SATURDAY NIGHT RACING MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND AT ASA'S MERIDIAN SPEEDWAY

Source: Meridian Speedway Media Relations/bc
Date: 05/25/2008

MERIDIAN, Idaho --John Nesmith won the Bill Crow Memorial traveling trophy last year and returned it tot the track to be presented to this year's winner of the Late Model 50 lap memorial race. It wasn't out of his possession for more than a few hours though and the decision wasn't up in the air for long. With a seventh place start and surrounded by Meridian's toughest competitors Nesmith had his hands full. At the green flag Bob Wood and Dan Lowther shared the front row with Tyler Monroe and Sierra Jackson right behind.

Also in front of Nesmith were Phil Dugan and Travis Milburn and the hard charging Chris Ratterree was on his right. Within three laps Nesmith had moved to fifth place and then passed Lowther on the outside. With the leaders side by side and the second row still hanging tight Dugan and Wood bumped and Wood spun to bring out the first caution. Wood went to the pits and Dugan restarted in the back leaving only Tyler Monroe to hold off Nesmith.

At the restart Nesmith immediately took the high side to move around Monroe for the lead. Dennis Wurtz followed on Nesmith's coat tails with Bryan Warf right behind. Warf was the quick time of the night but Wurtz was second fastest and ahead of Warf. Over the next 20 laps Chris Ratterree worked his way to the front right behind Nesmith and in front of Wurtz and Warf. Nesmith finished in front with Ratterree, Wurtz, and Warf in the exact reverse order of their qualifying times earlier in the evening. Tyler Monroe and Sierra Jackson followed the four leaders across the finish line.

The first main event of the evening brought out the Hornets for a 35 lap scheduled event. This race was held in honor of Mike Finch the multiple blind alley event winner. The blind alley races were run with a blind driver and a sighted passenger/navigator.

The Hornets class ran a 15 lap B main with the top four finishers transferring to the 25 lap main event. Mike Davis, Marshal Burinham, Jerry Krahn and Karissa Wood all transferred to the A main but started in the rear. Jim Anderson and Rob Taylor shared the front row while the perpetual underdog, Tony Johns, followed in the second row.

On lap four Johns took the inside of a three wide pass to take the lead but an unrelated spin and subsequent caution caused the scoring to revert to the last completed green flag lap. Johns lost his pass and restarted behind Anderson. Two laps after the restart Johns again passed on the inside to take the lead but yet another caution and restart took away his best efforts. Johns slipped to third when Tyler Burlingame passed on the outside to take the lead but after the next caution Burlingame restarted in second place with Johns in the lead.

Over the final ten laps Burlingame moved to the high side with Vern Bolinger waiting to follow whoever took the lead but Burlingame this time could not pass Johns allowing Johns to take his first main event win. Burlingame, Bolinger, Verlon Wright, and Miguel Lequrrica followed Johns across the finish line.

The Non Winged Sprints raced in honor of Lee Roy Nelson, former racer and Meridian Speedway track promoter. Zachary Wilson and Don Kithcart shared the front row at the start but Wilson took off a few laps later and left the rest of the pack in his rear view. Jeff Russell passed for second by lap eight but fell to third when Jerry Sullivan took his spot away from him.

Johnny Giesler charged to the front in the early laps and put himself in position to pass for the lead but excessively hard driving put him in contact with Wilson causing Wilson to spin and bringing out a caution. Wilson and Giesler both restarted in the rear leaving Sullivan and Russell to take over the top spots. Sullivan lead Russell and the rest of the pack to the end of the race but Giesler worked his way back to sixth before the checkered flag flew. After the race Sullivan failed to stop at the scale and was disqualified leaving the win and the Lee Roy Nelson Memorial trophy to Jeff Russell. Rob Grice, Joe Ransom, and Kole Bushman crossed the line just behind the leaders.

Twenty-four Larry Miller Subaru Mini Stocks lined up side by side to take the green flag in memory of William Dugan at Meridian Speedway. Rick Brees took the early lead and held on for 17 laps. Fourteen-year-old rookie Aly Clark started the race in sixth position and quickly moved up through the field to third.

On lap 17 Clark spun in turn two. The yellow flag flew but Jeff Hasson apparently missed the yellow and didn't see Clark in the middle of the track and then drove head on into Clark. Quentin Ward was too close to Hasson had nowhere to go and went into the back of him. The field was then red flagged on the backstretch. At the restart Scott Wilcox Sr was in the front. Josh Culley, Brandon Shira, Eddie Ables, and Kirk Sanders rounded out the top five.

On lap 22 Ables took the lead away from Wilcox only to have Wilcox take it back in the next lap. Ables was able to pull ahead of Wilcox on the following lap and kept it until the checkered flag waved. Wilcox, Ray Bollinger, Culley and Shira completed the top five.

Eldon Cahill's memory was honored during the Legend main event. Twenty cars came out to take the green. Ed Sonius jumped ahead of the field with Rod Stiller, Lloyd Bigler, Don Allen, and Ron Hayes right behind him to round out the top five. Terry Plummer from Loveland CO started tenth and by lap four had moved up to fifth. Plummer continued his assent to the top spot and on lap eight he claimed third.

The race continued despite lightning flashes all around, and the loss of the Pepsi scoreboard. Race control froze the field and red flagged the race until the scoreboard could be reset. Plummer had pulled ahead of Sonius bringing Erik Miller with him before the field was frozen. At the restart Plummer, Miller, Camron Madsen, Doyle Hartman, and Sonius were in the top five. The top three didn't change for the rest of the race. Travis Anderson moved up from sixth at the restart to claim fifth and continued upward to finish fourth with Tom Matheson from Pascoe WA taking home the fifth position.

On Memorial Day the Winged Sprints, the Grand American Modifieds, the Super Stocks, and the Street Stocks will be racing in full events with memorial traveling trophies being awarded in addition to the event trophies. On Monday the races start one hour earlier with the gates opening at 3 and the time trials at 4 and the trophy dashes at 5. For more information log on to www.meridianspeedway.com or call the track at (208) 888-2813.

See Also .:

News Index | E-mail to a Friend