The two practice sessions for the drivers saw the #12 of Jim Wulfenstein break a rear end, while the #67 of Doyle Olsen had the transmission get stuck in gear. When qualifying time rolled around the Olsen's #67 was done for the night, while the #12 crew was still trying to get another rear end in the car, they would miss qualifying, but kept at it to hopefully make the main event.. The #14 of Dave Davis would miss qualifying also while they waited for a new intake manifold to arrive.
During qualifying Rookie Travis Kidd in the #55 car came out 7th in the qualifying order and put a 15.70 up on the board which was the fast time until the #25 of Russell Butler came along with a 15.69, but even that would not hold up as the #37 Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Joe Hood nailed fast time with a 15.64 on the 3/8 oval.
The field took the track for the main event and with the 3 lap to go signal the #99 of Jared Elwell car dropped back out of his pole position back to the second row to make it 3 wide and leave the his pole position open in a tribute to # #3 Dale Earnhardt for this Memorial Day race.
With the drop of the green flag the #99 of Jared Elwell took the lead with the Kevin Stauffer in the #2 car falling in behind him. By lap five the Hillock brothers, Jeff in car #41 and Greg in car #36 had moved up into third and fourth respectively, while winner of the last race #30 Kenny Rich had moved up to 5th. Just five laps later Rich would put his #30 car in the lead with #36 of Greg Hillock in second while #41 of Jeff Hillock was falling back in the field with mechanical problems. Lap 14 saw the #23 of Steve Brigance spin out of turn one bringing out the first caution of the race. The #2 of Kevin Stauffer would leave the track just after the yellow came out with a failed engine.
The restart saw Kenny Rich #30 in 1st, followed by #36 of Greg Hillock, #77 Gary Porter, #99 Jared Elwell and #84 Zan Sharp. On lap 29 the Jim Wulfenstein #12 would leave the track with engine problems. After getting the rear end replaced in time to make the main event, this made a quick end to a long day for the crew of the #12 car. The caution came out for the second time on lap 31 when the #96 of Gary Dastrup spun coming out of turn 3. The caution period would see #97 leave the track with engine problems. With the drop of the green Kenny Rich #30 was still leading the #36 of Greg Hillock with the ##77 of Gary Porter, #84 Zan Sharp and #41 Jeff Hillock rounding out the top five. Gary Dastrup #96 was black flagged on lap 35 for an oil leak and the #14 of Dave Davis left the track for an overheating problem as would the #99 of Jared Elwell. Just two laps after the restart the ##41 of Jeff Hillock would leave the track on lap 37. Lap 41 saw the #99 of Jared Elwell and Jeff Hillock #41car come back on the track.
Lap 43 would see Jeff Hillock #41 leave once again while the #30 of Kenny Rich was still leading the way over Greg Hillock in the #36 until lap 49 when the #36 got into the side the #30 car spinning them both around in front of traffic, which was checking up hard to avoid them. While dodging the cars checking up in front of him, the #09 of Rick Ellison made a cut to the infield to avoid the cars in front of him, only to find the #30 of Kenny Rich car coming to rest directly in front of him. With very little time to apply the brakes, Ellison drilled the right side door of Rich's car with a thud that could be heard above everything on the track. Rich was able to drive the #30 off the track and remove some sheet metal, while Ellison took a precautionary ride in the ambulance to be checked out.
This restart found the #77 of Gary Porter in front followed by Zan Sharp #84, Marty Zehr #63, Russell Butler #25 and Troy Workman in the #66. The cars of Dave Davis #14 and Jeff Hillock #41 came back on lap 53 along with #30 Kenny Rich. Hillock would go back off just one lap later. The #19g of Rookie Keith Garcia would leave the track on lap 57 with engine trouble, which seemed to be the headache for many of the drivers in the main event. Lap 66 saw the #14 car of Dave Davis go up in a big cloud of oil smoke as he came into turn 3 when his engine let go, making it almost impossible for the drivers behind him to even see the track. Davis immediately headed for the infield as he was unable to see with the inside of the car was filled with smoke. With his spotters help, he was able to stop in the middle of the infield. With the yellow out while the smoke cleared, the Garcia's #19g car made it back to the track as did Greg Hillock's #36, which minus some body parts.
Hillock's #36 was black flagged on lap 71 for body parts coming off the left side as he came around to make his exit, Keith Garcia's engine decided to let go, causing him to spin out in the exit to the pits bringing out the yellow. Once the track crew got the #19g pointed in the right direction and removed from the exit the #36 car was able to exit and take the door off and come back.
The lap 80 restart still had the #77 of Gary Porter in front, followed by Zan Sharp #84, Troy Workman #66, Russell Butler #25 and the #63 of Marty Zehr. Lap 85 would find the #66 car of Troy Workman getting into #84 Zan Sharp going into turn 4 and collecting the #16 of Bret Houskeeper who was trying to avoid the tangle as was the #4 of Randy Hardman who suffered some right front damage. The #66 would leave the track two laps later with a loose oil line fitting, while the Sharps #84 was towed off when he was unable to get his car re-started. Houskeeper also left, to quickly pull off some loose body parts and immediately came back on, while Hardman took a little longer to make it back on.
The clean up took a bit off time, all the cars involved the mishap on lap 85 where back on the track when the green flew again on lap 111 with #77 Gary Porter still in the lead, followed this time by #63 Marty Zehr, #25 Russell Butler, and #37 Joe Hood. Lap 119 saw the #63 of Zehr start to slow when he dropped a cylinder, forcing him to leave the track on lap 121.
With two laps to go the lead cars of #77 Gary Porter, #25 Russell Butler and #37 Joe Hood where back in lap traffic, With two lap cars in front of them Porter went high while Butler and Hood went low, which turned out to be the path to take, by the time they crossed the line for the white flag #25 Russell Butler was in front followed by Joe Hood #37 and #77 Gary Porter was shuffled back to 3rd. Hood made on last try to get by Butler coming out of turn 2, but was unable to and #25 Russell Butler would take the checkered flag followed by #37 Joe Hood and the #77 of Gary Porter.
