Idaho Racing News

By Jon Brown
MERIDIAN, Idaho -- Once Mike Murgoitio got on it, there wasn't much chance anyone would catch him.
The former USAC Silver Crown competitor continued to set the ASA-sanctioned Meridian Speedway Mtn. Dew Winged Sprint season on its ear with an exciting 35-lap victory in the final main event of the City of Meridian Fireworks Spectacular. He had to hold off challenges first from Middleton, Idaho's Sierra Jackson and then Nampa, Idaho's Chris Ratterree.
In other main events, Boise's Dan Lyons grabbed a thrilling victory in the Intermountain Vintage Sprintcars; Meridian's Johnny Giesler continued a strong season in the Pepsi Sprintcars; Jeffrey Meads of Nampa won for the second consecutive outing in the College of Western Idaho Professional Truck Driving School Street Stocks; and Art Heath of Nampa won the first feature trophy of his career in the Tates Rents Hornets.
The Intermountain Vintage Sprintcars brought back the excitement of the 1960s and 1970s open-wheel racing to ASA-sanctioned Meridian Speedway on Sunday night.
Dan Lyons of Boise put on a classic display of speed and skill to win the 15-lap Vintage main event that had the capacity crowd on its feet.
After Walt Calkins slammed his car into Turn 3 to bring out the yellow flag three laps in, Lyons jetted past Seattle's Jack Choate a half-lap after the restart and seemed ready to check out.
But another Boise veteran, Kelly Newman, had other ideas.
It took five laps, but Newman wound up on Lyons' rear bumper then actually ran by his rival after two laps of side-by-side racing around the quarter-mile.
Newman made the pass in Turn 3 with four laps to go. The advantage was short-lived, though, as Lyons threw one final thrill at the fans, putting a classic move on Newman and rocketing back to the lead in Turn 1 with two laps left.
"I've raced with Kelly for years, and he's one of the toughest," Lyons said. "And if you don't get out there, he'll eat you up. So I knew I needed to get out there."
The heat races were no less exciting for the Vintage drivers.
Driving a 1975 Walt Calkins Special, Dean Waltman of Boise won the first heat race in dominating fashion, checking out with a six-second victory in the eight-lap preliminary. Waltman sped around Boise resident Steve Lorance's 1973 Staff on the high side midway through the race and never looked back.
In the second heat race, Dan Lyons, held off a strong challenge from fellow Boise racer Kelly Newman to win. Lyons was driving a 1974 Edmonds, while Newman piloted a 1980 Stanton, the newest car in the field.
After speeding around Boise's Kirk Wartman coming out of Turn 2 on the eighth lap of the Winged Sprints main, Murgoitio set his No. 80 on cruise control and built a five-second lead.
That is, until Jackson put her fast winger into the mix.
"I saw Sierra get into second, and I stepped it up," Murgoitio said. "I was kind of conservative, conserving the tires."
Murgoitio put his foot back on the gas and tried to out-run Jackson. But Jackson ran into bad luck with six laps left when she tapped tires with Boise's Dave Parrie and hit the front-stretch wall coming out of Turn 4.
Ratterree then picked up the charge and nearly got position on Murgoitio on two separate laps, but each time the Meridian racer derived enough momentum out of Turn 2 to hold the lead across the backstretch.
"Ratterree had something for me at the end," Murgoitio said. "That was good racing."
The Pepsi Sprintcars series leader, Giesler piled up more points by moving from the back of the lineup to take the checkered flag. As the fastest qualifier, Giesler was forced to start in the rear.
"It was a little wild," Giesler said of the race.
Then he reflected on the early-season hard luck from which he has rebounded: "The year didn't start off good, but it's getting better."
A dozen laps into the 30-lap main, Giesler was running in fourth place and knocking on the door of early-race leader Tyler Barrow. The Boise racer had led until Carl Marcum, another Boise shoe, shot past him with 19 laps to go.
Giesler worked up to second place behind Marcum with 12 laps to go then passed him on the high side of the track one lap later.
Meads walked away from the rest of his CWI PTDS Street Stocks competitors, posting a five-second victory in the 40-lap feature the night before his son was set to graduate from military boot camp.
Meads was patient through the marathon, passing Shawn Hansen of Boise with 23 laps to go only to have to hold on when two lapped cars tangled in front of him and allowed Hansen to push to the front briefly again.
With 16 to go, Meads lost all of his competition when Hansen and third-place driver Chad Bess tapped one another in Turn 2, forcing series leader Melissa Scott of Nampa head-on into the wall in an evasive driving move.
"It was just one of those deals," Meads said. "Forty laps. It's nice to have that kind of time to pick and choose. I just happened to be the recipient again of being lucky."
Nampa's Marv Weaver rebounded to finish second in the main event after ripping a front tire off his Camaro and tearing up his right-side front fender in a heat race.
The Hornets feature was only 20 laps long, but there was plenty of action and plenty of caution flags.
Heath passed Boise's Larry Hull with 10 laps to go and then held on over a clean second half of the race. Young Caitlin Stroebel of Nampa, Idaho, muscled past Hull for second place with a pass for second place on the final turn of the race.
Yellow flags flew as early as the first turn of the first lap. Another caution appeared after Alex Duda smacked the Turn 3 wall hard seven laps into the race.
Saturday, the Pro-4s will take center stage for the Project Filter Pro-4 All-Star Challenge. Also competing on Military Appreciation Night are the NAPA Latemodel Sportsman, CWI PTDS Street Stocks, Domino's Pizza Legends and the Thunder Dogs.
Gates open at 4 p.m. with racing starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7.50 for senior citizens and military personnel with ID and $6 for children ages 7-11. Children 6 and younger get in free, as always.
For more information, visit www.meridianspeedway.com or call (208) 888-2813.
Meridian Speedway
City of Meridian presents Fireworks Spectacular
Sunday's unofficial results
Main events
Intermountain Vintage Sprintcars (15 laps) --
1. Dan Lyons, Boise, Idaho; 2. Kelly Newman, Boise; 3. Dean Waltman, Boise; 4. Walt Calkins, Meridian, Idaho; 5. John Kaiser, Holiday, Utah
Mtn. Dew Winged Sprintcars (35 laps) --
1. Mike Murgoitio, Meridian; 2. Chris Ratterree, Nampa, Idaho; 3. Kirk Wartman, Boise; 4. Cory Lockwood, Nampa; 5. Dave Parrie, Boise
Pepsi Sprintcars (30 laps) --
1. Johnny Giesler, Meridian; 2. Joe Ransom, Boise; 3. Carl Marcum, Boise; 4. Kelly Newman, Boise; 5. Josh Allen, Meridian
College of Western Idaho Professional Truck Driving School Street Stocks (40 laps) --
1. Jeffery Meads, Nampa, Idaho; 2. Marv Weaver, Nampa; 3. Pat Young, Kuna, Idaho; 4. Jim Anderson, Meridian; 5. Melissa Scott, Nampa
Tates Rents Hornets (20 laps) --
1. Art Heath, Nampa, Idaho; 2. Caitlin Stroebel, Nampa; 3. Larry Hull, Boise; 4. Mary Johnson, Meridian; 5. Eric Harry, Boise
Heat races
(Eight laps each)
Intermountain Vintage Sprintcars
Fast Dash --
1. Waltman; 2. Steve Lorance, Boise; 3. Jack Choate, Seattle; 4. Kaiser; 5. Eldon Sailor, Boise
B Heat --
1. Lyons; 2. Kelly Newman; 3. Calkins; 4. Allan Lane, Caldwell; 5. Don Newman, Boise
Mtn. Dew Winged Sprintcars
Fast Dash --
1. Mike Murgoitio, Meridian; 2. Dave Parrie, Boise; 3. Cory Lockwood, Nampa; 4. Chris Ratterree, Nampa; 5. Sierra Jackson, Middleton, Idaho
B Heat --
1. Kirk Wartman, Boise; 2. Darren Spiers, Adrian, Ore.; 3. Don Kithcart, Eagle, Idaho; 4. Darin Turpen, Nampa
Pepsi Sprintcars
Fast Dash --
1. Carl Marcum, Boise; 2. Joe Ransom, Boise; 3. Johnny Giesler, Meridian; 4. Wyatt King, Meridian; 5. Kelly Newman, Boise
B Heat --
1. TJ LaBronte, Meridian; 2. Tyler Barrow, Boise; 3. Aly Clark, Meridian; 4. Eric Ransom, Boise; 5. Josh Allen, Meridian
CWI PTDS Street Stocks
Fast Dash --
1. Chad Bess, Nampa; 2. Jeffrey Meads, Nampa; 3. Melissa Scott, Nampa; 4. Kim Bradford, Boise; 5. Marv Weaver, Nampa
B Heat --
1. Scott Murri, Meridian; 2. Micky Lawson, Caldwell, Idaho; 3. Shawn Hansen, Boise; 4. Daniel Vanderveen, Nampa; 5. Pat Tully, Caldwell
C Heat --
1. Brian Hyde, Boise; 2. Bret Buchanan, Emmett, Idaho; 3. Bobby Riggs, Fruitland, Idaho; 4. Doug Loon, Caldwell; 5. Kendall Wall, Buhl, Idaho
Tates Rents Hornets
A Heat --
1. Danny Canington, Nampa; 2. David Tankersley, Nampa; 3. Marshall Burnham, Nampa; 4. Art Heath, Nampa; 5. Larry Hull, Boise
B Heat --
1. Collin Parker, Kuna, Idaho; 2. Mary Johnson, Meridian; 3. Caitlin Stroebel, Nampa; 4. Stacy Heath, Nampa; 5. Casey Tillman, Kuna
C Heat --
1. Tony Martinez, Nampa; 2. Brandon Monson, Kuna; 3. Ron Johnson, Weiser, Idaho; 4. Alex Duda; 5. Sharlet Potaro, Mountain Home, Idaho
D Heat --
1. Eric Harry, Boise; 2. Monica Jane Heath, Caldwell; 3. Colton Nelson, Meridian; 4. Rich Pedroza; 5. Terry Dodge
Fast times
Mtn. Dew Winged Sprintcars --
Jackson, 11.775
Pepsi Sprintcars --
Giesler, 13.545
CWI PTDS Street Stocks --
Scott, 15.176