CARSON CITY, Nevada -- Champion Motor Speedway's opening day for the 2004 season brought the AllStar Race Truck Series in for the first of three races in 2004 at the speedway.
In the feature, pole sitter Randy Maas in the #48 Dodge from Gibbonsville ID pushed up in turn one collecting Keith Hopkinson Jr. in the #22 Chevy. Jason Newhouse from Twin Falls Idaho in the Elite Motors #24 started on the pole after a complete restart and lead every lap to the checkered. "It wasn't as easy as it seemed, said Newhouse, the 22 truck was dogging me the whole race and I was worried as we came up on lapped traffic but a yellow cleared things up and I was able to hold him off. I'll be back on July 10 to try to make it two in a row" Hopkinson Jr. said "I felt we were really even all race long and I overheated my right rear in the last five laps trying to run him down and my truck got too loose to catch him." Hopkinson leads the Gold Rush region point standings with 407 points. Randy Maas finished third and Wayne Gunderson fourth in the SunWest Electric #25 Chevy.
Gold Rush region Race Director Kelly Conway said "It was great to have teams come in from Idaho to run with us and show us how competitive they can be at a fast track like Champion. We are looking forward to having them come back in July."
The next Gold Rush region AllStar Race Truck Series race at Champion Motor Speedway is Saturday, July 10.
