Idaho Racing News

By Jon Brown
MERIDIAN, Idaho -- Mike Murgoitio cut his teeth on the Meridian Speedway pavement before heading off to race in USAC series. On Saturday night, he returned to the ASA-sanctioned track to win a feature race.
Driving with the steady hand of a veteran who knows every groove in the Meridian racing surface, Murgoitio worked his way up to the front after spinning on Lap 9 of the second ASA Modified 50-lap feature on City of Meridian Night at the Races.
He moved from fifth to first in four laps, grabbing the lead for good on the 23rd lap. Then Murgoitio held off a sustained challenge from Meridian newlywed Chris Fenton.
"On the outside (racing with Fenton), that brought back a lot of memories," Murgoitio said. "That was pretty cool. That was awesome. It was fun."
Murgoitio currently leads the USAC Rocky Mountain Sprintcar series after winning four features this season.
While Murgoitio made his return to the site of several successes, John Ellsworth got his first main event victory in 14 years of racing at the legendary quarter-mile oval. He came out on top in the Mini Stocks feature when Kirk Sanders and Jeff Hasson took each other out while racing for the lead on the second-to-last lap on the 35-lap main.
"It was pretty wild," Ellsworth said after Sanders and Hasson drove off the track and into the Turn 2 fence with Sanders out front.
In other main events, Boise, Idaho's Montie Potter won the first 50-lap ASA Modified feature; Nampa, Idaho's Shaun Tubbs took a step toward the Late Model Lites points lead with a win; young Chase Gilbertson crept closer to the points lead in the Domino's Pizza Bandoleros; and Mark McCurdy, driving a Boise City taxi, won another wild Thunder Dogs race.
Meridian Mayor Tammy DeWeerd and municipal employees and their families were special guests on race night as a way of saying thanks for the city's work on the Fourth of July Celebration that was staged at Storey Park and Meridian Speedway earlier this summer.
"I thought it would be cool to continue to try to build that relationship between the City of Meridian and this racetrack," Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission president John Nesmith said.
"This is to recognize the parks department or anyone who volunteers to put in the time to make (the Fourth of July celebration) happen."
Nesmith, a racer who calls the speedway home and a Meridian native, played a role in creating the Fourth of July celebration two years ago as chair of the Parks and Rec Special Events Committee. He'll be back out at Meridian Speedway on Saturday for the Carbon X Rocky Mountain Challenge Series Late Model series' second stop of the season.
The crash that sent John Ellsworth to a long-awaited checkered flag wasn't the only wild wreck in the final two laps of the Mini Stocks main.
On the second-to-last lap of the race, several drivers wrecked, including Everett Meeks, whose car wound up on its top in the infield after barrel-rolling down the backstretch. Meeks emerged unhurt, but Kirk Sanders couldn't hang on to the lead on the restart after he and Jeff Hasson went racing side-by-side and off the track.
With the season winding down, Shaun Tubbs had to make a move to get closer to the top of the Late Model Lite standings. With a little help, he could find himself in the points lead after he rode to victory by getting the jump with each yellow flag in the 35-lap feature race.
Meanwhile, fellow Nampa Late Model Lites driver, Joe Barton, who had entered the weekend with the points lead, finished last in the main event and didn't get a top-five finish in any race. Tubbs also was the B heat winner, picking up more points.
Tubbs started the season with a couple of feature races and then fell in behind Barton in the Late Model Lites standings. But Saturday, Tubbs raced with determination, holding off challenges on each of the first three side-by-side restarts after caution flags to lead wire-to-wire in the main event.
Barton's pursuit of Tubbs ended on Lap 21 when he was sent to the back of the field after a crash with Boise's Kenny Chandler. Chandler drove in deep into Turn 3, making contact with Barton, who spun and then collected Casey Tillman.
In the first feature race of the night, part of a twin 50-lap affair for the ASA Modifieds, Boise's Montie Potter built a huge lead early and then shook off five caution flags to win in decisive fashion.
"It was good to see 22 Modifieds out here having fun and racing clean," Potter said after he took the checkered flag.
The Modifieds double feature was part of the ASA Joe Gibbs Driven National Member Track Championship chase. Each ASA-sanctioned track must have 14 features this season to qualify their drivers for the national championship.
The first ASA Modifieds main event spelled trouble for Meridian points leader Rus Ward, who entered the night running sixth in the Western Regional standings for the national title. Ward went to the pits after mechanical problems on the first lap, but returned to grab a top-five finish in the second main.
Three laps after an early restart in the first Modifieds main, Montie Potter worked his way past Rod Cummings to take the lead for good. Potter would lead second-place Al Colwell of Boise by as much as 5 1/2 seconds early in the race.
In the Bandoleros, Chase Gilbertson grabbed two checkered flags, sweeping the Fast Dash and 15-lap main event, to edge closer to season series leader Andrew Clark of Boise.
"It's pretty good. We're four points out of the championship, though," Gilbertson said of the season. "Hopefully we'll get it."
Gilbertson may have picked up some ground on Clark, who was unable to get past Brok Kidd and had to settle for third place in the feature race. Meridian Speedway points standings aren't made official until the first part of the week.
Mark McCurdy fish-tailed across the start-finish line after 25 laps of crazy Thunder Dogs racing to win a main event in which no driver could ever lead two laps in a row. Racers slowing at the line to avoid a penalty caused several pile-ups during the competition, including on the final lap when season series leader Tommy White of Boise spun and slammed into Chris Carlson, sending Carlson's car hard into the front-stretch wall at the end of the race.
"Back on (Turn 3), I was pretty sure I had (the win)," McCurdy said. "I had the inside line and the other one (White) kind of spun out, and I just kept the inside line and felt it all the way."
White maintained his points lead as Melba, Idaho's Bill Lacy had problems while leading and fell toward the back of the field. He finished out of the top five despite the three-car pileup at the end.
Visit Meridian Speedway online at www.meridianspeedway.com or call (208) 888-2813 for track information.
As an American Speed Association-sanctioned track, Meridian Speedway is part of the ASA Member Track National Championship for the Modified division.
The goal of the ASA Short Track National Championship is to activate a measuring system that takes into account many variables, such as field size, inversion, wins and number of races in a season, and create a level playing field to determine who is the ‘best-of-the-best’ of the ASA Member Track Champions Nationwide.
The ASA Joe Gibbs Driven National Member Track Champion Award was designed to give the National Champion exposure with one of the top teams in racing — Joe Gibbs Racing. Joe Gibbs Driven Oil, a division of Joe Gibbs Racing, sells the actual oil products developed and used by Joe Gibbs Racing to racers at all levels. More information can be found at www.joegibbsdriven.com.
The ASA Member Track program is comprised of a network of short tracks around the United States, as well as a variety of regional and national touring series. For news and information from all the racetracks and tours involved in the American Speed Association, visit www.ASA-Racing.com.
Meridian Speedway
Meridian, Idaho
City of Meridian Night at the Races
Saturday's unofficial results
ASA Modifieds
Main event No. 1 (50 laps) --
1. Montie Potter, Boise, Idaho; 2. Al Colwell, Boise; 3, Tim Elam, Boise; 4. Jentry Pisca; 5. Jeff Hill, Meridian, Idaho
Main event No. 2 (50 laps) --
1. Mike Murgoitio, Meridian; 2. Shelby Stroebel; 3. Chris Fenton, Meridian; 4. Pisca; 5. Rus Ward, Nampa, Idaho
Fast time, main event No. 1 --
Stroebel, 14.561 seconds
Fast time, main event No. 2 --
Jeff Hill, 14.550
Late Model Lites
Main (35 laps) --
1. Shaun Tubbs, Nampa, Idaho; 2. Kale Freedman; 3. Jim Bailey, Middleton, Idaho; 4. Jordan Fitch, Meridian; 5. Rob Powers, Meridian
Fast Dash --
1. Fitch; 2. Freedman; 3. Bailey; 4. Powers; 5. Brandon McClain
B Heat --
1. Tubbs; 2. Kenny Chandler, Boise; 3. John Peterson; 4. Victor Clark, Boise; 5. Casey Tillman
Fast time --
Bailey, 14.585
Mini Stocks
Main (35 laps) --
1. John Ellsworth; 2. Todd Seaver; 3. Barry Taylor
Fast Dash --
1. Jeff Hasson, Boise; 2. Tyler Burlingame; 3. Ray Bolinger, Meridian; 4. Eddie Abels, Meridian; 5. Scott Shoecraft
B Heat --
1. Kirk Sanders, Nampa; 2. Chris Gillispie; 3. Jamey Frostrom; 4. Quentin Ward; 5. Jason Sanders, Caldwell, Idaho
C Heat --
1. Everett Meeks; 2. Taylor; 3. Seaver; 4. Sara Shaw; 5. Randy Keckley
Fast time --
Bolinger, 15.856
Domino's Pizza Bandoleros
Main (15 laps) --
1. Chase Gilbertson; 2. Brok Kidd; 3. Andrew Clark, Boise; 4. Keegan Meyers
Fast Dash --
1. Gilbertson; 2. Clark; 3. Kidd; 4. Russell Housel; 5. Meyers
Fast time --
Clark, 16.573
Thunder Dogs
Main (25 laps) --
1. Mike McCurdy; 2. Tommy White, Boise; 3. John Pinkston; 4. Dion States; 5. Jim Anderson
Fast Dash --
1. White; 2. Bill Lacy, Melba, Idaho; 3. Travis Jones; 4. States
B Heat --
1. Brett Sullivan; 2. Pinkston; 3. Chris Carlson, Boise; 4. McCurdy; 5. Nick Forsey
Fast time --
Lacy, 17.630