Idaho Racing News

By Jon Brown
MERIDIAN, Idaho -- Bob Parks needed every inch of the quarter-mile oval at ASA-sanctioned Meridian Speedway on Saturday night.
The Emmett, Idaho, driver held off four-time series champion and Hall of Famer Dean Waltman to win the 40-lap Idaho Six-cylinder Racing League main event. It was Parks' first-ever feature victory
Waltman, who leads the championship points standings with one race remaining, was all over the back of Parks' open-wheel race car as the pair crossed the start-finish line for the final time.
"It was a lot of work," Parks said of his win in front of his wife and mother.
Waltman picked up more championship points by turning in the fastest qualifying time for ISRL at 14.191 seconds.
Other main event winners included Rus Ward of Boise sweeping both ASA Modifieds main events in a bid to rejoin the national championship hunt; Boise's Kyle Burril in the Super Stocks; Nampa's Chad Bess in the Street Stocks; and John Pinkston in the Thunder Dogs.
Saturday's early racing wasn't kind to drivers who are in the thick of points chases with a dwindling number of weekends left in the season.
Veteran Street Stocks driver Marv Weaver, who started the night facing a 118-point deficit, was knocked out of the Fast Dash with an oil leak that caused him to spin twice during the preliminary. He climbed into the race car of his daughter, Melissa Scott of Nampa, to continue his pursuit of Kuna's Jaramie Fuss, who padded his lead with a win in the Fast Dash and a runner-up showing in the main event. Scott had the fastest car in qualifying.
Weaver had to start at the back of the field 19-car field in the 40-lap main event because he switched vehicles. By Lap 5, he had lost his left front tire when first-time 2009 driver Lewis Veale collided with him.
But Weaver was able to work his way back sixth place as Chad Bess of Nampa won the race in front of Fuss.
Kyle Burril of Boise, who earlier in the season paid tribute to his late nephew Robert Manwill during a race, grabbed the checkered flag in the 30-lap Super Stocks main event. He had to withstand two side-by-side restarts after caution flags, and also hold off points leader Dennis Brodigan of Nampa.
Thunder Dogs series leader Tommy White of Boise was turned around in a backstretch incident with fellow Boisean Chris Carlson during a heat race. Carlson entered the night second in the points, 85 points behind White.
White returned for the wacky 25-lap Thunder Dogs main event and battled Carlson and Jim Anderson, who was third in points at the start of the day, for the checkered. On Lap 19, Carlson fell out of the race when he was black-flagged because his Chevy Camaro was dropping water on the racing surface.
The Thunder Dog race began with drivers running the first lap in reverse. After that, no driver could lead more than one lap in a row or risk losing a lap to the field. The race was chaotic with a pickup called the Fishin' Rig dropping a spare tire on Lap 22, at which time White had found himself in third place. He wound up there as John Pinkston won the race and Anderson was runner-up.
In the first ASA Modified main event of the night, Rus Ward grabbed the lead on the sixth lap and led an uneventful 35-lap race in an attempt to move back toward the top in the points standings.
Ward, who was ranked as high as sixth in the western regional standings of the ASA Short Track National Championship, was toppled from the summit of the Meridian modified series standings earlier this year when he experienced mechanical problems during another double feature night.
But, Ward said after picking up the trophy for the first main that he's just at Meridian Speedway for the fun of it.
"We're here to have fun, and you guys have made it fun again out here," Ward told racetrack co-operator Adam Nelson during a post-race interview. "That's why we're out here, and the support of the fans. If we win, we win. If we don't, we don't."
In an attempt to hold on to his advantage with one race remaining, ASA Modifieds points leader Tom Hill of Eagle finished fourth in the first main and fifth in the second.
In the ISRL Fast Dash, Boise's Travis Burke ran away from the field with a three-second victory in the eight-lap preliminary. It was Burke's first appearance at Meridian since 2004, and he was driving a new six-cylinder open-wheel car, too.
In the B Heat, Walt Calkins of Meridian led wire-to-wire in an eight-lap preliminary.There are three nights of racing left at Meridian Speedway in 2009, including next Saturday when the Late Model Lites run their championship night. Support classes will include Mini Stocks, Legends, Domino's Pizza Bandoleros and Hornets.
Next week's night at the track also will feature nuptials for a Meridian Speedway official. Del Ray Gould will wed Mindy Jo Adger on the front stretch around 7:25 p.m. Saturday after the first round of heat races. A reception will follow the evening's racing. Attire is simple: Jeans and T-shirts, Gould said.

Visit Meridian Speedway online at www.meridianspeedway.com or call (208) 888-2813 for track information. To learn more about the American Speed Association, log on to www.ASA-Racing.com.

Meridian Speedway
Meridian, Idaho
Saturday's unofficial results
Idaho Six-cylinder Racing League
Main event -- 1. Bob Parks, Emmett, Idaho; 2. Dean Waltman, Boise, Idaho; 3. Jason Skyberg, Boise; 4. Randy Sellars, Boise; 5. Travis Burke, Boise
Fast Dash (8 laps) -- 1. Burke; 2. Waltman; 3. Jason Skyberg; 4. Kyle Waner, Boise; 5. Andy Graybeal, Boise
B heat (8 laps) -- 1. Walt Calkins, Meridian, Idaho; 2. Parks; 3. Sellars,; 4. Dick Sola, Boise; 5. Rex Reeve, Kuna, Idaho
Fast time -- Waltman, 14.191 seconds

ASA Modifieds
No. 2 Main (40 laps) -- 1. Rus Ward, Boise; 2. Jeff Hill, Meridian; 3. Charlie Ham Jr., Boise; 4. Chris Fenton, Meridian; 5. Tom Hill, Eagle,Idaho
No. 1 Main (35 laps) -- 1. Ward; 2. Kevin Zimmer, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho; 3. Fenton; 4. Tom Hill; 5. Travis Milburn, Eagle
Fast time, No. 1 Main -- Shelby Stroebel, Nampa, Idaho, 14.701
Fast time, No. 2 Main -- Stroebel, 14.648

Super Stocks
Main event (30 laps) -- 1. Kyle Burril, Boise; 2. Terry Lydell, Mountain Home, Idaho; 3. Dennis Brodigan, Nampa; 4. Phillip Zubizareta, Boise; 5. Troy Evans, Kuna
Fast Dash (8 laps) -- 1. Evans; 2. Rick Baldwin, Middleton, Idaho; 3. Lydell; 4. Brodigan; 5. Zubizareta
B heat (8 laps) -- 1. Burril; 2. Jeff Wilson, Mountain Home; 3. Dave Harris, Meridian; 4. Greg Wright; 5. Frank Wallace, Kuna
Fast time -- Brodigan, 15.155

Street Stocks
Main event (40 laps) -- 1. Chad Bess, Nampa; 2. Jaramie Fuss, Kuna; 3. David Short, Meridian; 4. Jerry Krahn, New Meadows, Idaho; 5. Shawn Hansen, Boise
Fast Dash (8 laps) -- 1. Fuss; 2. Bess; 3. Short; 4. Melissa Scott, Nampa; 5. Marv Weaver, Nampa
B heat (8 laps) -- 1. Micky Lawson, Caldwell, Idaho; 2. Steve Hansen Jr., Boise; 3. Steve Bosselman, Nyssa, Ore.; 4. Shawn Hansen; 5. Krahn
C heat (8 laps) -- 1. Bobby Riggs, Fruitland, Idaho; 2. Casey Scott, Nampa; 3. Lewis Veal; 4. Daniel Vanderveen; 5. Jay Doughty
Fast time -- Scott, 15.436

Thunder Dogs
Main event -- 1. John Pinkston; 2. Jim Anderson; 3. Tommy White, Boise; 4. Dion States, Meridian; 5. Kennon Irons
Slowest six trophy dash (6 laps) -- 1. States; 2. Brett Sullivan; 3. Kennon Irons; 4. Susan Romero; 5. Shorty Morton
A heat (6 laps) -- 1. Anderson; 2. Pinkston; 3. Chris Carlson; 4. Tommy White
Fast time -- Pinkston, 17.442